The Sins of Our Children (by Walt Henrichsen)

“Why do you kick at My sacrifice and at My offering which I have commanded in My dwelling, and honor your sons above Me, by making yourselves fat with the choicest of every offering of My people Israel?” 1Samuel 2:29

Because of the sin of Eli’s sons, God sent His man to rebuke Eli. These were not sins that Eli committed, but the sins of his children. Because Eli refused to discipline his children and hold them accountable for their crimes, God disciplined Eli. As you read the narrative, the consequences are severe: “A time is coming when I will break your power and that of your father’s house, and there shall be no elder in your house…And this shall be a sign for you: The fate of your two sons Hophni and Phinehas — they shall both die on the same day. And I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest, who will act in accordance with My wishes and My purposes…And all the survivors of your house shall come and bow low to him for the sake of a money fee and a loaf of bread, and shall say, ‘Please, assign me to one of the priestly duties, that I may have a morsel of bread to eat.’”[1]

Paul spells out in I Corinthians 5 the steps we must take when the commandments of God are broken. If Eli teaches us anything, it is that when a man refuses to exercise biblical discipline with his children, God comes looking for the father.