SCRIPTURE PASSAGES
OVERVIEW
Have you ever thought for a moment or two that you could fool God? How do you hide your thoughts or actions from God who sees and knows everything? Our story today is about a couple of young priests who were so brazen and unashamed of what they were doing that they did evil in front of everyone. Which brings up the question—how does God respond when those who are in authority and represent Him do bad things to His people? Will these young priests get away with it or does God step in? What life lessons can be gleaned from this story? It’s a good story, so let’s get right to it.
OPENING ACTIVITY: WALKING BLIND
- Divide your students into groups of five or six (if you have enough). Adapt for the size of your group.
- Blindfold two of the members of each group.
- Have one of the blindfolded people go and get an object from across the room.
- The remaining blindfolded individual gives commands to the other blindfolded person that the other members of the team whisper into the ear of the blindfolded person giving commands.
- If this is too difficult try having the team give commands directly to the blindfolded person.
- Repeat as time permits with other individuals.
DISCUSSION
- How difficult was this exercise?
- What did you learn?
- What did it feel like to be blindfolded and following someone else’s directions that couldn’t see?
- Describe the life lessons this activity could teach you.
TRANSITION
Being blindfolded for a few minutes doesn’t seem like it would be the end of the world. However, being blind for a lifetime would be much more difficult. What if you were spiritually blind? How would your life be different? How would your life be different if you didn’t trust all the people around to be honest with you? Eli’s sons weren’t all bad, but they weren’t all good either. Our story is about the games and tricks they played and how they treated people badly because they wanted to show their superiority and control over others. Let’s look at the passages for our lesson and learn what happens when priest go bad (sounds like a bad reality tv show).
BIBLE STUDY GUIDE
Read 1 Samuel 2:12-17.
12 Eli’s sons were scoundrels; they had no regard for the Lord. 13 Now it was the practice of the priests that, whenever any of the people offered a sacrifice, the priest’s servant would come with a three-pronged fork in his hand while the meat was being boiled 14 and would plunge the fork into the pan or kettle or caldron or pot. Whatever the fork brought up the priest would take for himself. This is how they treated all the Israelites who came to Shiloh. 15 But even before the fat was burned, the priest’s servant would come and say to the person who was sacrificing, “Give the priest some meat to roast; he won’t accept boiled meat from you, but only raw.”
16 If the person said to him, “Let the fat be burned first, and then take whatever you want,” the servant would answer, “No, hand it over now; if you don’t, I’ll take it by force.”
17 This sin of the young men was very great in the Lord’s sight, for they were treating the Lord’s offering with contempt.
Read Leviticus 7:25.
25 Anyone who eats the fat of an animal from which a food offering may be presented to the Lord must be cut off from their people.
DISCUSSION
- Make of a list of the things Eli’s sons were doing wrong in this passage.
- Describe how their actions hurt God’s reputation.
- What other stories in the Bible can you find where sacrifices were misused?
- Why did this behavior upset God?
Read 1 Samuel 2:18-21.
18 The three sons of Zeruiah were there: Joab, Abishai and Asahel. Now Asahel was as fleet-footed as a wild gazelle. 19 He chased Abner, turning neither to the right nor to the left as he pursued him. 20 Abner looked behind him and asked, “Is that you, Asahel?”
“It is,” he answered.
21 Then Abner said to him, “Turn aside to the right or to the left; take on one of the young men and strip him of his weapons.” But Asahel would not stop chasing him.
DISCUSSION
- Who is Samuel?
- What did God do for Hannah and Elkanah?
Read 1 Samuel 2:22-26.
22 Again Abner warned Asahel, “Stop chasing me! Why should I strike you down? How could I look your brother Joab in the face?”
23 But Asahel refused to give up the pursuit; so Abner thrust the butt of his spear into Asahel’s stomach, and the spear came out through his back. He fell there and died on the spot. And every man stopped when he came to the place where Asahel had fallen and died.
24 But Joab and Abishai pursued Abner, and as the sun was setting, they came to the hill of Ammah, near Giah on the way to the wasteland of Gibeon. 25 Then the men of Benjamin rallied behind Abner. They formed themselves into a group and took their stand on top of a hill.
26 Abner called out to Joab, “Must the sword devour forever? Don’t you realize that this will end in bitterness? How long before you order your men to stop pursuing their fellow Israelites?”
DISCUSSION
- What are the main themes of this passage?
- Was God being mean to Eli and his sons? Explain.
