The Point of No Return Text: 1 Samuel 2:22-26
Introduction: The Rot at the Top
We come now to a passage that is deeply unsettling. It is a snapshot of spiritual decay at the very heart of Israel's worship. The tabernacle at Shiloh was meant to be the place where Heaven and Earth met, where the holy God dwelt among His people. But in our text, it has become a place of sacrilege, a religious brothel run by the sons of the high priest. This is not just a story about a dysfunctional family; it is a story about what happens when the men charged with representing God to the people begin to represent the devil instead. When the priesthood becomes corrupt, the entire nation is endangered. The fish rots from the head down.
Eli, the high priest, is an object lesson in the dangers of passive fatherhood and weak leadership. He is not a monster like his sons. He is an old man, and perhaps a tired one. He hears the reports, and they are ghastly. He knows what is happening. But his response is a flaccid, toothless rebuke. It is a verbal slap on the wrist for sins that demanded excommunication and execution. His failure is not that he was unaware, but that he was unwilling to act decisively. He honored his sons more than he honored God, and in so doing, he taught the people of Israel to abhor the offering of the Lord.
This passage presents us with a stark and terrible contrast. On the one hand, we have the house of Eli, which is spiraling down into judgment. His sons, Hophni and Phinehas, have crossed a line. They are reprobate. On the other hand, we have the boy Samuel, who is quietly growing in stature and in favor with both God and men. One house is being torn down by God's righteous judgment, while another is being built up by His sovereign grace. This is the constant pattern of redemptive history. God is always judging and saving, deconstructing and reconstructing. And in this story, we see the principle of reprobation set forth with terrifying clarity. There comes a point when God stops striving with men, when He gives them over to their sin, and when their destruction becomes a fixed, settled, and determined thing.
The Text
Now Eli was very old; and he heard all that his sons were doing to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who served at the doorway of the tent of meeting. So he said to them, "Why do you do such things, the evil things that I hear from all these people? No, my sons; for the report is not good which I hear the people of Yahweh passing about. If one man sins against another, God will mediate for him; but if a man sins against Yahweh, who can pray for him?" But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for Yahweh desired to put them to death. Now the young boy Samuel was growing in stature and in favor both with Yahweh and with men.
(1 Samuel 2:22-26 LSB)
A Feeble Rebuke for Heinous Sins (vv. 22-24)
The scene opens with the tragic figure of Eli, a man whose piety was tragically undermined by his passivity.
"Now Eli was very old; and he heard all that his sons were doing to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who served at the doorway of the tent of meeting. So he said to them, 'Why do you do such things, the evil things that I hear from all these people? No, my sons; for the report is not good which I hear the people of Yahweh passing about.'" (1 Samuel 2:22-24 LSB)
Notice the source of the information. Eli "heard" what his sons were doing. The scandal was public. "All Israel" knew about it. The corruption was not a private family matter; it was a public disgrace that was poisoning the spiritual life of the entire nation. And the sin was not just their greed at the altar, which was bad enough. It was now brazen sexual sin, committed at the very entrance to the holy place. They were turning the tabernacle into a pagan temple, where cult prostitution was a common feature. They were not just sinning; they were sinning in their capacity as priests, using their office to exploit the vulnerable and defile the worship of God. This was high-handed, defiant sin.
And what is Eli's response? It is a pathetic and watery rebuke. "Why do you do such things?" This is the question of a bewildered man, not a righteous judge. He should have known why. They did it because they were sons of Belial who did not know the Lord (1 Sam. 2:12), and because he, their father and high priest, had failed to restrain them (1 Sam. 3:13). He appeals to public opinion: "the report is not good which I hear the people of Yahweh passing about." He is concerned about the bad press, the poor PR. But the problem was not the bad report; the problem was the wicked reality that generated the report.
Under the law of Moses, these were capital crimes. Blasphemy, sacrilege, and adultery all carried the death penalty. As the high priest and judge of Israel, Eli had the authority and the solemn duty to remove them from office and see that justice was done. He should have rent his garments, called the elders, and had his sons stoned outside the camp. Instead, he says, "No, my sons." This is the language you use on a toddler who is pulling the cat's tail, not on hardened criminals who are leading a nation into apostasy. His failure to act was a catastrophic failure of leadership, both in the home and in the church. He loved the comfort of his sons more than the holiness of his God.
The Point of Judicial Hardening (v. 25)
Eli's rebuke continues, and he stumbles upon a profound theological principle, even if he fails to apply it correctly. But the true engine of the narrative is revealed in the second half of the verse.
"If one man sins against another, God will mediate for him; but if a man sins against Yahweh, who can pray for him?' But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for Yahweh desired to put them to death." (1 Samuel 2:25 LSB)
Eli makes a distinction between sins against men and sins against God. In a dispute between two men, there are judges and arbitrators. There is a way to adjudicate the matter. But Hophni and Phinehas were not merely sinning against their fellow Israelites; they were sinning directly against Yahweh. Their sin was an assault on His name, His worship, and His holiness. It was a sin of the highest order, a "high-handed" sin for which there was no sacrifice of atonement (Numbers 15:30-31). Eli asks a rhetorical question: "who can pray for him?" The implied answer is that no one can. Their sin was so egregious that it had placed them beyond the reach of normal intercession.
