Then the children of Israel removed the Baals and the Ashtaroth, and served Yahweh only. Samuel said, “Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray to Yahweh for you.” They gathered together to Mizpah, and drew water, and poured it out before Yahweh, and fasted on that day, and said there, “We have sinned against Yahweh.” Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpah.
Show the surrounding paragraph
1 Samuel 7:4-6 sits inside this longer paragraph.
The men of Kiriath Jearim came and took Yahweh’s ark, and brought it into Abinadab’s house on the hill, and consecrated Eleazar his son to keep Yahweh’s ark. From the day that the ark stayed in Kiriath Jearim, the time was long; for it was twenty years; and all the house of Israel lamented after Yahweh. Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, “If you are returning to Yahweh with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you, and direct your hearts to Yahweh, and serve him only; and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.” Then the children of Israel removed the Baals and the Ashtaroth, and served Yahweh only. Samuel said, “Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray to Yahweh for you.” They gathered together to Mizpah, and drew water, and poured it out before Yahweh, and fasted on that day, and said there, “We have sinned against Yahweh.” Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpah. When the Philistines heard that the children of Israel were gathered together at Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. When the children of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines. The children of Israel said to Samuel, “Don’t stop crying to Yahweh our God for us, that he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines.” Samuel took a suckling lamb, and offered it for a whole burnt offering to Yahweh. Samuel cried to Yahweh for Israel; and Yahweh answered him. As Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines came near to battle against Israel; but Yahweh thundered with a great thunder on that day on the Philistines, and confused them; and they were struck down before Israel. The men of Israel went out of Mizpah, and pursued the Philistines, and struck them, until they came under Beth Kar.
Parallel Translations
-
Then the children of Israel removed the Baals and the Ashtaroth, and served Yahweh only.
Samuel said, “Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray to Yahweh for you.”
They gathered together to Mizpah, and drew water, and poured it out before Yahweh, and fasted on that day, and said there, “We have sinned against Yahweh.” Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpah.
-
Then the children of Israel did put away Baalim and Ashtaroth, and served the LORD only.
And Samuel said, Gather all Israel to Mizpeh, and I will pray for you unto the LORD.
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.
Show all 3 translations
-
Then the children of Israel did put away the Baalim and the Ashtaroth, and served the LORD only.
And Samuel said: 'Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray for you unto the LORD.'
And they gathered together to Mizpah, 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 Mizpah.
Cross-references (47)
- 1 Samuel 1:15 (v6) Hannah answered, “No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit. I have not been drinking wine or strong drink, but I poured out my soul…
- 2 Samuel 14:14 (v6) For we must die, and are like water spilled on the ground, which can’t be gathered up again; neither does God take away life, but devises…
- Hosea 14:8 (v4) Ephraim, what have I to do any more with idols? I answer, and will take care of him. I am like a green cypress tree; from me your fruit is…
- Judges 10:10 (v6) The children of Israel cried to Yahweh, saying, “We have sinned against you, even because we have forsaken our God, and have served the…
- Judges 20:1 (v5) Then all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation was assembled as one man, from Dan even to Beersheba, with the land of…
Show all 47 cross-references
- Psalms 62:8 (v6) Trust in him at all times, you people. Pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge for us.
- Psalms 106:6 (v6) We have sinned with our fathers. We have committed iniquity. We have done wickedly.
- Jeremiah 9:1 (v6) Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a spring of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!
- Joel 2:12 (v6) “Yet even now,” says Yahweh, “turn to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning.”
- 1 Samuel 12:23 (v5) Moreover as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against Yahweh in ceasing to pray for you: but I will instruct you in the good and…
- 1 Kings 8:47 (v6) yet if they repent in the land where they are carried captive, and turn again, and make supplication to you in the land of those who…
- Job 33:27 (v6) He sings before men, and says, ‘I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it didn’t profit me.
- Psalms 119:136 (v6) Streams of tears run down my eyes, because they don’t observe your law.
