THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17
Scripture: 1 Samuel 8:1-3

1 Samuel 8:1-3 says, “Now it came to pass when Samuel was old that he made his sons judges over Israel. The name of his firstborn was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah; they were judges in Beersheba. But his sons did not walk in his ways; they turned aside after dishonest gain, took bribes, and perverted justice.” Even Samuel, after a lifetime of walking in obedience, welcomed his sons into the priestly, Levitical leadership of Israel only to find that they refused to pay the same price that he paid to walk in the way that he walked. Verse 3 is one of the most tragic Scriptures that exist concerning the scriptural inheritance of families. Samuel passed the mammon test but his kids chose another route. They went the way of the culture. They took bribes and perverted the judgment of God for money. The enemy used this situation to move Israel out of God’s best and onto a very different path.