1 Samuel 7:5














1 Samuel 7:2-6. (MIZPAH.)
The history of religion in the world is largely a history of a series of declensions and revivals; the former being due to the downward tendency of human nature, the latter to the gracious interposition of God. Of this fact the period of the judges affords an illustration. The revival which took place at its commencement (Judges 2:1-5) is specially worthy of notice; another, and more important, occurring toward its close, is here described. It was -

1. Needed on account of the condition of the people of Israel. The great defeat which they suffered twenty years before (ver. 1; 1 Samuel 4:1; 1 Samuel 6:1) checked their prevailing sin, especially as manifested in sacerdotalism, formalism, superstition, and presumption; but it by no means cured it. Superstitious veneration for sacred objects passed rapidly, as commonly happens, into unbelieving irreverence (1 Samuel 6:19) and spiritual indifference; whilst participation in the false worship and corrupt practices of the heathen continued, and even increased (ver. 4). The law of God was made void. and his presence withdrawn.

2. Effected, under God, by the influence of one man - Samuel. Nothing is expressly said concerning him during these twenty years; but he appears to have retired from Shiloh to Ramah, his native place, and it is not likely that he remained there altogether inactive for so long a time. The statement of 1 Samuel 3:20, 21; 1 Samuel 4:1, must be considered as, to some extent, prospective. The oppression of the Philistines was not such as to interfere with him, nor was his activity of such a kind as to cause them much concern. His holy example and quiet labours doubtless contributed greatly to the keeping alive of true piety in the hearts of a faithful few; and when the time came for more public effort he stood ready - in the full maturity of his powers, above forty years of age - to utter the word of the Lord, and to take the leadership of the nation. "During the long oppression of a stormy time the nation at last gathered more and more unanimously around Samuel, like terrified chickens around the parent hen" (Ewald).

3. Marked by features of a peculiar nature. Every great religious revival that has been recorded in sacred history or has occurred in the Christian Church has had a character of its own, determined by the wants of the age. And this revival was characterised by the restoration of the moral law to commanding influence on the conscience of the people by means of the prophetic ministry. The office of hereditary priest became secondary to that of inspired prophet, and was even absorbed in it for a while; for Samuel, although not a priest, acted constantly as such in offering sacrifice; and the Levitical law lay in abeyance, or was modified in practice under his direction. "As Moses established the theocracy, Samuel restored its fundamental principles to the supreme place in the national life, and thus in a true and noble sense was its second founder." The revival he was the chief instrument in effecting involved a more complete separation from idolatry, laid the basis of higher internal unity, and was followed by prosperity and independence. In the description of it we observe -

I. A GENERAL CONCERN ABOUT THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD. "And all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord" (ver. 2).

1. Occasioned by the experience of the long and bitter effects of transgression.

2. Implying a sense of misery in the absence of God. The idols to which men give their affections cannot satisfy the heart (Hosea 2:7, 8; Hosea 5:15, 6:1). "It is well to feel worn and fatigued with the fruitless search after happiness, that we may welcome our Deliverer" (Pascal).

3. Consisting of an intense longing after his favour and fellowship. The phrase, lamented after the Lord,' is taken from human affairs, when one fellows after another and entreats him with lamentations until he assents. An example of this is the Syrophenician woman" Matthew 15. (S. Schmid). The sorrow thus felt was a "godly sorrow;" a sorrow which comes from God, is felt for God, and tends to God, and which works genuine repentance, effectual deliverance, and lasting satisfaction (2 Corinthians 7:10).

4. Felt by the nation as a whole. "All the house of Israel." And wherever such concern is felt it is a sure sign of God's returning favour. "They inclined after the Lord; they groaned, complained, bemoaned themselves in their following the Lord, as a child followeth his departing parent; they called, cried, and lifted up their voice after the Lord by earnest prayer and supplication. Why?

(1) Because God is infinitely more worthy than all ordinances; his presence is valuable in itself.

(2) God purposely withdraws, that men may lament after him; as when a mother steps out of a child's sight, and when she seems to be gone the child raises a cry after her.

(3) Because sincere lamenting after the Lord may occasion his return" (O. Heywood, 3:419).

II. AN EARNEST ATTENTION TO THE WORD or THE LORD (ver. 3). The word was -

1. Revealed in former days, and included in the law of Moses (Deuteronomy 6:14). There is not generally so much need of new truth as that the old should be vitalised. How much of dead truth lies in the mind of every man I

2. Spoken with new power; opportunely, faithfully, and with holy zeal, by the prophet who had been commissioned to utter it. The preaching of the word is necessary and important in every genuine revival of religion. That word is a fire, a hammer, and a two-edged sword (Hebrews 4:12).

3. Adapted to the condition of the people.

(1) To test the sincerity of their desires and purposes. "If," etc.

(2) To instruct them in their duty. "Put away the strange gods, etc. Prepare your hearts = "Fix your hearts towards, or in trust in, God" (Hebrews 13:9).

(3) To encourage them to hope for deliverance. "And he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines."

4. listened to in a right spirit; with fresh interest, reverence, self-application, and a determination to put it into practice. When the heart is prepared the truth is invested with new meaning and power; as words written on paper with invisible ink are clearly perceived when held to the fire. "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17).

III. A SINCERE RENUNCIATION OF SIN AGAINST THE LORD (ver. 4), which was -

1. A proof of their genuine repentance; "a heart broken for sin, and from sin."

2. Shown with respect to the transgressions to which they were specially addicted - the worship of Baalim (images or modifications of Baal, the principal male divinity of the Phoenician and Canaanitish nations - the sun god) and Ashtaroth (images of their supreme female divinity, "the queen of heaven," the Syrian Venus - Astarte), and the corrupt practices connected therewith (Judges 2:11, 13).

3. Combined with positive acts of obedience and piety. They not only ceased to worship false gods, but also "served the Lord alone" (Matthew 6:24). Sin is most effectually broken off "by righteousness" (Daniel 4:27); an old affection most effectually expelled by a new one. The heart cannot rest without some object of love and trust. And if, "when the unclean spirit is gone out of a man," it be not immediately replaced by a pure spirit, it is sure to return "with seven other spirits more wicked than himself" (Matthew In. 43).

4. Made by men individually and in private; whereby they become prepared to make a national profession, and to receive the Divine blessing. God can bless men only by "turning every one of them from his iniquities" (Acts 3:26).

IV. A PUBLIC CONSECRATION TO THE SERVICE OF THE LORD (vers. 5, 6). At the word of Samuel a national assembly was gathered together at Mizpah for the purpose of openly expressing and confirming the general feeling; and there under the open sky they "yielded themselves to the Lord" (2 Chronicles 30:8) with -

1. Solemn vows of obedience to the law of their God. "They drew water and poured it out before the Lord." "We take this act to have been a sign and symbol, or rather confirmation of an oath - a solemn vow. To pour out water on the ground is in the East an ancient way of taking a solemn oath - the words and promises that had gone forth from their mouth being as water spilt upon the ground that cannot be gathered up again" (Kitto).

2. Sincere humiliation on account of former disobedience. The symbol just mentioned is interpreted by some as denoting the pouring out of their hearts in penitence. They also "fasted on that day, and said there, We have sinned against the Lord."

