I Samuel Chapter 2 "Hannah
and Yahoveh [1-11]." This Bible
Study is written by Roger Christopherson, and it's
transcription is provided with written permission by http://www.theseason.org I Samuel 2:1 "And Hannah prayed, and said, "my heart rejoiceth in the Lord. Mine horn is exalted in the Lord: My mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in thy salvation." This is Hannah's prayer to God. In the spiritual sense, "horn" means power and strength. In the expression that Hannah is using here, "Mine horn" was a head-dress over which the veil is thrown hanging over the shoulders; hanging down perpendicular. This type of headdress is no longer worn today. The purpose of this horn was to keep her child that she was carrying away from her face. I Samuel 2:2 "There is none holy as the Lord: for there is none beside thee: Neither is there any rock like our God." We can see the love that Hannah had for our Heavenly Father in this statement. God blessed this woman and gave her a child. This statement; "Neither is there any rock like our God", is what Moses stated in Deuteronomy 32:4, 31 of the Song of Moses. Deuteronomy 32:4 "He is the Rock, His work is perfect: For all his ways are judgment: A God of truth and without iniquity, Just and right is He." Christ is the only Rock we can stand on, and we will never have a need for another foundation. Though we may waver at times, the Rock, Jesus Christ will not. God's ways are always perfect. Anytime you think His ways are not perfect, then you are out of Christ and misinformed. God's Scriptures are perfect, and when you think that there is a conflict within the Word, it is time to dig deeper to find the truth. There is nor imperfection in our Heavenly Father. His ways of doing things are always fair, and when He judges, it is fair and just. Deuteronomy 32:31 "For their rock is not as our Rock, Even our enemies themselves being judges." Their rock is different, because their rock is their father Satan. However our Rock is our Heavenly Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the rock of our foundation. Notice that the spelling of the Word for God is with a capital letter "R", "Rock". I Samuel 2:3 "Talk no more so exceeding proudly; Let not arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the Lord is a God of knowledge, And by Him actions are weighed." Underline that in your mind, for our God is a God of knowledge. God's knowledge that is directed to us is written in Word, and this is why we must seek the knowledge of God for our lives through His Word. If you are wondering if what you are doing is correct our not, we are to seek the answer through His Word. God's Word will let you know if an action or deed is right [righteous] or wrong, acceptable to Him, or not. Sure we will fall short of God's righteousness and that is why we have repentance, and seek it through Jesus Christ. In the end, all judgment before the throne of God will be by God's scale, so why not use that scale, which is His Word to guide our directions as we go through life. I Samuel 2:4 "The bows of the mighty men are broken, And they that stumbled are girded with strength." The bows of the mighty men can be broken, and even a strong army can fall when God comes against them. There are no forces either here on earth or elsewhere that can stand against our Heavenly Father. I Samuel 2:5 "They that were full have hired themselves for bread; And they that were hungry ceased: So that the barren hath born seven; And she that hath many children is waxed feeble." This statement; "the seven hath born seven" is a prophecy. "Seven" is the number in biblical numerics standing for "spiritual completeness", and in Romans 11:4, "But what saith the answer of God unto him? "I have reserved to Myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal." " Romans 11:5 "Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace." God has always had his men and women that will not bow to the world and its system. This was as true in Hanna's day, as it was when recorded in connection with Elijah and Jehu in I Kings 20, and even in this final generation God has and is reserving the completeness of His seven thousand that will not bow to Satan, the Antichrist or to Baal in the form of any world system. I Samuel 2:6 "The Lord killeth, and maketh alive: He bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up." It is God's choice who lives and who dies, He can create something from nothing or destroy what ever he desires to destroy. It is God that places the soul within the embryo at conception, and it is God that decides whether that soul lives or dies in the flesh body. When that child is born, it is God that controls the status of the birth, and the success for life that he or she will be. However, when man becomes careless in his action, God allows life to be taken from him or her. Yet in the end when the "silver cord is broke" and the "breath of life" or soul leaves the flesh body, that soul shall return to the Father that sent it in the first place. Standing before the Father all souls will give account for what they have done and said while in this flesh body. Hannah knew this of the Lord, and she knew that what happened in her live was given by God, and He had the ability to give life and to take life. It was all in God's power and will. It would be four generations later that king Solomon would write of this prayer in his writings of Ecclesiastes 12:6, 7. Ecclesiastes 12:6 "Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cisten." Our bodies are made from the dust or clay of the earth, and it is our heavenly Father that sits at the potter's wheel and forms these physical bodies of clay and dust into what they are. He can make of our bodies whatever form that pleases Him. The "silver cord" is the cord that ties