March 16, 2010 - God's Judgment On A Permissive Leader

Meditation on 1 Samuel 4

Eli was the High Priest and judge for Israelite for a long period. (v. 18) But he died tragically the same day when his two sons and one daughter-in-law died. God had judged him and his household. Also the nation he led suffered a great lost in battle in which thirty thousand foot soldiers perished.

The reason for his down fall was his selfish behavior toward himself and his children. His two sons were priests according to the tradition of Moses. But they behaved like a gangsters in the house of God. They took meat from the people who sacrificed to God for their own consumption before they offered it to God. They slept with the women who served in the temple. Eli knew about these and have warned his sons. (1 Samuel 2:22-36) But he failed to stop them for such wickedness. I may even guess that Eli himself often enjoyed those good meats. That was probably why he was so fat. (v. 18)

A permissive father would eventually lead to the deterioration of his own family. In the case of Eli, he was judged by God severely because he was a religious leader. In these days of permissiveness, a father should not conform to this world but to take responsibility to discipline his children and stop their wrong behavior right away.