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Take a breath, find your place, and read deeply. Discover the joy of reading God’s word with the Immerse New Living Translation (NLT) Bible.
This daily Bible podcast will take you through the Bible in a year following the Immerse Bible Reading Experience. So grab your family and small group and go through the Bible in a year together with Immerse. Each of the 6 volumes is available online or at your favorite Christian bookstore.
Ethan: Welcome to Immerse: the
daily bible reading experience.
Day 100 and 84
now, the Sons of Eli were scoundrels
who had no respect for the Lord
or for their duties as priests.
Whenever anyone offered a sacrifice,
Eli's sons would send over a
servant with a three-pronged fork.
While the meat of the sacrificed
animal was still boiling, the
servant would stick the fork into
the pot and demand that whatever it
brought up be given to Eli's sons.
All the Israelites who came to worship
at Shiloh were treated this way.
Sometimes the servant would come
even before the animal's fat
had been burned on the altar.
He would demand raw meat before it
had been boiled so that it could be
used for roasting the man offering.
The sacrifice might reply,
take as much as you want, but
the fat must be burned first.
Then the servant would demand, no, give
it to me now, or I'll take it by force.
The sin of these young men
was very serious in the Lord's
sight for they treated the
Lord's offerings with contempt.
But Samuel though, he was
only a boy, served the Lord.
He wore a linen garment like
that of a priest each year.
His mother made a small coat for him
and brought it to him when she came
with her husband for the sacrifice.
Before they returned home, Eli would
bless Chea and his wife and say,
may the Lord give you other children
to take the place of this one.
She gave to the Lord and the Lord
blessed Hannah and she conceived and gave
birth to three sons and two daughters.
Meanwhile, Samuel grew up
in the presence of the Lord.
Now, Eli was very old, but he
was aware of what his sons were
doing to the people of Israel.
He knew, for instance, that his
sons were seducing The young women
who assisted at the entrance of the
tabernacle, Eli said to them, I have
been hearing reports from all the people
about the wicked things you are doing.
Why do you keep sinning?
You must stop my sons.
The reports I hear among the
Lord's people are not good.
If someone sins against another person,
God can mediate for the guilty party.
But if someone sins against the Lord who
can intercede, but Eli's sons wouldn't
listen to their father, for the Lord was
already planning to put them to death.
Meanwhile, the boy Samuel grew
taller and grew in favor with
the Lord and with the people.
One day a man of God came to Eli and
gave him this message from the Lord.
I revealed myself to your ancestors
when they were Pharaoh slaves in Egypt.
I chose your ancestor, Aaron, from
among all the tribes of Israel to
be my priest, to offer sacrifices on
my altar to burn incense and to wear
the priestly vest as he served me.
And I assigned the sacrificial
offerings to you priests.
So why do you scorn my
sacrifices and offerings?
Why do you give your sons more
honor than you give me for you?
And they have become fat from the
best offerings of my people, Israel.
Therefore the Lord, the God of
Israel says, I promised that your
branch of the tribe of Levi would
always be my priests, but I will
honor those who honor me and I will
despise those who think lightly of me.
The time is coming when I will put
an end to your family so it will
no longer serve as my priests.
All the members of your family
will die before their time.
None will reach old age.
You'll watch with envy as I pour out
prosperity on the people of Israel.
But no members of your family
will ever live out their days.
The few not cut off from serving at my
altar will survive, but only so their eyes
can go blind and their hearts break and
their children will die a violent death.
And to prove that what I have
said will come true, I will cause
your two sons, Hof, NAI, and
Phineas to die on the same day.
Then I will raise up a faithful priest
who will serve me and do what I desire.
I will establish his family
and they will be my priests
to my anointed kings forever.
Then all of your surviving family
will bow before him begging
for money and food, please.
They will say, give us jobs among the
priests so we will have enough to eat.
Meanwhile, the boy Samuel,
serve the Lord by assisting Eli.
Now.
In those days, messages from the Lord were
very rare and visions were quite uncommon.
One night, Eli, who was almost
blind by now, had gone to bed.
The lamp of God had not yet gone
out, and Samuel was sleeping in
the tabernacle near the Ark of God.
Suddenly the Lord called out Samuel.
Yes, Samuel replied, what is it?
He got up and ran to Eli.
Here I am.
Did you call me?
I didn't call you.
Eli replied, go back to bed.
So he did.
Then the Lord called out again.
Samuel again.
Samuel got up and went to Eli.
Here I am.
Did you call me?
I didn't call you.
My son, Eli said, go back to bed.
Samuel did not yet know the
Lord because he had never had
a message from the Lord before.
So the Lord called a third time, and
once more, Samuel got up and went to Eli.
Here I am.
Did you call me?
Then Eli realized it was the
Lord who was calling the boy.
So he said to Samuel,
go and lie down again.
And if someone calls
again, say, speak Lord.
Your servant is listening.
So Samuel went back to bed and the
Lord came and called us before Samuel.
Samuel.
Samuel Replied, speak.
Your servant is listening.
Then the Lord said to Samuel, I am
about to do a shocking thing in Israel.
I am going to carry out all
my threats against Eli and his
family from beginning to end.
I have warned him that judgment
is coming upon his family forever
because his sons are blaspheming
God and he hasn't disciplined them.
So I have vowed that the sins of
Eli and his sons will never be
forgiven by sacrifices or offerings.
Samuel stayed in bed until
morning, then got up and opened
the doors of the tabernacle.
As usual, he was afraid to tell
Eli what the Lord had said to him.
But Eli called out to him, Samuel, my son.
Here I am.
Samuel replied.
What did the Lord say to you?
Tell me everything and may God
strike you and even kill you
if you hide anything from me.
So Samuel told Eli everything.
He didn't hold anything back.
It is the Lord's will.
Eli replied, let him
do what he thinks best.
As Samuel grew up, the Lord was
with him and everything Samuel
said proved to be reliable.
All Israel from Dan in the north to
Beersheba in the South knew that Samuel
was confirmed as a prophet of the Lord.
The Lord continued to appear at Shiloh
and gave messages to Samuel there
at the Tabernacle and Samuel's words
went out to all the people of Israel.
This concludes today's
immerse reading experience.
Thank you for joining us.