PRIEST WARS (SAM.2)
Now the High Priest of Yisharal was Eli, and his two sons were priests, but they were dishonest, wicked and didn’t know Yahusha (or care too) and refused to obey Him.
So, while the people were boiling the meat from their sacrifices, it became an actually rule that these priests would send over a servant with a large, three-pronged flesh-hook, to stick into the cooking pot, and whatever meat came out onto the hook was taken back to the priests. And this is how these two priests treated every Yisharalite who came to offer sacrifices in Shiloh.
Sometimes, when people were offering sacrifices, the servant would come over and take meat, even before the fat had been cut off and sacrificed to Yahusha. REMEMBER THE FAT ACTUALLY BELONGED TO YAHUSHA AND WAS SUPPOSED TO BE BURNED AS A SACRIFICE BEFORE THE REST OF THE ANIMAL WAS COOKED AND EATEN.
And the servant would say, “OY, YOU THERE, THE PRIEST DOESN’T WANT HIS MEAT BOILED TODAY! GIVE HIM SOME RAW MEAT SO WE CAN HAVE A BBQ!”
And usually the people were reasonable and said, “No worries mate, take what you want, just let us sacrifice the fat to Yahuah first.”
“NO,” the servant would reply, “GIVE IT OVER NOW OR I’LL BLOODY TAKE IT MYSELF BY FORCE.” GREEDY BRUTISH BULLIES
Eli’s sons showed no respect for the sacrifices that the people offered (they despised the whole activity) and this was a terribly evil crime in Yahusha’s eyes, and He ‘SAW RED’ with fury.
WE SEE HERE JUST HOW FAR THE PRIESTHOOD HAD BEEN SEDUCED TO THE `DARK-SIDE' AND THE EVIL BEHAVIOUR OF ELI’S SONS WERE AMOUNG THE WORST. THIS MEAT-STEALING SCENE HERE SOUNDS JUST LIKE A GANGLAND MOVIE, WHERE THE MAFIOSO WANDER INTO SMALL SHOPS OF FRIGHTENED SHOP-KEEPERS AND HELP THEMSELVES TO WHATEVER CAUGHT THEIR EYE AS PAYMENT FOR THEIR “SO-CALLED” SERVICES. THIS HAD APPARENTLY BECOME A CUSTOM AT SHILOH THAT WAS EXPECTED AND ACCEPTED, AND THESE SONS OF ELI DON’T SEEM TO GET ANY RESISTANCE OR ARGUMENT FROM THE PEOPLE WHO CAME TO WORSHIP AND SACRIFICE.
IN FACT THIS DISHONOURABLE PRACTICE EVEN HAD A CERTAIN `SPIRITUALITY' FALSELY ATTACHED TO IT BECAUSE THE IDEA WAS THAT BY THE PRIESTS’ BLINDLY STICKING THEIR HOOKS INTO THE MURKY STEW, WHATEVER BECAME ATTACHED TO THEIR HOOKS WAS NOW YAHUSHA’S AND SO THEY ONLY STABBED AT EACH POT ONCE, ACCEPTING WHATEVER THEY `CAUGHT’ AS YAHUSHA’S WILL, HOWEVER MUCH OR LITTLE MEAT THEY SKEWERED.
IT WAS BAD ENOUGH THAT ELI’S SONS BADLY MISTREATED THOSE WHO THEY HAD AUTHORITY OVER AND WERE SUPPOSED TO BE SERVING; BUT THE FAR BIGGER CRIME WAS AGAINST YAHUSHA BECAUSE THEY WERE ROBBING WHAT BELONGED TO HIM AND IGNORING THE SET-APART RITUALS HE ESTABLISHED, IN FAVOUR OF THEIR OWN WAYS. THIS WAS CONSIDERED AN "INTENTIONAL" OR “A HIGH-HANDED” CRIME, REFERRING TO A TYPE OF EVIL BEHAVIOUR THAT THERE WAS NO ATONEMENT FOR IN THE SACRIFICIAL SYSTEM.