3. Prayers and supplications for Divine mercy and help. "I will pray for you." "Cease not to cry unto the Lord our God for us," implying that Samuel had already prayed for them. He gave expression to their desires, and made intercession on their behalf. "So Moses prayed for the people at Rephidim and for Miriam, so Elijah prayed at Carmel, so Ezra prayed at the evening sacrifice, so the high priest prayed for the house of Israel on the day of atonement, and so does our Lord Jesus Christ ever live at God's right hand to make intercession for us" ('Sp. Com.').

4. Devout acknowledgment of the prophet of the Lord as their leader and judge. "And Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpah." On that day he commenced his public labours as judge, and a great moral and spiritual reformation was inaugurated. It was a day long remembered (2 Chronicles 35:18: "There was no passover like to that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet"), and such a day as every godly man desires to see in this land (Psalm 85:6; Hosea 14:1-3; Habakkuk 3:2). - D.

And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, If ye do return unto the Lord with all your hearts.
For more than twenty years the Philistines had held undisputed sway over the greater part of the territory of Israel. Shechem and Shiloh, the ancient sanctuaries of worship, were both in the possession of the Philistines. Even the sacred ark of the covenant had been surrendered ingloriously into the hands of the uncircumcised. Restored by miracle, it still remained in the Hivite town of Kirjath-jearim upon the border. Israel was without a sanctuary as well as without a ruler. The power of the oppressor was to be broken. Deliverance was to come in the only way in which it could come, through the interposition of Divine aid. This help of God bringing deliverance is the great theme brought to our consideration.

I. The help of God which brings deliverance comes THROUGH THE AGENCY OF A PERSONAL DELIVERER. This is the first great historical lesson of those dark days in which the judges ruled. Each of the hero-judges was officially a type of the great Deliverer. In each succeeding one the personal analogies to the great Antitype become more and more apparent, until in Samuel, the last and noblest of the line, we reach one of the most illustrious types of Christ to be found in Old Testament history.

II. The help which brings deliverance comes ONLY UPON CONDITION OF SINCERE REPENTANCE FOR SIN AND WHOLE-HEARTED RETURN TO THE LORD. Samson adventured all upon personal prowess. Conscious of extraordinary powers, he sought to annoy and intimidate the Philistines into submission. Wasting his strength in brilliant but vain exploits, a romantic life was crowned with a glorious death, yet he passed away, leaving the Philistines still in possession of the land. Samuel, tracing the miseries of the people to their true source in the chastisement of God for their sins, realising that the first step towards disenthrallment must be taken in repentance and reformation, sets himself quietly but steadfastly to work to rekindle in the hearts of his countrymen the smouldering fires of religion. At the basis of all true freedom from the Philistines that rule the heart, from the bondage of corruption, from the fetters of guilt, from the "lusts that war against the Soul," is this bitter work of repentance, this putting away the idols of the soul, this turning with the whole heart to the service of the Lord.

III. The help which brings deliverance comes THROUGH A COVENANT SEALED WITH BLOOD. As deliverance from Philistine bondage came only through the provision of the covenant with Abraham, as that covenant was ratified and rested in by the oppressed and suffering people, so deliverance from the bondage of Satan comes only through the provisions of the covenant of grace, as that covenant is sealed with the blood of Christ and joyfully accepted and rested in by the sin-oppressed soul.

IV. The help which brings deliverance comes IN ANSWER TO PRAYER. The Church of God has never yet tasted to its lull extent the power of prayer. It is Samuel's memorial that he is (Psalm 99:6) "among them that call upon God's name," who "called upon the Lord, and he answered them." Luther, Knox, Whitefield, Wesley, the men who carried forth great movements and accomplished glorious works for God, have been men preeminent in prayer.

V. The help which brings deliverance comes IN THE USE OF APPOINTED MEANS. Not when the first alarm was sounded, and the people, started by the unexpected assault, "were afraid of the Philistines," did the Lord appear, but when Samuel, going calmly forward with the sacrifice in the face of the advancing enemy, had shown the sincerity of his trust in God — when the hosts of Israel, drawing inspiration from the faith of their dauntless leader, had set the battle in array and were making use of all available means of defence. In all our convicts with Satan, the world and sin, help comes from God, but only as direct effort is put forth by us. It comes to give efficiency and success to our efforts. We may not sit idle and wait for some marvellous interposition of God's power. We may not first do our part in our own strength and then wait for God to do His. It is in and through our working that Divine power is put forth and Divine help given. We work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God which worketh in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure,

VI. The help which brings victory in the first conflict is THE PLEDGE, TO BE GRATEFULLY RECOGNISED, OF COMPLETE AND FINAL DELIVERANCE.

VII. The help which brings deliverance ENGAGES TO THE LIFELONG SERVICE OF HIM WHO SO GRACIOUSLY INTERPOSES FOR OUR RELIEF. Each mercy received should be a silken cord binding more closely to the service of God. Instead of presuming upon gracious interpositions in the past as occasions for indulgence or inaction in the present, we should find in these both incentive and encouragement to steady progress and patient labour in the Christian life.

(T. D. Witherspoon, D. D.)

The words "twenty years" should be connected with the following sentence, "and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord." Thus twenty years had elapsed before they began to revive from their sad state of religious decline. "And Samuel spake." Now Samuel appears upon the scene. He has been absent since the third chapter. But now he is seen with all the energy of spiritual fortitude, consequent upon deep devotion, trying to excite in other hearts the aspiration of his own. Such an occasion is worthy of his presence, and in the sequel we have at once presented the power and praise of a devoted life. We have here before us a pattern statesman.

I. HE WAS A MAN OF SPIRITUAL DISPOSITION. It generally happens that the leading spirits of a nation are those famous for philosophical thought, scientific discovery, or political revolution. The problem may be atheistic, the analysis anti-Christian, and the social change debasing, yet, because the man has by some marvellous display of genius flashed his name into the bewildered eyes of an astonished world, he is called to eminence. Thus national prominence is attained by the sheer force of mind power, irrespective of character, and while life is so commercial in its tendency and so secular in its habit we must expect such to continue, This was nee the case under the old Jewish theocracy. Samuel, the central figure of these times, was raised to authority, not by mere thought power, but by the Intense spirituality of his character. The spirituality of Samuel's disposition is manifested —

1. By his expostulation with the people (ver. 3). This expostulation contains(1) A supposition. "If ye do return unto the Lord with all your hearts," In this crisis Samuel does not suggest a series of civil enactments, or a great military stratagem, as calculated to obtain freedom, but penetrating to the deepest source of defeat, urges a return to God. The civilised statesmen of today may laugh at this primitive mode of government, and write, with sarcastic dash, "superstition" on its wish, but might they not learn a lesson from its success that political woes are often to be remedied by moral reform, not by the mock contrition of place-seeking miscreants, but by the devout penitence of guilt-stricken spirits.(2) Instruction. "Put away the strange gods." Samuel thus places a recognition of Jehovah at the basis of all national reform. Idolatry has proved the overthrow of many kingdoms. Are not wealth, pleasure, fame our Penates? If so, let us heed the voice of Samuel. "Put away," etc.(3) An assurance. "And He will deliver you" (ver 3).(4) It was timely. "Then all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord."(5) It was successful (ver. 4).

2. By his supplication to the Apostate nation.(1) Convention. "Gather all Israel to Mizpeh" (ver 5). A universal humiliation was requisite. It was celebrated: —(1) By prayer. "I will pray for you." How calm and dignified was this language.(2) By fasting (ver. 6).(3) By penitent joy. "And drew water and poured it out before the Lord." Some have thought this a ceremony belonging to legal purification, or an expression of deep humiliation or of expiation, but it is possible that they poured out this water in token of joy, as they were accustomed to do at the Feast of Tabernacles(4) By sacrifice (ver. 9).

