Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpah and Shen, and called its name Ebenezer, saying, “Yahweh helped us until now.”
Parallel Translations
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Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpah and Shen, and called its name Ebenezer, saying, “Yahweh helped us until now.”
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Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Eben-ezer, saying, Hitherto hath the LORD helped us.
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Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpah and Shen, and called the name of it Eben-ezer, saying: 'Hitherto hath the LORD helped us.'
Cross-references (16)
Passages linked to 1 Samuel 7:12 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 2 Corinthians 1:10 who delivered us out of so great a death, and does deliver; on whom we have set our hope that he will also still deliver us;
- Joshua 4:9 Joshua set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests who bore the ark of the covenant stood; and they are there to this day.
- Acts 26:22 Having therefore obtained the help that is from God, I stand to this day testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would happen,
- Genesis 22:14 Abraham called the name of that place “Yahweh Will Provide”. As it is said to this day, “On Yahweh’s mountain, it will be provided.”
- Genesis 35:14 Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he spoke with him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink offering on it, and poured oil on it.
- 1 Samuel 5:1 Now the Philistines had taken God’s ark, and they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.
- Isaiah 46:3-4 “Listen to me, house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, that have been carried from their birth, that have been carried from the womb. Even to old age I am he, and even to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear. Yes, I will carry, and will deliver.
- Genesis 31:45-52 Jacob took a stone, and set it up for a pillar. Jacob said to his relatives, “Gather stones.” They took stones, and made a heap. They ate there by the heap. Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed. Laban said, “This heap is witness between me and you today.” Therefore it was named Galeed and Mizpah, for he said, “Yahweh watch between me and you, when we are absent one from another. If you afflict my daughters, or if you take wives in addition to my daughters, no man is with us; behold, God is witness between me and you.” Laban said to Jacob, “See this heap, and see the pillar, which I have set between me and you. May this heap be a witness, and the pillar be a witness, that I will not pass over this heap to you, and that you will not pass over this heap and this pillar to me, for harm.
- Joshua 24:26-27 Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God; and he took a great stone, and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of Yahweh. Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, this stone shall be a witness against us, for it has heard all Yahweh’s words which he spoke to us. It shall be therefore a witness against you, lest you deny your God.”
- Genesis 28:18-19 Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put under his head, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil on its top. He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first.
- Joshua 4:20-24 Joshua set up those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, in Gilgal. He spoke to the children of Israel, saying, “When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, ‘What do these stones mean?’ Then you shall let your children know, saying, ‘Israel came over this Jordan on dry land. For Yahweh your God dried up the waters of the Jordan from before you until you had crossed over, as Yahweh your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up from before us, until we had crossed over, that all the peoples of the earth may know that Yahweh’s hand is mighty, and that you may fear Yahweh your God forever.’ ”
- Exodus 17:15 Moses built an altar, and called its name “Yahweh our Banner”.
- Psalms 71:6 I have relied on you from the womb. You are he who took me out of my mother’s womb. I will always praise you.
- 1 Samuel 4:1 The word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out against the Philistines to battle, and encamped beside Ebenezer; and the Philistines encamped in Aphek.
- Psalms 71:17 God, you have taught me from my youth. Until now, I have declared your wondrous works.
- Isaiah 19:19 In that day, there will be an altar to Yahweh in the middle of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to Yahweh at its border.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (18 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Which was a great rock over against Mizpah.
Which was a great rock over against Mizpah.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 1Sa 7:12 Then Samuel took a stone, and set…
1Sa 7:12 Then 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.
Ver. 12. Then Samuel took a stone, and set it.] As a trophy or lasting monument of that day’s victory. So when the Spanish armada was defeated here in 1588, money was coined with a navy flying away at full sail, and this inscription, Venit, Vidit, Fugit. It came, it saw, it fled.
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Between Mizpeh and Shen.] Where, before, the Israelites had been beaten, and the ark taken. {1Sa 4:1}
And called the name of it Ebenezer,] i.e., The stone of help. So the place where Charles the Great vanquished his enemies was called Mons adiutorii, the hill of help {a} Alexander the Great called the mountain where he overcame Darius, Nicatorium, or the place of conquest. {b}
Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.] And we trust he will do so still; for every former mercy is a pledge of a future.
{a} Crantz., Har., lib. ii. cap. 4.
{b} Strabo.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain A stone; a rude, unpolished stone, which was not…
A stone; a rude, unpolished stone, which was not prohibited by that law, Lev 26:1, there being no danger of worshipping such a stone, and this being set up only as a monument of the victory.
Eben-ezer; by which, compared with 1Sa 4:1, it appears that this victory was gained in or near the very same place where the Israelites received their former fatal loss.
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Hitherto hath the Lord helped us; He hath begun to help us in some measure, though not completely to deliver us; by which wary expression he exciteth both their thankfulness for their mercy received, and their holy fear and care to please and serve the Lord, that he might proceed to help and deliver them more effectually.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And Samuel took a stone, and set it,.... Not…
And Samuel took a stone, and set it,.... Not for worship, but as a monument of the victory obtained by the help of God: and this he placed
between Mizpeh and Shen; which latter signifies a tooth, and designs the precipice of a rock which juts out, and hangs over in the form of one:
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and called the name of it Ebenezer; which signifies "the stone of help"; and is the same place which by anticipation has this name, Sa1 4:1, so that in the selfsame place where the Israelites were twice beaten by the Philistines, and the ark taken, was this salvation wrought for them:
saying, hitherto hath the Lord helped us; this was but the beginning of their deliverance from the Philistines, and which was owing to the help of the Lord; and as he had begun to help them, they might hope and encourage themselves that he would go on to help them until their deliverance was completed: however, they with Samuel thought it their duty, which was right, to acknowledge what the Lord had done for them, and perpetuate the memory of it, though they could not be sure what he would do for them hereafter; yet as they were sensible of, and thankful for this instance of his goodness, they hoped for more, and had their dependence on him for future success against their enemies.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain A stone - A rude unpolished stone, which was…
A stone - A rude unpolished stone, which was not prohibited by that law, Lev. xxvi, 1, there being no danger of worshipping such a stone, and this being set up only as a monument of the victory. Eben-ezer - That is, the stone of help. And this victory was gained in the very same place where the Israelites received their former fatal loss. Helped us - He hath begun to help us, though not compleatly to deliver us. By which wary expression, he exciteth both their thankfulness for their mercy received, and their holy fear and care to please and serve the Lord, that he might help and deliver them effectually.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 12. Called the name of it Eben-ezer] אבן…
Verse 12. Called the name of it Eben-ezer] אבן העזר Eben haezer, "The Stone of Help; " perhaps a pillar is meant by the word stone.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain 1Sa 7:12. Then Samuel took a stone — A…
1Sa 7:12. Then Samuel took a stone — A rude, unpolished stone, which was not prohibited by that law, Lev 26:1, there being no danger of worshipping such a stone, and this being set up only as a monument of the victory. Eben-ezer — That is, the stone of help. And this victory was gained in the very same place where the Israelites received their former fatal loss. Helped us — He hath begun to help us, though not completely to deliver us. By which wary expression, he excited both their thankfulness for the mercy received, and their holy fear and care to please and serve the Lord, that he might help and deliver them effectually.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Shen was a tooth-pointed or sharp-pointed rock (see 1Sa…
Shen was a tooth-pointed or sharp-pointed rock (see 1Sa 14:4), nowhere else mentioned and not identified.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Sen, "the tooth," a craggy rock of that appearance.…
Sen, "the tooth," a craggy rock of that appearance. Syriac Beth Jasan. (Calmet) --- some take it to be the same with Bethchar. (Malvenda) --- It was before ignoble, (Salien) and the situation not known, till this monument was erected, with the inscription, Thus far, &c. --- Help; "Aben-ezer," mentioned before, chap. iv. 1. The religious monuments were not prohibited by the law, Leviticus xxvi. 1. Samuel would take every precaution that they should not become objects of idolatry, as he was under the immediate influence of the Holy Spirit. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh…
Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen--on an open spot between the town and "the crag" (some well-known rock in the neighborhood). A huge stone pillar was erected as a monument of their victory (Lev 26:1). The name--Eben-ezer--is thought to have been written on the face of it.
