Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim, so that he could not see, was lying down in his own place; the lamp of God had not yet gone out; and Samuel was lying down within the Temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was.
Then the Lord called, "Samuel, Samuel!" and he said, "Here I am, and ran to Eli, and said, "Here I am, for you called me."
But he said, "I did not call you; lie back down again."
So he went and lay down. And the Lord called again, "Samuel, Samuel!"
And Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, "Here I am, for you called me."
But he said, "I did not call, my son; lie down again."
Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. And the Lord called Samuel yet again the third time.
And he arose and went to Eli, and said, "Here I am, for you called me."
Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the boy. Therefore Eli said to Samuel, "Go, lie down; and if He calls you, you shall say, 'Speak, Lord, for thy servant hears.'"
So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
And the Lord came and stood forth, calling as at other times, "Samuel, Samuel!"
And Samuel said, "Speak, for thy servant hears."
7 comments:
Well ...
“ ...twenty blind people could grope in a group, and if one of them found a ditch, the others might pull him back ...”
and,
“Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim, so that he could not see, was lying down in his own place ...”
And – I’m — following you?
Now, right about this time, you’re supposed to say back to me – “"I did not call, my son; lie down again!"
To which, all I can say for the wee moment – about blindness – is maybe we can be held so near the Light that our eyes get burned out? – and we go blind? – was Eli’s sleep a self-protection? – why do I doubt this?
Only as a makeshift less-than-Light interim – cannot lie down: need to head out to Carson City – in quite temporary distemper, please see ...
... if you can stand it without going blind ...
“To Supernova Dust You Shall Return - The Remnant Lights Up! “
http://randomarrow.blogspot.com/
... truly ...
... much better responses owe here!
Cheers (temporarily),
Jim
"... can you get so near the Light that your eyes get burned out and you go blind?"
Think, Paul.
He's an old man... and he hasn't liked watching what his sons have been up to.
Far as I know, posts from/about prophets and those from/about Luke are unrelated, although SynchroniciDaddy may sneak in to play occasionally.
The story of Paul going temporarily blind after seeing Jesus... is "Luke's" version. Paul was perfectly able to write for himself, and says nothing of the sort.
Whether getting closer to spiritual light... interferes with seeing in more mundane contexts? Someone might get more attentive to one aspect, miss something in the other-- but mainly, if you aren't watching what everyone else is fixated on, they may think you aren't seeing. [re attention: One of those guys who does bad things to animals had an electrode in a cat's auditory nerve. The cat was watching a mousehole intently when the experimenter made a loud noise. There wasn't even a wiggle on the meter. Attention to one thing can be blindness to another.]
Yes, Eli didn’t like what he saw in his sons. So the text comments on his dim eyesight. Maybe nothing more than natural aging. A bit of gratis mention. Possibly a metaphor from natural to spiritual dimness. Or maybe a story byte whose meaning is now dim. Nothing for the dim-sight of my eisegesis (as questions, not yet as conclusions) to get too worried about. Perhaps a natural truth and plot device to contrast against young, eager, and excessively energetic Samuel, eager to please or ready to jump up in the bumps and noises of the night.
“Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. And the Lord called Samuel yet again the third time.”
Here’s another text – feeling inwardly in me to rekindle my earlier questions about the rarity and infrequency of visions and dreams and other spectral evidences as modes said to be of God. I do agree with the earlier comment about this language regarding rarity and frequency owing to a later editorial comment about kings keeping gaggles of prophets. I agree that such an explanation offers at least a substantial partial truth to interpreting the words about rarity and infrequency. Maybe a complete truth. Though I’m not sure of the then economic cost-benefits to kings keeping gaggles of prophets (even if as Machiavellian-agents or maybe predatory agnostics for hire saying whatever the king wants – save that we have Greenspan still at it in our own time) who had – as prophets – negative rates of success. Seems expensive. Another matter, these dysfunctions. Samuel is somehow productive and a benefit to Eli as a helper. As Samuel himself is kept.
The text itself here makes me feel something of the true and accurate and authentic – if experimentally learned – awakening, “the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.”
Somewhat experimentally on both sides – since, “Lord called Samuel yet again the third time.”
Eli does not seem to be holding Samuel in the light.
Light seems to be holding Samuel in itself. Flickeringly.
As much as a note to myself and for my diary – this sensibility of the rarity and frequency of the “word of the Lord” and these differences between “not yet been revealed” and “revealed” are far less inwardly begging to confirm a charismatic bias, and, are more to address a Mircea Eliade spirit of seeing such phenomena in such epochs as Samuel’s – as ubiquitous. And more frequent than we know. Their frequency lost only for lack of making the record in texts. Though ubiquity may not mean uniformity rather than ebbs and flows. I do not know. In this one case, Samuel – I hope – is awakening.
In this miniature ecology as small as the warmer, clearer, willing side of a young understudy in a house about to collapse – something comes alive.
Yes, I like this story too!
[As for the value of yes-man prophets: I imagine that the king makes up his own mind, expecting that with cleverness plus dumbluck his plans will work out; meanwhile one needs must encourage the troops. You read the accounts of these battles (David vs Goliath being an example) and you find that everything depends on which side holds together and which side runs off, getting chased and hacked up as they go. So a certain number of defanged prophets are an asset. Anyway, that story (Micaiah in 1 Kings 22)) later!]
[As for the Greenspans of these degenerate times... the crucial cost-benefit test runs along the lines of: Whom do they cost, and whom do they benefit? Back when I was observing my local city government, there were some wonderful examples of how the principle works.]
I haven't yet read Mircea Eliade (but perhaps should?)
Stephen Gaskin has it that "We're all telepathic" [ect.] which suggests, to me, that we're all capable of receiving on the divine wavelength as well, much as George Fox realized. Not everybody tunes into the right channel to get messages directed to his specific situation. Since Samuel is apprenticed to the major cult-center of tribal Israel, he's an appropriate instrument for a message Eli doesn't want, a divine word that Eli might have been dreading for some time. He's young, lacking in personal human ties... so he's both open to hearing God, and a trustworthy witness to what he's told...
Hi Forrest!
I do love this scripture. I like it from the angle of little Samuel, knowing nothing of God yet personally and still wanting to please Eli quickly.
It speaks to me of God's faithfulness to calling us and directing our path. Of leading us away from man pleasing. And of introducing us into a wonderful personal relationship with Him and no longer needing a "Levis" help to hear the lord....wonderful.
Thanks for inviting me, I loved the post!
Praise His name
and bless the friends,
Deborah
Oh, by the way I had already added you to my blog list before our conversations and didn't realize it till you invited me here lol.
D.
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