3. By his strict recognition of God This is observable: —(1) In the ordinary life of the nation. He tells them to put away the strange gods.(2) In important national crises. "The Lord hath helped us." The victory led to: —(1) Retrospection. "Hitherto." And what a long string of events does that represent — what contingencies — what sorrows — what joys? The whole of their past lives was crowded into one word!(2) Perpetuation. "Took a stone."(3) Ministration. "Hath helped us." Here we behold the strength of Samuel's character. He was one against a nation. He had force of will to resist the tide of wrong, and to bid it recede.

II. SUCH CHARACTER MAY HOPEFULLY ANTICIPATE THE COOPERATION OF HEAVEN. "But the Lord thundered" (ver. 10). Samuel, the holy legislator, was the connecting link between God and help. How dependent is human life upon leading powers!

1. A religious assembly mistaken for a national army (ver. 7). Now the Philistines draw near for battle. This is a typical incident; the effort of moral improvement necessarily excites opposition, either the sneer of forsaken friendship, the persecution of sects, or the enmity of Satan.

2. The surprised worshippers.(1) They were timorous. "Afraid" (ver. 7). Causes of their fear. They were without means of defence. They were conscious that past sin had enfeebled their national prowess. The discipline of extremity developed their reformed character.(2) They were victorious. We have here illustrated the inherent power which is to be found in an assembly convened for religious exercises: such an association of contrite souls possesses some mysterious influence which almost naturally draws God into its life, and such allegiance is potent for any conflict.The issues of victory.

(1)Subjugation of enemies (ver. 13).

(2)Restoration of territory (ver. 14).

3. In the elevation of spiritual character, we have a guarantee for the execution of justice. "And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life" (ver. 15).

4. Home the sanctuary of public life.(1) Samuel's return (ver. 17).(2) Samuel's devotion. "He built an altar unto the Lord." If a man is to be influential abroad, he must be devotional at home. True public life catches its inspiration from the domestic altar Lessons: —(1) The practical influence of one holy life upon a nation.(2) National humiliations are acceptable to God.(3) God's mercy illustrated in the victories of life.(4) That public life should have its altar of devotion.

(J. S. Exell, M. A.)

The interval between the time of the Judges and the time of David is filled by the history of Samuel. His influence it was that safely led the nation through two revolutions — the one in religion, the other in government. A priest, yet Samuel was the first of a new spiritual order that was henceforth to be greater than the priesthood, far more directly the mouthpiece of God, more authoritative, the true leader of the people, if steadfast and unflinching service to the people, if fearlessness and faithfulness, if unfailing goodness and wise guidance can entitle any here in Israel to stand beside Moses and Elijah, that man surely is Samuel. Yet in addition to these two offices, priest and prophet — the greatest that any man can fill — he is also Judge of Israel, that is, king in all but name, and in all but the outward trappings and personal advantages. "Samuel was one of those great men of manifold gifts and functions whom God raises up In great crises and for great services. He was not like Moses, the founder of the economy, nor like Elijah, its restorer. But he was its preserver through a revolution that had become inevitable; which be opposed as long as he could, which he reluctantly accepted when he Could oppose it no longer, and which by shear force of character he regulated and moulded so as to prevent national disorganisation. Like Luther, he built the new foundations on the old. As far as circumstances permitted he reformed his age, and by his genius, his piety, and his wisdom he powerfully controlled the turbulent elements of the national life." It is interesting to trace the analogy between John the Baptist and Samuel. There is a striking similarity in the circumstances of their birth, in their early separation to the service of God, in the rumour that spreads concerning them throughout the land, awakening the expectation of a great religious revival. Each of them marks a transition period in the history of Israel. Samuel is the last of the judges and the first of the prophets, as John the Baptist is the last of the prophets and the first of Christian preachers, standing and crying, "Behold, the Lamb of God." Each of them commences his work by summoning the people to a great national act of repentance before God, and in each case the symbol of their repentance has a singular similarity. We must remember that it was no light and easy work which was thus demanded of them. Idolatry was not a mere perverse fancy; nor was it only a selfish indulgence. It was the severance from all the association with those about them, the setting of themselves up to be the peculiar people of God — a thing that always costs as much effort and courage as most things a man has to do. The national repentance is followed by a great national assembly. Samuel bade the head men and representatives come together for a holy convocation in Mizpeh. By contact with himself and by communion with one another he would lead the people further in this work of reformation. As long afterwards the repentance of Israel found its expression in coming to John for baptism in the Jordan, so here they gathered together solemnly to confess their sins and to declare their purpose of amendment. Samuel bowed before the Lord in prayer for the people, whilst they "drew water and poured it out before the Lord, and said, We have sinned against the Lord." Like the symbol of baptism, it was the token of their death and burial unto sin, that they might rise into the new life of God. It is thus that the wise woman of Tekoa spake to the king, "For we must needs die, and are as Water spilt upon the ground, which cannot be gathered up again." Standing beside the altar high up on Mizpeh, the watchtower, Samuel stretched up his arms to Heaven pleading for the people. Swiftly the black clouds gathered, as if the great artillery of God came forth to the fight. Whatever the manifestation may have been, whether or not attended by an earthquake, as Josephus asserts, it is certain that the Philistines never lost the dread memory of that praying figure on the lonely heights, with hands uplifted to the God of Heaven. That one man was mightier than all their hosts. It seemed as if he were able to open the windows of heaven, and summon all its force against the foes of Israel. "They came no more into the coasts of Israel."

(M. G. Pearse.)

As prophet of the Lord, Samuel's will was supreme — all the main features of the history derive their expression from the spirit of Samuel. There is authority in his word, there is inspiration in his encouragement, there is death in his frown. Under these circumstances you see how naturally we are led to meditate upon the profound influence of one life.

I. IN THE FIRST PLACE, LOOK AT THE SUBLIME ATTITUDE WHICH SAMUEL ASSUMED IN RELATION TO THE CORRUPTION OF THE FAITH. Samuel distinctly charged the house of Israel with having gone astray from the living God. Distinctly, without reservation, without anything that indicated timidity on his part, he laid this terrible indictment against the house of Israel. In doing so he assumed a sublime attitude. He stood before Israel as a representative of the God who had been insulted, dishonoured, abandoned. We find sublimity in the attitude, imperial force in the tone. How did Samuel's influence come to be so profound upon this occasion? The instant answer is, Because his influence is moral. Moral influence goes to the heart of things. He who deals with moral questions deals with the life of the world. Any other influence addresses itself to affairs of the moment; all other influences are superficial and transitory. He who repronounces God's commandments, and tells to the heart of the world God's charges, wields a moral, and therefore a profound influence. Herein is the supreme advantage of the Gospel. The Gospel of Christ lays its saving hand upon the human heart and says, "This is the sphere of my mission. I will affect all things that are superficial and local and temporary; but I shall affect them indirectly. By putting the life right, I shall put the extremities right; by making the heart as it ought to be, the whole surface of nature will become healthful and beautiful." We need men in society who stand apart frees the little fights, petty controversies, and angry contentions which seem to be part and parcel of daily life, and who shall speak great principles, breathe a heavenly influence, and bring to bear upon combatants of all kinds considerations which shall survive all their misunderstandings. Regard Samuel in this light, and you will see the sublimity of his attitude. Herein, again, is the great influence of a moral teacher, a revealer of Christian truth. Whenever we hear a preacher who speaks the right word, we hear God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost; through his voice we hear the testimony of the angels unfallen; out of his words there comes the declaration of all that is bright, pure, true, wise, in the universe of God!

