When Parenting Matters to God

Reflection for June 14, 2023

by Pastor Jeffrey T. Jo

Reading: 1 Samuel 3:13

Who is Eli?

• He was a Jewish priest living in the days of the judges.
• He was serving God at the tabernacle in Shiloh, a city near the hill country of Ephraim.
• He is best remembered for his blessing on Samuel’s mother and for his part in Samuel’s first prophecy.

Wow we can say, “what a great man” & probably he was! Until we read chapters 2&3 of 1 Samuel where his weakness and failure were exposed. The priest had two wicked sons named Hophni and Phineas

• They also served in the tabernacle but did not know the Lord (1 Samuel 2:12).
• They violated the Law by keeping and eating meat from the sacrifices that were not allocated to them.
• They also had sex with the women who served at the doorway to the tent of meeting (1 Samuel 2:22).
• The bad behavior of Eli’s sons was apparently widely known (1 Samuel 2:24), and the report came back to Eli.
• When he found out about these things, he rebuked his sons but failed to make them stop, allowing them to continue to profane the tabernacle (1 Samuel 2:25).

Apparently, there was some lack of zeal on Eli’s part; some part of Eli’s heart was with his sons and not with the Lord. The Hebrew language used for the choice of Eli’s son is “makellelim lahem” & for Eli’s action is “velo checa bam”. In such languages we can understand why Eli provoked God’s anger against him & his children. 

• Eli’s sons hate their priesthood, their father and the God they served.
• Eli loved his children too much that though he rebuked them, it was done through a ‘gentle manner’ without showing them the enormous weight of their sin before God & His people.

Benson comments on this way: It does not signify that he showed no sign of displeasure against their wickedness, for he did chide them, though too gently, for it; but he did not severely reprove them; and, when that would not restrain them, turn them out of their office, or suspend them till they were reformed. For which cause God passed this severe sentence upon the whole family; that they should lose the dignity of the high-priesthood, and be made as contemptible as they had rendered God’s service.

Parenting matters to God! We are called to raise up godly offsprings (Deut.6:6-7) & to exercise godly discipline (Proverbs 22:6; 23:13-14). Since children are God’s blessings(Psalm 127:3-4), it calls for responsibility. A pastor/ elder can be disqualified for not mindful of such truth(1 Timothy 3:4-5). Success either in the ministry or in the corporate world should not replace our divine mandate to “disciple” our children.

May we not measure our spirituality with the success of our ministry nor how the works of our hands made us wealthy but rather on how we display the gospel of Christ in our homes, especially in the eyes of our children.

Christ died & rose again so that He will enable us to say like what Joshua declared, “As for ME & MY HOUSE, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15).

I remembered you and your family today in prayer.