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Difference between revisions of "1 Samuel Chapter 7:3-6"

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[[O.T.Henry Commentary 1 Samuel | '''1:1-8''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 1:9-10|'''1:9-18''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 1:19-28|'''1:19-28''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 2:1-10|'''2:1-10''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 2:11-26|'''2:11-26''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 2:27-36|'''2:27-36''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 3:1-10|'''3:1-10''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 3:11-18|'''3:11-18''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 3:19-21|'''3:19-21''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 4:1-9|'''4:1-9''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 4:10-11|'''4:10-11''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 4:12-18|'''4:12-18''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 4:19-22|'''4:19-22''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 5:1-5|'''5:1-5''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 5:6-12|'''5:6-12''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 6:1-9|'''6:1-9''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 6:10-18|'''6:10-18''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 6:19-21|'''6:19-21''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 7:1-2|'''7:1-2''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 7:3-6|'''7:3-6''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 7:7-12|'''7:7-12''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 7:13-17|'''7:13-17''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 8:1-3|'''8:1-3''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 8:4-22|'''8:4-22''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 9:1-2|'''9:1-2''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 9:3-10|'''9:3-10''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 9:11-17|'''9:11-17''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 9:18-27|'''9:18-27''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 10:1-8|'''10:1-8''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 10:9-16|'''10:9-16''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 10:17-27|'''10:17-27''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 11:1-4|'''11:1-4''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 11:5-11|'''11:5-11''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 11:12-15|'''11:12-15''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 12:1-5|'''12:1-5''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 12:6-15|'''12:6-15''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 12:16-25|'''12:16-25''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 13:1-7|'''1:1-7''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 13:8-14|'''13:8-14''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 13:15-23|'''13:15-23''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 14:1-15|'''14:1-15''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 14:16-23|'''14:16-23''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 14:24-35|'''14:24-35''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 14:36-46|'''14:36-46''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 14:47-52|'''14:47-52''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 15:1-9|'''15:1-9''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 15:10-23|'''15:10-23''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 15:24-31|'''15:24-31''']],  [[1 Samuel Chapter 15:32-35|'''15:32-35''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 16:1-5|'''16:1-5''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 16:6-13|'''16:6-13''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 16:14-23|'''16:14-23''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 17:1-11|'''17:1-11''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 17:12-30|'''17:12-30''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 17:31-39|'''17:31-39''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 17:40-47|'''17:40-47''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 17:48-58|'''17:48-58''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 18:1-5|'''18:1-5''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 18:6-11|'''18:6-11''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 18:12-30|'''18:12-30''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 19:1-7|'''19:1-7''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 19:8-10|'''19:8-10''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 19:11-17|'''19:11-17''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 19:18-24|'''19:18-24''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 20:1-8|'''20:1-8''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 20:9-23|'''20:9-23''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 20:24-34|'''20:24-34''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 20:35-42|'''20:35-42''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 21:1-9|'''21:1-9''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 21:10-15|'''21:10-15''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 22:1-5|'''22:1-5''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 22:6-19|'''22:6-19''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 22:20-23|'''22:20-23''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 23:1-6|'''23:1-6''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 23:7-13|'''23:7-13''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 23:14-18|'''23:14-18''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 23:19-29|'''23:19-29''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 24:1-8|'''24:1-8''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 24:9-15|'''24:9-15''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 24:16-22|'''24:16-22''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 25:1|'''25:1''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 25:2-11|'''25:2-11''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 25:12-17|'''25:12-17''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 25:18-31|'''25:18-31''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 25:32-35|'''25:32-35''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 25:36-44|'''25:36-44''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 26:1-5|'''26:1-5''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 26:6-12|'''26:6-12''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 26:13-20|'''26:13-20''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 26:21-25|'''26:21-25''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 27:1-7|'''27:1-7''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 27:8-12|'''27:8-12''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 28:1-6|'''28:1-6''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 28:7-14|'''28:7-14''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 28:15-19|'''28:15-19''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 28:20-25|'''28:20-25''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 29:1-5|'''29:1-5''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 29:6-11|'''29:6-11''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 30:1-6|'''30:1-6''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 30:7-20|'''30:7-20''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 30:21-31|'''30:21-31''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 31:1-7|'''31:1-7''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 31:8-13|'''31:8-13''']],