II. NOW LET US LOOK AT THE HOLY ATTITUDE WHICH SAMUEL ASSUMED IN RELATION TO THE GUILT OF ISRAEL. In the first instance he describes the corruptness of the case, points out the right course, exhorts the people to take that course instantly, and then he speaks these healing words: "If ye will do these things, and gather yourselves together to Mizpeh, I will pray unto the Lord for you." That is all we can do for one another — the work of an instrument, the ministry of an agent. "I will pray for you unto the Lord." Then the human needs the Divine. We never find — taking great breadths of history, ages and centuries — that the human has been able to exist alone, and to grow upward and onward in its atheism, What became of the Philistines? Now that Israel is getting its old heart back again, and its eyes are being turned to the heavens, what becomes of the Philistines? The Lord thundered that day upon the Philistines, and discomfited them, and they were smitten before Israel. The Philistines came against a praying army. We must consider not what the praying army did in the first instance, but what God did. Observe when it was that Samuel said he would pray for the house of Israel. The great lesson here turns upon a point of time. When Israel returned unto the Lord with all their heart; when Israel put away the strange Gods and Ashtaroth; when Israel prepared the heart unto the Lord and was ready to serve him Duly; when Israel had done this part, then Samuel said, "I will pray for you unto the Lord." Under other circumstances prayer would have been wasted breath. We find a great law here, which applies to the natural and the spiritual. Is there a plague in the city? Purify your sanitary arrangements, cleanse your drains, disinfect your channels, use everything that is at all likely to conduce to a good end — then pray unto the Lord. After nature has exhausted herself, there may be something for the Lord to do, may there mot? Sometimes worldly people say — "Pray for us." Men have said that to us. What kind of men were they? Sometimes men who have made wrecks of them. selves, who have gone as far devilward as they could get, whose hearts were like a den of unclean beasts, men who had no longer any grip of the world — the whole thing was slipping away from them — they have said to the minister whom they had previously characterised as a canting parson, "Pray for us." But one condition must be forthcoming on their part. There must be self-renunciation, contrition, moral anguish, pain of the soul, repentance towards God. When these conditions are forthcoming, the servant of Christ may say, "I will pray for you unto the Lord."

III. IN THE THIRD PLACE, LOOK AT THE EXALTED ATTITUDE WHICH SAMUEL ASSUMES IN RELATION TO HIS WHOLE LIFETIME. We read in the fifteenth verse of this chapter, "Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life." Think of being able to account for all the days of a whole human history! Think of being able to write your biography in one sentence! Think of being able to do without parentheses, footnotes, reservations, apologies, and self-vindications! When we attempt to write our lives, there is so much to say that is collateral and modifying in its effect — so much which is to explain the central line. So our biographical record becomes anomalous, contradictory, irreconcilable. Here is a man whose lifetime is gathered up in one sentence. "Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life." We have seen him in his childhood, we have had glances of him as he was passing up to his mature age. Today we see him in three impressive and remarkable attitudes. His whole history is in this sentence: He was a judge of God all his days. Think of giving a whole lifetime to God. There are those who cannot do that now. But young men may be able to give twenty, thirty, perhaps fifty years all to Christ. See then the profound influence which may be exerted by one life. We are dealing with Samuel, and with Samuel alone. Samuel's life is not confined to himself; it is a radiating life, streaming out from itself and touching thousands of points in the social and national life of others. Who can tell what may be dons by one man? Speak the truth of God, and eternity itself cannot exhaust the happy effect of that blessed influence!

(J. Parker, D. D.)

Monday Club Sermons.
This scene at Mizpeh, and the results following, suggest several lessons. We learn that:

I. ONE, TO HAVE POWER OVER MEN, MUST HAVE POWER WITH GOD. Why are the people, though late in their repentance, now so willing to listen to the prophet's words and obey them? Samuel influenced the people, because God influenced him. The secret of his power over men was his power with God. In a preeminent degree, this prophet and judge of Israel was a man to whom unseen realities were brought near. Thus, God fitted Samuel to do a work in Israel in the transition period between the theocracy and monarchy, making him an eminent judge, the first in the regular succession of prophets, the founder of the prophetic schools, the anointer of Israel's first and second king, and the man whom the people — even when debauched by idolatry — reverenced, and whose voice was to them like the voice of God. He was all this, because he held close intercourse with Heaven. The hand that is outstretched to save, must clasp the throne. Ministers are weak in the pulpit whenever they are weak in the closet.

II. THE NECESSITY AND VALUE OF RELIGIOUS ORDINANCES, RIGHTLY USED. It was not enough that Samuel assemble Israel at Mizpeh. Gathered there, the people must be so influenced that the impressions made would be permanent, and they fixed in their new attitude of loyalty to God. Samuel must instruct them in the proper use of religious rites, and show them how God can be so approached as to win His favour. Thus, far back at Mizpeh, were taught the truths of Calvary. God is approached reverently, with confession, with sacrifice, and with supplication. These two ways of approaching God — Samuel's with sacrifice and supplication, and Israel's of bearing aloft the ark with heedless shoutings — teach us lessons respecting the methods by which, now, God is, and is not, appropriately worshipped. Not by magnifying the outward, by giving prominence to the seen and the tangible, while the unseen and spiritual are lightly esteemed. The value of religious ordinances consists not in what man's eye sees or his ear hears, but in what his heart feels, and in what the eye of God perceives within the breast. No wonder that Israel, thus addressing the Throne of Grace, were prevalent over their toes. God heard their cry, and the arm of Omnipotence was their defence. What though the Philistines, or Israel, or the prophet himself, could not answer the question how God at that moment put a voice into the arching heavens, or kindled up the clouds with electric fires? What though, then as well as now, and now as well as then, the philosophy of prayer baffles finite skill? Is it, therefore, any the less true that the prayer of penitence and faith prevails with God? One other element now is needed to make the worship complete — that is, an expression of thanksgiving. It was a fitting sequel, therefore, when Samuel "took a stone and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Ebenezer," saying, "Hitherto hath the Lord helped us." We learn, therefore, that expressed gratitude to God should find a prominent place in all our worship. Israel not only felt grateful, they gave it utterance; they clothed with form the sentiments their hearts felt.

(Monday Club Sermons.)

I. PREPARATION FOR VICTORY IN REPENTANCE AND RETURN. At the time of the first fight at Ebenezer, Israel was full of idolatry and immorality. Then their preparation for battle was the mere bringing the ark into the camp, as if it were a fetish or magic charm. That was pure heathenism, and they were idolaters in such worship of Jehovah, just as much as if they had been bowing to Baal. Not the name of the deity, but the spirit of the worshipper, makes the "idolater." How different the second preparation! If we are to have His strength infused for victory, we must cast away our idols, and come back to Him with all our hearts. The hands that would clasp Him, and be upheld by the clasp, must be emptied of trifles. To yield ourselves wholly to God is the secret of strength. Confession breaks the entail of sin, and substitutes for the dreary expectation of its continuance the glad conviction of forgiveness and cleansing. It does not make a stiff fight unnecessary; for assured freedom from sin is not the easy prize of confession, but the hard-won issue of sturdy effort in God's strength. But it is like blowing the trumpet of revolt — it gives the signal for and itself begins the conflict. The night before the battle should be spent, not in feasting, but in prayer and lowly shriving of our souls before the great Confessor. Our enemy is strong, and no fault is more fatal than an underestimate of his power. If we go into battle singing, we shall probably come out of it weeping, or never come out at all. We should think much of our foes and little of ourselves. Such a temper will lead to caution, watchfulness, wise suspicion, vigorous strain of all our little power, and, above all, it will send us to our knees to plead with our great Captain and Advocate.

