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NASB | 1 Samuel 2:13 and the custom of the priests with the people. When any man was offering a sacrifice, the priest's servant would come while the meat was boiling, with a three-pronged fork in his hand. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 1 Samuel 2:13 and the custom of the priests with [the sacrifices of] the people. When any man was offering a sacrifice, the priest's servant would come while the meat was boiling, with a three-pronged [meat] fork in his hand; |
Bible Question:
Does anyone out there know if God told Aaron or his sons that they could poke a fork in the pot that was cooking the sacrifice? Asked another way: in 1 Sam 2:13-14 seems to me to be an odd behavior. Was what they were doing a specific instruction given by God to the priest's servants when God gave His instructions regarding sacrifice and the portion for Aaron's sons? Lev 6:28-29 supports the behavior of eating the meat that was prepared but the habit of sticking the fork in seems a little greedy and impatient to me. I am not questioning thier priveledge of eating the meat. It was theirs to eat. I am questioning the method of obtaining the meat. I also know that the behavior of Levi's sons (vs 15-17)taking the meat before the fat was burned off was wrong. But the way it is written implys that this was an established habit maybe before Eli's sons ever showed up. |
Bible Answer: Eli's sons were interrupting the priests in their offering to the Lord. They were not to take the meat until the priest had prepared the fat for the Lord. By their doing this, they were eating the fat. A word study on "fat" shows it was to be the Lord's part. A reading of Lev. 10:1-7 shows how serious offense this was. In essence the behavior was not regarding the Lord as Holy. A reading of 1 Samuel 2:29-36 shows the Lord confronting Eli about this situation. It seems Eli may have been eating the fat as well because he was very fat. For this he and his sons were told what their judgement would be and again in 1 Sam. 3:13. 1 Sam 3:13 "For I have told him that I am about to judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knew, because his sons brought a curse on themselves and he did not rebuke them. What they were doing poking the fork in the pot was taking the fat which was the Lord's. They were taking the meat from the pot. The Lord gives instructions and if those instructions are not followed there are consequences. This same truth applies today. God judges sin. Eli failed by not rebuking his sons. As a consequence his sons die on the same day and Eli falls and dies when he hears the news. The ark is taken by Israel's enemies thus the whole nation suffers. 1 Sam 4:15 Now Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes were set so that he could not see. 1 Sam 4:16 The man said to Eli, "I am the one who came from the battle line. Indeed, I escaped from the battle line today." And he said, "How did things go, my son?" 1 Sam 4:17 Then the one who brought the news replied, "Israel has fled before the Philistines and there has also been a great slaughter among the people, and your two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been taken." 1 Sam 4:18 When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell off the seat backward beside the gate, and his neck was broken and he died, for he was old and heavy. Thus he judged Israel forty years. Blessings, Val |