WHAT MADE THEIR BEHAVIOUR PARTICULARLY TERRIBLE WAS THAT AS YAHUSHA’S PRIESTS THEY ACTUALLY MADE THE SACRIFICES THAT WERE BEING DONE, WORTHLESS. IMAGINE WHAT THESE YISHARALITES THOUGHT AS THEY WATCHED MEN WHO WERE SUPPOSED TO BE THE MOST UPRIGHT, SET-APART EXAMPLES OF YAHUSHA AND HIS ANOINTED REPRESENTATIVES ON EARTH, TURN THIS PROCEEDURE OF SACRIFICES INTO LITTLE MORE THAN A PERSONAL FOOD FESTIVAL.
REMEMBER THESE SACRIFICES WERE AT THE CENTRE OF THE HEBREWS HARMONY WITH YAHUSHA AS PART OF THE SACIFICIAL SYSTEM (THAT FORGAVE THEM, CLEANSED THEIR CONSCIENCES AND BROUGHT THEM CLOSER TO THEIR CREATOR). MANY OF THESE PEOPLE HAD TRAVELED LONG DISTANCES IN DIFFICULT CONDITIONS TO DO AS YAHUSHA INSTRUCTED THEM (IN LEVITICUS) AND THEY WERE MET BY WHITE-ROBBED THUGS WHO HID BEHIND YAHUSHA’S SET-APART NAME, THAT THEY MIGHT PROFIT PERSONALLY. APPARENTLY THIS WENT ON FOR QUITE A LONG TIME, AND IT HAD JUST BECOME THE NORM!
SOUNDS LIKE THE CARPET-BAGGERS OF TODAY EH!? USING YAHUSHA'S BEAUTIFUL NAME TO STAND IN THE DOORWAY, SET UP A MARKETPLACE AND MAKE A PROFIT.
HOW DOES YAHUSHA FEEL ABOUT THIS BEHAVIOUR? WHERE WAS THE JUSTICE? IT WAS ABOUT TO HAPPEN.
And the boy Samuel served Yahusha at the Tabernacle with Eli and he wore a special linen garment (EITHER A LOIN CLOTH OR A JACKET OR A VEST WORN ONLY BY PRIESTS) and the clothes his mother made for him (A SLEEVELESS COAT OR ROBE THAT WAS WORN BY PRIESTS. SAMUEL WAS A SMALL CHILD, BUT HIS MOTHER MADE HIM CLOTHES JUST LIKE THOSE WORN BY THE PRIESTS).
Hannah would bring new clothes for Samuel every year, when she and her husband came to offer sacrifices at Shiloh. NATURALLY LITTLE SAMUEL WOULD SPEND TIME WITH HIS MOTHER AND FATHER WHEN THEY CAME ON THEIR ANNUAL VISITS, AND ELI WOULD ENCOUNTER SAMUEL’S PARENTS AND SPEAK WITH THEM TOO.
NORMALLY A PRIEST OR LEVITE WOULD NOT START THEIR REQUIRED SERVICE IN THE TABERNACLE UNTIL THEY WERE 25, HOWEVER BECAUSE SAMUEL WAS A RARE COMBINATION OF LEVITE AS WELL AS A NAZARITE FOR LIFE, WE FIND HIM LEARNING THE `PRIESTLY ROPES’ AS A GROWING CHILD WHO NATURALLY NEEDED LARGER CLOTHES ON A REGULAR BASIS. SO EACH YEAR WHEN ELKANAH’S FAMILY WOULD JOURNEY TO SHILOH TO OFFER SACRIFICES AT THE FESTIVAL, HANNAH WOULD BRING A NEW COAT FOR HER YOUNG SON.
And Eli would always bless Elkanah and his wife when he saw them, saying, “Samuel was born to you because you asked, and now you’ve given him back to Yahuah for service, so may He bless you with more children to take his place.”
And after Eli had blessed them, Elkanah and Hannah would return home. And Yahusha was indeed kind to Hannah, and she had three more sons and two daughters. But Samuel grew up at the Tabernacle in Shiloh.
