The Ark Having Been Restored, Israel Defeat the Philistines Through The Prayers of Samuel, YHWH's Representative (1 Samuel 7:5-14).
Analysis.
a And Samuel said, “Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray for you to YHWH. And they gathered together to Mizpah, and drew water, and poured it out before YHWH, and fasted on that day, and said there, “We have sinned against YHWH.” And Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpah (1 Samuel 7:5-6).
b And when the Philistines heard that the children of Israel were gathered together to Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the children of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines (1 Samuel 7:7).
c And the children of Israel said to Samuel, “Cease not to cry to YHWH our God for us, that he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines” (1 Samuel 7:8).
d And Samuel took a sucking lamb, and offered it for a whole burnt-offering to YHWH, and Samuel cried to YHWH for Israel, and YHWH answered him (1 Samuel 7:9).
c And as Samuel was offering up the burnt-offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel, but YHWH thundered with a great thunder on that day on the Philistines, and discomfited them, and they were smitten down before Israel (1 Samuel 7:10).
b And the men of Israel went out of Mizpah, and pursued the Philistines, and smote them, until they came under Beth-car (1 Samuel 7:11).
a Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpah and Shen, and called the name of it Eben-ezer, saying, “Up to now has YHWH helped us”. So the Philistines were subdued, and they came no more within the border of Israel, and the hand of YHWH was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. And the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron even to Gath; and its border did Israel deliver out of the hand of the Philistines. And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites (1 Samuel 7:12-17).
Note that in ‘a' the people fast and pray and admit their sinfulness and Samuel act as their Judge in Mizpah, and in the parallel they are seen to be living in peace under Samuel's judgeship with all their lands restored. In ‘b' the Philistines invade Israel, and in the parallel the Israelites defeat the Philistines. In ‘c' the children of Israel ask Samuel not to cease praying for them that YHWH will deliver them out of the hands of the Philistines, and in the parallel Samuel offers up a burnt offering and YHWH does deliver them. Centrally in ‘d' Samuel offers up a burnt offering and cries to YHWH and YHWH answers him.
‘ And Samuel said, “Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray for you to YHWH.
Then Samuel gives the command that all Israel might be gathered to Mizpah, where he would pray for them. This was probably a call to all the tribes to provide warriors in order that they might defeat the Philistines. It was a requirement of the tribal league (the amphictyony) that all tribes who could would respond to such a call. If it was so then it was a clear act of war. The word of the newly arrived prophet, and his promise to pray for them was clearly sufficient to gain a reasonable response to the call. At last there was a recognised prophet who could intervene with YHWH on their behalf. Samuel is elsewhere constantly seen as a mighty man of prayer. See 1 Samuel 8:6; 1 Samuel 12:17-19; 1Sa 12:23; 1 Samuel 15:11. Compare also Psalms 99:6 and Jeremiah 15:1 where the power of Samuel's intercession is emphasised.
‘ And they gathered together to Mizpah, and drew water, and poured it out before YHWH, and fasted on that day, and said there, “We have sinned against YHWH.” And Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpah.'
So Israel gathered at Mizpah. And there they drew water and poured it out before YHWH, and fasted and declared how they had sinned before YHWH. The pouring of water may have been intended to denote a recognition of their dependence on YHWH (indicating that the very water on which their lives depended came from Him, and was being returned to Him in symbolic gratitude) or it may have symbolised the pouring out of their weeping hearts in repentance before YHWH (compare Psalms 22:15; Lamentations 2:19), or it may have indicated a cry for YHWH to open the heavens on the enemy, as He had on Sisera (Judges 4:15; Judges 5:20-21; compare Joshua 10:10-11) and subsequently did on the Philistines. We can compare with the example here how David poured out ‘to YHWH' the water that brave men risked their lives for, because he would not ‘drink their blood' (2 Samuel 23:16-17). It is clear from the example here that by this act David was not just getting rid of the water, even by giving it to YHWH, but was to be seen by all as making an actual offering to YHWH Who alone was worthy of such sacrifice. The Aramaic Targum paraphrases the verse here as, ‘and they poured out their heart in repentance before YHWH'. Whichever it was, it was a plea to YHWH to recognise their need. The fasting was an indication of their mourning for sin, along with which went their confession of sin (compare Judges 10:10), which would go well with a symbolic act of repentance.
