Practice and tradition; Eli “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit”. So ends the book of Judges. One of these judges was Eli, and we are given just four windows on Eli who was both a judge and the High Priest in that period before the three national kings, Saul, David and Solomon. These windows tell us more of things that Eli did not do rather than his actions. First his concern about emotion and behaviour in church. Second the blind-spot for his own actions. Third his preference of logic over faith. Fourth, popular culture over God’s rules. He thought the ark could be a good luck charm. Still, people with problems came up to the little temple/tent where Eli administered because he was popular. The name “Eli” means “God is great” and was a common prefix to people’s names. I have found thirty seven in the Bible already. Eli the judge. One day Eli saw a young lady called Hannah praying in the temple by herself with tears streaming down her face and obviously agitated. He thought she was drunk and told her off. “Get rid of your wine” he said forcefully. He was obviously scandalised that someone should treat a holy place with such disrespect. It was only after she explained that her husband’s other wife had lots of children and she had none. She felt a failure. She was very emotional in her prayer. “May God grant your request,” Eli said, and she promised that if she did have a son, she would give him to God. She kept her promise, had a son, called him Samuel, and when the boy had grown a bit, brought him to Eli in the temple where Eli then adopted him. He was good with young children. She went on to have three more sons and two daughters. Her prayer of praise is given in full in 1 Samuel chapter 2 where she says that the Lord will judge. His blind spot. Eli had two sons who did not follow their father’s example even though they acted as assistant priests, they were immoral and corrupt. But Eli did not do anything about their behaviour. They officiated in the services in the temple when offerings were made. But they helped themselves to the offerings. We read that they were “treating the Lord’s offerings with contempt”. Eli is judged. The third window is when the boy Samuel is a bit older and is sleeping in the temple when he hears a voice calling “Samuel”. He thinks it is Eli and runs through to him. Eli thinks the boy is dreaming and tells him to go back to bed. He knew God speaks from the book or the pulpit, not through thoughts. This happens again with the same result. “If you hear that voice for a third time” Eli tells the boy, say “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening”. Samuel hears that still small voice again and replies as Eli has told him but misses out the word “Lord”. The voice then gives little Samuel a message that God would judge Eli because he knew his sons were bad and he did nothing about it. Eli was ready to castigate others, but not his own sons. The outcome would be a disaster. Still Eli did nothing about them. Ordinary people hearing voices should not concern the conscience of a high priest. The final disaster came about 510 years later, the people transported and the city demolished. The results. The fourth window comes when the Philistines, a belligerent neighbouring nation, attacked Israel and won the first battle. The Israeli army decided to fetch the sacred Ark from Eli’s keeping and hoped that it would bring them fortune, like a good luck talisman. Eli approved a popular symbol over faith. This Ark was a gold plated box containing the tablets that Moses inscribed with the ten commandments and was so holy that it must not be handled. It had rings at the corners so poles could be threaded through for transport. Eli’s two sons carried the poles. The remnant of the Israel army was thrilled with the Ark and the Philistines were frightened. In the subsequent battle the Ark relic was captured and Eli’s two sons were killed. When this news reached Eli sitting waiting at the roadside, he fell off his chair, broke his neck and died. A fatal result. The Philistines took the ark and put it in their temple in front of the statue of their god Dagon. Next morning Dagon was flat of the floor. They stood it up, but it went down again and again. Next came a plague of rats in the Philistine country followed by a lethal epidemic. That caused such a panic that they sent the ark back to Israel. Here too there were problems until they treated the ark with due respect. They had misread or forgotten God’s instructions. Questions? We now ask ourselves why this man’s actions are recorded in such detail together with the subsequent effects caused by the temporary loss of the Ark. It did come back and eventually ended up in Solomon’s temple about 100 hundred years afterwards. Was Eli more upset by Hannah’s emotional praying than by keeping the traditions of silence in the temple? Was Hannah’s prayer too emotional? Was that contempt? Later Eli is told off by a visitor for giving honour to his sons more than to God. Eli was obviously a sympathetic and patient man dealing almost as a father to the boy Samuel, even though he did not listen seriously to Samuel’s warnings. The voice speaking to Samuel