God is never taken by surprise and has His Plans in hand to deal with the toxic influence of the wicked. 1 Samuel 2
The opening part of 1 Samuel 2 is Hannah’s celebration and adoration at the birth of Samuel, a much longed for son. Her song or prayer to the Lord is inspired (and Mary’s song, the Magnificat, in Luke 1 before the birth of Jesus, echoes Hannah).
3 ‘Do not keep talking so proudly
or let your mouth speak such arrogance,
for the Lord is A GOD WHO KNOWS,
AND BY HIM DEEDS ARE WEIGHED.
We often delude ourselves into thinking God doesn’t know or doesn’t care – nothing could be further from the truth.
The middle section of 1 Samuel 2 gives us the setting and reason for the coming of Samuel, namely the wickedness of the priesthood under Eli and his sons. The priests would come and take part of the peoples’ sacrifice (by threat of force) to the Lord before the fat was burned up.
15 But even before the fat was burned, the priest’s servant would come and say to the person who was sacrificing, ‘Give the priest some meat to roast; he won’t accept boiled meat from you, but only raw.’
16 If the person said to him, ‘Let the fat be burned first, and then take whatever you want,’ the servant would answer, ‘No, hand it over now; if you don’t, I’ll take it by force.’
17 This sin of the young men was very great in the Lord’s sight, for they WERE TREATING THE LORD’S OFFERING WITH CONTEMPT.
God saw what was going on, including the immorality with the women at the Tabernacle, but He waited patiently for Samuel to be born and grow up. God may not judge at once, but He is righteous and cannot ignore blatant sin forever.
The third and final part of the chapter is a message from a man of God, to Eli the Priest. God is going to remove the whole family/hierarchy of Eli from the priesthood, they’ll no longer serve at the Tabernacle and his two sons will die in a day, V 34. The sons of Eli (products of the religious system, became totally corrupt) and were to be removed. God started to build from a new line through Samuel, another Nazirite, dedicated from Hannah’s womb.
There are times when God has to start anew and will no longer strive to reform what exists. In many places today, the religious system has compromised and become more identified with what’s around it. Will God raise up a new generation in our day whose hearts are fully dedicated to Him?
29 Why do you scorn my sacrifice and offering that I prescribed for my dwelling? Why do you honour your sons more than me BY FATTENING YOURSELVES on the choice parts of every offering made by my people Israel?”
The man of God condemned Eli and his sons for ‘Fattening Themselves’, using the offerings of God for purely selfish reasons.
God raised up a Samuel, with a pure heart to serve Him.
Don’t mistake God’s mercy and long suffering for weakness, He is a holy God.
God bless and keep you today.