- Lamentations 2:18-19 (v6) Their heart cried to the Lord. O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night. Give yourself no relief.…
- Hosea 14:3 (v4) Assyria can’t save us. We won’t ride on horses; neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, ‘Our gods!’ for in you the…
- Luke 15:18 (v6) I will get up and go to my father, and will tell him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight.
- Leviticus 26:40 (v6) “ ‘If they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers, in their trespass which they trespassed against me; and also that…
- Joshua 15:38 (v5) Dilean, Mizpah, Joktheel,
- Judges 2:11 (v4) The children of Israel did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, and served the Baals.
- Judges 2:13 (v4) They abandoned Yahweh, and served Baal and the Ashtaroth.
- Judges 3:10 (v6) Yahweh’s Spirit came on him, and he judged Israel; and he went out to war, and Yahweh delivered Cushan Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into…
- Judges 10:15-16 (v4) The children of Israel said to Yahweh, “We have sinned! Do to us whatever seems good to you; only deliver us, please, today.” They put away…
- 1 Samuel 7:12 (v5) Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpah and Shen, and called its name Ebenezer, saying, “Yahweh helped us until now.”
- 1 Samuel 7:16 (v5) He went from year to year in a circuit to Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah; and he judged Israel in all those places.
- 1 Samuel 10:17 (v5) Samuel called the people together to Yahweh to Mizpah;
- 1 Kings 11:33 (v4) because that they have forsaken me, and have worshiped Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god…
- 2 Kings 25:23 (v5) Now when all the captains of the forces, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, they came to…
- 2 Chronicles 20:3 (v6) Jehoshaphat was alarmed, and set himself to seek to Yahweh. He proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.
- Ezra 8:21-23 (v6) Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from him a straight way for us,…
- Ezra 9:5-10 (v6) At the evening offering I arose up from my humiliation, even with my garment and my robe torn; and I fell on my knees, and spread out my…
- Nehemiah 9:1 (v5) Now in the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, with sackcloth, and dirt on them.
- Nehemiah 9:1-3 (v6) Now in the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, with sackcloth, and dirt on them. The…
- Nehemiah 9:27 (v6) Therefore you delivered them into the hand of their adversaries, who distressed them. In the time of their trouble, when they cried to you,…
- Job 16:20 (v6) My friends scoff at me. My eyes pour out tears to God,
- Job 40:4 (v6) “Behold, I am of small account. What will I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth.
- Job 42:6 (v6) Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”
- Psalms 6:6 (v6) I am weary with my groaning. Every night I flood my bed. I drench my couch with my tears.
- Psalms 38:3-8 (v6) There is no soundness in my flesh because of your indignation, neither is there any health in my bones because of my sin. For my iniquities…
- Psalms 42:3 (v6) My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually ask me, “Where is your God?”
- Jeremiah 3:13-14 (v6) Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against Yahweh your God, and have scattered your ways to the strangers under…
- Jeremiah 31:19 (v6) Surely after that I was turned. I repented. After that I was instructed. I struck my thigh. I was ashamed, yes, even confounded, because I…
- Lamentations 2:11 (v6) My eyes fail with tears. My heart is troubled. My liver is poured on the earth, because of the destruction of the daughter of my people,…
- Lamentations 3:49 (v6) My eye pours down and doesn’t cease, without any intermission,
- Ezekiel 20:4 (v6) “Will you judge them, son of man? Will you judge them? Cause them to know the abominations of their fathers.
- Daniel 9:3-5 (v6) I set my face to the Lord God, to seek by prayer and petitions, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to Yahweh my God, and made…
- Joel 2:16 (v5) Gather the people. Sanctify the assembly. Assemble the elders. Gather the children, and those who nurse from breasts. Let the bridegroom go…
- Jonah 3:1-10 (v6) Yahweh’s word came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I give you.”…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (17 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv5–6 For Shiloh was now desolate, because the Philistines had…
For Shiloh was now desolate, because the Philistines had taken thence the Ark.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv4–6 1Sa 7:4 Then the children of Israel did put…
1Sa 7:4 Then the children of Israel did put away Baalim and Ashtaroth, and served the LORD only.