Eli was now very old, and he heard what his sons were doing to the people of Yisharal,
(THAT THEY WERE EVEN HAVING SEX WITH THE WOMEN WHO WORKED AT THE ENTRANCE TO THE TABERNACLE
“Why are you doing these hideous, awful things?” he asked them. “I’ve been hearing nothing but complaints about you from all of Yahuah’s people.
If you harm another person, Yahuah can help make things right between the two of you my sons. But if you’re wicked and commit a crime against Him and His Instructions for us, no one can help you!”
But Yahusha had already decided to kill them, so he kept them from listening to their father.
And each day Yahusha and His people grew fonder and fonder of Samuel as He served before Yahusha. “SERVING BEFORE YAHUSHA” IS ACTUALLY A HEBREW EXPRESSION THAT MEANS THAT SAMUEL WAS SERVING YAHUSHA DIRECTLY IN A DIVINELY ACCEPTABLE WAY. WE CAN SEE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE BEHAVIOUR AND NATURE OF SAMUEL COMPARED TO ELI’S TWO WORTHLESS SONS. HERE THE WRITER IS TELLING US THAT SAMUEL HAD AN INTIMATE RELATIONSHIP WITH YAHUSHA FROM A VERY EARLY AGE, AND WHILE WE MIGHT QUESTION WHETHER SAMUEL SHOULD BE DOING PRIESTLY FUNCTIONS AT 5 OR 6 YEARS OLD ...
HE HARDENED THEIR HEARTS SIMILAR TO THE PHARAOH OF EGYPT. IT CAME TO ELI'S ATTENTION THAT APART FROM ALL THE OTHER WICKED THINGS HIS SONS WERE DOING, NOW THEY WERE EVEN USING WOMEN WHO SERVED AT THE TABERNACLE FOR THEIR OWN SEXUAL PLEASURES. THESE WOMEN WERE NOT TEMPLE PROSTITUTES THAT WERE SO COMMON TO THE CANAANITE RELIGIOUS SERVICES, RATHER THEY WERE LEVITES WHO PERFORMED MENIAL DUTIES AND WERE LIKELY BULLIED INTO SUBMISSION BY PHINEHAS AND HOPHNI. AND EVEN THOUGH THE SEX ACTS WERE NOT BEING PERFORMED INSIDE THE SANCTUARY ITSELF (PROB IN A SIDE-ROOM), TO DO SUCH ABOMINABLE THINGS SO CLOSE TO YAHUSHA’S DWELLING PLACE BROUGHT HUGE DEFILEMENT.
WE CAN ALSO SEE THAT YOUNG CHILDREN CAN TOTALLY GRASP WHO YAHUSHA IS AND FORM A CLOSE BOND WITH HIM (SOMETIMES MORE THAN ADULTS CAN WITH ALL THEIR HANG-UPS). SO IT’S NEVER TOO EARLY TO START TEACHING OUR CHILDREN ABOUT YAHUSHA AND HELP THEM FORM A RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM.
One day a `man of Alahim' (ISH-ALAHIM = PHYSICAL MESSENGER NOT A SPIRITUAL ONE) came to Eli and spoke to him this message from Yahusha, “Did I not come to your people when they were slaves to the king of Egypt? Your father Aaron was literally standing in the Pharaoh’s house when I spoke My wonders through him and delivered your people. And out of all the Tribes of Yisharal, didn’t I choose your father to be My High-Priest, to offer incense and wear the shoulder-garments before Me? Your whole family was set-apart to offer sacrifices and burn incense to Me and find out how I want My people to live. All the offerings, transformed by fire were to make My nation acceptable and that’s why I instructed everyone to bring their sacrifices here to the Tabernacle where I live. I even allowed you and your family to keep some of those sacrifices that weren’t offered to Me on the altar"...
