About thirty years before Sam'son began to rule in the west and southwestern parts of Is'ra-el, there was raised to the office of High Priest in Shi'loh a man named E'li. He held this position for forty years, the last ten of which coincided with the first ten years of Sam'son's twenty year reign. During his tenure of office as High Priest in the tabernacle he also held a place of much influence in the nation as a magistrate. Strictly speaking, he was not a "Judge," although it is said that he "judged Is'ra-el for forty years." This statement is due to the fact that during his priesthood there was no Judge whose reign extended over the entire land. In his priestly office, therefore, E'li advised the people in respect to civil matters, and decided over legal problems.
The time had now come for great changes in the national life of Is'ra-el. For nearly three hundred years there had been no centralized national authority, and the tribes had been very loosely related to one another and to the nation. What is known as the "Period of Judges" had witnessed many disgraceful sins, frequent lapses into idolatry, constant failures to uphold True Religion; and the country had suffered periodic invasions and oppressions from the heathen nations adjoining their land.
But in spite of the bloodshed, lawlessness, and superstition of that troubled period, it is easy to trace the progress of God's plan for uniting the widely separated and disordered tribes of Is'ra-el. Running through the entire story is the thread of God's purpose to purify the nation which was to become the great religious teacher of the world, and in whose land the Sav'ior was to be born. Chief among the factors which had brought the tribes into greater unity were their common faith in the religion of Je-ho'vah, their sense of racial unity, the pressure of common danger from foreign oppressors, and the brave leadership of great heroes raised up by God.
The tribes of the west and southwest were oppressed by occasional raids from the Phi-lis'tines, but there was no general war nor invasions of the land by foreign nations. A general state of irreverence and religious decline prevailed throughout the land, but notable exceptions to this rule are seen in the stories of Na-o'mi, Bo'az and Ruth. The LORD was preparing Is'ra-el for a great religious awakening, and for a closer union of worship and nationality.
The stories drawn from the books of Sam'u-el cover important events in the period which led to the formation of the great Is'ra-el-it-ish monarchy under Saul as the first king.
As we learnt in previous chapters, the office of High Priest of Is'ra-el was held exclusively by descendants of Aa'ron, and that this honor was given to the eldest son of each generation, unless there were good reasons why he could not serve. In the case of E'li, he was a descendant of Ith'a-mar, the youngest son of Aa'ron. The rank was probably given to him because at the death of the last High Priest of the family of E-le-a'zer, the eldest son of Aa'ron, his son was too young or inexperienced to assume the office.
E'li was a devout and pious man of God, and served the people with honor for a long period of time. He was lacking, however, in one very important respect: he was careless in the religious training of his sons, failing to restrain them from ways of immorality and blasphemy. For these failures he was severely punished, and his family doomed to lose their priestly heritage.
In his declining years E'li turnt over many duties of the priesthood to his two sons, Hoph'ni and Phin'e-has. Even while performing these sacred duties, they acted very wickedly. They were greedy, selfish, and depraved in conduct. They brought religion into disrepute and contempt, and caused the people to "abhor the offering of the LORD." Reports of their doings were brought to E'li, but he merely remonstrated with them in a feeble manner, letting them go on in their evil ways. He was not only High Priest, but a magistrate in Is'ra-el, and should have sternly punished his sons, who were so wicked that the Bible record speaks of them as "sons of Be'li-al who knew not the LORD."
