Now look at verse number 11
It says an Ocana went to Rhema to his house and the child did minister unto the Lord before Eli the priest
Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial they knew not the Lord
So it's pretty interesting here that we have a man of God
Who has his sons also working in the temple with him and it says that they're the sons of Eli
But in the same breath it says that they were the sons of Belial
Okay, and keep in mind they're in the house of God
Right and it says that they knew not the Lord
It's kind of weird. So it's like you're in the house of God you do in the service of God, but you don't know God
Now what this is referring to is the fact that they're just not saved
When they knew God they glorified him not as God neither were thankful but became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened
Okay
But I want to talk a little bit about the fact that they were sons of Belial that's an interesting statement
I know a lot of us are familiar with it
But in case we're not I'm gonna explain to you why it states that and even if you are familiar with it
You're gonna love what I teach this because who doesn't like to hear about the reprobate doctrine. Amen
So why does it refer to Hophni Phinehas as the sons of Belial? Belial is
Satan himself, right and
There's different synonyms for this or different terms to use to describe this group of people
You have the sons of Belial, but you also have the sons of the devil
You have false prophets and you also have what's known as reprobates, right or sodomites
And these are all kind of used interchangeably to describe this group of people
Who have been given over to a reprobate mind. These are very wicked individuals. The Bible would also refer to them as workers of iniquity, right?
But when you think of a reprobate, you know, it's actually a wide spectrum of people
Okay, because it can cover from a sodomite all the way to a false prophet
You have all and you know everything in between. Okay, and and you say how do you know that?
well think about this, you know, he refers to them as the sons of Belial which we know to be Satan and
In Matthew 23 Jesus Christ when he's rebuking the Pharisees who were false prophets
Says he can pass land and sea to make one proselyte and after he's made you make him twofold more a child of hell than yourselves
Child of hell he's referring to a child of Satan
And
He's basically saying that they're children of hell
Because what they're reproducing it are children of hell you understand. So it's like false prophets beget false prophets is what he's saying
Now, you know, here's the thing. I don't think these Pharisees that we see in Matthew 23 were sodomites
They're just false prophets, right? Not just but I'm saying they're not right. They're not sodomites, but they're guilty of teaching heresy damnable heresy
Keeping people from hearing the truth
They crucified Jesus Christ. I mean they're haters of the truth
And so that's why he refers to them as children of hell and in Acts chapter 17, excuse me
you have the story of the the
Bar, what's his name Simon Barjona? No, not Simon Barjona, it's Peter. What's the name of the false prophet the Jew?
Bar Jesus, okay Bar Jesus who the Bible also says was the child of the devil
And he's referring to referring to the fact that he's a sorcerer and so you had the sons of Belial here in
first Samuel chapter 2
You have the false prophets in Matthew chapter 23
Referred to as children of hell then you have the children of the child of the devil referring to bar
Jesus in Acts chapter 17. I mean you see that it's referring to false prophets, right?
But here's the thing now, let's make the connection
Because false prophets are not the only ones who are referred to as sons of Belial
Because you have Judges 19 where the Bible talks about sons of Belial and it's a group of individuals who were sodomites
Committing perversion and
You could read Genesis 19 as well, but you could read Judges 19 all you want
You're never gonna find those sons of Belial teaching false doctrine
They're not doing that right? They're not, you know trying to keep people from the kingdom of God
They're not teaching false doctrine and they're not doing those things. What are they doing?
They want to rape individuals
They're into perversion and wickedness. Okay, so based upon what we see in the spectrum there. We know that the sons of Belial
Covers a spectrum that ranges from Judges 19
Which is perversion all the way to Matthew 23 false prophets and sorcerers in Acts chapter 17 as well
So we see that a son of Belial, son of Satan, a child of hell covers all of that. You understand?
For example Judas could be considered a child of hell
Right, but I don't think Judas was like a pedophile.
I don't think he was a sodomite. What was he? He was greedy a filthy lucre
He betrayed the Lord. He was covetous
He hated the Lord because he turned him in and he became a son of perdition the Bible says
Perdition being hell, child of hell. You understand?
So, you know when we talk about reprobates, we do need to be specific of what we're referring to
You know, we don't want to just like throw out well this guy's a sodomite. Well, what is he doing? He's teaching false doctrine
Well, then that makes him a false prophet
And I'm not saying he's not capable of committing sodomy
But obviously what we see according to the Bible is that they range in this spectrum here. They're somewhere on this spectrum. Okay