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Eli A Judge In Israel

Eli is found on the Bible Timeline beginning at 1252 BC Eli was a priest in Israel, and when he is introduced into the Bible, he assures a childless woman named Hannah that she will have a baby. Hannah is one of two wives of Elkanah, and she is not able to bear children. Elkanah’s other wife Peninnah constantly harasses Hannah about not being able to have children. Hannah goes to the temple to pray about this dilemma, and Eli assures her that God will grant her request.

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Hannah Giving Her Son Samuel to the Priest

After Hannah has her firstborn child, she names him Samuel and leaves him to the care of Eli. Samuel is raised up by Eli and becomes a prophet and a judge of Israel. During Eli’s lifetime, he judged Israel for forty years. Before he died, he had two sons named Hophni and Phinehas. The Bible states that these two sons didn’t know God, but they were the sons of Belial. In other words, Eli son’s worshipped the devil while serving as God’s priests in God’s temple. They had sex with the servant girls of the temple, and they took meat from the people that was meant to be used for sacrifice. They also forced the people to give them good meat for the sacrifices and if the people didn’t listen they threatened to hurt them. Many people didn’t want to go to the temple to make offerings to the Lord because of their deeds. God was mad at Eli for not stopping his sons from doing this wicked behavior.

Apparently Eli could have stopped his boys but he did nothing to keep them from sinning. God also claims that Eli allowed his sons to take the best meat for all of their benefits. God was angry with him. God then judges Eli by not allowing any of his male offspring to grow old, and they will be placed in subservient positions to priests from other lines. God’s judgment is severe because the duties of the priests are extremely important with helping to keep the people free from sin and for living a holy life. The time has passed, and the Philistines have attacked the land of Israel and during the battle Phinehas and Hophni are killed. When Eli hears this news, he falls back on his neck and is killed. The Bible states that Eli had become a very large man over the years, and when he fell back he broke his neck. This seems to be a bit of an irony from the Lord about Eli and his over-indulgence of the meat that he had taken from the temple. Eli’s rule over Israel wasn’t the best, but he wasn’t discredited as a bad judge either.

Bible References to Eli

  • Exodus 28 and 29 The tribe of Levi is chosen by God to become a priest for all of Israel. (28:1) Aaron receives his anointing to become the first high priest of Israel.
  • 1 Samuel 1, 2: 1-11 tells the story of Hannah and how Eli assures her that God will fulfill her request.
  • 1 Samuel 1:25 Eli receives Samuel from Hannah so he could raise him up for God’s service.
  • 1 Samuel 2:12-17 tells about Eli’s wicked sons Hophni and Phinehas.
  • 1 Samuel 2:27-36 Elis and his family are Judged by God.
  • 1 Samuel 4:16-18 Eli hears about the death of his sons and falls over backwards and dies. He judges Israel for forty years.
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3 thoughts on “Eli A Judge In Israel

  1. i cannot relate to the timeline conserning samuel was he born at 1105bc ? eli was 98 year when he died . he was born 1252 bc ?

  2. also was Samson there at Shiloh?

  3. It is not possible with the limited information preserved in the Biblical narrative to derive how old Samuel was when he began to judge Israel. Yet, it is possible to back-count from the raid on Jerusalem by Pharaoh Shoshenq in 923 BCE in Rehoboam’s fifth year of rule. This date puts Rehoboam’s first year of rule, and consequently the death of King Solomon, in 927 BCE. Josrphus records an 80-year reign for Solomon (Jewish Antiquities 8.211) which puts the first year of Solomon’s rule in 1007 BCE. Counting back forty-and-one-half years of David’s reign, and another twenty years for Saul’s reign (per Jewish Antiquities 10.163) and we have the end of Samuel’s judgeship in 1068 BCE. Since Samuel began to judge Israel the same year in which Eli died, Samuel judged Israel for twelve years before Saul was anointed king, and Eli was 98 years old at his demise, Eli was born in 1188 BCE, and ruled as High Priest from 1120 to 1080 BCE. One could also note that Samson was “champion” of Israel for twenty years while Eli was High Priest, so the years of Samson’s judgeship must not be double-counted with Eli’s years of High Priesthood.

    Hope this helps.

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