the soul or living self within us to the clay body that we commonly look upon in the mirror. When life, or our soul leaves the body, the body dies and in due time all the systems within the body decay and go back into the elements or dust that each of us are made of. This is the "pitcher that is broken at the fountain", which is also the Wheel broken at the cisten." Ecclesiastes 12:7 "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God Who gave it." Remember that Solomon is writing this entire book of Ecclesiastes and addressing the man that is walking in the flesh, and under the Sun on this earth. Solomon was giving instruction to the men and women that are living in their flesh body, and now at the end of this book, he is telling us what happens when the "silver cord", the soul that gives life to the flesh body departs from the flesh body. "Then shall the dust", or flesh body return to the dust of the earth as it was before it was processed into our flesh form, and the spirit [soul] or self of the individual return to God Who gave it in the first place. The soul came from the Heavenly Father to enter into this age of the flesh at conception, and upon the death of the person, that same soul returns to the heavenlies from where it came in the first place. So what about abortion? God placed that soul in the embryo, and God gave the dust of that embryo life through that silver cord. God gave us the laws that govern life, and man that is living in the flesh, and when any person alters and plays around with that silver cord, they will answer to God for what they do, if it is not in accordance with His Word. I Samuel 2:7 "The Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich: He bringeth low, and lifteth up." These Words are coming from the mouth of Hannah, the mother of Samuel. There is no sin in being poor, but it is a sin to remain that way, when God has given you His promises. Many Christians fail to accept the fact that once you have accept the Word of God and the promises that God has given to you, you are rich. You are rich both Spiritually and in wisdom. Then through your understanding of God's Word, God blesses His people. You do have many blessings, and your soul, and the air that you breath is a good starting point for thanking God for your blessings. I Samuel 2:8 "He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, And lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, To set them among princes, And to make them inherit the throne of glory: For the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, And He hath set the world upon them." First of all, understand what the "throne of glory" is. The "throne of glory" is "not here on earth, necessarily, but in the life hereafter". God created this entire earth, and He set the earth on their pillars. These pillars of the earth are the forces that the earth use to rotate, as it spins around the sun. Those pillars include the sun, moon, and the stars and planets of the universe, it is what gives us the days and nights, the seasons and all the rest that makes this earth an inhabitable place for flesh man. Everything that we have and enjoy, the beauty of our earth, and the wonders of the heavens are the Lords. He created it all and you and I, and for His own pleasure. Revelation 4:11 "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created." Hannah understood the worthiness of the Father, and that her son's life came from the Father. As you breath your next breathe, and eat the food set before you, and see the smile on the faces of those loved ones around you; have you remembered to thank God for all of those blessings. God is worthy of all your praise, and it was for His pleasure that you even exist. Have you given Him any pleasure lately? Though we don't correctly know and understand all things that go to make up the world age around us, we do know that our Heavenly Father does, and it is from Him that all our knowledge and blessings flows. Remember what God asked Job in Job 38? "Why do you listen to these men that give you counsel with words, when they have no knowledge?" Today this is a common thing, for the so-called wise of the world like to give advise, or make up their counsel known when they have no wisdom or knowledge of what they are talking about. God asked Job, "Where were you when I set the compass of the earth,..." and so forth? The point here is that there are many things that we just don't know, nor will we ever know while here in these flesh bodies. Whereas Hannah knew that these things existed and gave the credit for all of them to God, where it rightly belonged. If God created the earth and all that is around you. When you are one of God's Children, and He said he would never leave you nor forsake you, don't you think that God knows how to protect you from the evil and hazards that are before you? He created a plan and the world, and He has the ability to make it all to conform to all of His plan and His promises to His own. When you come to this understanding, that is what makes you rich. I Samuel 2:9 "He will keep the feet of His saints, And the wicked shall be silent in darkness; For by strength shall no man prevail." "His saints" are God's "set aside ones". Hannah was one of the "set aside ones". We know that Samuel was set aside for God ordered his live to be. Jeremiah was a set aside one, for God told us that He knew Jeremiah from before he was even conceived. God knew him from the age that was before this earth age. If you are in Christ you also are one of the set aside ones. God does keep and protect the feet of the saints, where they go, and the evil that would come upon them. You may be the strongest man in the world, however that will prevail you nothing when you go against one of God's saints. When your flesh dies, that