II. VICTORY ON THE FIELD OF FORMER DEFEAT. The battle is joined on the old field. Strategic considerations probably determined the choice of the ground, as they did the many battles on the plain of Esdraelon, for instance, or on the fields of the Netherlands. At all events, there they were, face to face once more on the old spot. On both sides might be men who had been in the former engagement. Depressing remembrances or burning eagerness to wipe out the shame would stir, in those on the one side; contemptuous remembrances of the ease with which the last victory had been won would animate the other. God himself helped them by the thunder storm, the solemn roll of which was "the voice of the Lord" answering Samuel's prayer. "They were smitten before," not by, the victors. The true victor was God. The story gives boundless hope of victory, even on the fields of our former defeats. We can master rooted faults of character, and overcome temptations which have often conquered us. So, though the whole field may be strewed with relics, eloquent of former disgrace, we may renew the struggle with confidence that the future will not always copy the past. We are saved by hope; by hope we are made strong. It is the very helmet on our heads. The warfare with our own evils should be waged in the assurance that every field of our defeat shall one day see set up on It the trophy of, not our victory, but God's in us.

III. GRATEFUL COMMEMORATION OF VICTORY. Where that gray stone stands no man knows today, but its name lives forever. This trophy bore no vaunts of leader's skill or soldier's bravery; One name only is associated with it. It is "the stone of help," and its message to succeeding generations is: "Hitherto hath the Lord helped us." That "hitherto" is the word of a mighty faith. It includes as parts of one whole the disaster no less than the victory. The Lord was helping Israel no less by sorrow and oppression than by joy and deliverance. The defeat which guided them back to Him was tender kindness and precious help. Such remembrance has in it a half-uttered prayer and hope for the future. Memory passes into hope, and the radiance in the sky behind throws light on to our forward path. God's "hitherto" carries "henceforward" wrapped up in it. The devout man's "gratitude" is, and ought to be, "a lively sense of favours to come." The best use of memory is to mark more plainly than it could be seen at the moment the Divine help which has filled our lives.

(A. Maclaren, D. D.)

There are two great services for God and for Israel in which we find Samuel engaged in the first nine verses of this chapter.

1. In exhorting and directing them with a view to bring them into a right state before God.

2. This being accomplished, in praying for them in their time of trouble, and obtaining Divine help when the Philistines drew near in battle.

1. In the course of time the people appear to have come to feel how sad and desolate their national life was without any tokens of God's presence and grace "All the house of Israel lamented after the Lord." These symptoms of repentance, however, had not shown themselves in a very definite or practical form. Now the putting away of the strange gods and Ashtaroth was a harder condition than we at first should suppose. Some are inclined to fancy that it was a mere senseless and ridiculous obstinacy that drew the Israelites so much to the worship of the idolatrous gods of their neighbours. In reality the temptation wan of a much more subtle kind. Their religious worship as prescribed by Moses had little to attract the natural feelings of the human heart. It was simple, it was severe, it was self-denying. The worship of the pagan nations was more lively and attractive. Fashionable entertainments and free-and-easy revelries were superadded to please the carnal mind. To put away Baalim and Ashtaroth was to abjure what was fashionable and agreeable, and fall back on what was unattractive and sombre. Was it not, too, an illiberal demand? No. If the people were in earnest now, they must show it by putting away every image and every object and ornament that was connected with the worship of other gods. But the people were in earnest; and this first demand of Samuel was complied with. Then the first steps towards revival and communion must be the forsaking of these sins, and of ways of life that prepare the way for them. It is not enough that in church, or at some meeting, or in our closet, we experience a painful conviction how much we have offended God, and a desire not to offend Him in like manner any more. We must "prepare our hearts" for this end. We must remember that in the world with which we mingle we are exposed to many influences that remove God from our thoughts, that stimulate our infirmities, that give force to temptation, that lessen our power of resistance, that tend to draw us back into our old sine. Having found the people so far obedient to his requirements, Samuel's next step was to call an assembly of all Israel to Mizpeh. It is important to mark the stress which is laid here on the public assembly of the people. When Samuel convened the people to a public assembly, he evidently did it on the principle on which in the New Testament we are required not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together. It is in order that the presence of people like-minded, and with the same earnest feelings and purposes, may have a rousing and warming influence upon us. The next scene in the panorama of the text is — the Philistines invading Israel. Here Samuel's service is that of an intercessor, praying for his people, and obtaining God's blessing. The Israelites knew where their help was to be found, and recognising Samuel as their mediator, they said to him, "Cease not to cry unto the Lord our God for us, that He will save us out of the hand of the Philistines." With this request Samuel most readily complies. But first he offers a sucking lamb as a whole burnt offering to the Lord, and only after this are we told that "Samuel cried unto the Lord, and the Lord heard him." The lesson is supremely important. When sinners approach God to entreat His favour, it must be by the new and living way, sprinkled with atoning blood. All other ways of access will fail. Luther humbles himself in the dust and implores God's favour, and struggles with might and main to reform his heart; but Luther cannot find peace until he sees how it is in the righteousness of another he is to draw nigh and find the blessing — in the righteousness of the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world.

(W. G. Blaikie, D. D.)

I. IN THE BEGINNING A SERMON WAS PREACHED. A crisis had been reached; and in his searching and solemn discourse Samuel seems to have sought to make these four points, which certainly are worthy of employment always:

1. Those people must admit the necessity of a new departure in their conduct and life immediately; they must "return unto the Lord with all their hearts."

2. They must put away every sign and vestige of a bad past; "strange gods" would have to be entirely relinquished.

3. They must instantly enter upon a fresh spiritual consecration: they would have to "prepare their hearts unto the Lord and serve Him only."

4. Then they must trust wholly, to the ancient promises God had made to their fathers and to them; for He had covenanted to "deliver them out of the hands of" their foes.

II. THEN FOLLOWED AN EXEMPLARY RESPONSE FROM THE NATION: "Then the children of Israel did put away Baalim and Ashtaroth, and served the Lord only." This sudden and thorough cleansing of themselves from forms of idolatry reminds us of what in Britain used to be called "a reformation of manners."

III. NEXT THEIR LEADER SUMMONED A GREAT ASSEMBLAGE FOR A RELIGIOUS SERVICE OF PRAYER.

IV. NOW COMES WHAT MIGHT BE CALLED A PROTRACTED MEETING. There is always a point at which human mediation in behalf of sinners must cease; then the sinners must take up the duty of supplication for themselves, or be lost. This was true of even such a prophet. priest as Samuel (Jeremiah 15:1): "Then said the Lord unto me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be towards this people: cast them out of my sight and let them go forth." In this case the people were intelligent enough to undertake at least these four duties which are mentioned.

