Crime lords

What’s up Phinehas!  Man, do I have something to tell you.  Yesterday, I was walking around and started talking to that woman.  You know the woman with the incredible body? Well, I told her that part of her duties were to sleep with me and she did.  Gave it up just like that.  I never realized how much power and authority we had in this priestly role.  

Well, Hophni, the other day I didn’t feel like eating boiled meat yet again.  So, I told the guy who was offering a sacrifice to give me the meat raw.  He had the nerve to lecture me on the customs, and said something about the animal sacrifice being his best, and how he was showing reverence to God, and all God had done for him, and that I was defiling his sacrifice!  Who did this guy think he was talking, too, huh?   Long story short, I told him if he didn’t give the raw meat to me right then and there I would take it by force.   So, I decided that from now on I am not going to eat that boiled meat any longer.  What do you say?  You going to join me?

On a serious note, I really don’t know how the corruption started per se.   But I do know from reading in 1 Samuel Chapter 1 that Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas,  were priests of the Lord.  The sons were considered worthless men and openly practiced lawlessness.  They were corrupt and instead of teaching holiness and the ways of the LORD they did what they pleased.  They had no regard for God’s house or God’s people. 

The thing is, Eli was told repeatedly about his sons behavior.  Eli kept getting reports on how they were ripping people off and sleeping with the women who helped out at the sanctuary.  Eli told his sons it was wrong but he tolerated their behavior and allowed it to continue.   God even sent a holy man to warn Eli.  Still nothing changed.   Eli chose to ignore the warnings.

It started with one leader.    A leader who was God’s priest over the nation of Israel.   A leader responsible for teaching the people holiness and the ways of the LORD.  A leader put in place to honor God above all else and demonstrate it to the people in all that he did.   A leader who seemed to have lost sight of his purpose and turned a blind eye, so to speak.

Eli.  A leader who lost his vision spiritually, and in the end it cost him his life.  

Much to ponder.  Much to ponder.

Be Strengthened and Encouraged in HIM,
Liz

To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to ME [unless they are the offering of the heart]? Says the LORD.  I have had enough of the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts [without obedience]; and I do not delight in the blood of bulls or of lambs or of he-goats [without righteousness].  Isaiah 1:11 AMP
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