Ver. 4. Then the children of Israel did put away, &c.] Their he-gods and their she-gods: so powerful is the word coming upon the rod, when God is pleased by his Spirit to second and set it on. Samuel might speak persuasively, as doubtless he had done for twenty years before, but God only persuadeth the heart.
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 On v6 To Mizpeh; not that beyond Jordan, of which Jdg…
To Mizpeh; not that beyond Jordan, of which Jdg 11:11,29; but another in Canaan, where the Israelites used to assemble, Jdg 20:1; 1Sa 10:17.
Drew water, and poured it out; which they did either,
Read full note →
1. Figuratively; they drew tears out of their hearts, and poured out of their eyes as it were rivers of water; such descriptions of penitential sorrow being not unusual. See Psa 6:7; 119:136; Jer 19:1; Lam 3:48,49. Or rather,
2. Properly, because they are said first to draw it, and then to pour it out. And this agrees well with the state of those times, wherein such rites as this were very customary. Now this course they seem to have used, either,
1. As a mean or instrument of their purification. So they washed themselves in this water, thereby acknowledging their filthiness, and cleansing themselves as the law prescribed. But this seems not probable,
1. Because here is only mention of drawing and pouring forth this water before the Lord, but not of any washing themselves with it.
2. Because this was not a fit time and place to purify themselves in this great and general assembly. Or,
2. As an external sign, whereby they testified and professed both their own great filthiness and need of washing by the grace and Spirit of God, and blood of the covenant, which are oft signified by water, and their sincere desire to pour out their very hearts before the Lord in true repentance, and to cleanse themselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit.
Before the Lord, i.e. in the public assembly, where God is in a special manner present, as hath been noted before.
Samuel judged the children of Israel, i.e. governed them, reformed all abuses against God or man, took care that the laws of God should be observed and executed, and wilful transgressors punished.
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 On vv4–6 Then the children of Israel did put away Baalim…
Then the children of Israel did put away Baalim and Ashtaroth,.... Both their male and female deities, of which see Jdg 2:13.
and served the Lord Only; Dr. Lightfoot (i) observes, that a spirit of repentance and conversion came generally upon all the people; a matter and a time as remarkable as almost any we read of in Scripture, one only parallel to it; and that is in Acts, chapters two and three, at the great conversion there.
Read full note →
(i) Works, vol. 1. p. 54.
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 On v6 Poured it out - As an external sign, whereby…
Poured it out - As an external sign, whereby they testified, both their own filthiness and need of washing by the grace and Spirit of God, and blood of the covenant, and their sincere desire to pour out their hearts before the Lord, in true repentance, and to cleanse themselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit. Before the Lord - That is, in the public assembly, where God is in a special manner present. Judged - That is, governed them, reformed all abuses against God or man, took care that the laws of God should be observed, and wilful transgressions punished.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv4–6 Verse 4. Put away Baalim and Ashtaroth] These were…
Verse 4. Put away Baalim and Ashtaroth] These were not two particular deities, but two genera of idols; the one masculine, BAALIM; the other feminine, ASHTAROTH; both the words are in the plural number, and signify all their gods and goddesses.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv4, 6 1Sa 7:4-5. Then the children of Israel did put…
1Sa 7:4-5. Then the children of Israel did put away Baalim, &c. — Samuel’s reproofs and instructions, and the representations he made of their sin and danger, touched their hearts, and induced them to break off their sins by repentance. Gather all Israel to Mizpeh, and I will pray for you — He could have prayed for them himself alone in private, but he knew it would tend to perfect the repentance and reformation begun among them, and to establish them in God’s service, to engage them to unite with him in that duty; and it was well worth while for them to come from the most distant part of the country to join with Samuel in seeking God’s favour. Doubtless Samuel prayed both that they might, by the grace of God, be separated from their idols, and then, by the providence of God, delivered from the Philistines.
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 On v6 Two rites are brought together here which belong especially…
Two rites are brought together here which belong especially to the Feast of Tabernacles and the Day of Atonement, respectively, namely, drawing and pouring out water, and fasting. Hence, some think that Samuel chose the Feast of tabernacles, and the fast which preceded it, as the occasion for assembling the people. Others explain the pouring out water as the pouring out the heart in penitence as it were water; or, as a symbolic act expressing their ruin and helplessness 2Sa 14:14; or as typifying their desire that their sins might be forgotten “as waters that pass away” Job 11:16.
