And Samuel took a sucking-lamb, and offered it as a whole burnt-offering to Jehovah; and Samuel cried to Jehovah for Israel, and Jehovah answered him.
Israel had gathered at Mizpah, poured out water, fasted and confessed. Then the Philistines marched. Their answer was not a weapon but a lamb and a cry. Why did that move God?
The people had already humbled themselves and confessed. Yet that is not what God acted on.
Samuel responds to their cry at once. The one through whom God had re-established relations with His people as prophet now turns to God on behalf of the people as priest. Having the mind of God, he takes a lamb and "offered it as a whole burnt offering to the LORD." He approaches God on the ground of sacrifice. Separation from evil, preparation of heart, repentance however deep, confession of sin however real — all of it is necessary and right. But none of it forms the righteous ground on which God can bless His people. The solid and unchanging ground of all God's actings in grace must always be Christ and His sacrifice on the cross. Samuel's "nursing lamb" speaks of an innocent victim. The "whole burnt offering" speaks of the sacrifice that meets the glory of God. On the ground of the burnt offering "Samuel cried out to the LORD for Israel," and on the ground of sacrifice "the LORD answered him."
The age of the animal matters. So does what the people had already done.
The poured-out water had already testified to their sense of utter weakness. The fast showed how they humbled themselves. The nursing lamb spoke to the Lord of the Christ who was to come. He alone is the One in and through Whom men are delivered and blessed. This is the only place that expressly mentions such a lamb offered to the Lord in sacrifice. Its moral fitness at this moment is very clear. It pictured Christ as the One who was obedient and devoted to God from His youth. He offered Himself as a sweet savour on behalf of men who had nothing but wilfulness and disobedience to show.
The offering was not divided; all of it went up. Writers tie this to the purpose the law gave the burnt offering.
The nursing lamb is a beautiful picture of Christ, the innocent, tender Lamb of God. God heard Samuel, not merely for his piety, but because of the sacrifice he offered. It was a burnt offering — Christ, wholly acceptable to God. The burnt offering, when not specifically prescribed, was brought for a man's acceptance. The expression "of his own voluntary will" in Leviticus 1:3 is better translated, "He shall offer it for his acceptance." Samuel offers it on behalf of "all Israel." Such a lamb suited their state. God did not despise their feebleness of faith, but graciously and tenderly stoops to their level.
Samuel was not a priest, yet he offered the sacrifice himself.
They gathered at Mizpah, poured out water before the Lord as a token of repentance, and confessed their sins. When the Philistines came to attack them, they begged Samuel to cry to the Lord for them. He offered a nursing lamb as a burnt offering. In this way he recognised the ground of the relationship between the people and God… The days of Samuel were exceptional. He was not a priest, yet he offered sacrifices, and he had an altar without either the tabernacle or the ark. He was the man of faith in those days, being owned by God as the upholder of His people.
The order matters. The sacrifice comes before the prayer.
Samuel, nearest to God and therefore knowing His mind, does not merely intercede… He knew well that the one way of approach, the only ground of merit, was sacrifice. He was not the priest himself, yet here he stands in the priest's place. He offers the burnt offering to God, and on that ground he can add his prayers. This lamb speaks to us of that "Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" — here not as the sin offering, but as the burnt offering. It is Christ in His devotedness to God unto death… whose death could be a Substitute for the disobedience and sin of His people.
One writer turns the whole scene into a rule for prayer.
God has treasures of mercy. Prayer is the key that opens these treasures. In prayer, be sure to carry Christ in your arms, for all the mercy comes through Christ. "Samuel took a nursing lamb."
- Ground, not feeling. Repentance, fasting and confession were all real. But God acted on the sacrifice.
- Ground offered. The nursing lamb spoke of Christ, devoted to God from His youth. Scripture mentions such a victim only here.
- Ground accepted. Burnt whole, it was the offering "for his acceptance." God stooped to a faith too weak to bring anything greater.
- Ground stood on. Samuel was no priest. He offered the sacrifice first, and only then added his prayers.
