Samuel Judges Israel

Continuing a chronological Bible study:

(1 Samuel 7:1) And the men of Kirjath Jearim came, and fetched up the ark of the Lord, and brought it into the house of Abinadab in the hill, and sanctified Eleazar his son to keep the ark of the Lord.

In the last chapter, the Philistines sent back the ark of God because keeping it had caused them much death and destruction.  They sent it to Beth Shemesh, where the people were not careful in handling the ark as it should be handled according to the law, and the Lord struck down over 50,000 men.  The men of Beth Shemesh wanted to send the ark away because of all the destruction, and they sent messengers to Kirjath Jearim to have them come and fetch the ark, which they did.  They brought the ark to the house of a man called Abinadab, the one on a hill in Kirjath Jearim, distinguishing him from some other Abinadab.  This Abinadab appears to have been a man of great esteem for religion and righteousness, and he sanctified his son Eleazar to be in charge of the ark of the Lord, to watch over it and guard it from people touching it or using it irreverently.

(2) 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.

The ark of God had remained in Kirjath Jearim for twenty years up to this point.  The people lamented after the Lord, becoming sensible of their evil deeds and repenting of them.  They cried after God who had withdrawn from them.

(3) And Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, "If you do return to the Lord with all your hearts, put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts to the Lord, and serve Him only, and He will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines."

Samuel now judged Israel, and he spoke to the people, telling them that if they truly were returning to the Lord with all their hearts, then they should put away the false gods from among them and also Ashtaroth who represented the female gods, destroying all their images and altars from among them.  They should direct their hearts to the Lord only and serve only Him, and then the Lord would deliver them out of the hand of the Philistines, under whose dominion they still were and had been for many years.

(4) Then the children of Israel did put away Baalim and Ashtaroth and served the Lord only.

The Israelites indeed put away the Baals, the male gods, and Ashtaroth, the female gods, and they served the Lord God only.

(5) And Samuel said, "Gather all Israel to Mizpeh, and I will pray for you to the Lord."

Samuel called for all the people to be gathered to Mizpeh on the borders of Judah and Benjamin, and he would pray to the Lord for them.

(6) And they gathered together to Mizpeh, and drew water, and poured it out before the Lord, and fasted on that day, and said there, "We have sinned against the Lord." And Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpeh.

Samuel gathered the people to Mizpeh where they drew water and poured it out before the Lord, symbolic of the sincerity of their repentance, as they poured out their hearts in repentance, as water.  They acknowledged that they had sinned against the Lord, and they prayed and fasted.  Samuel judged them there at Mizpeh, listening to them, addressing grievances, and teaching them how to get reconciled with God.

(7) And when the Philistines heard that the children of Israel were gathered together at Mizpeh, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the children of Israel heard, they were afraid of the Philistines. (8) And the children of Israel said to Samuel. "Do not cease to cry to the Lord our God for us, that He will save us out of the hand of the Philistines."

When the Philistines heard that the Israelites had gathered together at Mizpeh, the lords of the Philistines gathered forces and went up against Israel in a surprise attack.  When the Israelites became aware of them, they were afraid and cried out to Samuel to continue praying to the Lord that He might save them from the Philistines.

(9) And Samuel took a suckling lamb and offered a burnt offering wholly to the Lord, and Samuel cried to the Lord for Israel, and the Lord heard him. 

Samuel took a suckling lamb and offered a burnt offering to the Lord, the whole lamb being burnt.  Samuel cried out to the Lord for Israel, and the Lord heard his cries.

(10) And as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel, but the Lord thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines and confused them, and they were struck down before Israel.

As Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to the Israelites, but the Lord thundered with a great thunder upon them that confused them so that they were struck down before Israel.  The Israelites never had to engage in battle; the Lord Himself struck down the Philistines with His thunder and lightning.  This fulfilled a prophecy of Hannah's, Samuel's mother, in her song, "The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall He thunder upon them." (1 Samuel 2:10)

(11) And the men of Israel went out of Mizpeh and pursued the Philistines and killed them until below Beth Car.

The Israelites then went out of Mizpeh and chased the remaining confused and terrified Philistines as far as below a place called Beth Car, killing them.

(12) Then Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpeh and Shen and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, "To this point the Lord has helped us."

Then Samuel set a stone as a monument between Mizpeh and a place called Shen.  He called it Ebenezer, saying the Lord had helped them.  Ebenezer meant literally "stone of the help," and was the same place that the Israelites had pitched in 1 Samuel 4:1; there Samuel wrote that it was called Ebenezer even though it had not yet been named at that point.

(13) So the Philistines were subdued, and they came no more into the border of Israel, and the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.

The Philistines were subdued and no longer came inside the borders of Israel.  The hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.

(14) And the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron to Gath, and their territory Israel delivered out of the hands of the Philistines. And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites.

All the cities from Ekron to Gath, at least all those between those two cities were restored to Israel.  Dr. John Gill wrote in his Exposition of the Bible, that if Israel had indeed taken back Ekron and Gath, "they were not long held by them, for we soon read of them as in the hands of others."  There was peace between Israel, and as "Josephus calls them the remnant of the Canaanites; these, finding the Philistines were subdued, were quiet and peaceable, and gave Israel no more trouble."

(15) And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. (16) And he went from year to year in circuit to Bethel, and Gilgal, and Mizpeh, and judged Israel in all those places.

Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life.  He went in circuit every year to the cities of Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpeh, and judged Israel from those places where the people would come from all parts for advice and counsel.

(17) And his return was to Ramah, for there was his house, and there he judged Israel, and there he built an altar to the Lord.

After making his circuit, Samuel would return to Ramah where his house was.  As the last judge of Israel, he judged Israel there, at his home base, so to speak, and he built an altar to the Lord there.