1 Samuel Chapter 7

2 From the day that the ark was lodged at Kiriath-jearim, a long time passed, some twenty years, and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord.

3 And Samuel said to all the house of Israel, “If you are returning to the Lord with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you and direct your heart to the Lord and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.”

1. Why the long period before the Israelites turned back to God?

Exodus 3 9 And the LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people!

Acts 71 “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you.

Dt 7:16 You must destroy all the peoples the LORD your God gives over to you. Do not look on them with pity and do not serve their gods, for that will be a snare to you.

Blessing and Cursing  Dt. 28

Dt 28:7

The LORD will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven.

Dt 28:14

Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods and serving them.

Nothing has been heard of Samuel for 20 years, but then he calls the people to repent and put aside idolatry, and the people respond. The Philistine oppression resulted in the Israelites turning to Yahweh for help. Samuel told the people what they needed to do to secure God’s blessing and victory over their enemy. They needed to repent.

2. In order to again become a nation blessed by God, what must they do?

Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place–unless you repent Rev 2:5 (NKJV)

Repentance from sin and expressions of loyalty to

God were prerequisites for the restoration of divine blessing. The expression foreign gods is a general term for the idols of Canaan. Ashtoreths is the plural form of the name of the Canaanite goddess of fertility, sexuality, and war. The rites connected with her worship usually involved sacred prostitution. Sexual rituals in the Canaanite temples were designed to prompt the gods to make the earth fertile.The Nelson Study Bible : New King James Version.

μετανοέωmetanoeo (met-an-o-eh’-o) v.

To think differently or afterwards, i.e. reconsider (morally, feel compunction)

For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. Prov 23:7 (NKJV)

“I am the Lord, and there is no other. Isaiah 45:18 (ESV)

4 So the people of Israel put away the Baals and the Ashtaroth, and they served the Lord only. 5 Then Samuel said,“Gather all Israel at Mizpah, and I will pray to the Lord for you.” 6 So they gathered at 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 people of Israel at Mizpah.

3. Who were the Baals and Ashtaroth?

And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lordand served the Baals.  And they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked the Lordto anger. They abandoned the Lordand served the Baals and the Ashtaroth.  So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel Judges 2:11-14 (ESV)

The… Ashtaroth. The Hebrew plural of Ashtoreth, the name of the goddess whom the

Babylonians calledIshtar and the Greeks, Astarte (31:10). She was one of the oldest and the most widely distributed of Semitic deities. Among the western Semites she was the goddess of fertility and sexual relations. Hence, rites of a most licentious character were associated with her worship.

Baal was the supreme male deity of the Phoenician and Canaanite nations. In the Ras Shamra inscriptions he is known as the son of Dagon and the heir to the throne of El. He was a fertility-god whose domain was

in the sky, from where he fertilized the land and thus controlled nature. The cult of Baal was in vogue when Israel entered Canaan. WBC

Baals and the Ashtaroth. Most dominant of the Canaanite pantheon, these deities were the fertility gods which plagued Israel. “Baal”and “Ashtaroth” are plurals of majesty, which signify their supreme authority over other Canaanite deities. Ashtaroth represented the female goddess, while Baal represented the male sky god who fertilized the land. MSBN

4. Why pour out water before the Lord?

Pouring out water symbolized the people’s feeling of total inability to make an effective resistance against their enemy. The people showed that they felt a greater need to spend their time praying to strengthen themselves spiritually than eating to strengthen themselves physically. They did this by fasting and admitting that what they had been doing was a sin against God

5. When Samuel “intercedes with the Lord” he acting as a prophet, priest or judge? Why don’t we have a High Priest at XYZ First Baptist Church?

Samuel is acting as an advocate for the people, a defense lawyer and intermediary between men and God. He is acting as a priest.

1 Timothy 2 5 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,

1 John 2 1 My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.

Hebrews 9  But into the second part the high priest went alone once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people’s sins committed in ignorance;……11 But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation.

