Eli

Eli was the aging priest at Shiloh who served at the tabernacle and helped raise young Samuel. When he saw Hannah praying silently in anguish, he first mistook her devotion for drunkenness, then listened and blessed her hope for a son. Years later, he recognized that the voice calling Samuel at night was God and taught the boy how to answer. Eli accepted Samuel's painful message that judgment was coming upon his family. He knew his sons Hophni and Phineas were dishonoring God, but his warnings never became firm action. When the Philistines captured the Ark and killed both sons, the news overwhelmed him, and he died after falling backward. Eli could discern God's voice for Samuel, yet his failure to restrain his own family carried terrible consequences.