- Ground answered. The LORD answered him. Prayer opens God's treasures when it comes carrying Christ.
And as Samuel was offering up the burnt-offering, the Philistines advanced to battle against Israel. And Jehovah thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and discomfited them; and they were routed before Israel.
Israel had gathered before God in weakness and repentance when the Philistines came up to fight. The verse turns on one question. Why does God step into a battle for a beaten people, and why at that exact moment?
The Philistines came on while the offering was still burning. One writer sets what Samuel leaned on beside what his people could actually do:
Samuel's reliance is not on spear or shield. He takes one nursing lamb and offers it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. This is his plea, and so he cries to God for the people; and the Lord answers. The offering does not stand for the people's newly promised obedience, as most commentators say — what poor ground of confidence that would be in such a crisis! It stands for Christ, the One utterly devoted to God from His birth, the "Lamb," seen in the perfect youth of glorious manhood. What a blessed Substitute for the slow and stained obedience of our best efforts! While Samuel offers, the Philistines draw near. Who can turn this crowd of weak and frightened people into warriors? So the Lord Himself will be seen all the more.
The offering behind the thunder was a young lamb still at its mother's side — a choice that matched both the people's condition and the character of Christ.
The nursing lamb is a beautiful picture of Christ, the innocent, tender Lamb of God. God heard Samuel, not merely for his godliness — as He heard Christ when He was here on earth — but because of the sacrifice he offered. It was a burnt offering — Christ, wholly acceptable to God... A nursing lamb suited their state. God did not despise their weak faith; in grace and tenderness He stoops to their level.
Another writer draws out what the lamb's age said about Christ, and about the men it was offered for:
This is the only clear mention of a nursing lamb offered to the Lord in sacrifice. How well it fits this moment is plain to see. It pictured Christ as the One who was obedient and devoted to God from His youth. He offered Himself as a pleasing aroma to God for men who had nothing to show but self-will and disobedience.
Israel's grasp of the truth was weak. But their weakness did not set the size of what God did next.
However weak their understanding, the sacrifice itself went wholly to the Lord — it carried the worth of the burnt offering. So the Lord answered Samuel's prayer according to His estimate of the whole burnt offering. That answer still took full account of the low condition of the people. The power of the Lord is now shown as He thundered upon the Philistines. (Compare 1 Sam. 2:9-10.) Christ was crucified in weakness, but He lives by the power of God. His sufferings are the key to every time God steps in for His people.
One writer gives the meaning thunder carries wherever Scripture uses it:
Thunder is God's voice in judgment, the expression of His authority in it (1 Sam. 7:10; Ps. 18:13; Job 26:14).
Israel did fight that day. But they only stepped in after the Lord had settled the outcome.
God heard His prophet from "the secret place of thunder," and gave an overwhelming victory to His people. Israel had only to stand firm and see the salvation of the Lord. When they enter the fight, it is only to chase an enemy already beaten. Then, in safety and peace, they enjoy the fruits of victory... Israel's superstitious dependence on the ark for safety is gone now. The faith of the man of God rests in the sacrifice offered to the Lord. That sacrifice wins acceptance for His people and rescue from their enemies.
One writer notes who else is watching when God's people gather in weakness:
The Philistines did not know that the Lord was with those humbled, repentant people. But He was — as He always will be with the upright in heart. He showed Himself strong for them. He thundered against their enemies and set Israel free. It does not please the devil when God's people gather before Him in their weakness. He would rather watch them put on a great show of strength they do not have. But the lowly place is the place of power.
- Lamb first. The victory begins at an altar, not a battle line. Samuel's plea is a sacrifice, and the Lord answers while it still burns.
- Lamb suited. A nursing lamb met Israel where they were; God stooped to their weak faith instead of despising it.
- Lamb measured. God sized His answer by the burnt offering, not by the people's poor condition.
- Lamb answered. The thunder was God's voice in judgment — His authority speaking against the enemy Israel could not face.
- Lamb followed. Israel only chased an enemy already beaten; the lowly place, then and now, is the place of power.
