1 Samuel 7:1-17 - Repentance for the LORD’s Help

1 Samuel 7:1-17

1 Then the men of Kirjath Jearim came and took the ark of the LORD, and brought it into the house of Abinadab on the hill, and consecrated Eleazar his son to keep the ark of the LORD.

Samuel Judges Israel

2 So it was that the ark remained in Kirjath Jearim a long time; it was there twenty years. And all the house of Israel lamented after the LORD.

3 Then Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, “If you return to the LORD with all your hearts, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths from among you, and prepare your hearts for the LORD, and serve Him only; and He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines.” 4 So the children of Israel put away the Baals and the Ashtoreths, and served the LORD only.

5 And Samuel said, “Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray to the LORD for you.” 6 So they gathered together at Mizpah, drew water, and poured it out before the LORD. And they fasted that day, and said there, “We have sinned against the LORD.” And Samuel judged the children of Israel at Mizpah.

7 Now when the Philistines heard that the children of Israel had gathered together at Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the children of Israel heard of it, they were afraid of the Philistines. 8 So the children of Israel said to Samuel, “Do not cease to cry out to the LORD our God for us, that He may save us from the hand of the Philistines.”

9 And Samuel took a suckling lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the LORD. Then Samuel cried out to the LORD for Israel, and the LORD answered him. 10 Now as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel. But the LORD thundered with a loud thunder upon the Philistines that day, and so confused them that they were overcome before Israel. 11 And the men of Israel went out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, and drove them back as far as below Beth Car. 12 Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen, and called its name Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the LORD has helped us.”

13 So the Philistines were subdued, and they did not come anymore into the territory of Israel. And the hand of the LORD was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. 14 Then the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron to Gath; and Israel recovered its territory from the hands of the Philistines. Also there was peace between Israel and the Amorites.

15 And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. 16 He went from year to year on a circuit to Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah, and judged Israel in all those places. 17 But he always returned to Ramah, for his home was there. There he judged Israel, and there he built an altar to the LORD.

After the people in Beth Shemesh could not stand before the LORD God with the Ark returned by the Philistines there, they pleaded for it to be taken away to Kirjath Jearim.  They came and took the Ark and set on a hill in Kirjath Jearim where it ended up remaining for twenty years while the rest of Israel mourned for the loss of God’s presence focused on it among His chosen people.  Then the prophet Samuel called them to repentance, to turn from foreign gods and carved idol Ashtoreths, and to turn back to the LORD with a pure and devoted heart prepared to on;y serve Him and no other as was contained in the words of the first commandment inscribed by God’s finger on the stone tablet in that estranged Ark of His covenant with them that lay just outside of their reach.  Such single-hearted heart devotion and singleness of mind to worship and serve the living God was called for if they ever desired to experience God’s help against their enemies again.  We likewise must pursue holiness to see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14, 1 Peter 1:15, 2 Corinthians 7:1) with ongoing repentance or the enemy of sin that waits to ensnare us (Genesis 4:5, Hebrews 12:1) if do not lock our spiritual gaze on the the Lord (Hebrews 12:2) and failing to do so will keep us from victorious living and accompanying fruitfulness.  We (Galatians 6:7) sow what we reap and reap what we sow.  The children of Israel needed a mediator to intercede with God for them and asked Samuel to do continually do so to keep them from defeat by their enemies.  This prophet was a type of Him who (Romans 5:14) was to come.  We can now constantly plead with the one true Mediator, Jesus Christ (1 Timothy 2:5, Hebrews 9:15, 12:24), for deliverance from the adversary and victory by His lifeblood sacrifice that ensures our victory over the adversary (1 Corinthians 15:57) in and through His ongoing (Romans 7:25, 8:26, 1 John 2:1) intercession for us.  We no longer need to offer sacrifices as Samuel did for the people because Christ has offered Himself as an eternally effective one for us (Hebrews 9:25, 26, 10:10), once and for all time.  We have likewise all sinned against the Lord (1 Samuel 7:6, Romans 3:23) and have found deliverance and victory over death and sin in Him who nailed the requirements of the perfect keeping of His word, the Law, to the cross (Colossians 2:14) by His sacrificial life given in place of our own.  This is the gospel hope we hold to and the Mediator whose intercession is perfect and final (Acts 3:22, 23, 26) for all who put their trust in Him and His work and receive (John 1:12) Him as Mediator between God and man and Redeemer to buy us back out of the enemy’s hands.  The prophet Samuel only mediated for the people of God for his lifetime; the true Mediator whose intercession never ends, He mediates for us from here to eternity.  This picture of Repentance for the LORD’s Help as seen in the prophet Samuel is completed in Jesus Christ, our one and only Mediator and Prophet to heed.  This then is repentance that leads to the Lord’s ongoing help (Hebrews 4:16) of grace until we meet Him face to face at last!