Next: 1 Samuel Chapter 8
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 12. Shen — This word signifies a tooth, and…
12. Shen — This word signifies a tooth, and seems to have been the name of some projecting eminence or rock having the form of a tooth. Its situation is now unknown.
Eben-ezer — Stone of help; a monument to remind Israel that their victories were of the Lord. At this very spot the ark was captured twenty years before, and here it is notable that God now gives them such a wondrous triumph. The contrast between the two events is full of rich suggestions.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 12. Eben-ezer] i.e. “The Stone of Help,” a memorial…
12. Eben-ezer] i.e. “The Stone of Help,” a memorial set up between Mizpah and Shen, (in Heb. with the definite article) = “The Tooth,” probably some conspicuous “tooth” or spire of rock. Cp. 1Sa_14:4. The exact place is unknown, but “exactly at the spot where twenty years before they had obtained their great victory, the Philistines were totally routed.” [See however Add. Note IX. p. 245.]
Hitherto, &c.] i.e. Up to this time. The deliverances of the past are a pledge of continued help for the future.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (12) Between Mizpeh and Shen.—The situation of Ha-Shen, “The…
(12) Between Mizpeh and Shen.—The situation of Ha-Shen, “The Tooth,” has not yet been identified. It probably denotes a peak or crag, a prominent rock formation, so named, like the modern French dent—a favourite name for a peak in some districts of the Alps and Pyrenees: e.g., Dent du Midi.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Then Samuel took a stone, and called the name…
Then Samuel took a stone, and called the name of it Eben-ezer. We saw on ch. 4. I that the place where Israel then suffered defeat, but which now received a more happy name, was an open plain, over which the people now chased their then victorious enemies. Here, then, Samuel set up a memorial, according to Jewish custom, and called its name Help stone. In giving his reason for it, hitherto hath Jehovah helped us, there is a plain indication of the need of further assistance. There was a long struggle before them, and Jehovah, who had aided them so mightily at its beginning, would also help them unto the end. The memorial stood halfway between Mizpeh and Shen, both which names have the article in Hebrew, because one signifies the watchtower, the other the tooth. It was a steep, pointed rock, but is not mentioned elsewhere. Dent, the French for tooth, is a common name for mountains in the Alps and Pyrenees.
Ver. 12. (Between MIZPAH and SHEN the tooth or crag.)
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The stone of help.
The setting up of memorial stones was one of the earliest methods adopted for the purpose of recording interesting and important events. These memorials consisted of a single block or of a heap of stones; they generally received some significant name, or were marked with a brief inscription, and they sometimes became centres around which the people gathered, and were replaced by more imposing structures. The earliest instance mentioned in the Bible was at Bethel. (Gen_28:8) Other instances, Gen_31:45; Exo_17:15; Jos_4:9, Jos_4:21, 22 24:26. This memorial was set up
I ON THE OPPORTUNE RECEPTION OF DIVINE HELP. Looking backward on the past, let us remember
1. How much that help has been needed by us in sorrow, labour, conflict, danger, which our own strength was wholly inadequate to meet.
2. How often it has been afforded when we were at the point of despair. But why, it may be asked, should God have allowed us to arrive at such a point?
(1) To teach us the very truth concerning ourselves, and deliver us from a vain confidence in ourselves. "This unfortunate self-reliance forms within us a little favourite sanctuary, which our jealous pride keeps closed against God, whom we receive as our last resource. But when we become really weak and despair of ourselves, the power of God expands itself through all our inner man, even to the most secret recesses, filling us with all the fulness of God" (A. Monod).
(2) To produce in us humility and submission, to excite us to fervent prayer, and to strengthen and perfect our faith.
(3) To afford occasion for a more impressive manifestation of his power and grace.
3. How completely it has been adapted to our need and accomplished our deliverance. Here we are this day, after the trouble and conflict, ourselves monuments of his mercy! "We went through fire and through water: but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place" (Deu_8:2; Psa_66:12 Psa_77:10; Act_26:22)
II IN GRATEFUL RECOGNITION OF DIVINE HELP. Looking upward to heaven, let us reflect
1. How plainly the Source of our deliverance now appears. "Hitherto hath the Lord helped us." "Not with thy sword, nor with thy bow" (Jos_24:12). His arm alone has brought salvation nigh. We see it now more clearly than we did before, and as we meditate upon it our hearts overflow with thankfulness. We have not always recognised the Source of our mercies, and therefore often omitted to be thankful; but who can fail to see these signal tokens of his power? "Not unto us," etc.. (Psa_115:1)
2. How much we owe to the God of our salvation. Everything.
3. How we can best testify the gratitude of our hearts. "What shall I render unto the Lord?". (Psa_116:12) Loud songs of praise. Renewed vows of consecration. Earnest written or spoken words for God. Large gifts of what he has given. Fresh acts of piety and beneficence. These shall be the memorial we now set up.