And the men of Israel went out of Mizpah, and pursued the Philistines, and smote them, as far as below Beth-car.
The Philistine lords attacked Mizpah while Samuel was offering the lamb. The fight was over before Israel struck a blow. All that is left for the men of Israel is the chase — out of Mizpah, down to Beth-car. Commentators read that chase as a picture of what God's people do once God Himself has won.
The attack came while a sacrifice was rising to God. That changed who the Philistines were really fighting:
How little the enemy knew what was waiting for them! Did they dare to interrupt Israel while that sweet aroma was rising up to God for them? This was no longer a question between Israel and the Philistines. It was between the Lord and the Philistines. "But the Lord thundered with a mighty sound that day against the Philistines and threw them into confusion, and they were routed before Israel." And the men of Israel had the easy task of pursuing.
Israel had faced this same enemy before with noise and confidence, and lost. The difference is not in Israel's strength but in Israel's posture:
What a contrast between Israel's boastful shout in 1 Samuel 4 and the Lord's thunder in 1 Samuel 7! The former was human pretension; the latter, divine power. The first was followed at once by humiliating defeat; the second, by splendid triumph… People of the world can understand and admire self-assertion and self-confidence. But these are the very things that shut out God. On the other hand, a broken heart, a contrite spirit, a lowly mind, are His delight… The fullness of God always waits on an empty vessel.
The men of Israel do go out and fight. But they arrive after the battle has already been decided:
God heard His prophet from "the secret place of thunder," and gave His people an overwhelming victory. Israel only had to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. When they step onto the field, it is only to chase an enemy already beaten. After that, in safety and peace, they enjoy the fruits of victory. The Philistines may have felt sure of an easy win, since they had won in this very place twenty years before. They may have thought the prophet praying and offering a sacrifice was just a repeat of the sons of Eli carrying the ark into the camp. But no — a better day has come.
The verse names the place where the chase stopped. One writer finds meaning in the name itself:
This was no great victory for Israel to boast about — unless they boast in the Lord. So it was a safe and glorious victory, the very best there could be. They struck them "as far as below Beth-car" — the "house of the [skipping] lamb". Israel is now seen as identified with the lamb sacrificed on their behalf: housed and happy.
The chase runs back over ground where Israel had lost before. A commentator applies that reversal to believers today:
Now let the Philistines draw near if they dare… Their quarrel is now not with Israel, but with Israel's God. So the mighty thunder of the Lord is the answer to their proud attack… The victory becomes a rout. Israel chases the Philistines from Mizpah all the way to Ebenezer… What a joy it is to triumph in our God in the very face of enemies who were once our masters! We had no hope, so we gave them a slave's obedience, even though we did not want to.
God's answer went far past anything anyone had prayed for:
The Lord always grants to the praying soul depending on Himself a deliverance beyond anything we can imagine. It is no ordinary or human way… Here the Lord acts in a completely unexpected way. No one had wished for it, because it was beyond human thought. The thunder of God is the answer to the prayer. The Philistines fall into confusion, and Israel follows up the rout. When we see our enemies routed, we can easily chase them and follow it up, if we have any courage at all. But in our weakness we have little power to act until the Lord steps in and assures our heart that we may.
- Sacrifice first. The turning point was the lamb offered wholly to God, not Israel's weapons. The enemy attacked into a fight they did not understand.
- Thunder next. God answered prayer in a way no one had asked for. The Philistines fell before Israel ever moved.
- Pursuit after. Israel's whole part in the verse is to follow up a foe already beaten; they enter the field to finish, not to decide.
- Empty hands win. The boastful shout of chapter 4 ended in defeat. The broken and contrite spirit at Mizpah drew down power. The fullness of God waits on an empty vessel.
- Old ground recovered. The chase ran down to Beth-car, past the scene of the old defeat. The enemies who once held them as masters are now the ones running.
And Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpah and Shen, and called the name of it Eben-ezer, and said, Hitherto Jehovah has helped us.