needs thinking about. It obviously was not like that voice the shepherds heard about the baby born in Bethlehem. That was loud. Luke claims that his gospel was “approved from above” (Gk anothem in chapter one). Old Testament writers record frequently “the voice of the Lord came unto me saying….” See all the prophet books, especially Jeremiah. The fourth- window shows us that Eli and the people regarded the Ark almost as a talisman or good luck charm. They seem to be confusing a symbol with the reality of worship. Is this possible now? Are there things, practices or church rituals which are more important than faith? “We have always done it this way, so it must be right.” The people, and Eli, appeared to have forgotten the content of the ten commandments that were inscribed on tablets and inside that Ark. Those commandments were the laws which precluded everyone doing as they saw fit. Jesus summarised the commandments with the words we repeat every Sunday, “Love God and love your neighbour”. Bob
That still small voiceChoicesWe are about two hundred years after Solomon. Ahab is king of the northern half with his domineering wife Jezebel, a keen Baal supporter The people had again forgotten God in favour of the visible Baal, who is their popular local god of rain and thunder. Elijah, who is the current prophet/preacher, decides to do something about it. He will arrange a test. James, Jesus’ brother, tells us that Elijah was a bloke just like us and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain for a bit so he could demonstrate God’s power. Who could control the weather and make it rain?. Now, Elijah’s prayer is answered, and it did not rain for three and a half years and the drought was causing famine. People were concerned. Elijah tells Ahab to gather all the people and the Baal officials together to see if the rain god could do anything to help. A huge crowd gathers on the sea coast together with the 450 Baal officials and Elijah addresses them. He asks the people to judge who is the real god and poses a test. The test is a simple one. They are to prepare a sacrifice on a pile of dry sticks on an altar and then see which deity can answer with fire. No one is allowed to light the fire and the Baal officials are given the first chance to prove that Baal is real.Enthusiasm. The preparations are made. The Baal officials start praying to their god in the morning and get quite agitated when nothing happens. By lunchtime their inspiration and enthusiasm is waning a bit, so Elijah goes in to help. He jokes and suggests that Baal may have overslept or is busy somewhere else. He makes fun of them. The one thing enthusiasts can’t stand is ridicule. So the Baal lot really go into overdrive and their dancing becomes even more frenzied. So much so that they cut themselves with knives until the blood flowed. That is true passion. But still nothing happens.His turn. About tea time Elijah calls a halt and says that it is his turn. First, to make sure there was no possibility of cheating, he gets some people to pour water over his bonfire and sacrifice. They did this three times. Some modern people have assumed this account is a fairy story as how could they get so much water during a drought. These critics seem never to have read the detail that the action was taking place near the sea. So it was sea water that soaked the wood. Then Elijah prays that God would answer him so these people will “know that you are God and that you are turning their hearts back again”. Immediately a lightening strike burned up the sacrifice, the wet wood, the stones they had built the altar with and evaporated the puddles of water around.First result. The watching people are so amazed they fall on their faces. Then they turn on those 450 Baal officials who had been misleading and cheating them for so long and kill them all. Elijah is still on a high and he tells king Ahab and the people to go and have a feast, eat and drink, because it is about to rain. And it will be heavy rain. After a high there is often a low. Elijah goes up the hill behind and prays sending his servant on as a look out. There is nothing to see. God’s time is not always our time. Seven times Elijah tells the servant to look again and on the seventh he reports a small cloud out over the sea.Second result. Elijah orders the relieved Ahab to get back in his chariot and drive to the city fast before the storm. Elijah himself is so excited he pulls up his cloak and runs beside the chariot all the way to Samaria. That’s when things begin to go wrong. Jezebel heard what had happened to the Baal officials that she swears revenge on Elijah and seems to ignore the fact that it was raining and food supplies for the people were now optimistic. She promises that Elijah will be as dead as all the Baal officials by breakfast time tomorrow.Outcome. Elijah ran for his life. He even left his servant near some houses and walked out alone into the desert, sat down depressed under a tree and prayed that he could die peacefully. Then he went to sleep. He was woken up to find some food and water ready for him. There was enough for a month and he walked on across the desert and hid in a cave. Here conscience and