The downfall of being nice...

In the early chapters of the Old Testament book of 1st Samuel, we meet a character called Eli, who was a priest in God's tabernacle at the time. I have to confess that I've always thought of Eli as one of the "bad guys" - one of the negative examples that the Bible gives to us as a warning for our own lives. This week, however, when re-reading the first four chapters of 1st Samuel, I found myself wondering if Eli was basically a "nice" guy and whether his misplaced "niceness" actually played a part in his downfall.

Eli makes his first appearance in chapter one, when Hannah is praying in the tabernacle. He's not very discerning (he thinks Hannah is drunk), but turns out to be quite compassionate; once he realises her distress, he blesses her prayer without even knowing what she was praying for. Again, this was not very discerning, but it shows that he was basically a kind man. Some years later, he is willing to take Hannah's child into the tabernacle and raise the boy as his own, so that the mother can fulfill her vow to the Lord.

Later, in chapter 3, when Samuel first hears God's voice, we see that Eli (although a little slow to catch on) is ultimately sensitive enough to recognise that God is speaking to the boy, and he's humble enough to accept the rather harsh message that God spoke through the child. All in all, he's shaping up to be a kindly, grandfather-like figure..... Or is he?

If we read these chapters carefully, we can see that Eli's "niceness" and indulgence played a big part in his downfall and in the destruction of other family members too. It led to a situation where he didn't discipline his own sons or teach them to be responsible (see chapter two) and this created an environment where Hophni and Phineas abused their priestly roles - sleeping with the young women who served at the entrance to the tabernacle, and stealing consecrated meat from the sacrifices that people brought (which meant, in effect, that they were stealing from God, as well as stealing from the people.)

No parent begins by letting their kid steal from others or have sex right under their own roof. No, it begins much earlier, by giving them whatever they want, never correcting them, and always letting them have their own way. God sent a prophet to rebuke Eli and to point out that his seemingly minor character flaw of indulgence was not only a serious case of misplaced priorities, but was also a sin of idolatry. "Why do you give your children more honour than you give me?" God asks him, in 1 Sam 2: 29

The sad irony of Eli's indulgence is that it wasn't only dishonouring to God; it was also harmful and destructive to his sons. His failure to give them boundaries and teach them responsibility ultimately led to their downfall and their death.
The sad ending to Eli's life shows us that he had been self-indulgent too. A lifetime of overeating had made him very overweight in his old age and, when he heard bad news and fell backwards off his chair, his great weight caused him to break his neck.

What a tragic ending to the life of a basically kind, generous, lenient and "nice" guy! Eli's indulgence is a warning to us that what might seem like niceness can actually be negligence and what might seem like lenience can actually be liability.