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[[O.T.Henry Commentary 1 Samuel | '''1:1-8''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 1:9-18|'''1:9-18''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 1:19-28|'''1:19-28''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 2:1-10|'''2:1-10''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 2:11-26|'''2:11-26''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 2:27-36|'''2:27-36''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 3:1-10|'''3:1-10''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 3:11-18|'''3:11-18''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 3:19-21|'''3:19-21''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 4:1-9|'''4:1-9''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 4:10-11|'''4:10-11''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 4:12-18|'''4:12-18''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 4:19-22|'''4:19-22''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 5:1-5|'''5:1-5''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 5:6-12|'''5:6-12''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 6:1-9|'''6:1-9''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 6:10-18|'''6:10-18''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 6:19-21|'''6:19-21''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 7:1-2|'''7:1-2''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 7:3-6|'''7:3-6''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 7:7-12|'''7:7-12''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 7:13-17|'''7:13-17''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 8:1-3|'''8:1-3''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 8:4-22|'''8:4-22''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 9:1-2|'''9:1-2''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 9:3-10|'''9:3-10''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 9:11-17|'''9:11-17''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 9:18-27|'''9:18-27''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 10:1-8|'''10:1-8''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 10:9-16|'''10:9-16''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 10:17-27|'''10:17-27''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 11:1-4|'''11:1-4''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 11:5-11|'''11:5-11''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 11:12-15|'''11:12-15''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 12:1-5|'''12:1-5''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 12:6-15|'''12:6-15''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 12:16-25|'''12:16-25''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 13:1-7|'''13:1-7''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 13:8-14|'''13:8-14''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 13:15-23|'''13:15-23''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 14:1-15|'''14:1-15''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 14:16-23|'''14:16-23''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 14:24-35|'''14:24-35''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 14:36-46|'''14:36-46''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 14:47-52|'''14:47-52''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 15:1-9|'''15:1-9''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 15:10-23|'''15:10-23''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 15:24-31|'''15:24-31''']],  [[1 Samuel Chapter 15:32-35|'''15:32-35''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 16:1-5|'''16:1-5''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 16:6-13|'''16:6-13''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 16:14-23|'''16:14-23''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 17:1-11|'''17:1-11''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 17:12-30|'''17:12-30''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 17:31-39|'''17:31-39''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 17:40-47|'''17:40-47''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 17:48-58|'''17:48-58''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 18:1-5|'''18:1-5''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 18:6-11|'''18:6-11''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 18:12-30|'''18:12-30''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 19:1-7|'''19:1-7''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 19:8-10|'''19:8-10''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 19:11-17|'''19:11-17''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 19:18-24|'''19:18-24''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 20:1-8|'''20:1-8''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 20:9-23|'''20:9-23''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 20:24-34|'''20:24-34''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 20:35-42|'''20:35-42''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 21:1-9|'''21:1-9''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 21:10-15|'''21:10-15''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 22:1-5|'''22:1-5''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 22:6-19|'''22:6-19''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 22:20-23|'''22:20-23''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 23:1-6|'''23:1-6''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 23:7-13|'''23:7-13''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 23:14-18|'''23:14-18''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 23:19-29|'''23:19-29''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 24:1-8|'''24:1-8''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 24:9-15|'''24:9-15''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 24:16-22|'''24:16-22''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 25:1|'''25:1''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 25:2-11|'''25:2-11''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 25:12-17|'''25:12-17''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 25:18-31|'''25:18-31''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 25:32-35|'''25:32-35''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 25:36-44|'''25:36-44''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 26:1-5|'''26:1-5''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 26:6-12|'''26:6-12''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 26:13-20|'''26:13-20''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 26:21-25|'''26:21-25''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 27:1-7|'''27:1-7''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 27:8-12|'''27:8-12''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 28:1-6|'''28:1-6''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 28:7-14|'''28:7-14''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 28:15-19|'''28:15-19''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 28:20-25|'''28:20-25''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 29:1-5|'''29:1-5''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 29:6-11|'''29:6-11''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 30:1-6|'''30:1-6''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 30:7-20|'''30:7-20''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 30:21-31|'''30:21-31''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 31:1-7|'''31:1-7''']], [[1 Samuel Chapter 31:8-13|'''31:8-13''']],
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2Sa 6:20-23 <br>
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1Sa 7:3-6 <br>
David, having dismissed the congregation with a blessing, returned to bless his household (2Sa 6:20), that is, to pray with them and for them, and to offer up his family thanksgiving for this national mercy. Ministers must not think that their public performances will excuse them from their family-worship; but when they have, with their instructions and prayers, blessed the solemn assemblies, they must return in the same manner to bless their households, for with them they are in a particular manner charged.
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We may well wonder where Samuel was and what he was doing all this while, for we have not had him so much as named till now, since 1Sa 4:1, not as if he were unconcerned, but his labours among his people are not mentioned till there appears the fruit of them. When he perceived that they began to lament after the Lord he struck while the iron was hot, and two things he endeavoured to do for them, as a faithful servant of God and a faithful friend to the Israel of God: - <br>
 