EVEN THOUGH ELI WAS NOT THE ONE DOING ALL THE WICKED BEHAVIOUR, HE HAD THE AUTHORITY AND POWER TO STOP HIS SONS. HE COULD HAVE AND SHOULD HAVE TAKEN ALL MEASURES NECESSARY TO END THEIR BLASPHEMY, BUT LIKE SO MANY FATHERS HAVE DONE SINCE ADAM, WE LET OUR EMOTIONS AND OUR SCREWED-UP PRIORITIES RULE OUR BEHAVIOUR IN OUR FAMILIES, AND ELI DID THE SAME.
I will continue to be kind to Yisharal but not your family anymore, NO WAY!! If I let anyone from your family be a priest, his life will be full of sadness and sorrow, and most of your men will die a violent death! AND TO SHOW YOU I’M DEAD-SET FAIR-DINKUM ABOUT THIS, YOUR TWO SONS, HOPHNI AND PHINEHAS, WILL BE STRUCK DEAD-LIKE-A-DOORNAIL ON THE SAME DAY.
...AND NOW YOU GO AND HONOUR YOUR SONS INSTEAD OF ME!? GO AND GET ROYALLY STUFFED!! YOU DON’T RESPECT THE SACRIFICES AND OFFERINGS THAT ARE BROUGHT TO ME, AND YOU’VE ALL BECOME SOOO GREEDY AND FAT FROM EATING THE BEST PARTS. I’M YAHUAH DAMMIT, THE ALAHIM OF YISHARAL!! I PROMISED TO LET YOUR FAMILY SERVE AND WALK WITH ME ME AS PRIESTS, BUT THE DEALS OFF NOW JACK, NUP!! FORGET IT, I’M DONE! YOU KNOW VERY WELL THAT I LIFT UP AND FAVOUR ANYONE WHO LOVES AND ESTEEMS ME, BUT YOU CAN BE DAMN SKIPPY I’LL PUT A CURSE ON ANYONE WHO HATES ME. SO THE TIME’S COMING WHEN I’LL KILL YOU AND EVERYONE ELSE IN YOUR FAMILY, AND NOT ONE OF YOU WILL LIVE TO AN OLD AGE… INFACT MY TABERNACLE IS NOW AN ENEMY TO YOU VIPERS …YOUR ARM, YOUR FAMILY, YOUR HOUSEHOLD … ALL CUT OFF … I’M OUT !!”
I’m now raising up my own priest (REFERRING TO HIS FUTURE BRIDE), who will be trustworthy and follow My heart continually. And I will build them a mighty steadfast house (NOT MADE WITH HANDS) to serve Me in and allow him to assist and walk before My chosen, anointed King (YAHUSHA). But if anyone is left from your family (OLD LEVITICAL SYSTEM), he will come to my priest OBEDIENT PRIESTHOOD OF MELCHIZEDEK) and beg for money or a little bread, saying “Please put me in a priestly position, and let me serve so I’ll at least have something to eat" ... (IT’S JUST A JOB TO THEM - A RELIGIOUS LIFESTYLE OF CARPET-BAGGER BEHAVIOUR).
THE SIGN OF YAHUSHA’S PUNISHMENT UPON ELI’S FAMILY WOULD BE THAT IN ONE DAY BOTH HOPHNI AND PHINEHAS WOULD DIE. AND AFTER THIS, THOSE FROM ELI’S FAMILY WHO WOULD HAVE HELD THE HIGH, PRESTIGIOUS POSITION OF PRIESTS (AND BEEN GIVEN THE CHOICE CUTS OF SACRIFICIAL MEAT AND THE BEST PRODUCE OFFERINGS BROUGHT BY YISHARAL) WOULD INSTEAD HAVE TO BEG FOR THE SMALLEST OF TASKS JUST TO EARN A SCRAP OF BREAD TO EAT.
THE PRIEST WARS
REMEMBER BACK IN JUDGES WE WERE SHOCKED TO FIND THAT THE PRIESTHOOD WAS USELESS, DISRESPECTED AND HELD VERY LITTLE POWER OR INFLUENCE IN YISHARAL? WELL THIS WAS WHY!! THE ABUSE OF POWER BY ELI’S FAMILY AND YAHUSHA’S PUNISHMENT FOR IT PRACTICALLY DISSOLVED THE DYNASTY OF PRIESTS (OF COURSE THE OFFICE STILL CONTINUED, BUT AS FAR AS THE TRIBES WERE CONCERNED THE LEVITES HAD BLOWN IT AND WERE A JOKE).
