Critical Perspectives on Good Fathering
1 Samuel 2:12–36

Paul J. Bucknell

What gives a father’s life eternal influence? This study contrasts Samuel’s faithful calling with Eli’s failure to restrain and spiritually train his sons.

Why did God call Samuel? Why did God cause Hannah’s womb to close? We might be tempted to answer these questions superficially. We might think it was more about Samuel’s mother’s ability to bear children, but that’s not the whole story—although that is true. If we carefully read the first four chapters of 1 Samuel, we will be surprised to see that Samuel was the means through which God poured out His incredible grace on His people. Why Samuel? Because there was another man named Eli who was not being faithful in what God had appointed him to do on earth. What was supposed to happen wasn’t happening, and what wasn’t supposed to happen did occur. Man was trading the eternal for the temporary; what lasts forever was being replaced by things that last only a short time.

We must affirm and follow through on this decision to prioritize the eternal over the temporary. I suggest that it is crucial for us to make such an impact on people that it results in eternal blessings. I want us to feel somewhat dissatisfied with the many good things we do that do not lead people to know Jesus Christ. I want us to realize that if all our efforts do not ultimately lead to this pivotal change, then our impact is minimal. I am not saying it is bad, but it is a poor investment. Any number, when compared to an infinite number, almost becomes insignificant.

Due to the great need for fathers to catch the vision of their calling, allow me to get a bit more specific and direct my talk to fathers and potential fathers. Please feel free to apply this message to your life as needed. Sometimes, we just need to be very particular.

A. A Quick Look At Life

I used to live in a place where each time I went to church, I would travel along Cemetery Road, which bypassed a large graveyard. Most of the tombs displayed three simple details as a summary of the person’s life. They would first write their name, the name of the person buried under the stone. Then they would note the birth date, that is, when their life began. Lastly, they would record the day they died. Sometimes a fourth line is added, but more often than not, nothing else is said. I wonder if the epitaphs written by our names will be more than just our names and dates—when we were born and when we died.

Some people are famous. Some are not. But it doesn’t matter because everyone will have a name, a birthdate, and a death date. They might have died from cancer or later on at a very old age in their sleep. They might have had a big family or not. They might have been world travelers or never left their community. Indeed, it is very difficult to measure the impact of one life on another. Today, we are going to start exploring this field. However, we must stay focused, or we might say nothing.

Let’s start by taking a quick look at two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, the sons of Eli. What challenges me the most when I think about them is that their names appear in the Bible only in three different passages, a total of five times. I guess that if we looked at their tombstones, we might never suspect anything was wrong with their lives. 1 Samuel 1:3 talks about their beginning: “Now this man would go up from his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice to the LORD of hosts in Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests to the LORD there.” Verse 2:34 mentions their death: “And this will be the sign to you which shall come concerning your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas: on the same day both of them shall die.” Chapter 4 continues and describes the day they died.

When we casually look at a person’s life, we focus on the most significant things about them. Interestingly, the most mentioned thing about these two sons was the day they died. Of course, this is a superficial view of their lives. They did many things; they said many more things. You can’t blame someone for living or dying, can you? But I still ask today’s question: “Did they impact anyone enough to gain value in the life to come?” They were priests. We would expect a yes answer to this question. But something seemed off. There was no fourth line on their epitaph. Still, we need to start asking another question. We know they lived on earth—they had a beginning and an end. But were they changed enough to live forever?

Let’s read the passage in full.