the question of what he was doing hiding, hit him and God gives him a lesson. He sees a storm, but God is not in it. He sees an earthquake, but God is not in it. Then a fire. The same. Finally that still small voice of conscience that asks “what are you doing here Elijah?”Conclusion. Elijah tries to justify himself. He tells God that he has been very active and loyal, but now he is the only one left who has not bowed down to a Baal. God replies that He has more work for Elijah to do and there are still seven thousand others who have not given in to the Baal temptations. There are several other incidents about Elijah recorded for us culminating in his appearance with Moses to the disciples and Jesus. What are we to learn from this one? Was it right to put God to the test? What place does humour have in Christianity? Do we pray “earnestly”? Would we have looked seven times for an answer to our prayer? Why does James quote Elijah as an ordinary bloke? Do we have ups and downs in our lives? Is that wrong? Were the people wicked to have killed all the Baal prophets? Did Elijah realise that God had lots more big works for him? Was he really a bloke just like us to get such an answer to prayer? Do we listen to that still small voice?Bob
Abigail, the brave lady?According to the Talmud, Abigail was one of the three most beautiful women in ancient times. The other two were both winners of national and internationally organised beauty competitions as recorded in the Bible. Esther of course was one. The other was Abishag who we may think about next year. Abigail was the wife of a very rich farmer when Saul was king over Israel in name but not in control. So much out of control that most Israeli farmers lost much of their stock and harvests to raiders. Saul seems to have spent more time chasing David than protecting the country borders and applying law and order. Some years before this incident, the young David had tricked Goliath into losing his head. This gave rise to a popular pop song “Saul has killed his thousands, but David his tens of thousands”. The song went viral and was very popular. This made Saul really jealous. and he set himself out to kill David especially as David had been secretly anointed by Samuel to be the next king. Hence, Saul’s jealousy and his desire to get rid of David permanently without recognising the good David was doing for the country. The population was divided. We read that David went into hiding in the desert and his brothers joined him together with any who were “in distress or in debt or discontented” and together they made up a band of outlaws about four hundred strong. They lived off the land and protected Israeli farmers from attacks by neighbouring tribes and kingdoms whenever they could. They were outlaws in effect.First confrontationNow there was an Israeli farmer called Nabal who was doing very well. Not only did he have a thousand goats but three thousand sheep. It was springtime so shearing had been done, and all the stock would have been brought in. It was the time for feasting and celebrations. David’s men had survived the winter on short rations, so he sent a message to Nabal suggesting that, in return for protecting Nabal’s staff and the flocks all winter, he might spare some food for him and his Merry Men. Protection money in other words. Nabal, whose name means “fool”, gave a very curt reply to the messengers, showing pride and ignorance. David is incensed so much that he musters his four hundred outlaws to go and teach Nabal a lesson. That lesson would be severe as David says he will not leave even “one male alive of Nabal’s family and staff by morning”. This is a crisis as Nabal and all his staff are too busy with their party celebrating the shearing being done, money in the bank and seem not to be aware of the very painful threat approaching.Second confrontationNabal’s pretty wife, Abigail, recognises the foolishness of her husband and goes into logical overdrive. Abigail was also a wise lady. She accepted the inevitable and then sets out to change it, even though she was in a privileged position. She gets the kitchen staff to produce two hundred loaves of bread (when had David’s men had proper bread recently?), five roast sheep, lots of wine and sent it all to the approaching David without saying anything to her husband. Abigail follows after tidying herself up and makes one of the longest speeches by a woman recorded in the Bible. Now, although she was the wife of the biggest farmer in the area and David is really trespassing on their land, she starts by calling him “My lord”. Then she admits that her husband was not only foolish but also wrong not to have shared the shearing feast with David’s men. Without David’s protection there would probably have been no flock to shear. Then she assumes she has won the discussion as she says, “the Lord has kept you, my master from bloodshed”. She pleads for forgiveness and forecasts that David will become the leader of the Israeli nations and it would not be right to have the “staggering burden of needless bloodshed just for vengeance on his conscience”. Finally, she asks David to remember her when the Lord has given her master success. What a romantic