DUMB WAYS TO DIE

#5: Eli – Dying Heels Over Head

Dumb Ways To Die

Bungee Jumping Brainiac.

Bridge Diving Compulsion.

How Can You Tell When Food’s Turned Rotten?

What’s that green, fuzzy softball in my refrigerator?

What is that rainforest in my pantry?

When is milk bad? When is yogurt bad? When is cottage

cheese bad? When is cheese bad?

How can you tell when people turn rotten?

1 Samuel 2:12-17, 22 – Now the sons of Eli were worthless men; they did not know the Lord…When any man was offering a sacrifice…

Taking meat with a three-pronged fork. Taking meat before it was properly sacrificed –

raw with the fat. Laying with the women who served at the

doorway of the tent of meeting.

1 Samuel 2:17

“Thus the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord, for the men despised the offering of the Lord.

Important to realize

their sin was an affront to the sacrificial system of the Lord.

Eli’s Weak Rebuke 1 Samuel 2:22-25 – Now Eli was very old;

and he heard all that his sons were doing…He said to them, “Why do you do such things…? No, my sons; for the report is not good….If one man sins against another, God will mediate for him; but if a man sins against the Lord, who can intercede for him?” But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for the Lord desired to put them to death.

What Should Eli Have Done?

Deuteronomy 21:18-21 --“If any man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey his father or his mother, and when they chastise him, he will not even listen to them, then his father and mother shall seize him, and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gateway of his hometown.

What Should Eli Have Done?

…They shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey us, he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death; so you shall remove the evil from your midst, and all Israel will hear of it and fear.

The Sins Of Phineas and Hophni

Concerned the Peace Offering

Leviticus 3:1-5 Hand on the head Slay at doorway of the

tent of meeting Blood around the altar Fat/offal offered to God

as a burnt offering

Leviticus 7:15-18

“Now as for the flesh of the sacrifice of his thanksgiving peace offerings…

Eaten on the day of the offering

For freewill offering could be eaten the next day.

Sinning On Multiple Levels

Sinning against God by robbing His altar and eating the fat.

Sinning against the worshiper by eating his portion of the sacrifice.

Sinning against the people by way of extortion.

Sinning against God with ritual prostitution.

Was Eli Also Sinning?

1 Samuel 4:16-18 Report of the battle brought to Eli Israel fled before the

Philistines The ark of the covenant

was captured Eli fell off his seat by

the gate and broke his neck… “for he was old and heavy….”

How was Eli fed?

Four And 34,000 Needless Deaths

1 Samuel 4:2 – “The Philistines drew up in battle array to meet Israel. When the battle spread, Israel was defeated before the Philistines who killed about four thousand men on the battlefield.

1 Samuel 4:10

“So the Philistines fought and Israel was defeated, and every man fled to his tent; and the slaughter was very great, for there fell of Israel thirty thousand foot soldiers.”

Eli and His Sons Die

1 Samuel 4:11 – And the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.

1 Samuel 4:18 – “…Eli fell off the seat backward beside the gate, and his neck was broken and he died….”

Phineas’ Wife Dies

1 Samuel 4:19-22 Giving birth when battle was lost. Died as a result of childbirth. Called her son, “Ichabod” before her death. “The glory has departed from Israel, for the

ark of God was taken.”

A Lasting Lesson

Matthew 10:37-38 – “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.”