1 Samuel 7: 1 – 17
You got the wrong Ebenezer
7 Then the men of Kirjath Jearim came and took the ark of the LORD, and brought it into the house of Abinadab on the hill, and consecrated Eleazar his son to keep the ark of the LORD. 2 So it was that the ark remained in Kirjath Jearim a long time; it was there twenty years. And all the house of Israel lamented after the LORD. 3 Then Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, “If you return to the LORD with all your hearts, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths from among you, and prepare your hearts for the LORD, and serve Him only; and He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines.” 4 So the children of Israel put away the Baals and the Ashtoreths, and served the LORD only. 5 And Samuel said, “Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray to the LORD for you.” 6 So they gathered together at Mizpah, drew water, and poured it out before the LORD. And they fasted that day, and said there, “We have sinned against the LORD.” And Samuel judged the children of Israel at Mizpah. 7 Now when the Philistines heard that the children of Israel had gathered together at Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the children of Israel heard of it, they were afraid of the Philistines. 8 So the children of Israel said to Samuel, “Do not cease to cry out to the LORD our God for us, that He may save us from the hand of the Philistines.” 9 And Samuel took a suckling lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the LORD. Then Samuel cried out to the LORD for Israel, and the LORD answered him. 10 Now as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel. But the LORD thundered with a loud thunder upon the Philistines that day, and so confused them that they were overcome before Israel. 11 And the men of Israel went out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, and drove them back as far as below Beth Car. 12 Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen, and called its name Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the LORD has helped us.” 13 So the Philistines were subdued, and they did not come anymore into the territory of Israel. And the hand of the LORD was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. 14 Then the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron to Gath; and Israel recovered its territory from the hands of the Philistines. Also there was peace between Israel and the Amorites. 15 And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. 16 He went from year to year on a circuit to Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah, and judged Israel in all those places. 17 But he always returned to Ramah, for his home was there. There he judged Israel, and there he built an altar to the LORD.
Here is a quick question for you, ‘when I say the word Ebenezer what comes to your mind? Some of you might be ready to say, ‘Ebenezer Scrooge’.
Ebenezer Scrooge is the miserly main character of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol first published in 1843. He is probably one of the most well known misers in literary history, and has become, over time, a symbol for transformation of the spirit.
Scrooge’s profession in business is a bit unclear. Some people believe he is a usurer, while others think he is a banker or property owner of sorts. At the beginning of the novel, we find him dwelling on the memory of his late partner Jacob Marley. It is clear that Scrooge clearly hates Christmas with great passion, and any sort of jolliness or merriment associated with Christmas spirit.
Scrooge’s nephew pays him a visit in the first section of the novel, and one soon sees that the miser is also contemptuous of love, and quite deliberately mean to all who might celebrate Christmas. Scrooge is also portrayed as a terrible and exacting employer who pays his clerk Bob Cratchitt very little, and who does not even allow the clerk much access to warmth from a fire.
As the short novel progresses, Dickens uses the invention of Christmas “Ghosts” or “Spirits” to elucidate on Scrooge’s past and his future should he continue in his evil ways. One Spirit shows him a past that reminds him of his loneliness as a child, his abiding love for his sister, the kindness of his first employer and then the break-up of his relationship to a young woman.
These visions all begin to work on the miser mightily. In fact he sheds tears when seeing him alone and abandoned in a school. His next vision into Christmas Present helps Scrooge grasp the importance of the holiday. Most essential is his visit to his clerk’s home, where we meet the clerk’s son Tiny Tim. The Spirit of Christmas Present’s prediction that Tiny Tim will die without good food and medical care is clearly a converting moment for him.
He willingly embraces the Spirit showing his future, but is terrified by his fate, of dying alone and the subject of jokes by old business associates. Scrooge is given the chance to change and responds accordingly, keeping “Christmas in his heart” ever afterward.
The transformation of Scrooge is interesting to witness. As well, though his character is at first unlikable, he quickly becomes both humorous and likeable. Dickens' method of delving in the character’s past is an interesting psychological statement that holds consistent today. Many psychologists believe that poor behavior is a reflection of pain felt deep in childhood. Such is the case with Scrooge.
When Scrooge learns to pity himself, he can become empathetic to others. It is easy for him to suddenly relate to Tiny Tim, who earlier he would have dismissed as one of the “surplus population.” Scrooge’s complete reversal is sentimental but believable because Dickens has been sure to scribe the emotional path he takes to reform. Though sentimental, the change of heart is lovely to witness, and keeps people drawn to the popular book.
The words Ebenezer and Scrooge do not fit together. If you call someone a Scrooge, you disapprove of them because they are very mean and is a miser. In today’s scripture we find out the definition of Ebenezer. We will learn that our Loving and Caring Holy Father God Yahweh protects His people. The Philistines constantly persecute the Israelites and come against them military. Our Holy God steps in and allows the Israelites to successfully cast out them from their constant harassments. In gratitude for His Care and Love for His people Samuel places some stones as a memorial for future generations of the Lord’s protection in which is brought out in verse 12. “12 Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen, and called its name Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the LORD has helped us.”
