Immerse: Kingdoms Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 106
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IMMERSE
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KINGDOMS
1S
| 2:21-36
say, “May the Lord give you other children to take the place of this one
she gave to the Lord.” And the Lord blessed Hannah, and she conceived
and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, Samue l grew
up in the presence of the Lord.
Now Eli was very old, but he was aware of what his sons were doing
to the people of Israel. He knew, for instance, that his sons were seducing the young women who assisted at the entrance of the Tabernacle.
Eli said to them, “I have been hearing reports from all the people about
the wicked things you are doing. Why do you keep sinning? You must
stop, my sons! The reports I hear among the Lord’s people are not good.
If someone sins against another person, God can mediate for the guilty
party. But if someone sins against the Lord, who can intercede?” But Eli’s
sons wouldn’t listen to their father, for the Lord was already planning to
put them to death.
Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew taller and grew in favor with the Lord
and with the people.
One day a man of God came to Eli and gave him this message from the
Lord: “I revealed myself to your ancestors when they were Pharaoh’s
slaves in Egypt. I chose your ancestor Aaron from among all the tribes of
Israel to be my priest, to offer sacrifices on my altar, to burn incense, and to
wear the priestly vest as he served me. And I assigned the sacrificial offerings to you priests. So why do you scorn my sacrifices and offerings? Why
do you give your sons more honor than you give m
e—for you and they
have become fat from the best offerings of my people Israel!
“Therefore, the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I promised that your
branch of the tribe of Levi would always be my priests. But I will honor
those who honor me, and I will despise those who think lightly of me.
The time is coming when I will put an end to your family, so it will no
longer serve as my priests. All the members of your family will die before
their time. None will reach old age. You will watch with envy as I pour
out prosperity on the people of Israel. But no members of your family
will ever live out their days. The few not cut off from serving at my altar
will survive, but only so their eyes can go blind and their hearts break,
and their children will die a violent death. And to prove that what I have
said will come true, I will cause your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, to
die on the same day!
“Then I will raise up a faithful priest who will serve me and do what I
desire. I will establish his family, and they will be priests to my anointed
kings forever. Then all of your surviving family will bow before him, begging for money and food. ‘Please,’ they will say, ‘give us jobs among the
priests so we will have enough to eat.’”