“I
will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who will do according to what is in
my heart and mind.” (v.35)
In
verses 27-34 of our text, God is speaking to Eli (through a prophet), telling
him that he and his family will be cut off from the priesthood. Their lack of
honor for; God’s laws, His statutes, His offerings and His tabernacle have
brought them to their downfall. But, in verse 35, God prophetically tells Eli,
“I will raise up a faithful priest.”
The
question then becomes, who is the faithful priest? It could be Samuel. We see
more than one reference to support his favor; “The child ministered unto the
LORD before Eli the priest” (v.11, 18), “The child Samuel grew on, and was in
favor with the LORD, and also with men” (v.26). However, Samuel would become not a
priest but a prophet, because he was not from the tribe of Levi.
Obviously,
this prophecy is most completely fulfilled by our great High Priest, Jesus
Christ. One who will rule according to the heart and mind of God, who loved us enough to die for us - even the death of the cross. Which reminds
us, that even in the dark moments of our lives, we still have Christ, our
“faithful high priest” who makes “atonement for the sins of man.”
(Hebrews 2:17)
The heart of God is long-suffering, not willing that any should perish, who can sympathize with us and has the grace to help us.
The
Truth
“Seeing
then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God,
let us hold fast our
confession. For we do not have a High
Priest who cannot sympathize
with our weaknesses, but was in all points
tempted as we are, yet without
sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy
and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:14-16)