- What advice would you give Eli on how to help his sons?
- Describe the life lessons that God is teaching in this passage.
- Who does this story apply to today and what advice would you give them?
APPLICATION
Each of us are responsible for our own actions. You don’t get to blame someone else for your bad mood, potty mouth, or how you treat others—it’s all you. In today’s passages there are lots of critical words said about church leaders, specifically Eli’s sons. Have you ever stopped to wonder what Jesus would say about today’s church and its leaders? As you go through your life today, don’t forget to ask Jesus to help you treat others the way you would want others to treat you.
FOLLOW UP
Here is a list of possible ways you could bless others this week.
- Bake a batch of cookies to take to your teachers at school.
- Share a lunch with a homeless person.
- Clean your room or do your chores without your parents having to remind you.
- Ask your pastor if there are any people in the church who are lonely and could use a phone call to cheer them up or some flowers.
- You can think of a bunch of different ways to treat people like you would like to be treated so, put your thinking cap on and get to work blessing others.
SCRIPTURE PASSAGE
LEADER’S NOTE
For a Relational Bible Study (RBS) you’ll want to get into the Scripture passage and encourage the youth to imagine participating in the story while it’s happening. Then you will be able to better apply it to your own situation today.
You will need to ask God for the Holy Spirit to be present as your small group discusses the questions (no more than 3-6 people in a group is recommended). Start with the opening question. It is a personal question and the answer is unique for each individual. There is no right answer and nobody is an expert here, so don’t be surprised when you hear different responses. You are depending on the Holy Spirit to be present and to speak through your group. Say what God prompts you to say, and listen to what others share.
Take turns reading the chapter out loud. Follow that with giving the students some time to individually mark their responses to the questions (a PDF version of the handout is available as a download). This gives each person a starting point for responding when you start to share as a group. Next, begin the discussion by asking the students to share what they marked and why on each question as you work your way through. Feel free to take more time on some questions than others as discussion warrants.
Encourage each person in the group to apply what is discussed to their personal lives and to share with the group what they believe God wants them to do. Then ask them to pray that God will help each of them to follow through in doing so. Remind them to expect that God will show them ways to live out the message of this passage in the coming week, and that they are free to ask others in the group to help hold them accountable.
OVERVIEW
For most young children, their parents or guardians are the primary role models and the standard for everything. It’s common for little children to view their mom or their dad as their hero.
As children move toward adolescence and other adults become significant in their lives, children start to see foibles in their parents and their humanity begins to be exposed.
During adolescence, especially if teens experience conflict with their parents, they may consider their parents to be out of touch, unreasonable, selfish, irrelevant, and maybe even stupid.
Few teens are able to view reality from their parents’ points of view, which often complicates their relationships in the family and the irregular interactions between the generations as young people come of age and move toward independence.
To further complicate matters, parents sometimes seek to be their child’s friend rather than their parent, treating them as a peer or buddy rather than as the guardian, teacher, role model, character-shaper, coach, tutor, enforcer, encourager—the parent. Some parents feel shocked when their previously obedient child begins doing different and independent things, sometimes for no apparent reason. Pushing the boundaries can create conflict, and when parents have limited time with their children, sometimes they prefer niceness over accountability. Often the teen and the parent aren’t aware of the new dynamics at play.
The brief passage about Eli’s evil sons at the Tabernacle describes in just a few verses what made Eli’s sons so bad and how Eli’s lack of discipline led to their constant rebellion even as they served as priests in the Tabernacle!
We often read this passage from our own cultural lens, forgetting that in the previous chapter Hannah, the barren wife, was in a family with a husband who had two wives. Her prayer to conceive led to a miracle birth and then she literally gave her miracle baby back to God by leaving him at the Tabernacle with Eli—the man who did such a poor job as a parent with his own sons. In the chapter after today’s story, God speaks directly to Samuel, the young boy—quite a shock! But this week’s Bible passage reveals the results of poor parenting and the potential for rebellion as young people grow into adulthood.
A good preparation for the start of this Sabbath School lesson could be one of the following:
- Invite new parents to come and share with the youth the decisions they have made about how they will parent their children, from infancy through childhood and through adolescence. Give priority to first-time parents.
- Invite parents of teens to share with the youth three things they think they have been doing right and three things they wish they would have done differently as parents of teens. Add to this how the parents view things differently in their role now compared to how they viewed parenting back when they were teens themselves.
