HAVING A DESTINY yet never finding it is an all-too-common lot, one that affects the vast majority of human-kind. Finding our destiny and making it our own is a desire of most people. Realizing our destiny to a significant degree is dependent not only upon gifting, but also intentionality—a keen focus that day-by-day holds on to its gains, and keeps improving upon them with a known objective in mind. Losing our destiny through some happenstance of fate, to which we are all subject, is sorrowful. Having our God-given destiny taken away from us due to sin or laxity is tragic, and affects more than just our individual well-being. Such was the case of Eli, the High Priest at Shiloh, the next-to-last judge of Israel.
Eli’s story is told against the looming shadow of Samuel, here a mere boy, but destined to become the last and one of the greatest of all judges of Israel. His story unfolds through the answered prayers of his mother. “As surely as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord. I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.” (1 Sam. 1:26-28) And so Samuel was given into Eli’s care. While Eli’s story is not Samuel’s, theirs’ are intertwined, and from their juxtaposition we learn a stark lesson about what happens in following the will of God with full integrity, or not doing so.
Eli’s story is a sad one. In some instances, we see him carrying out his duties well, but in others he shows a lax regard for the realities of his high office. Earlier, to Samuel’s barren yet mother-to-be Hannah, as a blessing he says, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.” (1 Sam. 1:17) And so Samuel is conceived, and dedicated to the Lord. A few years later, with the young Samuel in his now in his care, Eli responds tenderly to the boy’s confusion when first hearing the voice of God. “Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord: The word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, ‘Here I am; you called me.’ Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. So Eli told Samuel, ‘Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’” (1Sam. 3:7-9)
As regards his own errant sons, however, while Eli rebukes them, he does so without calling them to consequences. “Eli heard about everything his sons were doing to all Israel and how they slept with the women. ‘Why do you do such things? I hear from all the people about these wicked deeds of yours. No, my sons; it is not a good report that I hear spreading among the Lord’s people.’ His sons, however, did not listen to their father’s rebuke.” (1 Sam. 2:25)
God has had enough—the standards for a High Priest are high indeed. “Did I not clearly reveal myself to your father’s house, to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, and to wear an ephod. Why do you scorn my sacrifice and offering that I prescribed for my dwelling? Why do you honor your sons more than me by fattening yourselves on the choice parts of every offering made by my people Israel? The time is coming when I will cut short your strength and the strength of your father’s house. What happens to your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, will be a sign to you—they will both die on the same day. I will raise up for myself a faithful priest.” (1 Sam. 2:27-35a)
As Samuel grows, continually in Eli’s care, he is clearly destined to become that faithful priest. “The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of Samuel’s words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba recognized that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the Lord.” (1 Sam. 3:19-20) And, just as clearly, the destiny of the house of Eli becomes one fated for annihilation.
The saddest part of the story of Eli occurs some years later, during the time when the surrounding Philistines have grown strong in battle. Scripture reveals this scene : “So the Philistines fought, and the Israelites were defeated and every man fled to his tent. The slaughter was very great; Israel lost thirty thousand foot-soldiers. The ark of God was captured, and Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, died. A Benjamite ran from the battle line, and Eli asked, ‘What happened, my son?’ He responded, ‘Israel fled before the Philistines, and the army has suffered heavy losses. Also, your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been captured.’ When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell backward off his chair by the side of the gate. His neck was broken and he died, for he was an old man and heavy. He had led Israel forty years.” (1 Sam. 4:10-18)
We might wonder if and when Eli stopped hearing the voice of the Lord himself. The scene of God’s announced judgment against the house of Eli comes before that of the young Samuel confusing God’s voice with Eli’s. “Samuel answered, “Here I am.” And he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.” But Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” (1 Sam. 3:4-5) Had Eli once heard that same voice himself, but now no longer does? What goes through his own mind even as he ushers the young Samuel into the presence of the Lord? He is already aware of his son’s abhorrent behavior, but has not called them into account other than a warning. And at his death scene years later, we note that it is the news of the loss of the ark, not the death of his sons, that stiffens him over to a fall to his death. Perhaps God throws him down; that seems to fit with the overall judgment and annihilation of the family.
Yet there is a very thin thread of sympathy that weaves its way into the periphery of Eli’s story line; perhaps we sense it against our own jaded concern that “there but for the grace of God go I.” Each of us has a destiny greater than we once knew; it is something we only learn of after enough life has happened to bring us into contact with Jesus and our salvation. In the N.T., Paul teaches, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Eph. 2:10)
As we grasp for our destiny, perhaps we wonder what might have happened if we had known such things earlier in life; but then, we have to work through God’s sovereignty, and so accept his timing. As we continue struggling for a destiny beyond our own will to become our’s to will and to become, perhaps we wonder if there is enough time or energy left, for the shape and size of God’s destiny can appear very daunting. But we are reminded of several things. First, “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” (Phil. 4:13) And, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.” (Heb. 12:2) Finally, let scripture comfort us as we persevere in the destiny God has chosen for us. “So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.” (Heb. 10:35-36)
Q. Am I fulfilling, not my destiny, but the one God prepared for me?
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