Are all men dogs? Do we all consider women objects to be used for our own pleasure then wadded up and thrown away like used tissue paper? It sure seems that way sometimes, especially among politicians who can’t seem to get away from it, especially since they seem to get away with it. The ongoing Clinton scandal involves his travels with an accused abuser of young women, Jeff Epstein, along with Prince Andrew and others. Whether the story is accurate or not, plenty of folk will believe it because of Bill’s history. The same thing with the latest harassment claim against President Trump.

Fortunately not all men are like Clinton or Trump, or the many others we could name. In fact we’ve recently read about two very strong male figures who were real men in the way they treated women – Boaz and Elkanah. That means it is possible for men to exercise self-discipline and treat women with the dignity and respect that all fellow human beings deserve.

It’s likely that the majority of men are more like Boaz and Elkanah than Clinton and Trump precisely because the latter get the headlines and news attention. If it really was that common then it wouldn’t be newsworthy. That certainly was true during the days of Elkanah because while his son Samuel was serving faithfully in the temple, Hophni and Phinehas, the sons of Eli the High Priest, were making the news because of their mistreatment of women who served in The Tabernacle.

As priests they used their position to abuse women. It’s bad enough for politicians to use their power to abuse women, it’s far worse when religious leaders do so. Not only were they disrespecting the women they abused they doubled their disrespect for God. First by engaging in sexual immorality, and second by doing so in the Tabernacle.

This was the place where God was being worshiped and they were polluting his worship with their sin (1 Sam 2:23-29). Such conduct begins with a disregard for God. 1 Samuel 2:12 calls them “worthless men” who “did not know the Lord”, meaning they disregarded him entirely. And in the case of those two men it eventually ended with their death (1 Sam 2:30-34). God demanded pure men as priests and got putrid ones instead. Of course God knew what they were doing and they didn’t escape His judgment.

Fellows, whether we make the news or not God knows our hearts so let’s keep them pure – don’t bring lust and sexual immorality into our lives, much less our worship. Don’t pollute your body, or the Lord’s body – the church.