Can you see that a recognition to give our Holy God the Honor due His Holy Name (Ebenezer) and a mean miser (scrooge) do not fit together.
7 Then the men of Kirjath Jearim came and took the ark of the LORD, and brought it into the house of Abinadab on the hill, and consecrated Eleazar his son to keep the ark of the LORD. 2 So it was that the ark remained in Kirjath Jearim a long time; it was there twenty years. And all the house of Israel lamented after the LORD.
Once Samuel had grown to manhood he began his ministry and called on Israel to turn to The Ever Living Holy Father God from all their idolatry, something which met with great success. The people were tired of being subservient to the Philistines.
Eventually, satisfied with their genuineness he called an assembly at Mizpah, which means ‘the watchtower’, possibly because there was at this stage no Tabernacle to gather at, although it had been a gathering place in the past, see Judges 20, and belonged to the tribe of Benjamin (Joshua 18.26). And there he was appointed ‘judge’ of Israel. Whether it was his intention to proceed against the Philistines, or whether it was simply a gathering for the spiritual purposes which unfolded we are not told, but it was sufficient to alarm the Philistines whose five Tyrants took it as a declaration of war for the purposes of gaining their freedom. They gathered their army and advanced on Mizpah. In the face of this reality the Israelites were filled with fear. They pleaded with Samuel to intervene with the God Yahweh on their behalf.
Samuel indicated to them that they should not be afraid by offering up a further burnt offering and calling on Yahweh for His aid, and the result was that the advancing Philistine troops experienced the most horrendous weather conditions, impeding their chariots and horsemen and demoralizing their troops. Thus when Israel attacked the Philistines could do nothing but retreat, and were totally defeated. The consequence was that while Samuel was judge of Israel the Philistines no longer encroached on Israel (although they may have tried to), and the Israelite lands as far as Ekron and Gath were returned to them.
There are interesting parallels between Israel’s defeat in chapter 4, and their triumph here. In chapter 4 it was Israel who were ‘smitten, struck down’ by the Philistines, here the Philistines are ‘smitten, struck down’ by Israel. In chapter 4.3 Israel looked in vain to the Ark to save them from their enemies, now in chapter 7.8 they look to Yahweh to save them from their enemies.
We also should see the significance of names. In 4.21 the result is the naming of Ichabod (the glory has departed), in 7.12 the result is the naming of Ebenezer (for Samuel said ‘YHWH has helped us’). Chapter 7 is thus a reversal of the whole situation.
3 Then Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, “If you return to the LORD with all your hearts, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths from among you, and prepare your hearts for the LORD, and serve Him only; and He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines.”
Samuel has now grown to mature manhood and begins his ministry as a prophet of the only real and living God, calling on the house of Israel to put away their phony foreign gods and their Ashtaroth and to direct their hearts towards Yahweh, and serve Him alone. Then, he assures them, He would deliver them out of the hands of the Philistines.
After the death of Joshua many Israelites succumbed to the appeal of the gods of Canaan, and Israel were never fully free of them during the whole period of the Judges. So the prophetic call now comes to finally put them away.
4 So the children of Israel put away the Baals and the Ashtoreths, and served the LORD only.
So in their overwhelming feat the children of Israel who were within the sphere of Samuel’s prophetic ministry obeyed him, and put away the Baals and the Ashtaroth, and served Yahweh only.
For those of you who can fully remember 9/11 the condition of the Israelites that we read about in this chapter hits home. On the day the terrorist hit the twin towers in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington DC. the Wednesday Evening service was so packed that there was road grid lock for many miles in all directions around out church. People were frightened that are whole nation was under attack and it served as a wakeup call for people to cry out to our Holy Master and King Jesus Christ.
5 And Samuel said, “Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray to the LORD for you.”
Then Samuel gives the command that all Israel might be gathered to Mizpah, where he would pray for them. This was probably also a call to all the tribes to provide warriors in order that they might defeat the Philistines. It was a requirement of the tribal league that all tribes who could would respond to such a call. If it was so then it was a clear act of war. The word of the newly arrived prophet, and his promise to pray for them was clearly sufficient to gain a reasonable response to the call. At last there was a recognized prophet and leader who could intervene with Yahweh on their behalf. Samuel is elsewhere constantly seen as a mighty man of prayer.
6 So they gathered together at Mizpah, drew water, and poured it out before the LORD. And they fasted that day, and said there, “We have sinned against the LORD.” And Samuel judged the children of Israel at Mizpah.
So Israel gathered at Mizpah. And there they drew water and poured it out before Yahweh, and fasted and declared how they had sinned before Him. The pouring of water may have been intended to denote a recognition of their dependence on Yahweh (indicating that the very water on which their lives depended came from Him, and was being returned to Him in symbolic gratitude) or it may have symbolized the pouring out of their weeping hearts in repentance before Him as Lamentations 2.19 indicates, “Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the watches; Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord. Lift your hands toward Him for the life of your young children, who faint from hunger at the head of every street.”
The fasting was an indication of their mourning for sin, along with which went their confession of sin (Judges 10.10), which would go well with a symbolic act of repentance.