Twenty years earlier the Philistines had crushed Israel on this same ground. Samuel now sets a stone there and names it for God's help, using a word — "till now," or "hitherto" in older translations — that leaves the future wide open.
The name Ebenezer means "stone of help," and the spot Samuel chose carried a memory. The Philistines had broken the nation here. That memory gave the monument its force.
Israel's victory was well worth remembering, and Samuel wisely raised his "Ebenezer" at the spot. The monument meant twice as much because it was beside Ebenezer that they had met such a crushing defeat twenty years before. In setting up his memorial stone (the stone of help), Samuel was like Paul before Agrippa, who says with the boldest confidence, "To this day I have had the help that comes from God." He is our rock, our "stone of help," our Ebenezer!
The earlier defeat followed Israel's boastful shout. This victory came another way.
What a contrast between Israel's boastful shout in 1 Samuel 4 and the Lord's thunder in 1 Samuel 7! The first was human pretension; the second was divine power. Humiliating defeat followed the one at once; splendid triumph followed the other. The Philistines knew nothing of what had taken place — the water poured out, the cry of repentance, the offering of the lamb, the priest's intercession. … People of the world can understand and admire self-assertion and self-confidence, but these are the very things that shut God out. On the other hand, a broken heart, a repentant spirit, a humble mind are His delight. … The fullness of God always waits on an empty vessel.
Monuments can go wrong. One writer sets Samuel's stone beside an earlier memorial that failed.
Gideon made an ephod and put it in his city, and it became a trap instead of a memorial of the Lord's deliverance. In such a case the moment of victory becomes the moment of danger. Samuel's stone records the Lord's help, and not Israel's strength or faithfulness. … Ebenezer tells of the Lord's intervention in a different situation — a stone of help for a people who were sinful, and yet, through grace, repentant. And what is our Ebenezer? … Lord Jesus, You are our Stone of help — our Ebenezer.
Samuel's wording also guards the people from swagger in the hour of success.
Samuel was careful to keep Israel from gloating over such a victory. … Their attitude was thankful, but subdued: "Hitherto has the Lord helped us." As for the future, they had to remember that they could expect His help only as they truly recognized His authority and depended on His mercy.
The place already carried this name earlier in the story, but the naming happens here. The word draws a line at the present moment.
Ebenezer, already mentioned in 1 Samuel 4:1, does not receive its name until after this victory. "Hitherto": now that this foundation is laid, the enemy no longer tries to raise his head. Restoration, for the moment at least, is complete.
Looking back at these markers is meant to draw praise out of the heart.
When the eye rests on the "Ebenezers" that lie all along the way, the heart must send up its sweet "Hallelujahs." They rise to Him who has helped us until now, and who will help us right to the end. He has delivered, and He does deliver, and He will deliver. Blessed chain! Every link in it is divine deliverance.
One writer turns the single stone into a lifetime of them.
A Christian who had known God's goodness for fifty years said this. If she had raised a stone of remembrance every time the Lord helped her, she would have built a solid wall fifty years long. … If there are gaps in our wall of Ebenezers, they mark the times when in self-sufficiency and pride we thought we could manage our own affairs without reference to God. Then we had to learn hard lessons about our folly, and admit that independence from the Lord meant disaster for us. But even then He was not far from us, and He has often proved to us that His grace is greater than our failure.
A stone can be ignored. Israel later looked elsewhere for help.
They forget the lesson of Ebenezer completely. They turn, not to God, but to human strength. … When will people — when will we — learn to turn to God alone in the difficulties and dangers of life?
- Help, not strength. Ebenezer means "stone of help." The name credits the Lord, not Israel's performance.
- Help after confession. One field saw defeat after boasting. It saw victory after water poured out, sins confessed, and a lamb offered.
- Help so far. "Till now" reaches only to this moment — a thankful, subdued claim, not a guarantee earned by past success.
- Help remembered. Set up your markers; the gaps in the line are the seasons you tried to manage life without God.
- Help forgotten. Israel later ignored Ebenezer and reached for human strength. That is how a monument becomes a wasted mercy.