old flesh body becomes dirt, the dust of the earth, and there is no strength in any dirt, where there is no soul. No matter how you look when there is life in your vain, but when the body turns to dust, that is all it becomes is the elements that the dust is made up of. I Samuel 2:10 "The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces; Out of heaven shall He thunder upon them: The Lord shall judge the ends of the earth; And He shall give strength unto His king, And exalt the horn of His Anointed." " This ends the prayer of Hannah to almighty God. Praise God this is going to happen and very shortly, the adversaries of the Lord are all going to be broken to pieces. Hannah is now prophesying things right out of the book of Revelation. This is exactly as our Lord Jesus Christ shall return at the seventh and last trumpet. Revelation 19:11 "And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse; and He That sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He doth judge and make war." The time of the coming of our Lord on that white horse is at the sounding of the seventh trumpet, which ends this age of the flesh, and begins the first day of the Millennium age of Christ's kingdom right here on the earth. Revelation 19:12 "His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns; and He had a name written, that no man knew, but He Himself." Revelation 19:13 "And He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and His name is called "The Word of God". John was the one that penned the book of Revelation as Jesus revealed it to him. John was the same one that identified Jesus as the "Word of God", in John 1:1; "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Then in the fourteenth verse John tells us, and we read; "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." Then at the end of the Millennium age of this earth, The Father will have the great white throne Judgment where those that were not save by Grace out of this earth age of the flesh, will be judged by their works. Revelation 20:13 "And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works." It is the dead, spiritually dead with out eternal life, all those that did not accept the blood of Christ to cover their sins will be judged by their works. Revelation 20:14 "And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. The first death is the death of the spiritual body, however the second death is the death of your very soul. It is at this second death that even the remembrance of your very existence will be blotted out of the minds of your loved ones. Hannah knew of this judgment because the times of the end and judgment was made known to God's people from the very beginning, even from the Garden of Eden. Within this prophecy of Hannah is the foretelling of a coming Messiah, also called the "Anointed One of God". "His Anointed" is "Jesus Christ", the Anointed by the Father to have the power and strength of the Father within him. However we see that the full power of kingship is not taken until the second coming of Christ. The first time Christ came as a servant, riding on a donkey, and being served up as the sacrificial Lamb for our sins. However, the second time Jesus comes will be with the power and authority to rule the world with the rod of iron. Hannah is a prophetess, and she was prophesying of the coming Messiah Jesus the Christ. I Samuel 2:11 "And Elkanah went to Ramah to his house. And the child did minister unto the Lord before Eli the priest." Samuel lived with the priest Eli and he adopted very well to the life of priesthood. I Samuel 2:12 "Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the Lord."
Eli the priest had two sons and neither of them were any good. They were evil men that did not care for the things or ways of the Lord. They were priests only because they were it sons of a priest, of the Levitical tribe. I Samuel 2:13 "And the priests' custom with the people was, that, when any man offered sacrifice, the priest's servant came, while the flesh was in seething, with a fleshhook of three teeth in his hand:" When it was time for the Israelites to make an offering sacrifice to the Lord, and the meat flesh was in the pot boiling, to the point of being ready. The custom of the priests would be to come into the persons home with a great big three hooked tool, and scraping out the pan for himself, to take the lions share. This wasn't God's way of doing things, but the priests had become greedy that they carved out this act and made it their traditions. It was not according to God's law, but the tradition formed by crooks in priests robes. These two preachers, the sons of Eli were nothing but a couple of crooks filling the role of the priest. Just like in many priests and ministers filling places of the pulpit today, they are ripping the people off. I Samuel 2:14 "And he struck it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; all the fleshhook brought up the priest took for himself. So they did in Shiloh unto all the Israelites that came thither." It just didn't matter to these men where the meat was, or how deep the pot was, they took all that their three fleshhooks could grab a hold of. Did you catch who this flesh meat was for? Not for God but for themselves. These two sons of Eli were breaking the law and they were doing it to all the tribes of Israel, who ever came to Shiloh to offer their sacrifices to God. Leviticus 7:34 "For the wave breast and the heave shoulder have I taken of the children of Israel from off the sacrifices of their peace offerings, and have given them unto Aaron the priest and unto his sons by a statute for ever from among the children of Israel." This is what the priest is suppose to have, not the entire animal. The priest was suppose to have one shoulder, and a brisket off the