1. They came to a direct posture of humiliation; they "fasted on that day."

2. Then these people made confessions of sin: they "said there, We have sinned against the Lord."

3. Next, these repenting people soberly renewed their covenant: "They drew water, and poured it out before the Lord." One of the Targums renders the clause thus: "And they poured out their hearts in penitence as waters before the Lord." Gill says: "This signified that they thoroughly renounced idolatry, that nothing of it should remain, as when water is poured out of a cask there remains no smell, as there does when other liquors are poured out."

4. They put themselves into condition for fresh activity in devotion. The best explanation of that statement, "Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpeh," seems to be that he reorganised the people afresh, for military service and for civil order and for religious worship.

V. THUS THERE CAME THE DESCENT OF BLESSING IN FULFILMENT OF THE LORD'S COVENANT.

1. Real consecration of Christians generally evokes new opposition from foes.

2. Importunate prayer is the condition of all success.

3. The full consecration of one's soul must recognise the sacrifice for sins. This lamb was the suggestion of atonement made by a Redeemer.

4. God is faithful to the instant in His interposition.

VI. THERE REMAINED NOW NOTHING MORE THAN TO ERECT A MEMORIAL OF THE TRANSACTION.

1. All glory and honour of the achievement should be distinctly ascribed to God: "The Lord hath helped us."

2. We should make our acknowledgment as permanent as possible. Samuel chose stone; so did Jacob (Genesis 28:18).

3. We should take pains to group our memorials so that one shall strengthen the other. Samuel set up his pillar between Mizpeh, where this deliverance was vouchsafed, and Shen, where another had been vouchsafed in the victory gained over the Philistines twenty years before. Thus he linked the histories together, like pearls in a necklace.

4. Each successive deliverance by a gracious God should deepen our trust and quicken our expectation.The careful investigation of such an incident as this has given us certain conclusions which might well be stated at the close of our study now.

1. A revival of religion is located in the church, and assumes a previous state of sad and guilty backsliding.

2. The conversion of sinners is not a revival; it is the gracious result that follows one which is genuine.

3. Any "measures" are allowable, provided they are decent and orderly, that will lead believers to penitence and duty.

4. Blessed is the congregation whose spirituality is lifted and whose life is saved by a day of God's visitation.

5. More blessed still is that church which never had a revival in all its history, and never needed one.

(C. S. Robinson, D. D.)

When that worst of the Popes, Alexander VI, occupied the Papal chair, about the end of the fifteenth century, the preaching of Savonarola at Florence might well cause such alarm among Pope and Cardinals at headquarters as to ensure the silencing and martyrdom of the preacher. What was the effect of his preaching in Florence in 1495? The aspect of the city was completely changed. The women threw aside their jewels and finery, dressed plainly, and bore themselves demurely; licentious young Florentines were transformed as by magic into sober, religious men; hymns took the place of Lorenzo's carnival songs. All prayed frequently, flocked to the churches, and gave largely to the poor. Most wonderful of all, bankers and tradesmen were impelled by scruples of conscience to restore ill-gotten gains, amounting to many thousand florins. All men were wonderstruck by this singular and almost miraculous change; and, notwithstanding the shattered state of his health, Savonarola must have been deeply rejoiced to see his people converted to so Christian a mode of life.

When men have suffered sorely as a consequence of their misdoing, or of their lack, they are very likely to strive with earnestness to guard against a recurrence of such disaster. There is no time when it is safer to travel over a great railway line, then just after a collision through the carelessness of a switchman or a train starter. And while the whole country is shocked at the loss of life and property through the giving way of an imperfectly constructed dam, there will be reasonable care in the inspection and in the building of dams. It is perfectly natural, therefore, that the people of Israel, who had suffered defeat because of the misuse of the ark of the Lord by those who were set to guard it, should be ready to bring it again to a fitting place, end to set apart a fitting person to guard it sacredly. It is better to try to do well after a great disaster than not to try at all; but how much better than all it is to do well from the beginning.

(H. C. Trumbull.)

A man upon the way, having accidentally lost his purse, is questioned by his fellow traveller where he had it last. "Oh!" says he, "I am confident that I drew it out of my pocket when I was in such a town, at such an inn." "Why, then!" says the other, "there is no better way to have it again than by going back to the place where you last had it." This is the case of many a man in these loose, unsettled times; they have lost their love to Christ, and His truth, since their corn and wine and oil have increased; since outward things are in abundance added unto them they have slighted the light of God's countenance. When they were poor and naked of all worldly comfort, then they sought God's face both early and late, and nothing was more dear and precious unto them than the truth of Christ. What, then, is to be done to recover this lost love to Christ? Back again, back again directly where you last had it! Back to the sign of the broken and contrite heart! There it was that you drew it out into good words and better works; and though it be since lost in the crowd of worldly employments, there and nowhere else, you shall be sure to find it again.

(J. Spencer.)

I. First, then, THESE PEOPLE WERE IN A VERY HOPEFUL CONDITION. "All the house of Israel lamented after the Lord." What does it mean?

1. It means that they were greatly oppressed. Their goods ware taken from them. They were beaten. They saw their children slain. They were the slaves of the Philistines.

2. I think that, by the house of Israel lamenting after the Lord, is meant, next, that they began to be inwardly convinced that nobody could help them but the Lord.

3. It seems to me that, while they desired Him, they were afraid that He would not deliver them. They prayed after a fashion, but there was a dash of doubt about it.

4. Moreover, these people had very little hope, but they had very much desire.

5. If you read the third verse, you will see that, all this while, they had not parted with their idols. They lamented after the Lord, but they did not get the Lord, because they wanted to have the Lord and to have their idols, too. John Bunyan tells us that, when he was playing at the game of "cat" one Sunday, on Elstow Green, as he was going to strike the cat with his stick, he thought he heard a voice crying, "Wilt thou keep thy sins, and go to hell; or wilt thou give up thy sins, and go to heaven?" That question, without an angel's voice, you may hear at this moment. I put it now to some of you who would like to keep your sins, and yet go to heaven. You lament after the Lord. You would be a saint; but then you want to be a sinner, too. It is useless lamenting after the Lord, if it does not lead you to give up your idols.

6. It meant that they could never rest till God returned. Some of you have tried many ways to get rest. Some years ago you got harpooned at a meeting; and though, like a big whale, you have dragged out miles of line, and gone to the bottom of the sea of sin, the harpoon sticks in you still. I know what you have been doing to get rest. You have tried the world, and now there is nothing there that pleases you. I wonder what you will try next. Will you try dissipation? Will you try drunkenness? Will you try the use of drugs? Well; if God means to save you, you will never rest till you are anchored in the port of Christ's atoning sacrifice. I sometimes hear of persons getting very angry after a gospel sermon, and I say to myself, "I am not sorry for it." Sometimes when we are fishing, the fish gets the hook into his mouth. He pulls hard at the line: if he were dead, he would not; but he is a live fish, worth the getting; and though he runs away for a while, with the hook in his jaws, he cannot escape. His very wriggling and his anger show that he has got the hook, and the hook has got him. Have the landing net ready; we shall land him by-and-by. Give him more line; let him spend his strength, and then we will land him, and he shall belong to Christ forever.

