What does the termEbenezermean in the Bible?

A stone thus called, signifying 'stone of help,' set up by Samuel, after obtaining victory over the Philistines, as a memorial of the help received from God. 1 Sam. 4:1; 1 Sam. 5:1; 1 Sam. 7:12. It would appear in the texts as if the stone had had the name prior to Samuel's thus designating it; but this may be accounted for by the whole account having been written after the stone was so named. The word has become symbolical for the expression "Hitherto hath the Lord helped us."

Eb en e’zer - The stone of help

Samuel now is seen beginning his great national ministry. The message he brings is the message of repentance and the assurance of faith. In simple words he addressed the people, who no doubt were prepared for it by their long period of humiliation. He demands that their true return to the Lord must be practical; the strange gods and Ashtaroth must be put away. If they serve the Lord only, deliverance out of the hands of the Philistines would come. The message was at once obeyed. Every true return to the Lord must manifest itself in the same way. True repentance without self-judgment and self-surrender is impossible. The earnest appeal and whole-hearted response by the people led to the great gathering at Mizpah (the watch tower). It was a day of humiliation and prayer. Samuel said "I will pray unto the Lord for you." He was the child of prayer and the man of prayer (8:6; 12:19, 23). "Samuel among them that call upon His name; they called upon the LORD and He answered them" (Ps. 99:6). There was confession of sin and they drew water, and poured it out before Jehovah. It was a symbolical act showing the undone and helpless condition of Israel. "We must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground" (2 Sam. 14:14). When the Philistines came up against them they were afraid and acknowledged prayer as their only refuge and help. "Cease not" they appealed to Samuel, "to cry for us unto the LORD our God." And afterwards he offered a whole burnt offering unto the Lord. This offering represents Christ. Then Samuel cried unto the LORD and the LORD answered him. The elements of a true return unto the Lord and a true revival among God's people are found in this great national movement. While Samuel offered the burnt offering and interceded for Israel the Philistines drew near. Then came the interference from the LORD. It was a supernatural thundering which discomfited the Philistines, and they were smitten. Israel gains a great victory. They pursue the enemy to Beth-car (house of the lamb). Between Mizpeh and Shen the stone called by Samuel "Ebenezer" is put up as a memorial. Ebenezer means "stone of help." "Helped--but only 'hitherto'! For all Jehovah's help is only 'hitherto'--from day to day, and from place to place--not unconditionally, nor wholly, nor once for all, irrespective of our bearing." (A. Edersheim, Bible History.)

"And Samuel took a sucking lamb, and offered it for a burnt offering wholly to the Lord: and Samuel cried to the Lord for Israel; and the Lord heard him. And as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel" — How little they knew whom they were coming against, or who was about to meet them! "But the Lord thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and discomfited them; and they were smitten before Israel … Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Eben-ezer (the stone of help), saying, Hitherto has the Lord helped us."

After God's victory over the Philistines on behalf of Israel, Samuel was careful to keep Israel from gloating over such a victory, for when all is done he set up a memorial stone, calling it Eben-ezer, "the stone of help," that they might not forget that the triumph was gained only through the help of the Lord. While their attitude was thankful, it was also subdued in the recognition "Hitherto hath the Lord helped us." As to the future, they must remember that they could expect His help only as they honestly recognized His authority and depended on His mercy.

The Lord has intervened for His people in delivering them from their enemies, and Samuel, who had prayed to the Lord in their distress, does not forget to praise the Lord in their deliverance. He raises a stone and calls it Ebenezer, saying, "Hitherto has the Lord helped us." This was in reality an act of praise — an acknowledgment of the goodness of the Lord.

Israel's victory was an event well worth. commemorating, and Samuel wisely raised his "Ebenezer" at the spot. The monument became doubly significant from the fact that it "was beside Ebenezer" that they had met such a crushing defeat twenty years before. Samuel, in erecting his memorial stone (the stone of help), was like Paul before Agrippa, where he says in boldest confidence, "Having therefore obtained help from God, I continue unto this day." He is our rock, our "stone of help," our EBENEZER!

And now, whose is the victory? And what the record of deliverance? Gideon made an ephod and put in his city, and it became a snare, instead of a memorial of the Lord's deliverance. The moment of victory becomes in such case the moment of danger. "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." It records the Lord's help, and not Israel's strength or faithfulness. There is no such memorial here as was written in the book of Jasher in the day of Joshua (Joshua 10:13), for Ebenezer has to tell of the Lord's intervention in other circumstances - of a stone of help for a sinful, and yet through grace, repentant people. And what is our Ebenezer? What name do we own as bringing in for us the help of the Lord? Lord Jesus, Thou art our Stone of help - our Ebenezer. If truths have been recovered, if coasts have been delivered out of the hand of the enemy, it is because Thou, who hast suffered for sins once when by the Eternal Spirit Thou didst offer Thyself without spot to God, art in the place of intercession above. Our Stone of help, our Ebenezer, art Thou!

Samuel takes account of this divine intervention. “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” (v. 12). Eben-ezer, already mentioned in 1 Samuel 4:1, does not receive its name until after this victory. “Hitherto”: this basis having been established, the enemy no longer attempts to raise his head. (v. 13). Restoration, for the moment at least, is complete.

Now let the Philistines draw near if they dare. They are meeting no more a boastful people, whether strong or weak. Their controversy is now not with Israel, but with Israel's God, and therefore the mighty thunder of the Lord is the answer to their proud assault. They are discomfited and smitten before Israel, and now the victory becomes a rout; the Philistines are pursued from Mizpah and all the way to Ebenezer. How significant that place becomes to them, — not of previous defeat (1 Sam. 6:1), but giving its own meaning now, "hitherto hath the Lord helped us." Have we not known something of this? And what a joy it is to be able to triumph in our God in the very face of those enemies which once have been our masters and to whom, hopeless, we had rendered, even though unwilling, yet a servile obedience!