Bread of Life Fellowship

The story of the miraculous birth of Samuel appears as a ray of light during a very dark time in Israel's history. When we read about it in the first chapter and a half of 1 Samuel, we can come away with the idea that from this point on, things will get better as the boy is left to minister in the house of the Lord -1 Sam 2-11-. But the very next words in verse 12 remind us that we are still in a time of darkness- we are introduced to Samuel's counterparts, Hophni and Phinehas, and the narrator tells us of these young men, the sons of Eli were worthless men. They did not know the Lord -1 Sam 2-12-. From the beautiful story of a godly, humble woman's prayer for a son, we return to a gross description of the evil practices of Eli's sons and the consequence of their ungodly acts. Hophni and Phinehas committed both religious and moral abominations by appropriating the best portion of sacrifices for themselves and having sexual relations with servants right in the tabernacle of God. The opening narration of chapte