“…the law of Moses required that three times a year all Israelite males present themselves before the Lord at the tabernacle [which was located in Shioh], where they would worship through prayer and sacrifice.” (New Insights into the Old Testament. Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1993,132).

“Elkanah, a righteous Israelite was of the tribe of Levi living in Ephraim.” (A Latter-Day Commentary on the Old Testament. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1993, 231).

“Many years ago my husband became very ill with a rare disease. As the weeks went by and the sicker he became, the more I became convinced that he was dying. I told no one of my fears. We had a large, young family and a loving eternal marriage, and the thought of losing my husband and raising my children by myself filled me with loneliness, despair, and ever anger. I am ashamed to say that I pulled away from my Heavenly Father. For days I quit praying; I quit planning; I cried. I finally came to the realization that I could not do this alone.

“For the first time in many days, I knelt down and poured out my heart to my Father in Heaven, pleading for forgiveness for turning away from Him, telling Him all of my deepest feelings, and finally crying out that if this is what He really wanted me to do, I would do it. I knew He must have a plan for our lives.

“As I continued on my knees to pour out my heart, the sweetest, most peaceful, loving feeling came over me. It was as if a blanket of love was flowing over me. It was as if I could feel Heavenly Father saying, ‘That was all I needed to know.’ I determined never to turn away from Him again. Gradually and amazingly, my husband began to get better until he made a full recovery.

“Years later my husband and I knelt by the side of our 17-year old daughter and pleaded for her life. This time the answer was no, but that same feeling of love and peace that our Savior has promised was just as powerful, and we knew that even though Heavenly Father was calling her back home, everything would be all right.” (“The Lord Has Not Forgotten You” in Ensign, November, 2012, General Relief Society Meeting, 119-120).

“Weaning took place very late among the Israelites. According to [2 Maccabees 7:27], the Hebrew mothers were in the habit of suckling their children for three years. When the weaning had taken place, Hannah would bring her son up to the sanctuary, to appear before the face of the Lord, and remain there forever, i.e. his whole life long… To this end he was to receive his training at the sanctuary, that at the very earliest waking up of his spiritual susceptibilities he might receive the impressions of the sacred presence of God.” (Commentary on the Old Testament , Vol. 2:2:26. 10 bks. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co, n.d., as quoted in Old Testament Institute Student Manual: Genesis–2 Samuel. Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1980, [Second Edition, Revised, 1981], 268).

“Like Jochebed placing… [her] child Moses into the waters of the Nile as though into God’s own hands she … [surrendered] her child to the priest’s care.” (Women of the Bible. Grand Rapids: Michigan, Zondervan, 1999, 145).

“Samuel grew up in the shadow of the tabernacle and ministered to the Lord under the direction of Eli the priest. While Samuel increased in faith and obedience, Eli’s sons did just the opposite… Not only did they demand the best portion of the sacrifice which was brought to the Temple–before the sacrifice had been made to the Lord… [but they] also lay with the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle!… [Their perversion of worship and immorality] was an abomination to the Lord and a desecration of his house.” (New Insights into the Old Testament. Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1993, 134).

“Eli failed in his parental responsibility as well as in his office as the presiding priest. Although he rebuked his sons, he took no action to see that the abomination in his family and at the tabernacle was corrected. Therefore ‘a man of God’ (an unnamed prophet) came to Eli… .” (Old Testament Institute Student Manual: Genesis-2 Samuel. Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1980, [Second Edition, Revised, 1981], 269).

“[D]iscipline is probably one of the most important elements in which a mother and a father can lead and guide and direct their children… Setting limits to what a child can do means to that child that you love him and respect him.. If you permit the child to do all the things he would like to do without limits, that means to him that you do not care much about him.” (The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball. Edited by Edward L. Kimball. Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1982, 341).

“I remember one evening years ago, while attending a Sunday School party, I looked at the clock, and it was past time I was told to be home. Just then a knock came on the door. I was horrified–my dad had come after me. I felt humiliated in front of my friends. I thought I wanted to die. I was not pleasant with my dad; disobedience never makes one pleasant.