animal, and both were choice pieces of the animal. That was it, and all the rest, including the three pronged hook was part of the priest's greed taking hold and forming traditions that did not conform to the Word of God nor His laws. It sounds like many of the traditions that are going on today; money makers and things that deal with greed sort of have their way of creeping in, when the priests and ministers turn their back to God's Word. The reason the fat was taken and burned by the priest, was so that the people would not eat the fat of the animal. God knew that fat would make his people sick, and keep them from good health. I Samuel 2:15 "Also before they burnt the fat, the priests' servant came and said to the man that sacrificed. "Give flesh to roast for the priest; for he will not have sodden flesh of thee, but raw." This is going the extra mile to rip off the people, it is like the modern day preacher passing the plate four times. After the priest came and went with his hooks and half the man's food, the priest would send one of the servants to the door to beg for another raw portion. When the people trimmed the animal and cut the fat away from the lean meat, the priest was suppose to take only the fat, however these begging servants would come and demand much of the lean meat right along with the fat, even if it meant by force. These priests wanted many times over what their three pronged meat hooks would gather out of the boiling pot, and they would keep returning for another portion from the lean meat that was set aside for latter use for feeding the family. So what this all means is that Eli had a couple of crooked preachers for sons. They were taking advantage of their daddy's positions as the priest. These two sons of Eli were not preachers, but they were crooks, rip-off artists in the robes of the priests and doing their deeds under the name of God. There is nothing new under the sun, for their kind are here with us today, just as they were back in Samuel's day. I Samuel 2:16 "And if any man said unto him, "Let them not fall to burn the fat presently, and then take as much as thy soul desireth;" then he would answer him, "Nay; but thou shalt give it me now: and if not, I will take it by force." These are the two preachers talking and plotting together, the two sons of Eli, and they are setting up the methods or traditions that they will force on the Israelites. When the sacrifice is in the pot boiling, then the sacrifice offering will be taken before it can be offered, and the amount taken will be determined by them, not given by the people. This is not going to go well with the congregation, for the sacrifice is something that is to be given of their own free will, however as we see here, it becomes an burden tax on the people. I Samuel 2:17 "Wherefore the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord: for men abhorred the offering of the Lord." "The young men" are the sons of Eli the priest. These two sons abhorred the offering of the Lord, and our heavenly Father Himself. Because of the sins of these two priests in taking advantage of the people during this offering feast, the people themselves begin to abhor the offering of the Lord. The people knew that this wasn't fair, nor was it God's way, because these evil men were changing the ways that God prescribed that the offering was to be given. It was not God's offering. All the priests were suppose to have was one shoulder and a brisket for their food. I Samuel 2:18 "But Samuel ministered before the Lord being a child, girded with a linen ephod." "The linen ephod" is not the high priest's robe, but a ordinary Levite and priest's robe. I Samuel 2:19 "Moreover his mother made him a little coat, and brought it to him from year to year, when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice." This little robe that Hannah made for her son Samuel was to be worn during his working around the temple. Hannah and Elkanah took care of their own son and his needs while in the service of God in the temple. Each year when they came to make the sacrifices they provided for the needs of their son. There is a subject change here from the two sons of Eli, to Samuel and his needs. I Samuel 2:20 "And Eli blessed Elkanah and his wife, and said, "The Lord give thee seed of this woman for the loan which is let to the Lord." And they went unto their own home." Hannah petitioned the Lord for a son, and in turn promised that she would give that son back to Him, when the child was old enough. That age was about twelve or thirteen years of age. Hannah kept her promise to the Lord and gave the child back to the Lord to be brought up as a priest. Eli saw the dedication and commitment of Hannah to her oath, and Elkanah's commitment to Hannah and Eli gave Hannah the blessing that God would open the womb of Hannah so she would bare many children. I Samuel 2:21 "And the Lord visited Hannah, so that she conceived, and bare three sons and two daughters. And the child Samuel grew before the Lord." So we see that Hannah had a total of four sons and two daughters in her life. Remember back in chapter one when Peninnah, the other wife of Elkanah was constantly picking on Hannah because she was barren? Hannah kept her commitment to God, and God blessed her greatly for her commitment. I Samuel 2:22 "Now Eli was very old, and heard all that his sons did unto all Israel; and how they lay with the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation." When the virgins and the widows would come to the temple for service and for help when their provider had passed on, these two sons of Eli, Hophni, and Phinehas would take advantage of them sexually. They came to serve in the tabernacle, and the priests would rape them. These two sons of Eli were not nice people. As these two rascals