Who Gets Your Honor?

We are studying the book of 1 Samuel on Tuesday evenings and one of the very first lessons we learn I believe is that God will be honored. The book starts off with a sharp contrast between two families. On the one hand there was the high priest Eli and his two sons Hophni and Phinehas, the other was Elkanah, his wife Hannah and their soon to be son Samuel.

The nation of Israel as a whole is spiritually sick, but one thing that is clear, Elkanah and particularly his wife Hannah are faithful to the Lord.  During a time when most were not faithful, the scriptures here make it clear that they were faithful to the Law. We are told that they travelled each year at the appointed times to worship the Lord, and we are told they had the appropriate sacrifices. These facts shouldn’t be overlooked, as I’m sure there was many a Jew that were not keeping the Law as faithfully. In addition, we can see clearly that Hannah frequently prayed to the Lord. She is pictured as a godly woman with a good heart.

The picture given for Eli’s sons is not good. They are described as worthless men who did not know God. They were guilty of fornicating with the women who served at the tent of meeting, and we are told that they were profaning the offerings to the Lord. Instead of honoring God with the sacrifices required by the Law, they honored themselves by taking meat that belonged to God. The Lord had appointed a portion of meat to go to the priests after the fat was burned, but they in disobedience took whatever they wanted, even if the people objected.

Because of their sin, God took the priesthood from Eli’s family and took his sons. Meanwhile, Hannah who was previously barren, was exalted by having her son Samuel who would grow up to be God’s prophet. A key lesson for us comes from 1 Samuel 2:30. Here God says, “those who honor Me, I will honor, and those who despise Me will be lightly esteemed.” The question we need to ask ourselves is, who gets our honor?

~Eric