There was a man named Eli who was the high priest and judge of Israel before Samuel and after the judges. He had two sons named Hophni and Phinehas, The two sons took the sacrifices of animals that the Israelites gave to the LORD at Shiloh, and the priests ate anything and everything from the animals. The priests forced people not to cook the meat, but wanted meat raw. They were feeding themselves with what the people gave them for the LORD. According to Leviticus, the priests were suppose to get a certain portion, and it was suppose to be cooked so that there would be no blood to eat. God said to Moses that the blood was the life, so you shouldn't eat it. Eli's sons were getting fat with this food and Eli got fat with them, and this made Israel abhor God's offering. Eli's sons also were having sex with women while as priests: not only were they feeding themselves physically with blood food, but fed themselves spiritually with sex. Eli saw this and did not restrain them--he even did the gluttoning himself because he was fat when he died.
Why do i tell you this story about gluttoning? You see, o reader, everyone of us is capable of gluttoning by choice, and there are consequences for it. Gluttoning is the overindulgence of eating or drinking or sex or drugs or alcohol or other things that could cause you health problems both spiritually and physically. Doing too much of something is a problem for every part of you. Feeding yourself without feeding others got Eli and his son's harsh punishment with God. In Ezekiel 34, God said woe to the leaders of Israel cause they fed themselves with the people's food and clothed themselves with the people's wool--talking about people as sheep. The leaders never took care of the people: never strengthened the sheep and cared for them by feeding them spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and physically with meat to eat. What is this meat? It's not just physical food, but love and justice and good stories and knowing God. Micah 6:8 said it best: "He has shown thee, o man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God." When people, like Eli, feed themselves, are they really doing good?
Jesus was accused of being a gluttonous man by the scribes and pharisees. Sure, He fed the 5000 in the wilderness of Tiberias, but a lad gave Him 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish and Jesus generously gave to the hungry people by breaking the food into fragments. Jesus told stories about the kingdom of God, and had compassion on the shepherdless people, so He fed them. What were the scribes and pharisees doing? Caiaphas said it best when he said that they needed to kill Jesus, so the Romans wouldn't take away their power and nation, but they lost their power and nation anyways in 70 A.D. The scribes and pharisees fed themselves, and not the people. How gluttonous!
Eli's sons surely felt the punishment of their glutton behavior because they went to battle with Israel and the ark of the covenant, and Eli's sons died in battle. The ark was taken, and when news went to Eli about the events, Eli fell backwards on his chair, broke his neck, and died. The scribes and pharisees lost their nation when Tidus and an army of romans destroyed Jerusalem and the temple as prophesied by Jesus that not one stone should be left upon another. The only thing remaining at the time was a Roman fort. Gluttoning can be tempting, I know. When you are alone, you want to feed yourself. I know the feeling. But, the truth is: God gives us food to feed others. Spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and physically, We get fed to feed others. I am working on this vice cause i like to be fed, but it's about taking care of others. It's about feeding others--not just yourself.
