As we saw in the last chapter when the Philistines returned the ark, the men of Beth Shemesh couldn’t bear the presence of the ark and so the men of Kirjath Jearim came and took it, 1 Samuel 6:19-20.
They placed the ark in Abinadab’s house, and consecrated Eleazar his son, to guard it. The ark remained at Kiriath Jearim for twenty years in all, this means that the ark stayed there until David began his reign, 2 Samuel 6:3-4.
Notice how Samuel takes the role of a judge, he calls the people to repent, give their hearts totally to God and get rid of the foreign gods amongst them. This tells us about the idolatry which was going on amongst God’s own people. If Israel wants to end the oppression from the Philistines, they must do as God requires.
The Baals were handmade images, that represented the Canaanite gods, and the Ashtaroth were handmade images that represented fertility. This would include the fertility of crops, animals and man, which tells us that everything they did religiously was governed by these handmade images. This god was also known as Astarte was worshipped by the Phoenicians and Canaanites, the Greeks also worshipped this god and called it Venus, who was the goodness of sex and fertility.
Although Samuel gathered Israel at Mizpah, he knew that this would result in the Philistines attacking them. Hence when the Philistines gathered together to attack, the Israelites became frightened. Notice that they turn to Samuel to ask him to plead to the Lord on their behalf, this tells us that appear to accept Samuel as their judge and leader.
Mizpah was like a gathering point for Israel, we see them gathering there when they declared war on Benjamin, Judges 20:1 and it was this place where Saul was made king, 1 Samuel 10:17.
Notice as Samuel was offering the sacrifices up to the Lord, the Philistines attacked but the Lord steps in with ‘loud thunder’. We don’t know exactly how God did this but we do know that the result of this miraculous intervention meant that Israel defeated the Philistines and pushed back as far as Beth Kar which was around 5 miles west of Jerusalem.
After God gave Israel the victory, Samuel took a stone and named it ‘Ebenezer’, which means, ‘stone of help’. Erecting a stone monument was very common among God’s people, Genesis 28:22 / Genesis 31:45 / Genesis 35:14 / James 24:26. God’s victory over the Philistines was so that the Philistines didn’t return to the areas where Israel lived at that time.
Notice that Samuel went on a circuit, this tells us that he travelled around Bethel, Gilgal, Mizpah, and Ramah as a prophet and a judge. This also tells us that the people came to him when he was in one of those places.
Samuel built an altar, which is interesting because it tells us that during this time the tabernacle and the altar had been destroyed at some point, he wouldn’t have done this if the tabernacle was still there, along with the altar inside it, we also know that God would never have accepted it, if they were still there, Deuteronomy 12:5 / Deuteronomy 12:13.
"I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life."