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David, though he had prophets, and priests, and Levites, about him, to be his chaplains, yet did not devolve the work upon them, but himself blessed his household. It is angels' work to worship God, and therefore surely that can be no disparagement to the greatest of men.<br>
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Never did David return to his house with so much pleasure and satisfaction as he did now that he had got the ark into his neighbourhood; and yet even this joyful day concluded with some uneasiness, occasioned by the pride and peevishness of his wife. Even the palaces of princes are not exempt from domestic troubles. David had pleased all the multitude of Israel, but Michal was not pleased with his dancing before the ark. For this, when he was at a distance, she scorned him, and when he came home she scolded him. She was not displeased at his generosity to the people, nor did she grudge the entertainment he gave them; but she thought he degraded himself too much in dancing before the ark. It was not her covetousness, but her pride, that made her fret.<br>
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I. When she saw David in the street dancing before the Lord she despised him in her heart, 2Sa 6:16. She thought this mighty zeal of his for the ark of God, and the transport of joy he was in upon its coming home to him, was but a foolish thing, and unbecoming so great a soldier, and statesman, and monarch, as he was. It would have been enough for him to encourage the devotion of others, but she looked upon it as a thing below him to appear so very devout himself. &quot;What a fool&quot; (thinks she) &quot;does my husband make of himself now! How fond is he of this ark, that might as well have lain still where it had lain for so many years! Much devotion has almost made him mad.&quot; Note, The exercises of religion appear very mean in the eyes of those that have little or no religion themselves.<br>
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II. When he came home in the very best disposition she began to upbraid him, and was so full of disdain and indignation that she could not contain till she had him in private, but went out to meet him with her reproaches.
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Observe,<br>
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I. He endeavoured to separate between them and their idols, for there reformation must begin. He spoke to all the house of Israel (1Sa 7:3), going, as it should seem, from place to place, an itinerant preacher (for we find not that they were gathered together till 1Sa 7:5), and wherever he came this was his exhortation, &quot;If you do indeed return to the Lord, as you seem inclined to do, by your lamentations for your departure from him and his from you, then know, 1. That you must renounce and abandon your idols, put away the strange gods, for your God will admit no rival; put them away from you, each one from himself, nay, and put them from among you, do what you can, in your places, to rid them out of the country. Put away Baalim, the strange gods, and Ashtaroth, the strange goddesses,&quot; for such also they had.  
1. How she taunted him (2Sa 6:20): &quot;How glorious was the king of Israel today! What a figure didst thou make today in the midst of the mob! How unbecoming thy post and character!&quot; Her contempt of him and his devotion began in the heart, but out of the abundance of that the mouth spoke.
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That which displeased her was his affection to the ark, which she wished he had no greater kindness for than she had: but she basely represents his conduct, in dancing before the ark, as lewd and immodest; and, while really she was displeased at it as a diminution to his honour, she pretended to dislike it as a reproach to his virtue, that he uncovered himself in the eyes of the maid-servants, as no man would have done but one of the vain fellows that cared not how much he shamed himself. We have no reason to think that this was true in fact. David, no doubt, observed decorum, and governed his zeal with discretion. But it is common for those that reproach religion thus to put false colours upon it and lay it under the most odious characters. To have abused any man thus for his pious zeal would have been very profane, but to abuse her own husband thus, whom she ought to have reverenced, and one whose prudence and virtue were above the reach of malice itself to disparage, one who had shown such affection for her that he would not accept a crown unless he might have her restored to him (2Sa 3:13), was a most base and wicked thing, and showed her to have more of Saul's daughter in her than of David's wife or Jonathan's sister.<br>
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Or Ashtaroth is particularly named because it was the best-beloved idol, and that which they were most wedded to. Note, True repentance strikes at the darling sin, and will with a peculiar zeal and resolution put away that, the sin which most easily besets us. 2. &quot;That you must make a solemn business of returning to God, and do it with a serious consideration and a stedfast resolution, for both are included in preparing the heart, directing, disposing, establishing, the heart unto the Lord. 3. That you must be wholly for God, for him and no other, serve him only, else you do not serve him at all so as to please him. 4. That this is the only way and a sure way to prosperity and deliverance. Take this course, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines; for it was because you forsook him and served other gods that he delivered you into their hands.&quot; This was the purport of Samuel's preaching, and it had a wonderfully good effect (1Sa 7:4): They put away Baalim and Ashtaroth, not only quitted the worship of them, but destroyed their images, demolished their altars, and quite abandoned them. What have we to do any more with idols? Hos 14:8; Isa 30:22.<br>
  
