Word of Encouragement (08/10/2023)

Then Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, and say, "May the LORD give you children by this woman for the petition she asked of the LORD." So then they would return to their home. ²¹ Indeed the LORD visited Hannah, and she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. And the boy Samuel grew in the presence of the LORD. (1 Sam. 2:20-21)

Here, we have Eli’s prayer of blessing for Elkanah and Hannah and the LORD’s answer to his prayer.

There is nothing shocking about this, is there? After all, Eli was the high priest of Israel. One of his major duties, apart from presiding over the sacrifices that were offered at the tabernacle, was to pray for the people of Israel. Here, as before, we see Eli praying for Hannah and Elkanah, her husband. And the LORD answered his prayer.

But it is interesting that this account of Eli’s prayer comes right after an account of the atrocities that Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, committed regularly at the tabernacle as priests (2:12-17). And this prayer of Eli is immediately followed by his failure to deal with the blasphemous sins of his two sons. For this failure, God would curse Eli’s household (2:27-36). These factors make us wonder at least how God could answer the prayer of such a man, granted that he was the high priest.

We can derive from this that the reason for God’s answer to Eli’s prayer was not his righteousness or merit. Far from it. As we saw, Eli’s prayer for Elkanah and Hannah is immediately followed by an account of his failure to curtail the sins of his sons. What his sons did was not just any sin; they were tampering with the sacrifices offered to God and having relations with the women who were serving at the entrance of the tabernacle. We are told that “the sin of the young men was very great in the sight of the LORD, for the men treated the offering of the LORD with contempt” (2:17). And Eli was not just any old father; he was the high priest, whose main responsibility was to maintain the sanctity of Israel’s worship of God. The indictment God brought against Eli through a man of God was severe and long (2:27-36). Given this background, God’s answer to his prayer is shocking.

So, if God heard Eli’s prayer, it was not because of his merit or goodness. We cannot discount the importance of his position as the high priest. But we must be mindful that his position could not spare him from God’s wrath. If God answered Eli’s prayer, it was because he prayed according to God’s will. Even Eli was moved by Hannah’s unswerving commitment to keep her vow to dedicate her son to the service of God if He should grant her a son. He could not help but bless her in all sincerity.

We should be encouraged to pray according to God’s will, not our will: “And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us” (1 John 5:14). And when God answers our prayers, we should not be proud as if we earned it; rather, we should recognize that it was on account of the power and authority of Jesus’ name. We should also examine our hearts to see whether we “happened” to pray according to God’s will (like Eli) or sincerely desired God’s will. What is the Holy Spirit prodding and urging you to pray for?

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