Hophni and Phineas' Sins

There was a Priest in Israel named Eli who had two adult sons who also served as Priests named Hophni and Phineas. Hophni and Phineas were doing some very bad things and their father Eli said this to them…

“No, my sons; the report I hear spreading among the Lord’s people is not good. If one person sins against another, God may mediate for the offender; but if anyone sins against the Lord, who will intercede for them?”

So just what were they doing that was bad? For one thing they were having sex with some of the women who also served before the “Tent of Meeting”, i.e. the sin of fornication.

The other thing they were doing was taking God’s portion of meat that was sacrificed by the people of Israel.

So which sin was worse? They were both bad but the sin of fornication could have been repented of and sacrifices offered and forgiveness given, but for the sin of stealing from God there was no intercessor and it could be punished by death.

In fact isn’t that the exact same thing that happened with Ananias and Sapphira? They made a verbal commitment to give a certain amount to God but they stole part of it back for themselves and died for that great sin.

So which sin was worse? Let me suggest that the sin with the greatest punishment is worse. Sinning directly against God is worse than sinning against another human being.

Which brings up the “unforgivable sin” that we read about... just what is that sin? Maybe it’s sinning directly against God… the sin of Blasphemy.

Can we steal what is God’s today and duplicate the sin of Hophni, Phineas, Ananias and Sapphira?... probably. The bottom line is this… don’t sin! Don’t sin against other people and certainly don’t sin directly against God.

Both could have disastrous consequences and one is worse than the other.