2. How he replied to her reproach. He did not upbraid her with her treacherous departure from him to embrace the bosom of a stranger. He had forgiven that, and therefore had forgotten it, though, it may be, his own conscience, on this occasion, upbraided him with his folly in receiving her again (for that is said to pollute the land, Jer 3:1), but he justifies himself in what he did.<br>
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II. He endeavoured to engage them for ever to God and his service. Now that he had them in a good mind he did all he could to keep them in it.<br>
  
(1.) He designed thereby to honour God (2Sa 6:21): It was before the Lord, and with an eye to him. Whatever invidious construction she was pleased to put upon it, he had the testimony of his conscience for him that he sincerely aimed at the glory of God, for whom he thought he could never do enough. Here he reminds her indeed of the setting aside of her father's house, to make way for him to the throne, that she might not think herself the most proper judge of propriety: &quot;God chose me before thy father, and appointed me to be ruler over Israel, and now I am the fountain of honour; and, if the expressions of a warm devotion to God were looked upon as mean and unfashionable in thy father's court, yet I will play before the Lord, and thereby bring them into reputation again. And, if this be to be vile (2Sa 6:22), I will be yet more vile.&quot;
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1. He summons all Israel, at least by their elders, as their representatives, to meet him at Mizpeh (1Sa 7:5), and there he promises to pray for them. And it was worth while for them to come from the remotest part of the country to join with Samuel in seeking God's favour. Note, Ministers should pray for those to whom they preach, that God by his grace would make the preaching effectual. And, when we come together in religious assemblies, we must remember that it is as much our business there to join in public prayers as it is to hear a sermon. He would pray for them that, by the grace of God, they might be parted from their idols, and that then, by the providence of God, they might be delivered from the Philistines. Ministers would profit their people more if they did but pray more for them.<br>
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2. They obey his summons, and not only come to the meeting, but conform to the intentions of it, and appear there very well disposed, 1Sa 7:6.<br>
  
Note, [1.] We should be afraid of censuring the devotion of others though it may not agree with our sentiments, because, for aught that we know, the heart may be upright in it, and who are we that we should despise those whom God has accepted? [2.] If we can approve ourselves to God in what we do in religion, and do it as before the Lord, we need not value the censures and reproaches of men. If we appear right in God's eyes, no matter how mean we appear in the eyes of the world. [3.] The more we are vilified for well-doing the more resolute we should be in it, and hold our religion the faster, and bind it the closer to us, for the endeavours of Satan's agents to shake us and to shame us out of it. I will be yet more vile.<br>
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(1.) They drew water and poured it out before the Lord, signifying, [1.] Their humiliation and contrition for sin, owning themselves as water spilt upon the ground, which cannot be gathered up again (2Sa 14:14), so mean, so miserable, before God, Psa 22:14. The Chaldee reads it, They poured out their hearts in repentance before the Lord. They wept rivers of tears, and sorrowed after a godly sort, for it was before the Lord and with an eye to him. [2.] Their earnest prayers and supplications to God for mercy. The soul is, in prayer, poured out before God, Psa 62:8. [3.] Their universal reformation; they thus expressed their willingness to part with all their sins, and to retain no more of the relish or savour of them than the vessel does of the water that is poured out of it. They were free and full in their confession, and fixed in their resolution to cast away from them all their transgressions. Israel is now baptized from their idols, so Dr. Lightfoot. [4.] Some think it signifies their joy in the hope of God's mercy, which Samuel had assured them of. This ceremony was used with that signification at the feast of tabernacles, John 7:37, 38, and see Isa 12:3. Taking it in this sense, it must be read, They drew water after they had fasted. In the close of their humiliation they thus expressed their hope of pardon and reconciliation.<br>
  
