Eli Bible Story

Eli had two sons, Hopni and Phinehas who work as God’s priests. But Hopni and Phinehas were both very dishonest.

Many people come and offer sacrifices at Shiloh every day.

While they are boiling the meat from the sacrifices, Hopni and Phinehas would send a servant to stick whatever meat they can with a large three pronged fork.

Sometimes, they send the servant even when the fat of the meat is not yet cut off to set aside to dedicate to the Lord.

Then the servant would tell the people,” The priest does not want his meat to be boiled; he want to have roasted meat.”

Hopni and Phinehas did not respect God and this made God very angry with them.

Eli is already a very old man. He heard about the disgusting behavior of his two sons, Hopni and Phinehas to the Lord.

So he called them in and said to them,” I have heard many complains about you from the people. If you hurt someone, God can solve the problems between you and that person. But if you commit a crime against God, God is going to punish you.”

God decided to kill Hopni and Phinehas for disrespecting Him therefore Hopni and Phinehas didn’t heed their father’s advice.

The little boy Samuel who stays with Eli grew more and more in favor with men and God each day.

One day, God sent a prophet to speak to Eli.

The prophet said to Eli, “This is the message God wants me to tell you, ‘I am the Lord God Almighty.

I let your family to serve me as priests but I will no longer let you do this anymore!

I respect anyone who respects me and I will curse anyone who hates me.

Therefore, I will kill you and your sons and all your family relatives. You will have many problems in your family.

To prove this, your two sons, Hopni and Phinehas will die on the same day. I have chosen a faithful servant to be my priest.’”