And Samuel judged - This seems to denote the “commencement” of Samuel’s Judgeship civil and military, as having taken place at Mizpeh on this occasion. As civil Judge he did exactly what Moses did Exo 18:13-16; as military Judge he did what Othniel, Ehud, Barak, and Gideon had done before him, organized and marshalled the people for effectual resistance to their oppressors, and led them out to victory.
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 On vv5–6 Masphath lay south of Jerusalem, (Calmet) and was a…
Masphath lay south of Jerusalem, (Calmet) and was a convenient place for all to meet at. (Menochius) They came armed, and the Philistines (Calmet) suspecting their designs, proceeded to attack them. (Haydock)
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 On v6 Samuel judged . . . Israel in Mizpeh--At the…
Samuel judged . . . Israel in Mizpeh--At the time of Eli's death he could not have much exceeded twenty years of age; and although his character and position must have given him great influence, it does not appear that hitherto he had done more than prophets were wont to do. Now he entered on the duties of a civil magistrate.
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 On vv4–6 4. Baalim and Ashtaroth — Male and female deities…
4. Baalim and Ashtaroth — Male and female deities of several of the neighbouring nations, especially of the Zidonians. See on Jdg_2:11-13. Israel repeatedly fell into the worship of these idol gods.
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 On vv5–6 5. to Mizpeh] Mizpah, (in Heb. always with the…
5. to Mizpeh] Mizpah, (in Heb. always with the definite article, as retaining its meaning, “the watch-tower,”) was the meeting-place of the national assembly on two other important occasions in this period: (a) when war was declared against Benjamin (Judges 20); (b) when Saul was elected king (ch. 1Sa_10:17); and (c) once in later times, on an occasion not unlike the present, when Judas Maccabaeus mustered Israel to revolt against the tyranny of Antiochus Epiphanes (1Ma_3:42-46). It belonged to the tribe of Benjamin (Jos_18:26). Its site has not been identified, but is conjectured to be either (a) Neby Samwîl, a conspicuous hill rising to the height of 2935 ft., about 5 miles N.W. of Jerusalem: or (b) Scopus, the broad ridge immediately north of Jerusalem. In favour of the latter site are (a) the similarity of the name (σκόπος = watchman): (b) the description of the place in 1Ma_3:46 as “over against Jerusalem.”
It must be carefully distinguished from Mizpah in Gilead (Jdg_10:17; Jdg_11:11).
Read full note →
I will pray for you unto the Lord] Other instances of Samuel’s prayers are mentioned in 1Sa_8:6, 1Sa_12:17-19; 1Sa_12:23, 1Sa_15:11. He is quoted as the type of successful intercessors in Psa_99:6; Jer_15:1.
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 On vv4–6 (4) Then the children of Israel did put away…
(4) Then the children of Israel did put away Baalim and Ashtaroth.—The answer of the people showed how well and thoroughly the prophet-statesman had done his Master’s work. Through the land of Israel the graven images of the Phœnician idols were thrown down, and their impious worship everywhere was boldly dishonoured, and once more, in bold defiance of the idol-worshipping Philistines, the Invisible and Eternal was throughout the land acknowledged as the one God. These acts, of course, were an open act of rebellion against that warlike people who for so long had ruled them with an iron rule.