7 Now when the Philistines heard that the people of Israel had gathered at Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the people of Israel heard of it, they were afraid of the Philistines. 8 And the people 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 So Samuel took a nursing lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. And Samuel cried out to the Lord for Israel, and the Lord answered him.

6. Is fear a lack of faith?

“I was scared before every battle. That old instinct of self preservation is a pretty basic thing…. but I relied on my training… I did what I had to do.”

“I never moved into combat without having the feeling of a cold hand reaching into my guts and twisting them both into knots.”

“I don’t know what bravery is, sometimes it takes more courage to get up and run than to stay. You either just do it or you don’t. I got so scared the first day in combat I just decided to go along with it.” Audie Murphy

Audie Murphy acted on his training. He put his faith in his training. He believed what his instructors had told him.  The Israelites acted on their faith.

10 As Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to attack Israel. But the Lord thundered with a mighty sound that day against the Philistines and threw them into confusion, and they were routed before Israel. 11 And the men of Israel went out from Mizpah and pursued the Philistines and struck them, as far as Beth-car.

7. Why would thunder confuse the Philistines?

God’s deliverance was apparently entirely supernatural probably to impress the people with His ability to save them in a hopeless condition and to strengthen their faith in Him. Baal was supposedly the god of storms, but Yahweh humiliated him here by bringing thunder with the Israelites.

12 Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen and called its name Ebenezer; for he said, “Till now the Lord has helped us.” 13  So the Philistines were subdued and did not again enter the territory of Israel. And the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. 14 The cities that the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron to Gath, and Israel delivered their territory from the hand of the Philistines. There was peace also between Israel and the Amorites. 15  Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. 16 And he went on a circuit year by year to Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah. And he judged Israel in all these places. 17 Then he would return to Ramah, for his home was there, and there also he judged Israel. And he built there an altar to the Lord.

8. In the future when we hear the names Mizpah and Ebenezer, what should come to mind.

It was a turning point for the people of God. A time when they turned from their wicked worship of false gods and turned back to the true God who began to bless them again.

2 Chron. 7:14  if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

9. What did a judge do?

A Judge (Hebrewשֹֽׁפְטִ֑ shâphat, pl. שֹֽׁפְטִ֑ים shâphatim) was a special leader of the

people of Israel, who appeared at a time of great national distress to convict the people of their sin, deliver them from oppression or other external threat, and, while he lived, administer justice according to God‘s law.

Once the judge had achieved deliverance, he would administer justice and keep the people focused on serving God alone for as long as he lived. This was a very difficult task, and not all of the celebrated Biblical judges performed this to Divine satisfaction. To be effective, the judge had to set a good example in his personal conduct in addition to judging cases fairly and honestly and in a Godly fashion.

NIVSN……………….NIV Study Notes.

JVM ………………….J Vernon McGee,

ACC ………………… Adam Clarke’s Commentary

BN ……………………Barnes Notes

WBC………….…….Wycliffe Bible Commentary

CN ……….…………..Constables Notes

IC……………….…….Ironside Commentary

NET…………….…….Net Bible Study Notes.

JFB……………………Jamieson Fausset  Brown Commentary

VWS………………….Vincent Word Studies

CMM………………..Commentary on Matthew and Mark

BDB……………..….Barclay’s Daily Study Bible (NT)

Darby……………….John Darby’s Synopsis of the OT and NT

Johnson……………Johnson’s Notes on the New Testament.

NTCMM…………..The New Testament Commentary:  Matthew and Mark.

EHS………………….Expositions of the Holy Scriptures

CPP…………………The Complete Pulpit Commentary

SBC…………………..Sermon Bible Commentary

K&D…………………Keil and Deilitzsch Commentary on the OT

EBC……………….…Expositors Bible Commentary

CBSC……………….Cambridge Bible for Schools and College

GC……………………Guzik Commentary

RD…………………..Robert  Deffinbaugh

NSB …………………The Nelson Study Bible

MHC…………………Matthew Henry Commentary

ESVN……………..….ESV Study Bible Notes

MSBN……………….MacArthur NASB Study Notes

CSTTB………………..Chuck Smith Through the Bible

  

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