So, I'm preparing my lesson for Couples Connection this Sunday - if you're going to go to Couples Connection, this post will be the gist of the message (maybe you won't have to go any more!)Eli the Priest, 1 Samuel 1-4: Much has been taught about Eli. He was the guy that began to rebuke Hannah because she acted like she had been drinking alcohol. He also taught Samuel the ways of the Lord. He had a couple of sons, Hophni and Phinehas who in 1 Samuel 2:12-17 we find were taking more food from the offerings that the people were bringing to the tabernacle than they were supposed to take. Later on in verse 22 we find that they were committing fornication with women that were assmebling there at the tabernacle. Eli is often give the bad rap that he failed to rebuke his kids, and that was his downfall. Here's my observations and thoughts...
When it says that Eli heard about the fornication with the women, in 1 Samuel 2:22, we find in the next three verses the he rebukes them for it. We already saw that he spoke up to Hannah when she appeared drunk. He seemed to be a man that was willing to stand up against those "big" sins - fornication, drunkenness, etc. He had his boundaries set firm!
It's interesting, when the man of God came to Eli with his curse, the charge that God laid on him (found in 1 Samuel 2:29) is: "Wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice and at mine offering, which I have commanded in my habitation; and honourest thy sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel my people?" The rebuke was not for his sons fornication, or for anything else - but that Eli was making him and his sons 'fat with the chiefest of all the offerings.' The reason behind it was that he honored them above God. Here's the thing, we know from 1 Samuel 4:18 that Eli himself was a "heavy" man, and he was included in the rebuke from God: "make yourselves fat."
I think that Eli was not an ungodly man. I think he trained his kids up to know what was right and wrong. But I think that Eli forgot one of the fruit that comes from the Spirit: temperance. He was willing to compromise a little. (I mean, the priests, in fact, were supposed to be fed by the offerings of the people.) But his not restraining himself spilled over to his boys.
Temperance is not just manifested in food - though that does appear to be a great way to gauge it. We can show temperance when it comes time for shopping. We can go without, or buy less of something, and in turn we would be able to use the money saved for buying things of eternal value. We could show temperance in turning the air conditioning down a bit and living with the heat, or in the winter turning the furnace down and living with the cold. We can show temperance with our tongues - refraining from saying things that could have negative consequences (by the way, even a fool, when he holdeth his peace is counted wise, and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding). There are many other ways to demonstrate temperance.
Remember, though, temperance is a fruit of the Spirit. You can manufacture "Self-Control" (which is a close definition for temperance, but not exact) in your self, but you can't manufacture fruit from the Spirit in your self. When you walk in the Spirit, temperance is one of the fruits from that - but often a forgotten fruit.