- Invite some of the youth to share three things they think their parents are doing right and three things they wish their parents would do differently. You may need to do this anonymously by having teens write these things and hand them to the youth leader to read randomly. This could lead to fruitful discussion among the youth and possibly with the parents and youth interacting. Sometimes it works better to pair up youth and parents with those who are not related to each other rather than those who are related to each other so new interactions can replace ruts that relatives have established.
- Invite grandparents to share what they think were good and bad parenting techniques or practices when they were teens, when they were parents, and for their children who are parents now.
You can also do these as applications over the coming week following the Bible study.
God, Parents, and Children
Where would you put your parents on the continuum? What about you?
Strict Lenient
Read 1 Samuel 2:12-36.
12 Eli’s sons were scoundrels; they had no regard for the Lord. 13 Now it was the practice of the priests that, whenever any of the people offered a sacrifice, the priest’s servant would come with a three-pronged fork in his hand while the meat was being boiled 14 and would plunge the fork into the pan or kettle or caldron or pot. Whatever the fork brought up the priest would take for himself. This is how they treated all the Israelites who came to Shiloh. 15 But even before the fat was burned, the priest’s servant would come and say to the person who was sacrificing, “Give the priest some meat to roast; he won’t accept boiled meat from you, but only raw.”
16 If the person said to him, “Let the fat be burned first, and then take whatever you want,” the servant would answer, “No, hand it over now; if you don’t, I’ll take it by force.”
17 This sin of the young men was very great in the Lord’s sight, for they were treating the Lord’s offering with contempt.
18 But Samuel was ministering before the Lord—a boy wearing a linen ephod. 19 Each year his mother made him a little robe and took it to him when she went up with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice. 20 Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife, saying, “May the Lord give you children by this woman to take the place of the one she prayed for and gave to the Lord.” Then they would go home. 21 And the Lord was gracious to Hannah; she gave birth to three sons and two daughters. Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew up in the presence of the Lord.
22 Now Eli, who was very old, heard about everything his sons were doing to all Israel and how they slept with the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 23 So he said to them, “Why do you do such things? I hear from all the people about these wicked deeds of yours. 24 No, my sons; the report I hear spreading among the Lord’s people is not good. 25 If one person sins against another, God may mediate for the offender; but if anyone sins against the Lord, who will intercede for them?” His sons, however, did not listen to their father’s rebuke, for it was the Lord’s will to put them to death.
26 And the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favor with the Lord and with people.
Prophecy Against the House of Eli
27 Now a man of God came to Eli and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Did I not clearly reveal myself to your ancestor’s family when they were in Egypt under Pharaoh? 28 I chose your ancestor out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, and to wear an ephod in my presence. I also gave your ancestor’s family all the food offerings presented by the Israelites. 29 Why do you scorn my sacrifice and offering that I prescribed for my dwelling? Why do you honor your sons more than me by fattening yourselves on the choice parts of every offering made by my people Israel?’
30 “Therefore the Lord, the God of Israel, declares: ‘I promised that members of your family would minister before me forever.’ But now the Lord declares: ‘Far be it from me! Those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me will be disdained. 31 The time is coming when I will cut short your strength and the strength of your priestly house, so that no one in it will reach old age, 32 and you will see distress in my dwelling. Although good will be done to Israel, no one in your family line will ever reach old age. 33 Every one of you that I do not cut off from serving at my altar I will spare only to destroy your sight and sap your strength, and all your descendants will die in the prime of life.
34 “ ‘And what happens to your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, will be a sign to you—they will both die on the same day. 35 I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who will do according to what is in my heart and mind. I will firmly establish his priestly house, and they will minister before my anointed one always. 36 Then everyone left in your family line will come and bow down before him for a piece of silver and a loaf of bread and plead, “Appoint me to some priestly office so I can have food to eat.
1. What made Eli’s sons so bad?
- They consistently turned their backs on God.
- They were PKs (priest’s kids) and that creates lots of pressure.
- Bad parenting by Eli.
- No mother in their lives.
- Social media constantly distracted them.
- They seduced women who served at the Tabernacle.
- They were gluttons.
- They would only do things their way, with no consideration of others.
- Other.
2. How did their behavior affect worship in Israel?
- It had no effect.
- Worshipers felt offended.
- People stopped coming to the Tabernacle.
- Worship participation increased.
- Eli’s sons carelessly broke the rules for sacrificial services.
- People complained to Eli and his sons.
- Physical force sometimes interrupted worship.