were doing their evil and wicked deeds of plundering and seducing the women, old Eli knew what was going on all the time and did nothing. Eli was the judge and high priest, and it was his responsibility for everything that went on in the land and the tabernacle. Eli would answer to God for his allowing it to continue. There was no king in Israel at this time, and Eli was the Judge over all Israel. We are still in the time of the Judges at this time, and Eli would be be the next to the last Judge. When Eli lets these two preachers get away with their evil acts without judging them, God was not pleased with him. I Samuel 2:23 "And he said unto them, "Why do ye such things? for I hear of your evil dealings by all this People." All of the evil acts by Eli's two sons can't be kept from their father, yet Eli allowed it to continue. Eli is asking His sons here why they kept on doing their evil acts. I Samuel 2:24 "Nay, my sons; for it is no good report that I hear: ye make the Lord's People to transgress." "Transgress" as used in the Hebrew text is "abar" and it means "to cry out when the pressures are to great to bear". Eli closed his eyes to the wickedness and didn't take note and address his sons until it became a public problem. As Judge, Eli should have taken action when it first came to his attention, but he turned his back to the problem. The government was the church itself, and these two priests are suppose to be carrying on the work of God. However, they are doing just the opposite, they are destroying the work of God within the community and causing the people take action out of their anger and cry out to God and to Eli. Remember that God does not send people to serve Him in beggars clothes. True men and women of God are not beggars because God will take care of them. However, when a preacher comes to the pulpit and all his message is centered on is the offering place and vows to this cause or another; in time the people will also cry out that something is just not right. It seems today that the unbeliever is a better judge between the true man of God and the rip-off artist. We are to be aware of those that are the type of Eli's sons, when you sit under one of them in your worship. God is warning us here of this type, for He wants us to have wisdom on these matters. The way that false preachers get away with these deeds are by their changing God's Word. So the area of responsibility comes right back on the Christian and his or her knowledge of What God's Word says on the matter. Do you have the knowledge to check out what a preachers says, to see if what they are saying is the truth? Can you see a change when it happens, or do you even care if God's Word is mishandled? Do you check out for yourself those doctrines, or just except those traditions that are being peddled as truth, when they are nothing but lies? Don't listen to me or any other man without checking what is said out with the Word of God, and taking it back to the original text for its meaning. Jesus' main warning to His elect for the time of the end, as recorded in Matthew 24:4, 5 was "Take heed that no man deceive you." "For many shall come in My name, saying, `I am Christ; and shall deceive many." There is only one way that you can prevent being deceived and that is by having a working knowledge of God's Word, and by not being biblically illiterate. This is why your study had better by chapter by chapter and verse by verse from all the Scripture.. Satan tried to tempt Jesus by using Scripture and misquoting what the Word said. That is the same way that Satan will work today, by adding a word here and taking a word away there, and changing a word to where what is said becomes a lie. All it takes a one word or even a comma added to change the Word and the meaning of the text into a lie. This is how Satan works to deceive Christians in our day, as well as in Jesus' and Eli's day . I Samuel 2:25 "If one man sin against another, the judge shall judge him: but if a man sin against the Lord, who shall intreat for him?" Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto the voice of their father, because the Lord would slay them." By the time that Eli got around to warning his sons to stop doing what they were doing, God had already made His mind up, He was going to kill them. God takes a very dim view towards ministers that rip people off, and takes advantage of the innocent, the widows and orphans; especially when they do their deeds in His name. God's ways are true, just and absolute, and when the ministers and priests are not according to God's Word and ways, they are just as Eli's sons were. If a priest sins and has no sin offering for himself, how could he offer sin offerings of anyone else? If a minister is doing wicked deeds and does not have the truth of God's Word within him and refuses to repent, why would you listen to anything that he or she would say? The duty of the Judge here was the duty of the High Priest. It would be because of the deeds of Eli as the Judge, and his two sons that violated their office of trust that God is going to do away with the judge and put a mortal king over Israel. The subject is not changed again. I Samuel 2:26 "And the child Samuel grew on, and was in favour both with the Lord, and also with men." Samuel was kind of a type of savior, of Christ and one that the people could trust. What was happening here in Israel some 1050 years before the birth of Christ, is happening as an example of what shall happen at the end of this earth age. Paul reminded us of this in I Corinthians 10:11; "Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come." "Wherefore, let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall." God is showing us what is going to happen by showing us what did already happen in the past. This is why