ALSO DON'T FORGET THAT SAMUEL AND JUDGES IS HAPPENING PRETTY MUCH AT THE SAME TIME.
SO TO UNDERSTAND THE PROPHETIC WORDS THAT YAHUSHA SPOKE UPON THE PRIESTHOOD WE HAVE TO REVIEW THE HISTORY AND CIRCUMSTANCES OF THIS LEVITE MAFIA:
ELI WAS A DESCENDANT OF ITHAMAR (THE YOUNGEST SON OF AARON). SO BY RIGHTS, ELI SHOULD NOT HAVE HELD THE HIGH POSITION OF HIGH-PRIEST BECAUSE THE DESCENDANTS OF ELEAZAR (THE ELDEST SURVIVING SON OF AARON - MAKING HIM THE FIRSTBORN), SHOULD HAVE CONTINUALLY CARRIED THAT POSITION.
BUT APARANTLY UZZI WAS THE LAST KNOWN HIGH PRIEST IN ELEAZAR’S LINE (UP TO THAT POINT) AND THEN FOR REASONS UNKNOWN, ELI (OF THE FAMILY OF ITHAMAR) WAS GRANTED THE POSITION ??
BUT WHY ?? SURELY THIS TRANSFER OF POWER WAS DUE TO WITH SOME KIND OF CIRCUMSTANCE (PROBABLY THAT NONE OF UZZI’S SONS WERE STRONG OR CAPABLE ENOUGH TO HOLD SUCH A POSITION OF PROMINENCE AS HIGH PRIEST OVER YISHARAL), BECAUSE REMEMBER UNTIL YISHARAL FINALLY HAD A KING IT FELL TO THE HIGH PRIEST TO RULE AS THE HIGHEST AUTHORITY OVER THE 12 TRIBES.
THE JUDGES (WHO OF COURSE EXISTED AT THE SAME TIME AS THE HIGH PRIESTS) WERE ONLY OCCASIONAL DELIVERERS WHO ONLY RESCUED THEIR OWN PARTICULAR TRIBE FROM SOME KIND OF SITUATION AND NEVER HAD ANY KIND OF FAR REACHING NATIONAL AUTHORITY OVER YISHARAL AS THE HIGH PRIESTS DID. SO HOW IS IT THAT YAHUSHA’S PEOPLE COULD FIND THEMSELVES IN SUCH A HOPELESS, DYSFUNCTIONAL SITUATION? REMEMBER: WE’RE TALKING ABOUT TRIBALISM AND THE BATTLE FOR POSITION AND POWER NEVER ENDS, AND THE PRIESTHOOD WAS NO DIFFERENT, BUT THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO BE . . . SET-APART AND DIFFERENT . . . A SHINING EXAMPLE !!
SO DURING DAVID’S REIGN WE HAD A SITUATION OF DUELING HIGH PRIESTS SERVING SIMULTANEOUSLY (ONE FROM ELI’S LINE, THE OTHER FROM ELEAZAR’S LINE). LATER WE’LL SEE THAT THE HIGH PRIEST ABIATHAR WAS REMOVED FROM OFFICE (AND SO ZADOK ALONE WAS HIGH PRIEST FOR A TIME), BUT THEN KING SOLOMON REINSTATED ABIATHAR AND REMOVED ZADOK (YOU DON’T THINK THERE WAS HARDBALL POLITICS GOING ON 3000 YEARS AGO?) AND SO ONCE AGAIN THE LINE OF ELI WERE THE HIGH PRIESTS !!
IT'S STILL BAFFLING . . .
