We go right from Hannah’s joy to a serious problem with the priestly family of Eli the high priest and his two sons Hophni and Phinehas. The text is blunt:

Now the sons of Eli were worthless men. They did not know the LORD. (1 Samuel 2.12, ESV)

Then it talks about how they took the sacrifice food for themselves. (1 Samuel 2.13 – 17) It doesn’t say Eli was bad, just that his sons were. Eli tried to rebuke them without success:

By this time Eli was very old. He kept getting reports on how his sons were ripping off the people and sleeping with the women who helped out at the sanctuary. Eli took them to task: “What’s going on here? Why are you doing these things? I hear story after story of your corrupt and evil carrying on. Oh, my sons, this is not right! These are terrible reports I’m getting, stories spreading right and left among GOD’s people! If you sin against another person, there’s help—God’s help. But if you sin against GOD, who is around to help?” But they were far gone in disobedience and refused to listen to a thing their father said. So GOD, who was fed up with them, decreed their death. (1 Samuel 2.22 – 25, MSG)

These were bad men! Meanwhile, we have this word about Samuel:

Now the boy Samuel continued to grow both in stature and in favor with the LORD and also with man. (1 Samuel 2.26, ESV)

Very much like what Luke said about Jesus when he was 12:

And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man. (Luke 2.52, ESV)

And judgment on Eli and his sons is pronounced twice. Once by an anonymous holy man:

A holy man came to Eli and said: “This is GOD’s message…Be well warned: It won’t be long before I wipe out both your family and your future family…What happens to your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, will be the proof: Both will die the same day… (1 Samuel 2.27, 31, 34, MSG)

And once by Samuel after God makes contact with him for the first time (See 1 Samuel 3.1 – 10):

GOD said to Samuel, “Listen carefully. I’m getting ready to do something in Israel that is going to shake everyone up and get their attention. The time has come for me to bring down on Eli’s family everything I warned him of, every last word of it. I’m letting him know that the time’s up. I’m bringing judgment on his family for good. He knew what was going on, that his sons were desecrating God’s name and God’s place, and he did nothing to stop them. This is my sentence on the family of Eli: The evil of Eli’s family can never be wiped out by sacrifice or offering.” (1 Samuel 3.11 – 14, MSG)

“His sons were desecrating God’s name and God’s place, and he did nothing to stop them.” A serious offense. A Michigan mother was just found guilty of manslaughter for not preventing her son from killing four classmates.

Another lesson: sometimes when evil people are in charge, God is quietly preparing someone else to be in leadership. Someone outside the existing power structure. Samuel was of the tribe of Ephraim (1 Samuel 1.1 – 2), not the priestly tribe of Eli. And in this case, Eli and his family’s days are numbered. Stay tuned.