we call these writings "types" of what we shall see. I Samuel 2:27 "And there came a man of God unto Eli, and said unto him, "Thus saith the Lord, `Did I plainly appear unto the house of thy father, when they were in Egypt in Pharaoh's house?" This "man of God" that came to Eli would be an "angel from God". This messenger from God is reminding Eli of how God worked on behalf of the people when the Israelites were back in Egypt. Egypt was being used as a type for Eli, just as what happens in Eli's day is for us today. Back in Egypt the Israelites cried out to the Lord and God protected them. The people are again crying out to the Lord for protection of these unjust priests and judges that are corrupting the ways and Word of the Lord. Even Aaron the father of the priesthood, had two sons that God killed, and God is reminding Eli of what is about to happen. Aaron's two sons brought strange fire to the altar of God, and were messing around with the priesthood, just as Eli's sons were. I Samuel 2:28 "And did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be My priest, to offer upon Mine altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before Me? and did I give unto the house of thy father all the offerings made by fire of the children of Israel?" The answer is yes to all these questions. God gave to the Levitical priesthood a fair portion to sustain themselves and their family. God set Aaron's family aside to take care of the duties of the Levitical priesthood, and take care of the house of God. The reason the fat was burned for incense is that the fat made people ill, God made this provision to remover the fat from their diets. I Samuel 2:29 "Wherefore kick ye at My sacrifice and at Mine offering, which I have commanded in My habitation; and honourest thy sons above Me, to make yourselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel My People?" God was asking Eli, "Do you think more of your sons than you do of Me that you would allow them to get away with all these evil acts?" God is asking Eli, "Do you really thinks that I would allow this to go on; the ripping off of God's people, and taking advantage over the widows and orphans that God has entrusted to their care?" Deuteronomy 32 is the "song of Moses" and we know from Revelation 15:3 that the Song of Moses is what the overcomers will be singing in the Millennium age. The Christians that knew that Satan would come first and would not be deceived by Satan in his role as Antichrist, know it because they will be singing that song on their moving into the Millennium age. Deuteronomy 32:15 "But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: "Thou are waxed fat, thou art grown think, thou art covered with fatness; Then he forsook God Which made him, And lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation." "Jeshurun" are the "Upright Ones". They are the ones that are growing fat and kicking at the ways of God to make themselves fat and rich by changing the ways of God. They are the ones that turn away from the ways and Word that they are to be following, and creating their own ways. They are taking the ways of salvation very lightly, as they put the Rock [Jesus Christ] out of their lives and their services. Deuteronomy 32:16 "They provoked Him to jealousy with strange gods, With abominations provoked they Him to anger." Don't lose sight of who these people are that are doing this, they are the Jeshurun, the Upright ones, the ones that should know better, they are the ministers, the priests, and all those in a position of authority over God's people. When they create their traditions, and distort the things of the Word of God for the sake of gaining wealth, position, or for any reason other than the Lord's Word, thy are provoking God to jealousy, and their acts are deeds with strange gods. It is an abomination to the Lord, and those things will provoke God to anger. This is exactly what both Eli and his sons were doing. The sons were doing there deeds under the authority that Eli had as high priest and judge, and Eli was allowing his sons to get away with the wickedness. Every time that God brings good times to His people, they forget about God and where those blessings came from. There is nothing new under the sun and these happenings are just as true today as it was in Eli's day. God has blessed our people and made things real good for us, and our religious leaders are doing the same thing that Eli did when wickedness and changes are creeping into the church, they are turning their head to what is going on. Whether they are aware of it, or just plain ignorant and stupid, "abomination" are entering into God's house and being accepted as something of God, when God's Word teaches against it. Then when the chastisement comes on the people, in time the people will cry out to God, just as they did in Egypt, in Eli's day, and in our day. The ministers and priests have become crooked in their dealings with God's Word, with the people, and in their ways. I Samuel 2:30 "Wherefore the Lord God of Israel saith, `I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before me for ever:' But now the Lord saith, `Be it far from me; for them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed." This is God speaking to Eli and the father of Eli's house would be Aaron, the father of the Levitical priesthood. The command to this priesthood was that they should walk before the Lord for ever. This is a promise from God to the priesthood, as well as to you and I living today. God is telling us that He shall always take care of His own people. If you honor God and his ways, God will provide for you and take care of your needs. When you honor God, God will honor you. In the same way, when you despise God and His Ways, God will treat you just as you treat Him and His