(2.) He designed thereby to humble himself: &quot;I will be base in my own sight, and will think nothing too mean to stoop to for the honour of God.&quot; In the throne of judgment, and in the field of battle, none shall do more to support the grandeur and authority of a prince than David shall; but in acts of devotion he lays aside the thought of majesty, humbles himself to the dust before the Lord, joins in with the meanest services done in honour of the ark, and thinks all this no diminution to him. The greatest of men is less than the least of the ordinances of Jesus Christ.<br>
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(2.) They fasted, abstained from food, afflicted their souls, so expressing repentance and exciting devotion.<br>
  
(3.) He doubted not but even this would turn to his reputation among those whose reproach Michal pretended to fear: Of the maid-servants shall I be had in honour. The common people would be so far from thinking the worse of him for these pious condescensions that they would esteem and honour him so much the more. Those that are truly pious are sometimes manifested in the consciences even of those that speak ill of them, 2Co 5:11. Let us never be driven from our duty by the fear of reproach; for to be steady and resolute in it will perhaps turn to our reputation more than we think it will. Piety will have its praise. Let us not then be indifferent in it, nor afraid or ashamed to own it.<br>
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(3.) They made a public confession: We have sinned against the Lord, so giving glory to God and taking shame to themselves. And, if we thus confess our sins, we shall find our God faithful and just to forgive us our sins.<br>
  
David was contented thus to justify himself, and did not any further animadvert upon Michal's insolence; but God punished her for it, writing her for ever childless from this time forward, 2Sa 6:23. She unjustly reproached David for his devotion, and therefore God justly put her under the perpetual reproach of barrenness. Those that honour God he will honour; but those that despise him, and his servants and service, shall be lightly esteemed.<br>
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3. Samuel judged them at that time in Mizpeh, that is, he assured them, in God's name, of the pardon of their sins, upon their repentance, and that God was reconciled to them. It was a judgment of absolution. Or he received informations against those that did not leave their idols, and proceeded against them according to law. Those that would not judge themselves he judged. Or now he settled courts of justice among them, and appointed the terms and circuits which he observed afterwards, 1Sa 7:16. Now he set those wheels a-going; and, whereas he began to act as a magistrate, to prevent their relapsing into those sins which now they seemed to have renounced.<br>

Latest revision as of 22:08, 12 April 2011

1:1-8, 1:9-18, 1:19-28, 2:1-10, 2:11-26, 2:27-36, 3:1-10, 3:11-18, 3:19-21, 4:1-9, 4:10-11, 4:12-18, 4:19-22, 5:1-5, 5:6-12, 6:1-9, 6:10-18, 6:19-21, 7:1-2, 7:3-6, 7:7-12, 7:13-17, 8:1-3, 8:4-22, 9:1-2, 9:3-10, 9:11-17, 9:18-27, 10:1-8, 10:9-16, 10:17-27, 11:1-4, 11:5-11, 11:12-15, 12:1-5, 12:6-15, 12:16-25, 13:1-7, 13:8-14, 13:15-23, 14:1-15, 14:16-23, 14:24-35, 14:36-46, 14:47-52, 15:1-9, 15:10-23, 15:24-31, 15:32-35, 16:1-5, 16:6-13, 16:14-23, 17:1-11, 17:12-30, 17:31-39, 17:40-47, 17:48-58, 18:1-5, 18:6-11, 18:12-30, 19:1-7, 19:8-10, 19:11-17, 19:18-24, 20:1-8, 20:9-23, 20:24-34, 20:35-42, 21:1-9, 21:10-15, 22:1-5, 22:6-19, 22:20-23, 23:1-6, 23:7-13, 23:14-18, 23:19-29, 24:1-8, 24:9-15, 24:16-22, 25:1, 25:2-11, 25:12-17, 25:18-31, 25:32-35, 25:36-44, 26:1-5, 26:6-12, 26:13-20, 26:21-25, 27:1-7, 27:8-12, 28:1-6, 28:7-14, 28:15-19, 28:20-25, 29:1-5, 29:6-11, 30:1-6, 30:7-20, 30:21-31, 31:1-7, 31:8-13,


1Sa 7:3-6
We may well wonder where Samuel was and what he was doing all this while, for we have not had him so much as named till now, since 1Sa 4:1, not as if he were unconcerned, but his labours among his people are not mentioned till there appears the fruit of them. When he perceived that they began to lament after the Lord he struck while the iron was hot, and two things he endeavoured to do for them, as a faithful servant of God and a faithful friend to the Israel of God: -

