Eli the Priest (4 jul 1209 ano antes da era comum – 26 set 1111 ano antes da era comum)

Descrição:

The story of Eli is recorded by the Almighty for good reason. When taken as a whole:
1. It establishes the timeline of the priesthood in Shiloh
2. It encapsulates the spiritual state of the nation, particularly in his later years
3. It introduces the Judge who would 'truely' judge the people and end the Philistine oppression
4. States that Eli was a judge in his own right. 1 Sam 4/18
* This last point is interesting by itself, because there had been a continual line of 'spiritual' judges established since the time of Aaron and by his sons after the capture of Canaan and yet they weren't seen as such by the people.

Eli's chronology is established in reverse. i.e. from his death, looking backwards.

a. 1 Sam 4/15-18 tells us of his health condition at the time of death.
v15 At that time Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes didn’t move because he couldn’t see.

b. 1 Sam 4/4-5 shows us of the mindset of Israel who viewed the Ark of the Covenant as a magic Talisman the presence of which alone would deliver them from the Philistines. This mindset had been with them for some time now (30yrs) as the temple worship had been corrupted by the sons of Eli, Hophni and Phineas. 1 Sam 2/12; 2/17. Their corruption and immorality has been a cause for the people to 'abhor the offering of Yahweh' because the power of the sacrifice had been reduced to greed and corruption v17.

Eli had shown himself powerless to stop his sons activities even though he had appealed to them v22-25.
Unfortunately he had appealed to them on the basis of righteousness and truth v25, which the sons had neither of, hence the appeal fell on deaf ears.
Subsequently, a man of God (unnamed v27 possibly Ibzan) showed Eli the punishment which would be brought on the house of Eli because of the extent of which the corruption had taken hold therein and by extension had infested the people of Israel.
Further, the man of God tells Eli that he would witness an enemy in the habitation of Israel v32 (probably the start of the 40yr Philistine oppression) although he would be allowed to continue to administer at the Tabernacle until his death.
1 Samuel 2:34 This will be the sign that will come to you concerning your two sons Hophni and Phinehas: both of them will die on the same day.

SUBSEQUENTLY -
1 Sam 4/17 The messenger answered, “Israel has fled from the Philistines, and also there was a great slaughter among the people. Your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are both dead, and the ark of God has been captured.”
18 When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell backward off the chair by the city gate, and since he was old and heavy, his neck broke and he died. Eli had judged Israel forty years.

c. King Saul had failed to learn from recent history (only 23 years previous) when the nation had removed the ark from Shiloh to be a presence for them in warfare. Both they and Saul failed to recognise the Power behind the Ark and that its location had no relevance to whether Yahweh's presence was with the people or not.
In his second year, 1 Sam 13/1, King Saul takes the Ark from the house of Abinadab in Kirjath-jearim (1 Sam 14/18 cp 1Sam 7/1-2). It had been there for 20 years and had ended up there after having been returned by the Philistines who had had it for the previous 7 months after having captured it from Israel, causing the death of Eli (4/18) and his sons. (4/11)

d. It is now easy to count back 98yrs (4/15) from the capture of the ark to establish:
i. the probable birth year of Eli at 1209 BC
ii. when he became priest 1179 BC
iii. introduces us to the account of Samuel beginning at 1 Sam 1.
Samuel is described as a judge of Israel who essentially superseded Samson and brought to an end the 40yrs of Philistine oppression with their defeat at Mizpeh.
Whilst Samuel lead and reformed the people and turned them back to God, it didn't last long and they eventually rejected Samuel from being their judge (ultimately God 1 Sam 8/7) and sought a King so they could be like 'all the nations'.

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