Ways. If you condone or seek pleasure in Sodomy and the evil filth of this world, you are an abomination to God and you should expect to be treated as such by God. The point that God is leading up to here, is that God is going to take the judgeship away from the priest and give the authority over to a king. Israel is about to enter into a monarchy and have a king, and we know Saul to be that king. I Samuel 2:31 "Behold, the days come, that I will cut off thine arm, and the arm of thy father's house that there shall not be an old man in thine house." "...I will cut off thine arm" means that the priest shall not have the authority and power of judgeship any more. This is what we call the separation between church and state in our land today. There are three levels to what this verse is stating, which requires a deeper thought into your study. On the lowest level, God is telling Eli that He is going to kill Eli's sons. Secondly, God is going to take away the judgeship from the priesthood, and instill that power and authority into a monarchy. The Israelites are going to get old Saul for their king, and they will really be taxed by this king. If they thought they could get away with cheating on their tithe, old Saul will not put up with cheating on his due money, just as any government today would do. God wanted to be our king from the start of our peoples. God requires his tenth, and you kept the rest. Through the separation of church and state, the taxes have become far more than the the percent that God required, for prior to Eli's day the tithe paid for the costs of the church, the government, the welfare plans, and the defense of the nation. God wanted His people to rely on Him, but our people wanted someone ruling over us that we could see and hold up in esteem. Not only are the sons of Eli going to be killed, but Eli himself will also die. I Samuel 2:32 "And thou shalt see an enemy in my habitation, in all the wealth which God shall give Israel: and there shall not be an old man in thine house for ever." The Hebrew text is very direct on this verse. God is saying that, His people are going to look enviously on all the promises and wealth that I am going to give Israel. Stop and think for a moment of all the wealth that David had, and the great wealth that was in Solomon's temple. God blessed the monarchy that would sit as judge over His people far beyond that the priesthood every had. God is telling Eli that there would never be a high priest over the wealth of His people ever again, but there would be a king over them. God is saying that the priesthood would look with envy, because I am taking it out of your hands. Remember that this is referring to the Judgeship of Israel, all the tribes. I Samuel 2:33 "And the man of thine, whom I shall not cut off from Mine altar, shall be to consume thine eyes, and to grieve thine heart: and all the increase of thine house shall die in the flower of their age." "The man of thine" is the Levitical priesthood. God is saying, I'm ending the judgeship, on one level. I'm killing your two sons, and a king is going to take over the authority over the people, all the way to the coming of the Anointed One, who is Jesus Christ, at his second coming at the seventh trumpet. I Samuel 2:34 "And this shall be a sign unto thee, that shall come upon thy two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas; in one day they shall die both of them." God gives us many signs in the Scriptures, and if you are learned in His Word, you can recognized them. This is one of those signs. God is telling Eli that both of his sons are going to die in one day. It's a promise from God to Eli, and Eli knew that it would be so, just as he knew that Hannah would bare a son, Samuel and Hannah would have five more children. I would hate to be in any man's shoes that is sitting in a position of authority over God's house and people, and take advantage of that position that God had placed me in. I Samuel 2:35 "And I will raise Me up a faithful priest, that shall do according to that which is in Mine heart and in My mind: and I will build him a sure house; and he shall walk before Mine anointed for ever." This is prophecy, and remember that the "Anointed" means the "Messiah" in the Hebrew tongue. God is promising the coming of a Messiah, to rule over a house of people that will follow him for ever. We know today that our Father gave us His only Begotten Son, that whoso ever shall believe on that "Anointed" One, Jesus the Christ, shall have eternal life. Here again we have a two fold meaning in this verse. God is not going to cut off the priesthood, but raise up a priesthood not from Eli's sons, but from Hannah's son. We know the new high priest will be in Samuel. Hannah asked of God prayerfully and honestly to give her a son, and she would give that son back to Him. God is going to use that son Samuel to carry on the priesthood. This is why Samuel is a type of Jesus Christ the Savior, who also established His priesthood after the order of Melchisedec "the king of the Just] who is our Heavenly Father. Hebrews 5:4 "And no man taketh his honour unto himself, but he that is called of God as was Aaron." This is directed to those men and women, like Eli, that take up the ministry to wear the cloth of a minister, or priest. Paul is saying that you had better have received the calling before you take up the duties of a minister or teacher. When God gives them the calling, He will also give them the gifts necessary to do the work. John 10:12 "But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth, and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep." John 10:13 "The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep." The "hireling" is one that does a job for money or other advantages, and not because God called