The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Samuel — Section 64

HOMILETICS. Yers. 211-36.-linpendinr, retribution. The facts in this section are-1. A DiYine message declares to Eli.the coming doom of his house. 2. The justice of tho- judgmcnt is brought home to him by a reference to past privileges enjoyed and sins committed. 3. A painful sign of the certainty of the whole prediction being ultimately fulfilled is given in a reference to the sudden death of his two sons, in due- time to be realised. 4. Another faithful servant of God is to be raised up to vindicate the honour which ha.~ been despised. The patience of God in allowing men free scope- to dcYelope what is in them bas its limits. Eli and his sons, though differing in kind and degree of sin, alike are amenable to a law which must be maintained. Although the sons were in the ordinary sense the most guilty, it is significant that the weight of the doom here indicated is intended to fall on the aged parent, thus sliowing to all ages the solemn responsibility attached to publio conduct, and the certainty of terrible chastisement of official transgressors, even though they be not cut off from- the covenant mercies that cover sin and save the soul. I. DOTY NEGLECTED AND TROUBLE EVADED ARE SURE TO REASSERT THEMSELVES. Eli got rid of the pressing duty of punishing bis sons by substituting a paternal remonstrance, and thus for the time evaded the pain of suppressing the urgency of personal affection and the distress of a family exposure. But II duty" never dies ; and the trouble it entails, always passing away when duty is done, continues in aggravated form when duty is neglected. No safer rule in life than to do duty wl,e,1 it is due. The demands of justice will be asserted sooner or later, and they' gather in force the more they are shunned. The whole visible and invisible forces- of nature, the undeveloped resources that lie in the womb of the future, are on the· side of right, and will converge some day on its maintenance. The first trouble in· the path of duty is the least. Embarrassments, are born of procrastination; for the· rule applicable to imperfect knowledge in the midst of difficult circumstances does not apply to the clear decisions of conscience. No time should ever be lost in vindi- cating the honour of God, the purity of the sanctuary, and the claims of national righteousness. If we do not execute God's will because of the personal inconv~ni- ~nce and pain it may cause, he will execute it by other means, and nameless gnefsc shall follow us. History shows how true this is in national, Church, domestic, and' private life. II. Clear INDICATIONS OF COMING RETRIDUTION are sometimes given, and THEY BECOME in their immediate effects PART OF THE RETRIBUTION. Many are the- " servants " of God that come visibly or invisibly to the disobedient with intimations of what is in store for them. The "man of God" who came to Eli is representative· of the forms of the Divine voice which comes to the guilty to disturb the ease they bad hoped for in neglecting onerous duties. To the fraudulent, the sensual, the unrighteous ruler, the unfaithful parent and past?r, conscience, l~ading eyen~s, and converging circumstances tell the sad tale of commg woe. The Imes of JUS!1ce are· straight, and the wicked are compelled to look along them far ahead. T1J!o import- ant elements enter into the forebodings of coming retribution. 1. A 1:evived power- of conscience. The ;:irivileges and favours co_nferred on the house of Eh _are broug·ht home to the dormant conscience in contrast with his personal and official conduct. So likewise, by the interaction of tlie bws of thought, or by converging of painful on. n. 27-96.] THE FIRST BOOK OF SAMUEL.