proposal. It worked too. David who thanks God for her prompt action. Without it, he says he would have carried out his severe lesson on Nabal and his staff. David accepts the gift of food she offered him and goes back to his camp.Result of fairnessMeanwhile Nabal is having a “banquet like that of a king”. The next morning, when she tells Nabal what she has done he seems to have had a heart attack and is incapable of speech before dying ten days later. Guilty conscience? As soon as David heard about this he sent messengers to Abigail asking her to be his wife. She immediately accepts and sets off on her donkey with her five maids to become (another) Mrs David.ResponsesThe first question is to ask why is this incident recorded in so much detail? The second question we must ask is why was David who has a strong armed force and widespread praise, honour and acclaim in the country, doing hiding in the wilds? Was Saul just jealous? David could easily have set up an estate or commune like Nabal’s and lived happily. He already had some wives. But he chose to support Saul and tradition with law and order. He is loyal. He could have killed Saul several times. Remember the toilet incident in 1 Samuel 24 or the spear and water jug in chapter 26? Instead David volunteers to police the country with his Merry Men as protection from foreign attacks.Third question, was David right in asking for protection money from Nabal in the form of food? Nabal would probably have lost much of his stock if David had not, in the words of Nabal’s staff “been a wall around us all the time we were herding our sheep near them” and not a thing went missing.We are given the whole of Abigail’s initial speech in 1 Samuel 24 to the invading David and then his response in detail. She does not plead extenuating circumstances but starts straight off by calling David “my lord”. In other words, accepting him as boss. It must have taken her some courage to confront all those bloodthirsty brigands by herself, probably in the evening. Each sentence has a wealth of wisdom.What are the messages for us today? Should we use force to claim our rights or even to punish injustice? Is it just that a soft answer turns away wrath? Is there ever a case for vengeance? Was what happened to Nabal pure chance? Answers to all questions appreciated. God is the final and ultimate judge, not us. Read the whole story in 1 Samuel 26, preferably in the Message version.
Are you sure, God?Following the victories led by those two redoubtable women Deborah and Jael, somewhere around 200 years before David became king and the Israelites had had peace for forty years. Things were quite good to start with. But they still did not have a leader and then they forgot God. They went back to doing things that were not right in God’s sight. They could not see Him like the neighbouring tribes of Midianites and Amorites who could see their statues, rituals, altars, sacred poles and other idols and they seemed to be successful. They were raiding Israel every harvest time and going off with most of the crops and stock without doing any of the work. They even settled on the fertile plains. The Israelites, who still had no king or leader, gave up and tried to survive by hiding in the hills and eventually cried out to God. A local preacher went round reminding them of what God had done for them in the past, but they would not listen to him and ignored God for seven fraught years. The preacher reminded them of the rescue from slavery in Egypt and then making available the fertile land they were now in. God had done it in the past. He could do it again, but they would not listen.CalledIn these troublesome times, a small farmer was hiding in the local vineyard to shake out the corn from his garden wheat crop when a bloke comes up and says happily “God is with you”. That welcome was received with ridicule by the farmer who says in true agricultural speech “Then prove it”. He grumbles that the God of history has forgotten them, and things had gone wrong. Remembering his manners the farmer finally invites the bloke to lunch and prepares a good one. Instead of enjoying the meal prepared from scarce resources, the visitor zaps it in almost Harry Potter style. The frightened farmer is ordered to go in his strength and save Israel. He tries excuses but is told that God will be with him. He is almost convinced and starts by breaking down the local Baal statue and altar to the horror of his neighbours. His father supports him and they call everyone together to form an army to drive out the raiding Midianites. Lots of people came.TestingThat farmer’s name was Gideon. He was amazed at the response of so many people but to test their commitment he suggested that anyone who was really frightened should go home now. Two thirds of them went. Gideon himself is still not convinced about God and has doubts. He decides to do a test and puts out a sheep skin overnight asking God to let the dew fall on it and not on the ground around. The skin was sopping next morning and the ground dry. Gideon thinks this may be chance and asks God for the opposite to happen. It did and the skin was dry and the ground wet. He has tested God and has no