Joel M Bradshaw

26To Abiathar the priest the king said, “Go back to your fields in Anathoth. You deserve to die, but I will not put you to death now, because you carried the ark of the Sovereign Lord before my father David and shared all my father’s hardships.” 27So Solomon removed Abiathar from the priesthood of the Lord, fulfilling the word the Lord had spoken at Shiloh about the house of Eli.–1 Kings 2

“Therefore the Lord, the God of Israel, declares: ‘I promised that members of your family would minister before me forever.’ But now the Lord declares: ‘Far be it from me! Those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me will be disdained. The time is coming when I will cut short your strength and the strength of your priestly house, so that no one in it will reach old age, and you will see distress in my dwelling. Although good will be done to Israel, no one in your family line will ever reach old age. Every one of you that I do not cut off from serving at my altar I will spare only to destroy your sight and sap your strength, and all your descendants will die in the prime of life. (1 Samuel 2:30-33)

1. Abiathar, son of Eli, had chosen to ally with Adonijah over Solomon.
2. This meant that he had chosen the politically powerful over the one God had chosen.
3. This meant that like his other priestly brothers and sons of Eli, he had chosen himself over God.
4. God had promised that the priestly succession of Eli would end, and this chapter accomplished that.
5. When we sin, the appropriate response is to own that sin, and to repent in a manner that both gets help and pursues biblical accountability.
6. If we don’t do those things in a manner that trusts Jesus to save us, then our sin is always before us, always on our books.
7. Abiathar found that out. The only hope you and I have is Jesus. Turn to Him in faith today. Life is so short. Take this seriously.–JMB