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 On vv4–6 Then the children of Israel did put away the…
Then the children of Israel did put away the Baalim and the Ashtaroth. This must have been done by a public act, by which at some time previously arranged the images of their Baals and Astartes were torn from their shrines, thrown down, and broken in pieces. Of course this was an overt act of rebellion, for these deities were especially Phoenician idols, and subsequently it was the Phoenician Jezebel who tried so fanatically to introduce their worship into Israel in Ahab"s time. To cast off the Philistine deities was equivalent to a rebellion generally against Philistine supremacy. Baal and Astarte, the husband and the wife, represented the reproductive powers of nature, and under various names were worshipped throughout the East, and usually with lewd and wanton orgies.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v5 1Sa_7:6. “Drew water, and poured it out before the…
CRITICAL AND EXPOSITORY NOTES—
1Sa_7:6. “Drew water, and poured it out before the Lord,” etc. “It is remarkable that two rites are brought together here which belong respectively to the Feast of Tabernacles and the Day of Atonement. The first is not, indeed, prescribed by the law, but it was the custom for the High Priest to fill a golden vessel with water drawn from the fountain of Siloam, and to pour it over the sacrifices on the Feast of Tabernacles. Allusions to this, which was a joyful act, are supposed to be made in Isa_12:3, and Joh_7:37-38.… The only fast enjoined by the law of Moses was on the Day of Atonement, upon the 10th Tisri.… It is likely, as in Ezr_3:4; Ezr_3:6, and in Neh_7:73; Neh_8:1-17, that Samuel also chose the Feast of Tabernacles, and the fast which preceded it, as the occasion for assembling the people. The drawing water being mentioned before the fasting is, it is true, rather against this view, though not conclusively, as the mention of the fasting may be supplemental; the real order being that they first fasted and confessed their sins on the Day of Atonement, and then joyfully kept the Feast of Tabernacles. If the fast here mentioned is not that of the 10th Tisri, it may be compared with that of Ezr_10:6, and those alluded to in Zec_7:5, and perhaps the pouring out of water (which is variously explained), may be taken in connection with the fasting (as Ezra did eat no bread, and drink no water).… Other explanations of the act are (with the Targum), “they poured out their hearts in penitence as it were water,” or that it was a symbolical act of expressing their ruin and helplessness, according to the saying in 2Sa_14:14, or that the water typified their desire that their sins might be forgotten “as waters that pass away” (Job_11:16).—(Biblical Commentary.)
Read full note →
“And Samuel Judged Israel.” “With respect to the position of the judges, it is generally estimated falsely when they are looked upon as proper judicial personages in our sense.… This error has been occasioned by the assumption that the Hebrew word is perfectly synonymous with our judging, while in reality it has a much wider signification. In the Book of Judges it generally denotes the exercise of authority and superiority.… Only of Deborah do we read, in Jdg_4:5, that the Israelites went up to her for judgment. But she cannot be placed upon a level with the judges throughout. She pronounced judgment as a prophetess in matters where no confidence was placed in the ordinary judicial jurisdiction, and a judgment of God in the proper sense was desired, just as, according to Exodus 18, the nation leaving their natural judges, thronged to Moses, to draw justice immediately from its source. Samuel’s position was exactly similar to that of Deborah, he was judge in another sense than the judges of the Book of Judges.—(Hengstenberg.)
(See also on 1Sa_7:15).
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—1Sa_7:5-6; 1Sa_7:15-17
THE GATHERING AT MIZPEH
I. If a nation is to have strength and liberty it must have unity. “Gather all Israel to Mizpeh.” If a human body is to be strong, and consequently free to act, there must be a united action of all its members. Every limb and organ must work harmoniously together. So with the human soul. All its powers must gather themselves together—there must be a concentration of all its forces—if there is to be any result of worth. Hence the Psalmist’s prayer—“Unite my heart to fear Thy name” (Psa_86:11), and the Apostle’s declaration, “This one thing I do” (Php_3:13). And the same thing is true of any corporate body, whether it be large or small. It will not have power unless its action is united, and if a nation is not strong by unity it will not long be free. Samuel here aims at the united action of the whole nation. This unity—
1. Is often brought about by a common calamity. Common afflictions and dangers have a wonderful power to bring men together. If the reputation of a family is attacked from without, all its members will forget little differences, and unite to attack a common foe. The Church of God needs nothing but a return of the days of persecution to bring all its members into such a unity of spirit as would astonish all her foes. It would then be seen how strong is the unseen bond which unites them all to a common head. When a nation arrives at a great crisis in its history—especially when it is threatened by a common foe—all minor differences of opinion are forgotten for the time—all party distinctions are laid aside and the nation acts as one man. It was the Philistine oppression which brought the Israelites at this time to such unanimous action. They felt that this was not the time for “Ephraim to envy Judah, nor Judah to vex Ephraim” (Isa_11:13).