I. He endeavoured to separate between them and their idols, for there reformation must begin. He spoke to all the house of Israel (1Sa 7:3), going, as it should seem, from place to place, an itinerant preacher (for we find not that they were gathered together till 1Sa 7:5), and wherever he came this was his exhortation, "If you do indeed return to the Lord, as you seem inclined to do, by your lamentations for your departure from him and his from you, then know, 1. That you must renounce and abandon your idols, put away the strange gods, for your God will admit no rival; put them away from you, each one from himself, nay, and put them from among you, do what you can, in your places, to rid them out of the country. Put away Baalim, the strange gods, and Ashtaroth, the strange goddesses," for such also they had.

Or Ashtaroth is particularly named because it was the best-beloved idol, and that which they were most wedded to. Note, True repentance strikes at the darling sin, and will with a peculiar zeal and resolution put away that, the sin which most easily besets us. 2. "That you must make a solemn business of returning to God, and do it with a serious consideration and a stedfast resolution, for both are included in preparing the heart, directing, disposing, establishing, the heart unto the Lord. 3. That you must be wholly for God, for him and no other, serve him only, else you do not serve him at all so as to please him. 4. That this is the only way and a sure way to prosperity and deliverance. Take this course, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines; for it was because you forsook him and served other gods that he delivered you into their hands." This was the purport of Samuel's preaching, and it had a wonderfully good effect (1Sa 7:4): They put away Baalim and Ashtaroth, not only quitted the worship of them, but destroyed their images, demolished their altars, and quite abandoned them. What have we to do any more with idols? Hos 14:8; Isa 30:22.

II. He endeavoured to engage them for ever to God and his service. Now that he had them in a good mind he did all he could to keep them in it.

1. He summons all Israel, at least by their elders, as their representatives, to meet him at Mizpeh (1Sa 7:5), and there he promises to pray for them. And it was worth while for them to come from the remotest part of the country to join with Samuel in seeking God's favour. Note, Ministers should pray for those to whom they preach, that God by his grace would make the preaching effectual. And, when we come together in religious assemblies, we must remember that it is as much our business there to join in public prayers as it is to hear a sermon. He would pray for them that, by the grace of God, they might be parted from their idols, and that then, by the providence of God, they might be delivered from the Philistines. Ministers would profit their people more if they did but pray more for them.
2. They obey his summons, and not only come to the meeting, but conform to the intentions of it, and appear there very well disposed, 1Sa 7:6.

(1.) They drew water and poured it out before the Lord, signifying, [1.] Their humiliation and contrition for sin, owning themselves as water spilt upon the ground, which cannot be gathered up again (2Sa 14:14), so mean, so miserable, before God, Psa 22:14. The Chaldee reads it, They poured out their hearts in repentance before the Lord. They wept rivers of tears, and sorrowed after a godly sort, for it was before the Lord and with an eye to him. [2.] Their earnest prayers and supplications to God for mercy. The soul is, in prayer, poured out before God, Psa 62:8. [3.] Their universal reformation; they thus expressed their willingness to part with all their sins, and to retain no more of the relish or savour of them than the vessel does of the water that is poured out of it. They were free and full in their confession, and fixed in their resolution to cast away from them all their transgressions. Israel is now baptized from their idols, so Dr. Lightfoot. [4.] Some think it signifies their joy in the hope of God's mercy, which Samuel had assured them of. This ceremony was used with that signification at the feast of tabernacles, John 7:37, 38, and see Isa 12:3. Taking it in this sense, it must be read, They drew water after they had fasted. In the close of their humiliation they thus expressed their hope of pardon and reconciliation.

(2.) They fasted, abstained from food, afflicted their souls, so expressing repentance and exciting devotion.

(3.) They made a public confession: We have sinned against the Lord, so giving glory to God and taking shame to themselves. And, if we thus confess our sins, we shall find our God faithful and just to forgive us our sins.

3. Samuel judged them at that time in Mizpeh, that is, he assured them, in God's name, of the pardon of their sins, upon their repentance, and that God was reconciled to them. It was a judgment of absolution. Or he received informations against those that did not leave their idols, and proceeded against them according to law. Those that would not judge themselves he judged. Or now he settled courts of justice among them, and appointed the terms and circuits which he observed afterwards, 1Sa 7:16. Now he set those wheels a-going; and, whereas he began to act as a magistrate, to prevent their relapsing into those sins which now they seemed to have renounced.