7 Now when the Philistines heard that the children of Israel had gathered together at Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the children of Israel heard of it, they were afraid of the Philistines.
When the Philistines heard that the call had gone out to the tribes of Israel to gather at Mizpah they naturally took alarm and the Philistine Tyrants gathered an army and set off for Mizpah. When scouts arrived at Mizpah warning of their approach, the children of Israel were terrified. It was one thing to plan a military operation, and another to face a Philistine fighting force. They had been hoping to take the Philistines by surprise, not to find them on their doorstep.
8 So the children of Israel said to Samuel, “Do not cease to cry out to the LORD our God for us, that He may save us from the hand of the Philistines.”
In panic they came to Samuel and called on him to continually intercede for them before the true God of Israel, asking their only real God to deliver them out of the hand of the Philistines. They seemingly had great faith in their new prophet and his God, even if they had little faith in themselves.
9 And Samuel took a suckling lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the LORD. Then Samuel cried out to the LORD for Israel, and the LORD answered him.
Samuel’s response was to take a lamb of over seven days old, and offer it for a whole burnt offering before Yahweh. This was an act of total consecration. Perhaps such a young lamb was chosen in order to symbolize that the nation had just been ‘reborn’. Then Samuel prayed to Yahweh for Israel, and He answered him.
10 Now as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel. But the LORD thundered with a loud thunder upon the Philistines that day, and so confused them that they were overcome before Israel.
As Samuel offered the burnt offering the Philistines approached Mizpah, arrayed for battle. But then to their great horror the heavens thundered with a great thunder. God had spoken. But the mention of the thunder would seem to indicate that it was accompanied by an equally great storm, with plenty of lightning, and the result was that the Philistines were discomfited and put into a panic
The awesome thunder may well have reminded them of previous experiences of the intervention of Israel’s God, and the driving rains soaking the ground would clog up their chariot wheels and encumber their horsemen, whose horses may well also have been terrified at the continual thunder and difficult to control. Thus the Israelites, arriving on foot, were easily able to strike them down.
11 And the men of Israel went out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, and drove them back as far as below Beth Car.
The men of Israel then pursued the fleeing Philistines in their clogged chariots and on their encumbered horses and smote them all the way to Beth-car (‘the house of the lamb’, a name which would remind the reader of the sacrificed lamb).
12 Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen, and called its name Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the LORD has helped us.”
Victory assured Samuel set up a memorial stone between Mizpah and Shen (‘the tooth’). This latter may have been a conspicuous spire of rock. Thus at the very spot where the Philistines had previously humiliated them in chapter 4, the Israelites gained their revenge, and Samuel named the spot ‘Ebenezer’ signifying ‘the stone of help’, acknowledging that ‘up to now God has helped us’.
13 So the Philistines were subdued, and they did not come anymore into the territory of Israel. And the hand of the LORD was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.
The victory was so final, and Samuel’s leadership from then on so effective, that all the while that he was the Judge of that part of Israel the Philistines did not again succeed in crossing the border. Whether actual attempts were made we do not know, but if so they were driven back because ‘the hand of Yahweh was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel’. Against that hand they could do nothing.
14 Then the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron to Gath; and Israel recovered its territory from the hands of the Philistines. Also there was peace between Israel and the Amorites.
The result of humble repentance blessed the Israelite in more ways than one. Samuel was also able to free the cities which had been taken over by the Philistines and permanently held by them, right up to the borders of the districts of Ekron and Gath. Furthermore he was strong enough to be able to make peace with the Amorites who dwelt in the hill country and had no doubt taken advantage of Philistine oppression to constantly spoil Israel. In addition peace was maintained with all their enemies. All recognized that while Samuel ruled Israel they were invulnerable.
15 And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life.
And Samuel’s judgeship then continued ‘all the days of his life’. This was firstly as sole Judge, then in association with his sons (8.1) and then finally in his old age as prophetic guide to Saul, until Saul fell.
16 He went from year to year on a circuit to Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah, and judged Israel in all those places.
In pursuance of his judgeship he performed a regular circuit to Bethel, Gilgal and Mizpah. Bethel was about 8 miles north of Jerusalem, Gilgal was in the Jordan Valley not far from Jericho, and was seemingly the place where for a while the Tabernacle was later erected when Philistine incursions had begun again under the reign of Samuel’s sons and of Saul, (This was probably because it was well out of reach of the Philistines who did not venture that far) and Mizpah was probably about 4 miles north west of Jerusalem. It will therefore be observed that while many of the tribes had responded to his call for arms, and saw him as their prophet, Samuel did not act overall as direct judge over them. He was there to guide and arbitrate if they needed it. His direct judgeship appears to have been over a fairly limited area, although, of course, being available to all if they wished.
17 But he always returned to Ramah, for his home was there. There he judged Israel, and there he built an altar to the LORD.
His main base was in Ramah where he now lived. And it was there that he judged Israel when not on circuit, and it was there that he built an altar to Yahweh. In the absence of the Tabernacle this was very necessary. (The Tabernacle had clearly ceased to operate at this time, for Samuel had been bound by a vow to serve it while it was still in existence).