III AS A PERMANENT RECORD OF DIVINE HELP. Looking forward to the future, let us considered. How helpful the record may be to ourselves in times of conflict and trial. For such times will come; we are liable to forget what has occurred; and it will remind us of him who changes not, and incite us to faith and prayer.
1. How useful it may be to others in similar circumstances. What he hasdone for us he can do for them, and seeing it they "may take heart again.
2. How conducive it may be to the glory of God. As often as we behold itwe shall be stirred to fresh thanksgiving. When we are gone it will still endure. Others will gather around it, and ask the meaning of the "great stone which remaineth unto this day", (1Sa_6:18) and, on being told, will give glory to God. So his praise shall be perpetuated from generation to generation, until it merge into the anthem of heaven.
Conclusion.
1. Let us be thankful for the memorials of Divine help which others have left for our benefit. They are among the greatest treasures the earth contains, and meet our view wherever we turn.
2. Let us do something to add to these treasures, and further enrich theearth.
3. Above all, let us seek to be ourselves the everlasting monuments of theDivine power and grace. D.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain And Samuel took a stone.
1Sa_7:12
And Samuel took a stone.
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The everlasting memorial
How few of Egypts modern inhabitants know who built those works of wonder that still draw crowds of travellers! It might be said, in the words of one who longed for posthumous fame, and had done much to merit it, but who knew what had been the experience of departed greatness--it might be said with Solomon: There is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool forever: seeing that which now is, in the days to come shall all be forgotten. (Ecc_2:16.) But there is a memorial which shall never be erased--a monument that shall never crumble into dust, and persons who shall never be forgotten. The events connected with the life everlasting have all their stones of remembrance, and the righteous shall ever shine as the sun in the kingdom of the Father. The providences which ministered to the children of God are all recorded in the heart, and will ever be recalled with thanksgiving to the God of grace who ordered them. In the history of His Church God has commemorated the interpositions and providences of His hand. Many a monumental stone stands in the chronicles of Israel. Ararat is ever associated with Noahs thank offering after the Deluge. Mount Moriah has been embalmed in believing hearts since Abraham built there his altar and called it Jehovah-jireh--The Lord will provide. Since Jacob set up the stone which had been his pillow on that memorable night when he saw the ladder, Bethel has been fondly cherished by all who love the House of God. When Jordan was crossed by the pilgrim Church twelve stones marked out the spot where the priests feet had stood; and Bochim became associated with the record of a nations tears. So when Samuel and the children of Israel received such a token of the Lords love and help in their victory at Mizpeh in answer to prayer they erected a stone and called it Ebenezer, to perpetuate their gratitude. Thus has the Church of God advanced. Constituted a pilgrim through this wilderness to the land of promise, every step of progress marks her gratitude. Commissioned to war against sin, every conquest becomes a spiritual march in music. Sent to evangelise, every convert is a trophy and Hitherto hath the Lord helped us is the chorus of every stanza in her progressive song. Thus David set to music the history of Divine mercy to His people, and recalled the past in their daily praises, while the experience of his own soul became the Hitherto of the common chorus. The perils to which the children of Israel were exposed were beyond their own strength to overcome. They were weakened by oppression. They were faint by backsliding. They needed help from the hand of God. They had met together at Mizpeh, and, amidst general weeping, had confessed their sins, and renewed their covenant with God. But as they were paying their vows, and joining in a religious service, they were wantonly attacked. Their newborn zeal was put to an early test; but as their penitence was sincere, their vow hearty, their prayer believing, so was the faithfulness of God availing in their need. How many hearts were that day restored to God, confirmed in faith, and revived to prayer! Temporal deliverance and spiritual restoration went hand in hand, and a common Ebenezer marked the rare experience. The Church was blessed with a revival, and the State with liberty; souls were awakened, and citizens restored to patriotism. The spiritual man became the truest patriot, the best subject of the laws, and the most courageous defender of the State. Thus they had reason for this stone of remembrance and this eucharistic inscription. But they teach us a lesson--both in temporal and spiritual things to recognise the answer to our prayer, and to give thanks. Have you experienced the providential mercies of God? They demand recognition--a stone of memorial, and an Ebenezer--a psalm of thanksgiving. Have you been brought onward in life to this day, finding daily bread and watchful care? But there are other blessings of greater importance to the soul, and which call for special notice and unceasing gratitude--the helps vouchsafed in grace. The deliverance of the soul from sin is a Divine interposition of the grandest kind. The recovery of the soul from backsliding is an appropriate occasion for an Ebenezer. It was this especially which was Israels national blessing. Their deliverance from the Philistines followed their restoration from the backsliding of twenty years. It was a touching token of the Lords acceptance of their tears and of their prayers. It was a manifest pledge of His unchanging love. After a season of carelessness, spiritual sloth, and coldness in prayer, have you been revived? Has your first love returned? Then, have you returned to give God thanks, and in a more consistent devotedness inscribed the Ebenezer of your soul? These Ebenezers are useful to the believerse They remind him of dependence, and recall his confidence in the strength of God. They encourage him by the past, to trust and not be afraid in all future trials. (R. Steel.)
Ebenezer
It is certainly a very delightful thing to mark the hand of God in the lives of ancient saints. But would it not be even more interesting and profitable for us to remark the hand of God in our own lives? Ought we not to look upon our own history as being at least as full of God, as full of His goodness and of His truth, as much a proof of His faithfulness and veracity as the lives of any of the saints who have gone before? Have you had no deliverances? Have you passed through no rivers, supported by the Divine presence? Have you walked through no fires unharmed? Have you had no manifestations? Again, it is a very delightful exercise to remember the various ways in which the grateful saints recorded their thankfulness. Who can look without pleasure upon the altar which Noah reared after his preservation from the universal deluge? Would it not be quite as pleasant, and more profitable for us to record the mighty acts of the Lord as we have seen them? Should not we set up the altar unto His name, or weave His mercies into a song?
I. The spot where the stone of ebenezer was set up.
1. Twenty years before on that field Israel was routed. Twenty years before, Hophni and Phineas, the priests of the Lord, were slain upon that ground, and the ark of the Lord was taken, and the Philistines triumphed. It was well that they should remember the defeat they had sustained and that amidst the joyous victory they should recollect that the battle had been turned into a defeat unless the Lord had been upon their side. Let us remember our defeats.
2. The field between Mizpeh and Shen would also refresh their memories concerning their sins, for it was sin that conquered them. Had not their hearts been captured by sin, their land had never been captured by Philistia. Had they not turned their hacks upon their God, they would not have turned their backs in the day of conflict. Let us recollect our sins; they will serve as a black foil on which the mercy of God shall glisten the more brightly.
