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the iniquity we know

1 Samuel 3:10-21 (JDV)

1 Samuel 3:10 Yahveh came, stood there, and called as before, “Samuel, Samuel!” Samuel responded, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”
1 Samuel 3:11 Yahveh said to Samuel, “I am about to do something in Israel that everyone who hears about it will shudder.
1 Samuel 3:12 On that day I will carry out against Eli everything I said about his family, from beginning to end.
1 Samuel 3:13 I told him that I am going to judge his family forever because of the iniquity he knows about: his sons are cursing God, and he has not stopped them.
1 Samuel 3:14 That is why I have sworn to Eli’s family: The iniquity of Eli’s family will never be wiped out by either sacrifice or offering.”
1 Samuel 3:15 Samuel lay down until the morning; then he opened the doors of Yahveh’s house. He was afraid to tell Eli about the vision,
1 Samuel 3:16 but Eli called him and said, “Samuel, my son.” “Here I am,” answered Samuel.
1 Samuel 3:17 “What was the message he gave you?” Eli asked. “Don’t hide it from me. May God do the same to you and worse if you hide anything from me that he told you.”
1 Samuel 3:18 So Samuel told him everything and did not hide anything from him. Eli responded, “He is Yahveh. Let him do what he thinks is good.”
1 Samuel 3:19 Samuel grew, and Yahveh was with him, and he fulfilled everything Samuel prophesied.
1 Samuel 3:20 All Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was a confirmed prophet of Yahveh.
1 Samuel 3:21 Yahveh continued to appear in Shiloh because there he revealed himself to Samuel by the word of Yahveh.

the iniquity we know

God did not judge Eli becuse of his sons’ sin alone. He judged Eli because of the iniquity in his family that he knew about, yet did nothing to stop. Our modern culture is surrounded by many blatant sins that in our hearts we know are wrong. We parade these sins as virtues and do absolutely nothing to stop them. We are building judgement upon ourselves by this refusal to condemn what God condemns.

At some point, the other shoe will drop. Those who claim to speak for God will be held liable for the sins they refused to rebuke. As Eli understood, Yahveh is sovereign. He will do what he thinks is good, and his creatures cannot stop him. He will eventually condemn all evil. But he will also condemn those who have turned a blind eye to evil.