1Sam004 Worthless Men Judged

Under the leadership of Eli, the priesthood in Israel had become corrupted and overrun with evil. The primary culprits in perpetrating this evil were Eli's sons, Hophni and Phinehas, who routinely violated the regulative principle of worship and seduced the female temple servants to engage in immoral sex, thus associating the door of the tabernacle with unspeakable wickedness. Sadly, Eli, refused to rebuke his sons or put a stop to their gross evil and the Lord judged him and his house for their sins. In verses 27-36 we have a record of an oracle of judgment pronounced by a man of God against the house of Eli which prophecies that his sons will die prematurely and his whole clan will be brought to near extinction, while those who remain will be a public disgrace. A ray of hope emerges out of the ashes of judgment in verse 35 as the prophet reveals that a future priest will come who would do all that is according to the heart and soul of the Lord; that priest is Jesus Christ the Righteous One.