3. Again, that spot would remind them of their sorrows. What a mournful chapter in Israels history is that which follows their defeat by the Philistines.
4. While dwelling upon the peculiarity of the locality, we must remark that, as it had been the spot of their defeat, their sin, their sorrow, so now before the victory, it was the place of their repentance. You see, they came together to repent, to confess their sins, to put away their false gods, to cast Ashtaroth from their houses and from their hearts. It was there that they saw Gods band and were led to say, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us. When you and I are most diligent in hunting sin, then God will be most valiant in routing out foes.
5. You must remember, too, that Ebenezer was the place of lamentation after the Lord. They came together to pray God to return to them. We shall surely see God when we long after Him.
6. On that day, too, Mizpeh was the place of renewed covenant, and its name signifies the watchtower, These people, I say, came together to renew their covenant with God, and wait for Him as upon a watchtower. Whenever Gods people look back upon the past they should renew their covenant with God. Put your hand into the hand of Christ anew, thou saint of the Most High, and give thyself to Him again.
II. The occasion of the erection of this memorial. The tribes had assembled unarmed to worship. The Philistines, hearing of their gathering, suspected a revolt. A rising was not at that time contemplated, though no doubt there was lurking in the hearts of the people a hope that they would somehow or other be delivered. The Philistines being as a nation far inferior in numbers to the children of Israel, they had the natural suspiciousness of weak oppressors. If we must have tyrants let them be strong ones, for they are never so jealous or cruel as those little despots who are always afraid of rebellion.
1. The victory obtained was by the lamb. As soon as the lamb was slaughtered, and the smoke went up to heaves, the blessing began to descend upon the Israelites, and the curse upon the foes. They smote them--note the words--they smote them until they came under Bethcar, which, being interpreted, signifies the house of the Lamb. At the offering of the lamb the Israelites began to fight the Philistines, and slew them even to the house of the lamb. If we have done anything for Christ, bear witness that it has been all through the Lamb.
2. As in this occurrence the sacrifice was exalted, so also was the power of prayer acknowledged. The Philistines were not routed except by prayer. Samuel prayed unto the Lord. They said, Cease not to cry unto the Lord for us. Let us bear our witness that if aught of good has been accomplished it has been the result of prayer.
3. Again, as there was prayer and sacrifice, you must remember that in answer to the sweet savour of the lamb and the sweet perfume of Samuels intercession, Jehovah came forth to rout his foes.
III. The inscription upon the memorial. Ebenezer, hitherto the Lord hath helped us. The inscription may be read in three ways. You must read first of all its central word, the word on which all the sense depends, where the fulness of it gathers. Hitherto the Lord hath helped us. Note that they did not stand still and refuse to use their weapons, but while God was thundering they were fighting, and while the lightnings were flashing in the icemans eyes they were making them feel the potency of their steel. So that while we glorify God we are not to deny or to discard human agency. We must fight because God fighteth for us. I said this text might be read three ways. We have read it ones by laying stress upon the centre word. Now it ought to be read looking backward. The word hitherto seems like a hand pointing in that direction. Look back, look back. Then the text may be read a third way--looking forward. For when a man gets up to a certain mark and writes hitherto, he looks back upon much that is past, but hitherto is not the end, there: is yet a distance to be traversed. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
A New Years Sermon
That battle was won before a single blow was struck. That victory was achieved at the Throne of Grace, where many a glorious triumph has been gained which never could have been secured elsewhere. Prayer was the mighty weapon which Israel wielded to the utter discomfiture of the Philistine hosts. The power of prayer lies in the power which prayer commands: the power of God.
I. The principles of the text, as they enter deeply into religious experience. We are taught:
1. That we all need help from God. Christians need assistance from a power superior to their own as certainly as did Israel at this crisis. Sin, which has robbed man of his original rectitude, has also deprived him of strength. Unrescued by Divine grace, he is utterly powerless. Nor does the most matured Christian possess the least spiritual energy but as he receives it from on high. There is no equality between the power of the Christians enemies and his own unaided efforts. There are times when the Christian becomes so painfully conscious of this that he is almost ready to quit the field, but this, instead of driving us to despair, should operate powerfully in leading us to God for help, so as to feel with the Apostle: When I am weak, then am I strong.
2. The help of God is bestowed in connection with the use of the means appointed by God, and it is only in their employment that we can reasonably expect Divine aid. Neither the fact of our weakness nor the promise of Divine assistance has been revealed to lead to the exclusion of human exertion. The text implies that it is help that is promised, not the performance of the work for us, but assistance by which we shall be enabled to do our duty.
3. The actual bestowment of this help. The text records a fact: Hitherto hath the Lord helped us. It was not help promised or provided merely, but help actually bestrewed. Help implies just that amount of assistance which the case requires, and by which the Christian shall be sustained under every trial, and delivered out of the last.
II. The character of the help which God supplies.
1. Suitable and efficient. Without adaptation in the remedy the case must remain unrelieved. The source of the Christians help stamps its character. It is Divine.
2. Divine help is certain. Human aid, feeble as it is, is very uncertain in its bestowment. By a sad perversity of human nature, there is a disposition to confer favours with a liberal hand on those who are already affluent, while the indigent are sometimes allowed to drag out a miserable existence and pine away in penury. If a man once opulent should be ruined by misfortunes, persons who proudly recognised him when on the height of prosperity pass him by as if the mans calamities had so altered every feature of his countenance that they cannot recognise him. Should an individual fall a prey to his own folly, pride and extravagance, he must struggle with his self-caused miseries alone. And not infrequently a cold, inactive, good-for-nothing sympathy is all that is manifested toward the most deserving. But the causes which render human aid so uncertain cannot affect God. The relation which He sustains to His Church renders it impossible for Him to regard the interests of any of its members with indifference: God is in the midst of her; . . . God shall help her and that right early.
3. This help is seasonable, it comes at the right time to a moment. It may not be given just when it is expected, nor when to human eyes it would seem most desirable. But are the Divine plans and arrangements to be precipitated and thrown into confusion just to meet human fretfulness and patience? The God by Whom help is bestowed knows the most opportune season for its bestowment. God is attentive to times end seasons; and the Divine slowness has never been opposed to the Divine punctuality.