II. THESE PEOPLE WERE CALLED UPON TO TAKE THREE VERY DECIDED STEPS.

1. The first thing that they were to do was to "put away the strange gods." Every man seems to have a different idol. One has pride: he is so wonderfully good, so self-righteous; he has never done anything wrong. He is quite as good as a Christian, and rather' better. Another man's god is his self-confidence. Hear him talk. He understands everything; he does not need to be taught anything; and if there is anything in the Bible that he does not understand, why; then he does not believe it.

2. Now, notice the next step of decision: "Put away the strange gods, and prepare your hearts unto the Lord." The mere outward reformation was not enough. They might have torn down every idol in the land, and have been no nearer God for that. See, in France today, how the people who have for so long bent the knee in superstition and idolatry, have, many of them, flung away their vain worship, only to sink into infidelity. What better are they, when they exalt the "Goddess of Reason" where before stood the altars of the Papacy, when the heart is untouched, and God is not in all their thoughts? Still, there are many in that land, as I trust, there are many here, who are lamenting after God, and only await the preparation of the heart, which comes from Him, to how in allegiance before His throne. What, then, is the way to prepare the heart? The first thing is, confession of sin. Then resolve in your soul that you will quit these sins. Then there must be much prayer; for so it was with these people. Cry mightily unto God: "Lord, save me!" Remember, too, that there must be trust, or else the heart is not rightly prepared. Then, break away from the world.

3. That is the next step, the service of God: "Serve him only," said Samuel. "Then the children of Israel did put away Baalim and Ashtaroth, and served the Lord only."

III. THEY WERE HELPED TO DO ALL THIS BY HAVING FAITH. It was faith in Samuel, as we have already noticed. You can be much more helped, yea, graciously enabled, if you have faith in Christ.

1. They believed Samuel's word.

2. These people believed chiefly in Samuel's prayers.

3. The people had faith in Samuel's sacrifice.

4. Israel also accepted Samuel's rule.The Lord help you to believe in God incarnate, in God making sacrifice for sin, in Jesus dead, buried, risen, ascended, sitting at the right hand of God, and soon to come in glory! Let him enter your life, and dwelling in your heart, judge your every action, and rule over your entire life.

( C. H. Spurgeon.)

Revivals of religion have been the blessed experience of the Church in every era of its living history. At Bochim, in the early age of the Judges, a great revival took place. In the days of Samuel the Church of God was gladdened by another. Hezekiah's reign was greatly signalized by the general revival of religion; so was Josiah's. The nation of Judah was preserved from idolatry by means of these great awakenings. In the time of the building of the second temple there was a revival of religion which wrought most influentially. Pentecost stands prominent in the history of revivals. Ordinances and means of grace may have been performed in dull routine, but they were "Faultily faultless, icily regular, splendidly null." But when times of refreshing came, the power of the Spirit was felt. Two features have generally marked these periods of spiritual awakening — the power of prayer, and the power of preaching. Prayer then recovers its unction, its wrestling, and its efficacy. It may be that a few only are found seeking one thing — the renewing of God's work; but these are in earnest — they pray in faith, in the Holy Ghost, and in expectation of the blessing. Ere Pentecost occurred, the company of the believing were much in prayer. It was so in a remarkable degree in the eighteenth century. In such seasons preaching has been with power. The preachers were awakened, and spake their word with boldness and freedom, and in expectation of success. We need only to name Baxter and Doolittle, Alleine and Flavel, of the Puritan age, whose ministry was largely blessed; Jonathan Edwards, Thomas Shephard, and Tennant, of America, who scarcely ever preached without success; Wesley and Whitefield, and their coadjutors in England; William Burns, and Robert M'Cheyne, and Asahel Nettleton, of our own time. These all were men radiant with godliness, burning with earnestness, untiring in labour, and singularly clear and pointed in their enunciation of the gospel. They were instruments of reviving. The revival under Samuel was brought about by prayer and preaching. To this man it was instrumentally to be traced. He wrestled in secret and exhorted in public; waited for the blessing, and, under God, led the blessed revival. When the ark of God was taken, and Ichabod became the fittest name of Israel, the cause of godliness was deplorably low. Form, which had for a time supplanted faith, at length departed with the ark. God in great mercy taught them that form was unavailing without living piety. Had the victory remained with the Hebrews at Ebenezer, the ark of God would have been made an idol, and the ordinances of a divine religion been corrupted into heathenism. But its capture was permitted, even though that disgraced the religion of the people, rather than this danger should be incurred. When the ark was restored to Israel the chosen people were not prepared to convey it again to Shiloh. The men of Bethshemesh, after their first enthusiasm and sacrifice were over, felt no more interest than an idle curiosity, and presumed to inspect that which had been commanded to be covered from all but the high priest's eyes. And, though so many perished by the hand of God for their sacrilege, no spirit of repentance and reformation moved the people. The Bethshemites are not without their parallels. Unfeeling souls may be met with everywhere. Mercy and judgment move them not. Grace and law melt them not. They can hear the pleadings of incarnate Love suffering to save, and never wish a personal interest in His benign salvation. The Bethshemites besought the inhabitants of Kirjath-jearim to take away the ark of God; but when this was done there does not seem to have been a single priest in attendance to welcome the holy symbol or to deposit it within the tabernacle. During twenty years the children of Israel forgot their God and Redeemer, and they were perverted by their foul idolatries. Apostasy from God never improves the soul. False worship cannot elevate. Israel did not recover their independence or their happiness until they were as a people brought back to God. This was the great object of the reformation under Samuel.

1. Samuel preached repentance. This has ever been the subject of earnest exhortation in times of attempted revival. It rang through Germany by Luther's lips of music, and echoed among the Alpine valleys from Zuingle's patriotic soul. It was the subject of Latimer's blunt home thrusts at the practical heart of England, and it thundered throughout Scotland from the stern and fearless Knox. The doctrine of repentance is the appendix to every republication of the Ten Commandments, and the preface to every offer of the Gospel. So, when Samuel taught, this was his awakening theme. The law of God was his great argument, and the acquiescing consciences of the people his responses to the truth; therefore, with authority and with boldness did he convince of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. The people began to awake. A deep impression fell upon them all from Dan to Beersheba. They saw their sin in the light of God's law. Twenty years of unpardoned sin was a heart-breaking retrospect. And therefore did they lament. It was well to be awakened from the long spiritual sleep. It was well to be sorry for their sin.

2. Samuel sought fruits meet for repentance. The people were anxious, for sin oppressed their souls; but Samuel did not rest satisfied with the expressed emotion. He demanded instant proof of professed sincerity. To give up evil ways is one of the earliest signs of a penitent soul. It is indispensable to separate from whatever contaminates the soul. To put away idolatry was, therefore, the first requirement which Samuel made of the awakened people. At the time of the Protestant Reformation, when the people were awakened, they cleared the churches and also their houses of all images used for worship. When Christianity was successfully introduced among the South Sea Islanders, She burning of the idols was the proof of their sincere awakening.

