Chapter 7
1 Some men from Kiriath-jearim came and took the Ark of the Lord away. They brought it to the house of Abinadab on the hill, and they consecrated Eleazar, his son, to take care of the Ark of the Lord.
Samuel the Judge.[a] 2 The Ark remained at Kiriath-jearim for a long time, for twenty years. All of the people of Israel lamented after the Lord.
3 Samuel said to all the people of Israel, “If you intend to return to the Lord with your whole heart, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods you have among you, the Astartes, and commit your hearts to serve the Lord alone, then he will deliver you out of the hands of the Philistines.” 4 So the Israelites threw away their Baals and Astartes,[b] and served the Lord alone.
5 Samuel then said, “Assemble all of the Israelites at Mizpah,[c] and I will intercede to the Lord for you.” 6 When they had gathered at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it[d] before the Lord. They fasted that day and confessed, “We have sinned against the Lord.” Now, Samuel was the judge of the Israelites at Mizpah.
Defeat of the Philistines. 7 When the Philistines heard that the Israelites had gathered at Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up to attack them. When the Israelites heard about this, they were afraid of the Philistines. 8 The Israelites said to Samuel, “Intercede for us unceasingly with the Lord, our God, that he might deliver us from the power of the Philistines.”
9 So Samuel took a suckling lamb and offered it as a burnt offering to the Lord. Samuel cried out to the Lord for the sake of Israel, and the Lord heard him.
10 While Samuel was performing the sacrifice, the Philistines drew near to engage the Israelites in combat. The Lord boomed with a loud thunder that day, and the Philistines panicked and they were defeated by the Israelites. 11 The men of Israel rushed out from Mizpah and pursued the Philistines. They slaughtered them all the way to Beth-car. 12 Samuel then took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He called it “Ebenezer,” saying “the Lord helped us here.”[e]
13 Thus the Philistines were defeated and they no longer raided the territory of Israel. The hand of the Lord was raised against the Philistines as long as Samuel lived. 14 The towns that lay between Ekron and Gath that the Philistines had captured from Israel were restored to the Israelites, and Israel was able to deliver its borderlands from the hands of the Philistines. There was even peace between Israel and the Amorites.
15 Samuel continued to serve as the judge of Israel throughout his entire lifetime. 16 Each year he made a circuit among Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah, judging Israel in all of those places, 17 but he always returned to Ramah, for that was his home, and he judged Israel there, too. He built an altar to Yahweh there.
Footnotes
- 1 Samuel 7:2 This story seems to have been written in the North for the purpose of exalting the person of Samuel by depicting him as the greatest of the judges of Israel and the deliverer of God’s people.
- 1 Samuel 7:4 Baals and Astartes: these are Canaanite gods whose union was believed to bring fertility to the earth.
- 1 Samuel 7:5 Mizpah: a very significant place for the Israelites, considering that Samuel was appointed judge (7:6), and Saul, the first king of Israel, was presented to the people (10:17ff) there.
- 1 Samuel 7:6 Drew water and poured it: pouring water on the ground before the Lord was symbolic of repentance for sin and a return to the Lord.
- 1 Samuel 7:12 The Israelites set up a stone in gratitude for the Lord’s help in rescuing them from the Philistines.