4. The help of God is constant and unfailing. Hitherto, wrote Samuel, the Lord hath helped us. This was at a protracted period in the history of Gods people, and up to that time there had nothing failed of all that the Lord had spoken. Whenever they were defeated it was not the result of failure in the Source of their supplies, but of their own unfaithfulness and sins. The promise of Divine help is conditional; and only let the conditions of the promise be fulfilled, and the help shall be continued. The last soldier on the field of Christian warfare; the last labourer in the vineyard of the Lord; the last pilgrim in the toilsome way to heaven, will need help from God as we do at this moment; and all shall have it.
III. This conduct to which this help should lead on our part.
1. Grateful acknowledgment of past favours. The expression of gratitude was public and monumental. There is a way of making the expression of our gratitude monumental and lasting by making it practical. Seize every opportunity of testifying to the goodness and faithfulness of God. Let the world know what a wise and almighty Helper ours is. Strive to spread the truth of God; and labour to perpetuate the institutions and auxiliaries of the Christian Church.
2. Past help should lead to confidence in God at the present moment. The words of Samuel were retrospective; but this recognition of past help was designed to teach the practical lesson: Have faith in God now. When friends meet who have a past to look back upon they soon talk over the difficulties and trials with which they have had to struggle, memory generally recalls them first. At a deeply afflictive crisis in Davids life, when our harps would have been unstrung and mute, the Psalmist swept his and pealed forth: I will sing of mercy and judgment. He saw that the two were blended, and he would sing of both; but as mercy greatly predominated, he placed that first in his song.
3. Inspire hope as to the future. (Samuel Wesley.)
Ebenezer
God must be acknowledged in all our mercies, and it is delightful to be able to see in them the answer of believing and fervent supplication. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name give glory.
I. Let us consider what we have to record.
II. Let us now consider with what views and feelings our stone of memorial should be set up, and this expressive word, Ebenezer, inscribed upon it.
1. With sincere piety. To ascribe the honour and power of a work of grace to ministers instead of God the Spirit, is about as irrational as it would be to give praise and glory to the pen with which Milton wrote his immortal poem, instead of giving it to the sublime genius of the bard himself. O let me be forgotten as far as possible, and Christ only thought of.
2. This expression, Ebenezer, must be uttered by us, as it was by Samuel and the Jews, with adoring wonder.
3. Can joy be absent or unsuitable on this occasion? Impossible!
4. A sense of unworthiness should make our gratitude the more intensely fervent. (J. A. James.)
Ebenezer
Monuments generally have two objects They are intended to ornament a country or town, and to celebrate the glories of the hero to whose memory they are raised. A monument is erected after a successful battle, in order to glorify the leader under whose auspices the battle was fought and the victory won. The cathedral of St. Pauls is, by the inscription above the doorway, a perpetual proof how even a great man may be thinking rather too prominently about himself when he is rearing a temple to the Most High God. But Samuel, though he has been instrumental in achieving very much more than a triumph in battle--for he has effected a great moral revolution and revival--never thinks about himself. Two thoughts and purposes vividly occupy and fill his mind. One is to magnify Jehovah, to exalt His name, to keep Him before the people; and the other is to be useful to the people. He wants to assist them to be trustful and brave, because relying on God.
I. Ebenezer is the landmark of work accomplished. There are some people, as you know, or perhaps I ought to say that it is a peculiarity which characterises all people more or less, that they have a very keen sense of evils and disadvantages which belong to the present, and a very dull perception of the privileges secured and the progress which has been made. Of this we have a familiar illustration in the Israelites themselves. Men are constantly looking with affectionate regret upon the past--
That past which always wins a glory from its being far,
And orbs into the perfect star we saw not when we moved therein.
Whatever millennium there may be is there in the good old times. Hence, the world is always standing still or going back. Now against such tendencies as these Ebenezer is a needed and useful protest. There may be other hills to climb, and they may be hills which will try our strength to the very utmost; but let not this prevent our acknowledging with joy and thankfulness that one hill has, at least, been climbed. The Church is a long, long way from perfection, I know. The grey dawn is not breaking at this very moment into the golden tints of the millennial morning; nay, the clouds may be as thick as they were in Israel under Ahab and Jezebel. Nevertheless, let Elijah remember that that glorious scene did take place on Carmel, the fire did come down from heaven, and the king of darkness did receive a staggering blow. Say what you will, the Lord did thunder in the heavens with a great thunder, and the Philistines were discomfited by it, therefore set up a stone and call it Ebenezer. The world is bad enough, God knows, but thank God it is not without its Ebenezers. In those good old times to which you are looking back there were not so many cases of drunkenness recorded; but neither were there so many people to get drunk nor so many newspapers to bring the sin to light. In those good old times the English artisan and the English yeoman were little better than serfs; and though the day of emancipation is bringing out a generation as demoralised (or so they say) as that which followed Moses out of Egypt, and is marked by excesses as wild as those which raged at Meribah and Massah and under the mount, still the day of emancipation has dawned, and my firm expectation is that the womb of the future is bearing within it a race of Israelites indeed, who will enter into the promised land. In those good old times the traffic in human souls, which degrades man to the level of goods and chattels, was not only tolerated, but defended on Christian principles. In the good old times war was an expedient to which any tyrant who felt himself strong enough would resort without compunction, and without exciting any deep indignation. Now a moral sense in regard to war has grown up, which can compel even the most powerful of tyrants to pause ere he wantonly draws the sword. Yes; the Philistines may not be driven out of the country; they may not be utterly annihilated; but their grip, which was at our throat for more than twenty years, has been shaken off. They have been heavily smitten; they are at least quiet. Raise then a stone, and call it Ebenezer, for hitherto hath the Lord helped us.
II. This stone is a monumental memorial of the secret of success. Come near to it and read what is written thereon, and you will find--not some inflated bombast extolling the valour of the Israelites, but--a very simple sentence, giving glory to Jehovah of Hosts. And see how the future which is briefly epitomised in the next verse confirms this hitherto. The hand of the Lord was against them all the days of Samuel. And what was Samuel?--a mighty man of valour? a Moltke among generals? a Bismarck among statesmen? Nay; but a judge who built up a kingdom of righteousness, and preeminently a man who could pray. Praying, as his very name implies, was his forte. It was as one who called upon the Lord that he was distinguished. And it was under the regime of prayer that the Philistines were held in such complete subjugation. The truth which is thus condensed in the word Ebenezer is of the utmost practical importance. There is a Divine Ruler who providentially governs and personally superintends the lives of individuals and the histories of nations. We are not living under a reign of abstract law or inexorable fate; we are not moved round by a mechanism of wheels, revolving in predestined cycles, and grinding out an unalterable sequence of causes and effects. Let devout faith set up then a stone and write upon it, Ebenezer, and with what awful and yet rapturous solemnities life becomes invested. I have often stood with a feeling of almost reverence upon me, high up on some mountainside, looking at vast mysterious boulders, once deposited there by forces which it is hardly possible to conceive, but to the existence of which these mighty masses of rock are the indisputable testimony. But when I come upon Ebenezer, I come upon a stone which says to me, The mighty God, even Jehovah Himself, has been here. Here the sword of the Lord has been flashing unsheathed, and here the banner of the Lord has been waving unfurled. Let devout faith set up a stone and write upon it Ebenezer and with what calm, persistent, uncompromising steadiness we are inspired to advance, just living and working out the everlasting will of righteousness, and simply do that which is just and true and acceptable to God. The only peril you have really to fear is the extinction of Samuel as a reigning influence; for then you will be on the same footing as the other nations of the earth, and the question will be: Can you send as many battalions as they can into the field? So long as Samuel, the man of righteousness and the man of prayer, is influential, you will come safe out of every crisis, under the banner of the God of battles. Remember Ebenezer, and let that keep you from meddling, hasty tactics, as well as from despondency or dismay; and let the believer come and rest his soul upon this stone. (R. H. Roberts, M. A.)