2. Such unity can only be real and lasting by being founded on right relations to God. The fear of God is the only solid ground of national unity. When each man is governed by a desire to serve God, a oneness of aim and purpose in the nation must be the result, and in proportion as such feelings sway a people, in such proportion will there be concord in their assemblies, and unanimity in their actions. The unity of Israel at this time was based upon a common conviction of transgression against God, and a desire to return to Him; and in proportion as these feelings were deep and heartfelt, there was ground upon which to build a real and permanent union of the people.
3. It is good for such a national unity to find expression in a national assembly. Such a gathering increases the feeling of unity, and encourages the spirit of the nation by giving it an opportunity of feeling its strength. It likewise intimidates its foes. The national gathering at Mizpeh was helpful to the Israelites themselves, and was a just ground of apprehension to their oppressors.
II. It is a great blessing to a nation to have a head who is both intellectually and morally great. Men must have leaders, and it matters little by what name a national leader is called—whether king, president, or prime minister, provided he exercises his power with intellectual ability and for moral ends. Such a man should, like Samuel, combine in himself something of the prophet, the judge, and the priest. He teaches by his life, and by his words, he is a judge inasmuch as he is a stern reprover of all wrong, and fails not to enforce penalty for transgression of national law, and he is also a priest, for such a man will not fail to bear on his heart before God in prayer those who look up to him for guidance. Such a man is a true king of his nation, whether he wears a crown or not. Samuel was such an uncrowned king—a true father of Israel, a true shepherd of his people. As a prophet, he made known to them the will of Jehovah; as judge, he kept pure the fountains of justice; and as at Mizpeh he “cried unto the Lord for Israel” (1Sa_7:9), we may be sure that upon the altar at Ramah he offered sacrifices, not only for his own sins, but also for those of the people.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
1Sa_7:5. Intercession to the Lord for the salvation of others. l. Its exercise unlimited, the individual as well as the whole people being its subject (comp. 1Ti_2:1-2).
2. Its answer conditioned by the need of salvation, and the capacity for salvation of those for whom it is made.
1Sa_7:6. The penitent confession—“We have sinned against the Lord.”
1. Who has to make it, the individual, family, congregation, church, the whole people.
2. How is it to be made, with attestation of its truth and uprightness by deeds of repentance.
3. What are its consequences, forgiveness of sin, deliverance from the power of the wicked one, salvation.—Lange’s Commentary.
1Sa_7:16-17. Simply the vice-regent of God, and no king, Samuel had no palace in Israel. No armed guards protected the person, nor gorgeous retinue attended the steps of Samuel. No pomp of royalty disturbed the simple manner of his life, or distinguished him from other men; yet there rose by his house in Ramah that which proclaimed to all the land the personal character of its ruler, and the principles upon which he was to conduct his government. In a way not to be mistaken, Samuel associated the throne with the altar, earthly power with piety, the good of the country with the glory of God. That altar had a voice no man could mistake. In a manner more expressive than proclamation made by royal heralds with painted tabards and sounding trumpets, it proclaimed to the tribes of Israel that piety was to be the character, and the will of God the rule, of his government.—Guthrie.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v5 all Israel
all Israel
"all the people of Israel" or "all the Israelites"
Read full note →
drew water and poured it out before Yahweh
Possible meanings are 1) the people denied themselves water as part of fasting or 2) they got water out of a stream or well and poured it on the ground as an outward sign of being sorry for their sin. (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
translationWords
Israel
Mizpah
pray
fast
sin
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 On vv5–6 7:5 Mizpah was an administrative center and rallying point…
7:5 Mizpah was an administrative center and rallying point for the nation (see 7:16; 10:17; Judg 20:1). • I will pray . . . for you: Eli’s question in 1 Sam 2:25 is answered here; Samuel was the intercessor Israel needed.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.