“A few years later, my friends and I were driving home from a dance across an Indian reservation, ten miles from any shelter. It was 40 degrees below zero, and the wind-chill continued to lower the temperature. A few miles farther into the blizzard, we discovered that there was no heat in the car. Then the car froze up and would not run. We came to a slow stop. We watched the snow swirling in front of us only until the winds quickly froze over. We were quiet and sober as we contemplated our fate–our lives were in danger. The silence was broken as a friend in the backseat asked, ‘How long do you think it will be before your dad will get here?’

“Why do you think they thought my dad would come? One time I had thought I wanted to die because he had come after me. This time we lived because my dad came through the blizzard to same my life and the lives of my friends. This time I was pleased with my dad–pleased and very grateful.” (“Young Women Striving Together” in Ensign, November 1984, 96-97.)

“The Israelites did not know that it was the Lord, and not the Ark that helped Joshua to fight Israel’s battles. They even forgot that the first Covenant in the Ark was that they would ‘have no other gods’ before Jehovah: yet now they were ready to worship the Ark itself. The Ark was taken from the temple. We are not told what Eli thought of that. It is possible that his sons took the Ark away without telling him… In the battle the Philistines were easily winners. Israel was badly beaten. The Ark is captured by the Philistines as a prize of war.” (Old Testament Stories. Salt Lake City: Deseret Sunday School Union Board, 1946, [Third (Revised) Edition], 123).

“[This] is not a proper expression of the number 50,070, and Josephus (Antiquities of the Jews 6:1:4), as well as some Hebrew manuscripts, reads simply, ‘seventy men.’… The village of Beth-shemesh could hardly have had 50,070 inhabitants;” (A Latter-Day Saint Commentary on the Old Testament. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1993, 236).

Samuel now returns to the people and tells them of the three principal evils of a kingly form of government: “excessive taxation (see 1 Samuel 8:15,17); conscription (compulsory enrollment) of the labor force (see 1 Samuel 8:11-13,16), and seizure of private lands (see 1 Samuel 8:14-15).” (Old Testament Institute Student Manual: Genesis-2 Samuel. Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1980, [Second Edition, Revised, 1981], 271).

“The system of kingly government itself, no matter how talented or noble an individual occupant of the throne may be, does not make the best form of government, one in which the instinctive automatic concern of government is to look after the best interests of the body of the people. It is inherent in the nature of even the best and most ideal kingly systems that special privilege and questionable adulation be heaped upon those in the ruling class.” (Mormon Doctrine. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1966, [Second Edition, 1966], 414).

“The Lord instructed Samuel to grant them their request even if it be to their detriment… by the way, … this speech of Samuel’s against the institution of monarchy in Israel was used by George Washington in his rejection of the proposal that he become a king in the American colonies freed from England by the American Revolutionary War.” (Introduction to the Old Testament and Its Teachings , Vol. 1. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 1972, 164).

“In the midwest as a young couple was in a restaurant making plans to go to their prom, all was in order except for their transportation. The young man only had an old pickup truck in which to transport his date to the night’s event. While he was ashamed and even suggested they arrive late so no one would observe them, the young girl stated that what mattered to her was that they were together.

“A now successful real estate salesman could not help but over hear the couple’s conversation and recalling his own prom now stepped forward and offered to exchange his car with them for the evening. The fellow immediately agreed for anything would be better he thought than his old truck. The exchange was made and that night the couple went to the prom in the brand new Jaguar. It had deep bucket seats with leather upholstery: a paint finish in which you could see your face and a compact disc player, just to name a few of the accessories. That evening the car was parked right in front of the prom and many couple took turns sitting in the car as the night progressed. The next morning the car was parked in the owner’s driveway complete with a “thank you” note and a full tank of gas.

“The owner has also spent a memorable evening. He had spent some time in the fellow’s old truck where his thoughts had gone back to his own prom. He had then escorted his date in an old Pinto, as he had been too poor to afford better transportation for his prom date twenty years ago.” (Paul Harvey News. Radio broadcast, June 10, 1994).