Gods past mercies the encouragement to future trust
In forming our opinion of certain actions, and in pronouncing them to be either good or bad, useful or injurious, their character must be ascertained from the principle on which they are wrought A splendid deed, which mankind would applaud, may, in the sight of God, be almost as strong an indication of a corrupt heart, as a foul transaction, which all would unite in condemning. The fact is, man regards the outward appearance only, the Lord looks on the heart. A simple stone set up in the name of the Lord may as effectually denote the overflowings of gratitude, as a costly magnificent temple, dedicated with all the pomp and solemnity of modern architecture. Such was the case in the instance recorded in the text. The prophet Samuel, though dead still speaks to us; he seems to afford a practical illustration of Solomons admonition, In all thy ways acknowledge God, and He shall direct thy path. This is the duty inculcated, which we would earnestly desire to see transcribed in your lives If, then, we add our wonderful preservation from seen and unseen dangers; the way in which the Lord hath helped us over our mountains of difficulty, or out of the depths of tribulation, smoothing our path when it was rugged to our step, or straightening it when it was crooked; if we have experienced that a blessing hath rested on the operation of our hands, or on the meditation of our hearts; if, in the domestic relations of life, we have been favoured with any special tokens of Gods superintending providence and fostering protection (and who has not had them?), what gratitude ought to be ours; what abundant occasion have we to adopt--what demons of darkness should we be if we did not adopt--the sentiment of Samuel, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us. But this may be a mere empty expression of the lips, or, at least, a mere transitory ebullition of feeling, evaporating with the event which has called forth the sentiment. We would wish that the impression should be permanent, such as would only terminate with our lives; we would wish to see erected some standing memorial of the loving kindness of the Lord, which should declare his goodness, and bespeak our gratitude. How is this to be effected in the present day, since such a rude memorial of Divine mercy would be inconsistent with the notions of modern refinement? It may be accomplished in two ways. Those who have omitted to do so, may lay the foundation stone of a domestic altar, and rear a structure in their houses, on which may be placed the morning and evening sacrifice of prayer and praise. But the conduct of Samuel may be imitated in another point of view, by the reception of Christ Jesus in our hearts; thus to erect a spiritual edifies in our souls, and to make our bodies the temple of the Holy Ghost. Christ is indeed that living stone, which we would see the tenant of every bosom testifying in a lively way of providential and redeeming mercies: a stone disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious; a tried stone, a sure foundation; but to some a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence: a stone, which the builders, in their impiety and folly, rejected, which is now become the head of the corner; yes, it is indeed this Rock of Ages, which we desire to see set up in all our hearts, at all times, and upon all occasions, as the stable basis on which to erect; a structure of temporal or eternal blessedness; as the sure refuge and hiding place from the storm of adversity, or the gale of prosperity. Here, then, we have the line of conduct we earnestly recommend for your adoption, strongly enforced by the patriarch of old: receive Him into your hearts, whom we preach unto you as the author and finisher of your salvation. Let the idol altar be thrown down, and the name of Jesus Christ be inscribed thereon; may that natural, dead, indurated heart yield its place to the living stone, which will impart new life and vigour to all its energies and emotions, and gratefully record the achievements of Divine grace to the glory of God the Father. (H. S. Plumptre, M. A.)
Memorials of Divine Mercy
There is a distinct recognition, here, of the hand of God in providence; and there is a marking of the event of Gods interference in their behalf by some visible outward sign which would serve to bring it back to them. For no man, after the battle and the victory, returning that way, and beholding this stone, would forget it. They would cherish it in their memory, and tell their children of it. And if their occasions or needs ever took any of them again through the region of their old captivity, their old fear, the old battle and the old victory, that outside memorial would stand to remind them, not merely of each external event but also of the interior moral truth that it was of the Lords mercies that they were preserved, and that it was of Gods interposing providence that they were victorious. Now, we are in many respects like the Israelites. There are, in the history of every man, certain remarkable events that are worthy to be remembered. The gracious and providential interference of God in our behalf deserves to be noted. The memory of all His mercies ought to be perpetuated. Every critical period, as the turning of the year; every point of success in any enterprise of life; every point where we gain a higher joy, whether it be secular, or social, or spiritual; every new relation which promises great; blessedness to us; every business achievement which seems to lift us out of darkness and out of difficulties; every great mischief that impended as a threatening sky, but; that is rolled away--every such event or experience ought to have a distinct recognition. We should think of them in their individuality, and in their sequences; and it would be well for us if we could set up some memorial, and be able to say to one and another, Hitherto the Lord hath helped me. It is the Lord--not my skill, not my wisdom, not my prowess--that hath helped me hitherto. Our true life is the inward life. It deserves, therefore, to be specially watched and recorded. No other thing deserves such celebrations as a mans inward victory--his inward deliverance. A blessing that comes from God should be recognised by us, though it comes in no visible form. No one who has a constant succession of good fortune, keeps any ideal in his mind of the number of Divine mercies of which he is the recipient. If God were to recount what He has done for us, it would seem as though our life were a golden chain, in which one golden link clasped another, every hour being a link, and every day lengthening the chain. I sometimes think, of a night, that it is a sin to go into the house and leave Gods glory flashing abroad in the Northern Lights, or in the stellar exhibitions in all the broad expanse above, without a witness--certainly without my witnessing them. I feel as though it were a stupidity to retire to sleep with all this amazing display going on. For, what are mens inventions and ingenuities compared with those astonishing developments which every summers day shows us in the clouds, in the storms, and in frescoes of light and beauty? Every single day there is enough in the silence of nature, and in the might of nature, enough to fill the soul with joy and gratitude. But, while day tells it to day, and night repeats it to night, man sees but little of it. There may he kept a calendar of dates. It is astonishing how much one can preserve in this way with very little trouble. When travelling in Europe, I was so full of excitement end enjoyment that I had not time to keep a journal; so I just put down under each date one single word--the name of the city; or the name of the picture; or the name of the mountain; or the name of the pass; or the name of some person whom I had met; and now I can go back