Today's Favorite Verse: 1 Samuel 3:13

Today's Favorite Verse: 1 Samuel 3:13

"For I have told him that I will judge his house for ever for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not."

This is what the Lord told Samuel about the high priest Eli and it made me wonder how the sins of a child could come back on a parent. What had Eli done that he was being made accountable as well as his sons? I thought of Aaron and how two of his son Nadab and Abihu were struck dead for offering strange fire. I didn't recall Aaron being found guilty for this? Alma and king Mosiah were not condemned in the Book of Mormon when their sons went wayward. What made this different? In this verse it sounds like what made Eli responsible was his failure to restrain his sons. I could not picture an adult parent being responsible for restraining his adult children. I needed to know more so I started with that footnote.

"And again, inasmuch as parents have children in Zion, or in any of her stakes which are organized, that teach them not to understand the doctrine of repentance, faith in Christ the Son of the living God, and of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of the hands, when eight years old, the sin be upon the heads of the parents."

(Doctrine and Covenants 68:25)

What great sin did Eli commit? He didn't teach his children to understand the gospel. Wow, that is powerful. Eli was a high priest of Israel, he appears to have served faithfully. Yet, he didn't teach his sons as he should have and the price was to fall on his head too. It made me think of that famous quote by President David O. McKay “No other success can compensate for failure in the home.”

Day 2398