- Eli did nothing about it.
- Other.
3. How did Samuel fit into the picture?
- Samuel was a perfect little boy, and a role model for Eli’s older sons.
- Eli became Samuel’s surrogate parent.
- Eli treated Samuel like his own son.
- Eli changed his parenting practices with Samuel.
- Samuel confronted Eli’s sons.
- Eli’s sons picked on Samuel.
- God provided Samuel to replace Eli and his evil sons.
- Other.
4. What was the prophet’s message to priest Eli?
- Be more strict as a parent.
- Be more lenient as a parent.
- Follow your wife’s advice.
- Your sons are going to die before you die.
- You guys are making poor choices.
- You put your family ahead of God.
- Samuel will replace your sons as the priest after you.
- Other.
5. Why did God send such a stern message to Eli?
- God’s messages are usually very serious.
- Eli had ignored God’s previous messages, including the Torah.
- This was God’s attempt to get Eli’s attention.
- People don’t notice when they gradually slide downward.
- God sends messages before his actions ( Amos 3:7 ).
- There are consequences to bad choices.
- This helps people understand when trauma strikes.
- Other.
6. How would you characterize God’s dealings with Eli?
- Patient.
- Judgmental.
- Warning before actions.
- True to the covenant.
- Hope after punishment.
- Faithful.
- Honoring those who want to be holy.
- Other.
7. When does the relationship between parents and children change? What are good ways to navigate through those changes?
8. How is our relationship with God similar to our relationship with our parent(s)? How is it different?
SUMMARY
Eli took the easy way for parenting, at least in the short run. But it resulted in ongoing disappointment, pain, and suffering for him, his family, and those who came to the Tabernacle to worship God. What a travesty. God rebuked Eli and yet he chose to not intervene, thereby allowing his sons to continue in their evil ways. While this resulted in a judgment to stop the evil, God had already provided a new way forward by preparing Samuel to become the next priest at the Tabernacle. God follows through with the covenant and keeps giving His people new chances.
APPLICATION
The introduction to the lesson identified potential input from a variety of ages regarding parenting. For the application of this week’s Bible study, draw on the sharing that already took place, or tap into other possibilities mentioned in the introduction.
- TRADING PLACES.
- Contact at least one other parent of a teen sometime this week, maybe after church, or at potluck, or with a phone call sometime this week.
- Ask them a few questions, such as what they thought would make a good parent when they were teens? How have those ideas stayed the same or changed when they became parents? What would they recommend for teens in how to relate to their own parents?
- Pray for each other as parents or teens or as teens with parents at the end of your conversation (and beyond).
- TIPS.
- Team up with two other teens so the three of you make contact with three different parents. One of you contact a new parent, one contact a parent of a teen, and one of you contact a grandparent of a teen.
- Each of you ask similar questions for these people who are at different stages or experiences in life. What makes a good parent? What makes a good child? How should parents and children relate to each other? How should they relate to each other during the teen years?
- After the three teens have made contact with their respective parents, share the tips they gleaned. This could be done as a threesome, or as part of the start of Youth Sabbath School next week.
- SERIOUSLY.
Some things change and some things stay the same as children grow up in how they relate to their parents. Also, for different generations, how to be a parent includes some things that change and some that stay the same.
- Download the handout “ SERIOUSLY ” and note the two columns.
- As a teen, what do you take seriously and what do you not take seriously at this time?
- Halfway down both columns is a line so the bottom half can be how your parent(s) would respond to these two columns.
- After you do it yourself, invite your parent(s) to do it as well and then talk about your responses.
The Miracle
Created by NAD Youth and Young Adult Ministries
What if the Miracles of Jesus are more than meets the eye?
What if there is so much more to each story than we see?
What if each time Jesus did something supernatural, He was inviting us to look deeper?
Beyond the healing.
Beyond the deliverance.
Beyond the acts that defied the laws of nature.
What if Jesus were inviting us to see something bigger?
Something more amazing about the love of God.
Something mind-blowing.
What if the ultimate Miracle is that God can transform us?
The Miracle Series is an interactive study of 15 of Jesus’ awe-inspiring encounters while here on earth. These lessons, and messages are designed to connect with teens and youth and take them on a journey of discovery. Included in this kit is everything you need:
- Small group scripts
- PowerPoint presentations
- Promotional video and files
- Participant Study Guides
We invite you and your youth to not just study the Miracles of Jesus but to experience The Miracle.