ever a months travels, and, though there are but these single words, that whole history starts up when I look at them. If you regularly take a memorandum book, at night, and think back through the day, and bring up before you what God has done for you, what He has shown you, what significant thing has happened, and put down the caption of it under the proper date, you will be surprised to find what a calendar your book will become at the end of every year. In some of the German houses there is a charming habit of this sort. Instead of papering their rooms, or frescoing them in the ordinary way, they employ the ablest artists of their times to paint their walls with the most exquisite landscapes, which are to stand there for ages. And in these landscapes are representations of their own family here and there. Here, for instance, are the grandparents; there are the children; and here are the friends and neighbours. And so, one has in his house, a kind of memorial of his social relationships, and of everything significant in his family history. It is a most charming idea if it, be executed fitly. But I would not recommend to you any such custom as this, which is very expensive, and unfitted to our habits and manners And yet, it is quite possible for one to have objects on his wall, which shall answer very much the same purpose: A leaf here, an anchor there, or a little flower, plucked, dried, and hung in its proper place, may mark some significant passage in ones history This may be seen in castles. The man of the castle says, Do you see those antlers? Do you see that frontal? I will give you a history of that hunting expedition. They are memorials which he has preserved of various experiences in hunting. Why should not every dawning mercy have a star blazing from the wall, and saying to every one that looks upon it, Hitherto the Lord hath helped me? Why should our houses be so barren of our own history? Why should we leave our eyes so entirely without the aid of interpreting symbols? I know not why a persons house should not become a kind of memorial of personal history. Or, a journal might be made of the Bible. If you keep a kind of register, so that the text refers to and is associated with the event, your Bible becomes a memorial. You are setting up all the way through it stones of remembrance, as it were. You are providing a record for your old age. And by and by, when you take down your Bible, and put on your glasses, and look back upon your past life, not only will it be the word of God, but you will find bow the word of God fed you in the wilderness, strengthened you in sickness, and comforted you in circumstances of discouragement. How many things a man can record on the fly leaves of his Bible which will afford him pleasure and profit in after life! And how precious that Bible will become to him when he has woven it into his experience as a kind of epitomising of his life. Or, one might, if blessed with means, take the occasions of Gods hopefulness to him, and make them also occasions of charity. There are what are called memorial windows in churches Such windows are put in often, by affection, to be the memorial of a wife, or sister, or parent, or child, or friend. In the old country there are a great many of them. One of the most affecting things I ever saw in my life was in the church of the Succouring Virgin--that is, of Mary, the Succourer. It was, I believe, in one of the French cities. The whole church was filled with tablets. Here was one of an officer, for three days deliverance, on such, and such and such dates. It was a little marble slab let into the wall, inscribed with letters of gold. On inquiring and comparing dates, I found it was during the battle of Inkerman, at a time when the French army were in great danger. The man had been preserved; and when he came back, he put up in this church this tablet, recalling the mercy of God in sparing his life. Another inscription was, My babe was sick; I called to the Virgin; she heard me; and my child lives. There was the tablet that celebrated that event. And I could not read these inscriptions without having tears fall from my eyes like drops from a spice bush when shaken in a dewy morning, blow, everybody ought to have a church somewhere for himself--not a literal church; but someplace where he can celebrate Gods special goodness to him. (H. W. Beecher.)
The place of memorials in the Christian life
I. What the memorial commemorated. It was erected on a battle field where they had been twice defeated. Thus it reminded them of their own
1. Helplessness. But it was also erected on a spot where they had witnessed a great victory, won by Gods help. It therefore also reminded them
2. God was their Helper. The stone also commemorated--
3. The extent of their victory. Hitherto hath the Lord helped them, as far as this place. It was a kind of border stone marking their advance on a former position.
II. How it helped them. They called it Help Stone. In commemorating past help it proved a present help.
1. By keeping them from self-trust.
2. By stimulating their activity. The sight of this stone aroused their patriotism and religious fervour. It was like the flag which stirs the soldiers martial spirit.
3. It deepened their sense of obligation. To retreat from the position marked by this memorial would have been as disgraceful as for an army to lose its standard.
III. The place of memorial is a Christian life. A written pledge or a spoken vow is for us what Help Stone was for Israel. By that act we warn the enemy that he has no more claim upon the territory of our hearts. And each subsequent communion is a gazing afresh upon the memorial of victory won by Christ. (R. C. Ford, M. A.)
Gods help
1. Observe, the language here of the writer is retrospective. It takes in the wide sweep of the Jewish history.
2. Thus it becomes the language of gratitude.
3. Then, too, consider how the inscription on the stone set up by Samuel, lays a good foundation for hope and trust. And it is upon this help we ground too our faith. The true Christian must always feel deeply humbled at the remembrance of his transgressions, but in the effort of a true repentance he is conscious of Gods merciful aid and compassion. The text furnishes a motive for future perseverance.
5. The text indicates that those who are Divinely assisted in their undertaking, will find in the end that their life of labour and of uprightness, as regards both character and conduct, has not been in vain. No. In some matters of an outward kind, at first sight, it may seem that even the most exemplary career has ended in disappointment, in perfect uselessness.
6. Hence arises the duty of cooperation with the help of the Almighty. The builder when furnished with proper materials must use them. It would be downright folly for him to fold his hands, to make no exertion, and only to call aloud for help. The Christian too must take his place in the Church, as in a city, and although he knows that without Gods help his watchfulness will be of no use, still he must not sleep at his post. (W. G. Horwood.)
The Lords Helping His people
doctrine.
It is the duty of the Lords people to keep the memorial of the experience which they have of the Lords helping them. I shall discuss this point under two general heads.
I. The Lords helping His people.
1. How doth the Lord help His people?
(1) Sometimes the Lord helps His people, by working all for them, they themselves contributing nothing to their deliverance. Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will show you today; for the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more foreverse The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.
(2) Sometimes the Lord assists His people in working. They endeavour their own deliverance in Gods way, and He fits them to act, and blesseth their exertions, crowning them with success.