But then we are given the ultimate reason for their hardness of heart. "But they would not listen... for Yahweh desired to put them to death." This is one of the starkest statements of divine sovereignty in all of Scripture. Their deafness was not the ultimate cause of their destruction. Rather, God's settled intention to destroy them was the ultimate cause of their deafness. God had handed them over. He was no longer striving with them. He had judicially hardened their hearts in preparation for their execution. This is a terrifying doctrine, but a biblical one. We see it with Pharaoh. We see it with the Canaanites. God is sovereign not only in salvation but also in judgment. He is the potter, and He has the right to make from the same lump of clay one vessel for honor and another for dishonor (Romans 9:21).
This does not mean Hophni and Phinehas were innocent victims of a divine decree. They were fully responsible for their sin. God's sovereign desire to put them to death was not arbitrary; it was the just response to their persistent, high-handed rebellion. They chose the sin, and God chose to ratify their choice and seal their doom. There is a point of no return in the life of an individual or a nation, a point where the patience of God is exhausted and the door of repentance is closed by God Himself. Hophni and Phinehas had crossed that line.
The Seed of Hope (v. 26)
Just as the darkness of Eli's house seems absolute, the Holy Spirit inserts a single verse of brilliant light. The contrast is intentional and powerful.
"Now the young boy Samuel was growing in stature and in favor both with Yahweh and with men." (1 Samuel 2:26 LSB)
While the accredited, ordained, and corrupt priests are being hardened for destruction, a young boy in a linen ephod is being prepared by grace for leadership. The formal institution was rotten, but God was raising up His chosen instrument outside the established lines of power. The house of Eli was collapsing, but the house of God would not fail. God is never without a witness.
This description of Samuel is profoundly significant. It is almost the exact language used to describe the childhood of the Lord Jesus Christ: "And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and men" (Luke 2:52). This is not a coincidence. Samuel is a type of Christ. He is the prophet, priest, and judge who will lead Israel through this transition. His growth is a sign of God's covenant faithfulness. While the sons of Eli were growing in wickedness, Samuel was growing in grace. While they were earning the hatred of God and the disgust of the people, Samuel was earning the favor of both.
This shows us that true spiritual stature is not about age, office, or pedigree. It is about a right relationship with God. Samuel's growth was balanced. It was vertical ("with Yahweh") and horizontal ("with men"). A genuine walk with God will inevitably produce a good reputation among discerning people. The people of Israel could see the difference. They saw the rapacious greed and lust of Hophni and Phinehas, and they saw the simple, faithful service of the boy Samuel. In the midst of judgment, God was planting the seed of revival.
Conclusion: The Great Exchange
This passage is a warning and a comfort. It is a warning to all fathers, and especially to all pastors. Passivity in the face of sin is not kindness; it is cruelty. To refuse to discipline is to hate your children (Proverbs 13:24). To tolerate gross sin in the church for the sake of a false peace is to invite the judgment of God. Eli's failure reminds us that God holds leaders to a higher standard. We must be men who are jealous for the holiness of God's house, willing to take decisive, costly action to protect the flock from wolves, even when those wolves are our own kin.
It is also a warning about the reality of reprobation. Do not trifle with sin. Do not presume upon the grace of God. There is a line that can be crossed. There is a sin that leads to death (1 John 5:16). The most terrifying thing that can happen to a man is not for God to strike him with lightning, but for God to leave him alone in his sin. If you are still troubled by your sin, if the Spirit of God still strives with you, that is a sign of His grace. Do not harden your heart, lest He harden it for you.
But the ultimate focus of this passage is the glorious contrast between the failing priest and the coming King. Eli's house is a picture of the failure of the entire Levitical priesthood. It was a temporary system, a shadow that was powerless to truly take away sin. Hophni and Phinehas demonstrate that a human priesthood is always susceptible to corruption. Their sin, a sin "against Yahweh" for which no man could intercede, highlights our desperate need for a better mediator.
And that is where the gospel shines. We have all sinned against Yahweh. Who can pray for us? The answer is Jesus Christ. He is the great High Priest who did not fail. He is the one who offered a perfect sacrifice for sins against God. And He is the one who can mediate for us, because He is both God and man. The question Eli asked finds its ultimate answer at the cross. "If a man sins against Yahweh, who can pray for him?" The answer is the man Christ Jesus, who is Yahweh Himself. He stands in the gap. He is the faithful priest from the line of Zadok, the true Samuel, the one who grows forever in favor with God and men. The house of Eli must be torn down so that the house of David, and ultimately the house of Christ, can be built up. God's judgment on the old is always the prelude to His grace in the new.