excuse, now he must act. His first job is to inspect his volunteer army. As a test of observation and intelligence Gideon asked the remaining men to have a drink from the stream. Most bent down and lapped and only three hundred cupped their hands to drink so they could still see what was going on around them. Just those three hundred were chosen. God is really giving Gideon and his colleagues a big challenge if they are to drive out the huge invading Midianite host by themselves.StrategyThe Midianite forces were sort of an EU or United Nations brigade from many different countries. Why is it specially recorded that one group had brought a huge contingent of camels with them? They all camped in a valley with hills on three sides. Gideon divided his men into three groups with each man being issued with a trumpet, a pottery jar with an oil lamp in it and stationed them around on the surrounding hills. In the middle of the night, on God’s instruction, Gideon gave the signal and the men all broke their jars and the lights appeared. They then blew their trumpets and made a noise. The fashion at that time was for a large squad of at least a hundred soldiers to be led by one man with a single light. So the Midianites assumed they were surrounded by more than a significant host. Panic.Can you imagine berserk camels galloping through the tent lines? All legs and necks and humps. Then this UN type force did not have a common language or even a general, so orders were not understood or given. (Has this lesson been learned yet?) The various nationalities in panic started fighting each other. After that a stampede of fleeing UN forces with the three hundred exhausted men after them. Now Gideon had a problem and to understand it we must look at contemporary history. It says “a disorder and a fright seized upon the other men while they were half asleep, for it was night-time, as God would have it. The greatest part were killed by their own soldiers, on account of the diversity of their languages; and when they were once put into disorder, they killed all that they met with as thinking them to be enemies also”. Some of the other Israelites who had not joined Gideon to start with now came out of hiding and helped a bit, killing some of the Midian generals, but then criticised Gideon for not letting them be in at the start of the fighting. Others were reluctant to believe that Gideon was winning and refused to give his men drink and food. They got a thrashing with brambles when final victory was announced for their lack of faith. They didn’t have mobiles or podcasts and things in those days, so news of victory was slow in spreadingJealousyThe tribe of Ephraim were the worst. They were “so displeased with the success of Gideon that they resolved to make war on him, accusing him because he did not tell them of his expedition against their enemies” Gideon responded that it was not his “own authority but it was the command of God” and the victory was just as much theirs as it was the three hundred. They saw sense and peaceful civilisation returned. Gideon was appointed a “judge and what he determined was esteemed valid by all”. Midian’s tyranny was broken by the Israelites, nothing more was heard from them, and the land was quiet for forty years afterwards. That was sadly not quite the end of the story as, probably from local pressure, Gideon had collected the gold earrings from the dead Midianites and had a Baal type statue made. We read that all Israel came to admire it and worshipped there and it became a snare to Gideon and his family. Again they forgot God.Lessons?What do we learn from this story? Gideon sincerely doubted and even then God was with him. Thomas doubted that Jesus had risen, and who is the first person that Jesus speaks to in that room? Moses ran away and hid because he doubted. Then he, like Ezekiel, said he could not speak in public, but went on to be a great orator. Gideon tested God’s call. Was that wrong? Do we have snares? What are they? God rewards faith and obedience. He is still patient. Why were the Ephraimites so upset when they had got what they wanted without fighting for it? Do we shun people who are blessed?One resultAs a sequel to this story, there was recently a man who had the bright idea that everyone should have a copy of the Bible, or at least a New Testament. Being enthusiastic, he advertised his idea and booked a large hall for interested people to come to. Two men turned up. Undeterred, they determined to go ahead with the idea. They remembered Gideon conquering the armies of the whole of the then known world with three hundred men. So they called themselves the Gideons. Initially they targeted business men by putting bibles in all hotel rooms. Now in 2025, the society distributes copies to hospitals, prisons, schools and many more. A recent report shows that more than two copies are given away every second. That is a million every four days. Copies are in ninety five languages. Well over two billion copies have been distributed already to people and even smuggled to places where established churches may not always be welcomed.Quotes from chapter VI Book V Antiquities by Josephus, Bible and the Gideon magazine.