them. Eli's sons were hirelings, they used the office of the priest to gain worth to themselves. Hebrews 5:5 "So also Christ glorified not Himself to be made an High Priest; but He That said unto Him, "Thou art My Son, to day have I begotten Thee." These men that have become high priest did not have the ability within themselves to become the high priests, nor did Christ call Himself to be our High Priest. It was Almighty God the Father that chose and begat Jesus Christ, and Appointed His Son to be our High Priest. It was God that proclaimed the order, and made it come to pass. Hebrews 5:6 "As He saith also in another place, "Thou art a Priest forever after the order of Melchisedec." Paul is quoting here from Psalm 110:4 "The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever After the order of Melchizedek." You simply cannot have a higher priest than that. Melchisedec was not born of woman, but is eternal, He is the king of the just. Hebrews 5:7 "Who in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him That was able to save Him from death, and was heard in that He feared;" This is to say that the days that Jesus walked on this earth, and taught the gospel of Christ, and preformed miracles, God heard Him because He revered God. Jesus did cry with tears, for he was a flesh man, and he cried because of you, and because of all of our ancestors that walked this earth and were separated from the Father. When so many of mankind would hear the truth of God's Word, yet would not repent of their sins, and they would reject the gift of God, and go about their own ways. Hebrews 5:8 "Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered;" Though Jesus Christ was the very Son of God, and the heir to all things in the universe, yet Jesus learned to be obedient to His Father for the things that he gained for you and I. Jesus did all His suffering just for you and I and any one that would repent of their sins in Jesus' name, and believe on Him. Jesus was here on earth for a purpose, and that purpose was to die on the cross, as prophesied many times in the Scriptures. Hebrews 5:9 "And being made perfect, He became the Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him;" There is a qualifier to this verse as to who eternal salvation is offered to. Salvation is offered to anyone in the world "that obey Him". Today there is this idea that all you have to do is say that you believe and you are saved. It is because you have knowledge that you would have faith, and faith comes by hearing the Word of God, and Christ's salvation comes to all those that have the Word, and the faith in it to obey what is requested of them. Salvation requires understanding, faith, and obedience to the Word that is in your mind through repentance. Jesus Christ is the Word that was made flesh that dwelt amongst us. Though each of us fall short of God's standard daily, God has made a way through repentance in Jesus name to be restored back into fellowship with our Father. That is the freedom that we have in Christ. When Christ went to the cross, He became the Author of our eternal salvation, and He is the Author of salvation all the way back to the beginning of time. Hebrews 5:10 "Called of God an High Priest after the order of Melchisedec." Here again we are told that it was the Father that called His Son to be the High Priest, after the order of Melchisedec. Christ did not volunteer for the job, but God designated Jesus to be the High Priest. He was the only one fit for the job. So we see that this messenger angel that came to Eli brought more than just a warning to Eli about his sons, He brought the message of prophecy of the Messiah that would come to offer an eternal salvation. However in that generation of Eli, it would be Samuel that would fill this position of High Priest. I Samuel 2:36 "And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left in thine house shall come and crouch to him for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread, and shall say, `Put me, I pray thee, into one of the priests' offices, that I may eat a piece of bread.' " The deeper thought to this verse is that the bread that these priest shall seek, is the body of Christ, the true Messiah. When we sit down to Communion, we partake of the bread and the cup. The Bread is the body of Jesus that was shed on the cross, and the wine represents the blood of Christ that was shed on the cross. However on the lower level of this verse, it means that the minister or priest will no longer be in charge, but they will have to kneel or beg of the king for their own substance. The top priority of the duty of the king or queen of any nation of Israel was the defender of the faith. The king would sit on the throne of the land, and determine that the high priest, bishop, or what ever the religious leader of the land was called, was following and faithful to the duties of his or her office. We saw that when Eli sat in this high office, there was no one higher than Eli in the land, and when Eli became so old and callused in his ways, that he had no authority over those priests under him. This is why God set a king over the Israelites, to insure that the office did not become perverted. In the case of a Democracy or Republic as in our land, there must be a separation of church and state, or the same thing would happen that went on under Eli the high priest. The king of the land would be the judge of the land and deal out the morsels of what was needed, and do the appointing of the the high priest whom ever the would. This practice went on in the time of Christ, where there was a Roman governor named Pilate that appointed the high priest, as in the case of Caiaphas. This just shows us how God's Word comes to pass, even to this day.
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