3. Samuel urged a believing return to the Lord. Repentance does not constitute reformation. It is only the outer court. By faith we enter into the holy place. Faith lays hold of a covenant God, of His pardoning mercy and justifying righteousness. Faith is the reunion of the soul to the Lord. The heart must have an object. No person is without a god, to whom all his efforts are devoted, and on whom his affections are placed. It may be the world, or the creature, or self, or some superstition, or else the true God. The tendency of the heart is to the false and the worldly. But the awakened conscience finds no satisfaction in anything less than God. When the work of reformation was being wrought among the people Samuel felt anxious that all the nation should realise the benefit. He therefore summoned all Israel together. "They drew water and poured it out before the Lord." This was not a Divine institution; but it was a practice frequently observed to give confirmation to solemn pledges. It perhaps implied that as "water is spilled upon the ground and cannot be gathered up again," so their vow was never to be recalled, but to be preserved in all its obligation and obedience. It is like that testimony which Scotland, as a nation, once gave to the Covenant in a time of spiritual revival. "At request of their devoted leaders in the Reformation, the people crowded to Edinburgh from all parts of the country, and assembled in the Greyfriars' Churchyard to the number of sixty thousand! Alexander Henderson stood forth in their midst, and, in a prayer of wondrous power and pathos, confessed the nation's sins, and their desire to return to the Lord and to the purity of worship commanded in His word. It was then proposed to join themselves in a covenant engagement to maintain the Lord's cause. The deed was read and explained." Those that had doubts were conferred with ere the deed was subscribed. "Again," says the historian, "a deep and solemn pause ensued; not the pause of irresolution, but of modest diffidence, each thinking every other more worthy than himself to place the first name upon this sacred bond. An aged nobleman, the venerable Earl of Sutherland, at length stepped slowly and reverentially forward, and with throbbing heart and trembling hand subscribed Scotland's covenant with God. All hesitation in a moment disappeared. Name followed name in swift succession, till all within the church had given their signatures. It was then removed into the churchyard and spread out on a level gravestone to obtain the subscription of the assembled multitude. As the space became filled they wrote their names in a contracted form, limiting them at last to the initial letters, till not a spot remained on which another letter could be inscribed. There was another pause. The nation had framed a covenant in former days and had violated its engagements, hence the calamities in which it had been and was involved. If they too should break this sacred bond how deep would be their guilt! Such seem to have been their thoughts during this period of silent communing with their own hearts; for, as moved by one spirit, they lifted up their right hands to heaven, avowing by this solemn appeal that they had now joined themselves to the Lord by an everlasting covenant that shall not be forgotten. In Israel, Samuel stood forth and led the services of worship. Nor could that day be soon forgotten by the people. It witnessed the renewal of their covenant with the Lord. It recorded their marvellous mercy, when the crimson stains of twenty years were forever wiped out by God. It celebrated the recovery of a nation's backsliding, when sins which as a thick cloud had darkened their moral firmament were blotted out;. Backslider, Mizpeh speaks to thee! That spectacle of a nation's penitence, and the healing of a long backsliding, tells thee that there is mercy with God, and illustrates His words of love, "Return unto me, ye backsliding children; I will heal your backslidings." Unconverted sinner, Mizpeh speaks to thee! That scene of repentance after twenty years of sins, reveals many who then first found the Lord. Backsliders were restored, the impenitent might be saved.

(R. Steel.)

Gather all Israel to Mizpeh.
In the establishment of one of our great goldsmiths is a vast iron safe with many locks, containing immense treasure, but no one can open that chest; the keys are in the hands of many trustees, and only by their concurrence can the hidden wealth be made manifest. Thus it is in the natural and in the spiritual world, the wealth of the Divine blessing can be reached only through the brotherhood of man, the brotherhood of saints. "Not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together."

(W. L. Watkinson.)

People
Abinadab, Amorites, Eleazar, Israelites, Samuel
Places
Beth-car, Bethel, Ebenezer, Ekron, Gath, Gilgal, Kiriath-jearim, Mizpah, Ramah, Shen
Topics
Assemble, Gather, Intercede, Mizpah, Mizpeh, Prayer, Samuel
Outline
1. They of Kiriath Jearim bring the ark to Abinadab, and sanctify Eleazar as guard
2. After twenty years,
3. the Israelites, by Samuel's means, solemnly repent at Mizpeh
7. While Samuel prays and sacrifices,
10. the Lord thwarts the Philistines by thunder at Ebenezer
13. The Philistines are subdued
15. Samuel judges Israel

Dictionary of Bible Themes
1 Samuel 7:3-9

     7734   leaders, spiritual

1 Samuel 7:3-13

     6634   deliverance

1 Samuel 7:5-6

     5213   assembly
     5773   abstinence, discipline
     6624   confession, of sin
     8431   fasting, reasons

1 Samuel 7:5-9

     8611   prayer, for others
     8640   calling upon God

Library
Sermon at the Faribault Celebration of the Centennial of the Inauguration of George Washington, 1789-1889.
"Then Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Ebeneser, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us."-- 1 SAMUEL vii. 12. No words are more fitting on this Centennial day. One hundred years ago George Washington was inaugurated the first President of the United States. Words are powerless to express the grateful thoughts which swell patriot hearts. Save that people whom God led out of Egypt with His pillar of fire and His pillar of cloud, I know of no nation
H.B. Whipple—Five Sermons

Three Decisive Steps
"And it came to pass, while the ark abode in Kirjath-jearim, that the time was long; for it was twenty years: and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord. And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, If ye do return unto the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the Lord, and serve him only: and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines. Then the children of Israel did put away Baalim and
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 37: 1891

Ebenezer!
I beg you, therefore, dear friends, for a little time this morning, to fix your thoughts upon your God in connection with yourselves; and, while we think of Samuel piling the stones and saying, "Hitherto hath the Lord helped us," let us lay the emphasis upon the last word and say, "Hitherto hath the Lord helped US," and if you can put it in the singular, and say, "Hitherto hath the Lord helped ME," so much the better. Again, it is a very delightful exercise to remember the various ways in which the
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 9: 1863

Ebenezer 1Sam 7:12

John Newton—Olney Hymns

Faithlessness and Defeat
'And the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out against the Philistines to battle, and pitched beside Eben-ezer: and the Philistines pitched in Aphek. 2. And the Philistines put themselves in array against Israel: and when they joined battle, Israel was smitten before the Philistines: and they slew of the army in the field about four thousand men. 3. And when the people were come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, Wherefore hath the Lord smitten us today before the Philistines?
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Of the Public Fast.
A public fast is when, by the authority of the magistrate (Jonah iii. 7; 2 Chron. xx. 3; Ezra viii. 21), either the whole church within his dominion, or some special congregation, whom it concerneth, assemble themselves together, to perform the fore-mentioned duties of humiliation; either for the removing of some public calamity threatened or already inflicted upon them, as the sword, invasion, famine, pestilence, or other fearful sickness (1 Sam. vii. 5, 6; Joel ii. 15; 2 Chron. xx.; Jonah iii.
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

Emmaus. Kiriath-Jearim.
"From Beth-horon to Emmaus it was hilly."--It was sixty furlongs distant from Jerusalem.--"To eight hundred only, dismissed the army, (Vespasian) gave a place, called Ammaus, for them to inhabit: it is sixty furlongs distant from Jerusalem." I inquire, whether this word hath the same etymology with Emmaus near Tiberias, which, from the 'warm baths,' was called Chammath. The Jews certainly do write this otherwise... "The family (say they) of Beth-Pegarim, and Beth Zipperia was out of Emmaus."--The
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica

Samuel
Alike from the literary and the historical point of view, the book[1] of Samuel stands midway between the book of Judges and the book of Kings. As we have already seen, the Deuteronomic book of Judges in all probability ran into Samuel and ended in ch. xii.; while the story of David, begun in Samuel, embraces the first two chapters of the first book of Kings. The book of Samuel is not very happily named, as much of it is devoted to Saul and the greater part to David; yet it is not altogether inappropriate,
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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