1 The boy Samuel ministered before the LORD under Eli. In those days the word of the LORD was rare; there were not many visions.
2 One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. 3 The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple [a] of the LORD, where the ark of God was. 4 Then the LORD called Samuel.
Samuel answered, “Here I am.” 5 And he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”
But Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down.
6 Again the LORD called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”
“My son,” Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.”
7 Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD : The word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him.
8 The LORD called Samuel a third time, and Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”
Then Eli realized that the LORD was calling the boy. 9 So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.’ “ So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
10 The LORD came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!”
Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”
11 And the LORD said to Samuel: “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle. 12 At that time I will carry out against Eli everything I spoke against his family—from beginning to end. 13 For I told him that I would judge his family forever because of the sin he knew about; his sons made themselves contemptible, [b] and he failed to restrain them. 14 Therefore, I swore to the house of Eli, ‘The guilt of Eli’s house will never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering.’ “
15 Samuel lay down until morning and then opened the doors of the house of the LORD. He was afraid to tell Eli the vision, 16 but Eli called him and said, “Samuel, my son.”
Samuel answered, “Here I am.”
17 “What was it he said to you?” Eli asked. “Do not hide it from me. May God deal with you, be it ever so severely, if you hide from me anything he told you.” 18 So Samuel told him everything, hiding nothing from him. Then Eli said, “He is the LORD; let him do what is good in his eyes.”
19 The LORD was with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of his words fall to the ground. 20 And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba recognized that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the LORD. 21 The LORD continued to appear at Shiloh, and there he revealed himself to Samuel through his word.
Yep Colofornian, maybe Eli should have told Samuel, who was more than likely even younger than 14, to shut the heck up, go back to bed, and never, ever never, mention such blasphemy again or he would tar and feather him. God isn’t allowed to talk with young people.
I have noticed all some here all they have to do is see a member of the LDS or friendly towards the LDS and they will murmur on for years, page after page it is an eternal catharsis....
In their mind no one has a right to be LDS or friendly towards the LDS.
If only they could erase all existence of it their world is better.
Wonder if a rubber room would help?
And what Samuel prophecied came true - can't say the same for that other "14" year-old - or was it 15 or 16? - seems the poor boy couldn't keep his story straight - unlike Samuel.
Well, we know Eli & Samuel got their story straight the first time.
Smith? BYU prof James B. Allen said there was little if any evidence Smith was telling his First Vision story in public in the early 1830s. ("Not even in his own history did Joseph Smith mention being criticized in this period for telling the story of the first vision. The interest, rather, was in the Book of Mormon and the various angelic visitations connected with its origin." -- Allen, "The significance of Joseph Smith's 'First Vision' in Mormon Thought," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Vol. 1, #3, p. 30)
In fact, that's the way it came down to the ensuing Lds "prophets" as well...that Smith was visited by mere angels -- not any other being. Urroner, haven't you read the following quotes from Lds "prophets" discussing Smith's "First Vision?"
(1) Brigham Young: "The Lord did not come...But he did send his angel to this same obscure person, Joseph Smith, Jr...." (Discourses of Brigham Young, p. 108)
(2) John Taylor (3rd Lds "prophet"): "How did this state of things called Mormonism orginate? We read that an angel came down and revealed himself to Joseph Smith and manifested unto him in vision the true position of the world in a religious point of view." (The Gospel Kingdom, p. 6)
On March 2, 1879, Taylor further elaborated in the Journal of Discourses (20:167): "None of them was right, just as it was when the Prophet Joseph asked the angel which of the sects was right that he might join it. The answer was that none of them are right. What, none of them? No. We will not stop to argue that question; the angel merely told him to join none of them that none of them were right."
(Boy, you'd think Taylor, who was in jail with Smith when Smith died, would have had plenty of ops to talk this account over with Smith...if I'd been in jail with Smith like Taylor was, what better opportunity to discuss a "rescue" by an "angel" or God or Christ and recount the "good ole days" when Smith had a "pillar of fire"...no cross that out -- Smith crossed out the word "fire" in his 1832 diary version -- and wrote instead "pillar of light"?)
Ya wanna tell us, Urroner why the editors of the Joseph Smith Papers just recently published left out the inclusion of this very first handwritting diary account of this "vision?"
Something to hide?
Something contrast-wise they don't want emphasized?
(3) Wilford Woodruff, Lds 4th "prophet": "While in this state of uncertainty he [Smith] turned to the Bible, and there saw that passage in the epistle of James which directs him that lacks wisdom to ask of God. He went into his secret chamber and asked the Lord what he must do to be saved. The Lord heard his prayer and sent His Angel to him, who informed him that all the sects were wrong, and that the God of heaven was about to establish His work upon the earth." (JoD, 13:324)
Urroner, have you used James 1:5's strategy to ask which of these First Vision accounts are right? (They can't all be). Many of your other "prophets," especially since the 1960s, have embraced the now "official" version.
Which of these Lds "prophets" bore a false witness?
Or was it Smith himself that began this chain reaction?