HOW DID ELI COME INTO POWER? WE KNOW THAT THE FAMILY LINE OF ELEAZAR DIDN’T END, BECAUSE IN DAVID’S TIME, ZADOK (A DESCENDANT OF ELEAZAR) BECAME A HIGH PRIEST AND EVEN SERVED AS CO-HIGH PRIEST WITH ABIATHAR AND THEN AHIMELECH (WHO WERE DESCENDANTS OF ELI).
WHEN WE LOOK AT THE COMING CHAPTERS AFTER YAHUSHA SPOKE THESE WORDS OF JUDGEMENT OVER ELI, THE PRIESTHOOD LOST VIRTUALLY ALL AUTHORITY AND APPEAL AND SOON SAMUEL (AS A KIND OF HYBRID PRIEST/JUDGE/PROPHET) BECAME THE HIGHEST AUTHORITY FIGURE (POLITICAL AND SPIRITUAL) IN YISHARAL.
HOWEVER SINCE SAMUEL WAS NOT A "LEGITIMATE PRIEST” BY ANY TRADITIONAL PRIESTLY BLOODLINE (IE EVEN THOUGH HIS LEVITE LINEAGE COULD BE TRACED BACK TO KOHATH, HE WASN'T A SON OF AARON) THE “OBEDIENT PRIEST” THAT YAHUSHA WOULD RAISE UP TO SERVE “HIS ANOINTED” COULD NOT HAVE BEEN SAMUEL. MANY THINK THAT THE ACTUAL `OBEDIENT PRIEST' WAS ZADOK WHICH IS VERY POSSIBLE, BUT WHEN WE ABSTRACTLY DISCERN THROUGH YAHUSHA’S SPIRIT, WE SEE THAT THE NEW OBEDIENT LINE OF PRIESTHOOD WOULD BE HIS OWN FIRSTFRUIT BRIDE, WASHED IN HIS BLOOD AND EMPOWERED BY HIS SPIRIT WITHIN THEM.
EVEN MORE, ELI WOULD LIVE TO SEE HIS TWO SONS DIE. SHORTLY WE’LL READ ABOUT THE LOSS OF THE ARK OF THE BLOOD-COVENANT WITNESS TO THE PHILISTINES IN BATTLE, AND IN THAT BATTLE HOPHNI AND PHINEHAS WERE KILLED ON THE SAME DAY, ALONG WITH 30,000 YISHARALITE SOLDIERS.
SO WHAT WE HAVE HERE IS AGAIN EXACTLY AS SPOKEN IN HANNAH’S SONG: YAHUSHA WILL REVERSE THE FORTUNES OF MEN ACCORDING TO HIS WILL AND PURPOSES. THE ALMIGHTY YAHUSHA OF YISHARAL “WEIGHED” (TAKAN) ELI’S FAMILY AND TOOK ACTION ACCORDING TO HIS JUSTICE. HE MADE THE MIGHTY INTO THE LOWLY, AND BROUGHT THE LOWLY INTO POWER. ELI’S DESCENDANTS WOULD HAVE TO BEG FOR BREAD, BUT THE DESCENDANTS OF ELEAZAR WHO HAD BEEN DENIED THEIR RIGHTFUL POSITION AS HIGH PRIESTS WOULD (STARTING WITH ZADOK) AGAIN HAVE POWER (AT LEAST FOR A TIME).
ISN'T ALL THIS PRIESTHOOD POLITIX INSANITY? BUT IT'S EXACTLY THE SAME BEHAVIOUR AS WE SEE HAPPENING WITHIN THE BRIDE OF BELIEVERS TODAY, ISN'T IT ... PRIDE, POWER & POSSESSION.
AND YAHUSHA HATES IT, SO IF YOU SEE THIS TYPE OF BEHAVIOUR, GET AS FAR AWAY AS YOU CAN FROM IT, BECAUSE JUDGMENT IS COMING . . . AND IT STARTS FIRSTLY RIGHT AT THE ALTAR AMONG HIS BRIDAL PRIESTS . . . THE 21st CENTURY SHINING EXAMPLES !!
SPEAKING OF INSANITY :