“And Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpah.” For the first time Samuel was appointed as their ‘judge' and ‘war leader', and acted in sorting out their differences and taking up the leadership role in readiness for what lay ahead. They would need a lot of guidance and a lot of encouragement, as well as organisation for the battle ahead. Perhaps they went through the ritual of Deuteronomy 20:1-9. He has become their general and their acknowledged spiritual and moral guide.
‘ And when the Philistines heard that the children of Israel were gathered together to Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the children of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines.
When the Philistines heard that the call had gone out to the tribes of Israel to gather at Mizpah they naturally took alarm and the Philistine Tyrants gathered an army and set off for Mizpah. When scouts arrived at Mizpah warning of their approach, the children of Israel were terrified. It was one thing to plan a military operation, and another to face a Philistine fighting force. They had been hoping to take the Philistines by surprise, not to find them on their doorstep.
‘ And the children of Israel said to Samuel, “Cease not to cry to YHWH our God for us, that he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines.” '
In panic they came to Samuel and called on him to continually intercede for them before YHWH, asking YHWH their God to deliver them out of the hand of the Philistines. They seemingly had great faith in their new prophet and his God, even if they had little faith in themselves.
‘ And Samuel took a sucking lamb, and offered it for a whole burnt-offering to YHWH, and Samuel cried to YHWH for Israel, and YHWH answered him.'
Samuel's response was to take a lamb of over seven days old, and offer it for a whole burnt offering before YHWH. This was an act of total consecration. Perhaps such a young lamb was chosen in order to symbolise that the nation had just been ‘reborn'. Then Samuel prayed to YHWH for Israel, and YHWH answered him.
‘ And as Samuel was offering up the burnt-offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel, but YHWH thundered with a great thunder on that day on the Philistines, and discomfited them; and they were smitten down before Israel.'
As Samuel offered the burnt offering the Philistines approached Mizpah, arrayed for battle. But then to their great horror the heavens thundered with a great thunder. God had spoken. But the mention of the thunder would seem to indicate that it was accompanied by an equally great storm, with plenty of lightning, and the result was that the Philistines were discomfited and put into a panic (compare the use of the word in Exodus 14:24; Joshua 10:10; Judges 4:15; 2 Samuel 22:15). The awesome thunder may well have reminded them of previous experiences of YHWH, and the driving rains soaking the ground would clog up their chariot wheels and encumber their horsemen, whose horses may well also have been terrified at the continual thunder and difficult to control. Thus the Israelites, arriving on foot, were easily able to smite them down.
‘ And the men of Israel went out of Mizpah, and pursued the Philistines, and smote them, until they came under Beth-car.'
The men of Israel then pursued the fleeing Philistines in their clogged chariots and on their encumbered horses and smote them all the way to Beth-car (‘the house of the lamb', a name which would remind the reader of the sacrificed lamb).
‘ Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpah and Shen, and called the name of it Eben-ezer, saying, “Up to now has YHWH helped us.” '
Victory assured Samuel set up a memorial stone between Mizpah and Shen (‘the tooth'). This latter may have been a conspicuous spire of rock (compare 1 Samuel 14:4). Thus at the very spot where the Philistines had previously humiliated them in 1 Samuel 4 (see 1 Samuel 5:1), the Israelites gained their revenge, and Samuel named the spot ‘Eben-ezer' signifying ‘the stone of help', acknowledging that ‘up to now YHWH has helped us'.
‘ So the Philistines were subdued, and they came no more within the border of Israel, and the hand of YHWH was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.'
The victory was so final, and Samuel's leadership from then on so effective, that all the while that he was the Judge of that part of Israel the Philistines did not again succeed in crossing the border. Whether actual attempts were made we do not know, but if so they were driven back because ‘the hand of YHWH was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel'. Against that hand they could do nothing.
‘ And the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron even to Gath; and its border did Israel deliver out of the hand of the Philistines. And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites.'
And not only that but Samuel was also able to free the cities which had been taken over by the Philistines and permanently held by them, right up to the borders of the districts of Ekron and Gath. Furthermore he was strong enough to be able to make peace with the Amorites who dwelt in the hill country and had no doubt taken advantage of Philistine oppression to constantly spoil Israel. Compare the problems that they had caused to Dan in Judges 1:34-35. Thus peace was maintained with all their enemies. All recognised that while Samuel ruled Israel they were invulnerable.