(3) Sometimes God helps His people by appointing means. Thus in the case of Hezekiah, Isaiah said, Let them take a lump of figs, and lay it for a plaster upon the boil, and he shall recover. If He intends having His people brought out of Babylon, He raiseth up Cyrus for that purpose. If Elijah must be fed in his hiding place, the ravens shall be employed rather than he suffer want.
(4) Sometimes without means. Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts.
(5) Sometimes by contrary means, as our Lord cured the blind man by laying clay upon his eyes.
2. Let us inquire why the Lord helpeth His people.
(1) Because they are in covenant with Him.
(2) Because of their special relation to Him. Christ is the believers head. Hence if the foot be hurt, the Head in heaven cries out (Act_9:4).
(3) Because they look to Him and trust in Him for their help. The 91st psalm has in it a great many blessed promises, but see to whom they belong.
(4) Because the Lord brings His people into straits for this very end, that He may have the glory of helping them; and that they may get the greater experience of His kindness.
II. To speak of the keeping up of the memorial of the experiences which they have had of the Lords helping them.
1. What it is to keep up the memorial of the Lords helping us.
(1) It implies an observing of the dispensations we meet with, for our help in the course of our life. If the thing itself be not observed, we cannot keep up the memorial of it.
(2) A discerning of the Lords hand in the help we receive.
(3) Laying up these experiences add recording them, if not in a book yet in a faithful memory. And all they that heard them (the things said of John the Baptist at his birth) laid them up in their hearts, saying, what manner of child shall this be! And the hand of the Lord was with him. Many instead of laying such things up, lay them down in the grave of forgetfulness, and instead of setting up a stone, lay a stone upon them, burying them out of sight.
2. Inquire what of these experiences of the Lords helping should be recorded and kept in memory.
(1) We should record the timing or seasonableness of them. There is often a weight lies on this very circumstance, that the help came at such a time and not another is worthy to be remembered.
(2) The effects of them on our spirits How we are affected with them when they come. Then, says the Church, was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue with singing. Many times the Lord helps His people in such a manner that the experience of His goodness fills them with shame, looks their doubts and fears ova of countenance, proves their unbelief to be a false prophet, and makes them resolve never to distrust God again and fills them with thankfulness. (Isa_38:10; Isa_38:12, Psa_73:22-23; Psa_116:11-12.) O how useful would this he afterwards to the Christian.
(3) Their harmony and agreement with the promise
(4) Their agreement with their prayers. (Gen_24:45.) What are the Christians experiences but returns of prayers. Such was that in the text. This seems to be the ground of that conclusion; By this I know that thou favourest me, because mine enemy doth not triumph over me. Even the very place of our experiences should be recorded. I will remember thee, says David, from the land of Jordan and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar. (Gen_28:11-19.) And the Lord loves to have His people remember these blessed places, (Gen_31:13; Gen_35:1). Let us now,
3. Inquire why we should keep up the memorial of these things
(1) We owe this to God: In point, of obedience, when we meet with experiences of His goodness He calls us to set up our Ebenezer. O monstrous ingratitude to forget experiences. We owe it to Him also, in point of compliance with His design in giving experience of His help to His people God intends His people more comfort by a mercy, than the mercy itself singly considered He intends it as a ground to hope for more He gives the valley of Achor for a door of hope.
(2) We owe this to ourselves in point of interest. If we would consult our own advantage, we would not let them slip For former experiences of the Lords help are very supporting to the soul in a dark night These experiences are pledges of further mercies. Some promises have their day of payment here, others after this life. The performing of the former, is an earnest given to faith to look for the other. (T. Boston, D. D.)
The Lord our Help
From this passage we are forcibly taught, in the first place:--
I. that it is our especial duty, under the apprehension of any impending calamity, to seek unto God for deliverance by fervent believing prayer.
II. We are taught by this portion of sacred history, that God will hear the relieving prayers of His servants. We are far from affirming that prayers, offered up in faith, and for things agreeable to Gods will, will always be granted in the season or in the manner that the supplicants might either desire, or in their fallible judgment might deem most proper No! This would be to usurp Gods prerogative, and to substitute our own erring judgments in the place of His wise and all disposing sovereignty. All that God permits us to do, is to approach Him in importunate, believing prayer, leaving the result to His own unerring disposal.
III. It is our duty to recognise the hand of God in every deliverance.
IV. A public acknowledgment of gratitude is due to almighty God for mercies received and for deliverance from impending evils. In perusing the history of the heathen world, we are particularly struck with the practice of perpetuating the memory of great events to future generations. When nations were delivered from impending calamities or favoured with unlooked for blessings, they raised the song of gratitude to those whom they esteemed their preserverses The praises of their deliverers were sung by the poet, and extolled by the historian; their statues adorned the cities which gave them birth; and other striking memorials were instituted to convey to future generations an abiding sense of the value of their services. If, from the heathen, we turn to the enlightened world, we shall find that the memorials which, in the one, were erected to the statesman or the conqueror, were, in the other, expressly instituted in token of gratitude to God--the great and only Deliverer.
V. Let your recollection of Gods past mercies inspire you with the feelings of future, unreserved confidence.
VI. Let me call upon you to testify your sense of the Divine mercies, by an increasing devotedness to the service of your God. (Robert Cook.)
Retrospection and Gratitude
The character of Christian gratitude, etc. Hitherto the Lord hath helped us.
1. Christian gratitude is retrospective.
2. Christian gratitude is devout. It connects the thought of God with the travelled past. There may have been second causes: gracious interpositions and friendly agencies; but above and beyond all, the good man recognises the hand of God, and in real devotion says, Hitherto the Lord hath helped me.
3. Christian gratitude is joyful. Every event in the providence of God has a message of mercy in it to the good man. Day unto day is saying to him, Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous, and shout aloud for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.
4. Christian gratitude is ever trustful. It speaks thankfully of the past, and looks forward hopefully to the future; hitherto sounds the keynote of hereafter. (W. G. Barrett.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain i.e. The stone of help.
Ebenezer
i.e. The stone of help.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 took a stone and set it
took a stone and set it
The Israelites and other peoples in that land would place a large stone where important events had happened as a reminder of God's help.
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Mizpah ... Shen
These are the names of places. (See: How to Translate Names)
translationWords
Yahweh
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 7:12 Ebenezer: The location of this stone memorial is…
7:12 Ebenezer: The location of this stone memorial is unknown. The Philistines had defeated Israel and captured the Ark at a place with the same name (4:1; 5:1). Samuel erected this memorial to commemorate God’s help in turning the tide against the Philistine attacks.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.