4 SAMUEL, THE SPIRITUAL POLITICAL LEADER

The ark had been in Philistia, then returned to Israel and Beth Shemesh; it was isolated there then brought to Kiriath Jearim where it was appreciated and honored. It was better with the Israelites when they wanted the ark and were lamenting after it than when they had the ark and were prying into it, or priding themselves in it as they had at Beth Shemesh. It is better to see people a hunger for God in the scarcity of the means of grace than disregarding Him in the abundance of them. Evidently Samuel had worked in relative obscurity, probably praying a lot, traveling and preaching and then when it appeared that Israel wanted to turn to God, he struck while the iron was hot, and tried to do two things for them, as a faithful servant of God and a faithful friend to the Israel of God.

First, He wanted them to put away their idols as verses 3,4 say, “3 So Samuel said to all the Israelites, “If you are returning to the Lord with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the Lord and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.” 4 So the Israelites put away their Baals and Ashtoreths, and served the Lord only.” Idolatry, especially to Baal and his wife, Ashteroth, was their biggest sin. 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.

“You must make a solemn business of returning to God. 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. 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. It was because you forsook Him and served other gods that He delivered you into their hands.” This was the essence of Samuel’s preaching, and it had a wonderfully good effect. They put away Baalim and Ashtaroth, stopped worshipping them, destroyed their images, demolished their altars, and quite abandoned them.

Second, He summons all Israel, at least by their elders, as their representatives, to meet him at Mizpeh and there he promises to pray for them. Verse 5 says, “Then Samuel said, ‘Assemble all Israel at Mizpah, and I will intercede with the Lord for you.’” It was well worthwhile for them to come from the remotest part of the country to join with Samuel in seeking God’s favor. Here is a demonstration of the power of prayer, a key aspect in the ministry of a prophet. We pray for those to whom we minister that God by His convicting, convincing and persuasive power would make the preaching fruitful. When we come together in our assemblies, it is as much our business to lead in public prayers as it is to preach a sermon. Samuel would pray for them that, by the power of God, they would be separated from their idols and delivered from the Philistines. Ministers are a great benefit to their people when they pray for them. Samuel’s invitation was successful. Verse 6 says, “When they had assembled at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out before the Lord. On that day they fasted and there they confessed, ‘We have sinned against the Lord.’ Now Samuel was serving as leader of Israel at Mizpah.”

One ancient rendering of this verse says, They poured out their hearts in repentance before the Lord. They sorrowed and wept rivers of tears. The soul, in prayer, is poured out before God as Psalm 62:8 says, “Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.” Whether they poured out water or poured out their souls, they showed their sincerity in two more things. They fasted, abstained from food, afflicted their souls, so expressing repentance and stirring devotion. And they made a public confession: We have sinned against the Lord. This was giving glory to God and taking shame to themselves. Samuel judged (or led or administrated their affairs) at that time in Mizpeh, that is, he assured them in God’s name of the pardon of their sins at their repentance and assured them that God was reconciled to them. It was a judgment of clearing their guilt on the basis of their pouring out their souls, fasting and confessing. If any there would not judge themselves, he judged them.

Hearing of this development in Israel, the Philistines invade Israel. Verse 7 says, “When the Philistines heard that Israel had assembled at Mizpah, the rulers of the Philistines came up to attack them. When the Israelites heard of it, they were afraid because of the Philistines.” The Philistines had no reason to suspect that Israel would attack them, but those who are warlike can easily imagine that others also want war. The Philistines evidently wanted to keep the war out of their own country. This is one of the times when evil seems to come out of good. The spiritual meeting of the Israelites at Mizpah brought trouble on them from the Philistines. This may have tempted them to wish they had stayed at home and to blame Samuel for calling them together.

But, on the other hand, we may be in God’s plan and still meet with difficulties. In a time of spiritual awakening, which we want, we may expect Satan will gather his force against us to oppose and discourage us. But to the contrary we also see how good is eventually brought out of that evil. Israel could never be threatened at a better time than at this time when they were repenting and praying, nor could they have been better prepared to receive the enemy. The Philistines have acted poorly for themselves as they now make war on Israel when Israel was making their peace with God. But God permitted them to do it that He might have an opportunity immediately of crowning His people’s reformation with a strong demonstration of His favor. Samuel had said that if they repented God would deliver them out of the hand of the Philistines. And this was made easier by the Philistines attacking Israel.

Israel’s reaction to this is good. She cleaves closely to Samuel as their best friend under God. In this distress, though Samuel was not primarily a military man and not celebrated as a mighty man of valor, yet, being afraid of the Philistines for whom they thought themselves an unequal match, they needed and wanted Samuel’s prayers for them all the more. Here they were, unprepared for war, recently come together to fast and pray; not to fight. So God used weapons of a superior nature: prayers and tears. They had reason to value Samuel’s prayers, because he had just promised to pray for them and had promised them deliverance from the Philistines. Furthermore, they had responded well to him in all he had said to them from the Lord. They were very eager that Samuel would not stop praying for them. Perhaps they would make military preparations too, but whatever that led to, let Samuel continue in prayer. They could have remembered that when Moses let down his hand ever so little, Amalek prevailed. What a comfort is it to all believers that our great intercessor above never ceases, is never silent, for he always lives and appears in the presence of God interceding for us!

How does Samuel intercede with God for them? By the sacrifice recorded in verse 9, “Then Samuel took a suckling lamb and sacrificed it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. He cried out to the Lord on Israel’s behalf, and the Lord answered him.” While the sacrifice was burning, the smoke of it, his prayers, ascended up to heaven for Israel. Samuel made intercession with a sacrifice. Even Jesus intercedes on the basis of His sacrifice when provided the way to the heart of God. In all our prayers we too must have an eye to His great sacrifice, depending on that for our audience and acceptance. Samuel’s sacrifice without his prayer would have been an empty shadow, his prayer without the sacrifice would not have been so prevalent, but both together teach us what great things we may expect from God in answer to those prayers which are made with faith in Christ’s sacrifice. It was just one sucking lamb that he offered. God looks at the sincerity and intention of the heart more than the bulk or number of the offerings. This one lamb, reminding us of the Lamb of God, was more acceptable than thousands of rams or bullocks would have been without faith and prayer. Samuel was no priest. He was a just a Levite and a prophet and what he did was evidently by special direction. His sacrifice and prayer was therefore accepted by God. Better a sincere sacrifice and prayer by anyone than a tainted sacrifice or prayer of a corrupted priest.

God gave a gracious answer to Samuel’s prayer , “. . . and the Lord answered him” (9). His name means “asked of God. “ He, himself was a “samuel,” asked of God and God gave him many answers to prayer. Sons of prayer should be famous for praying and Samuel was. Psalm 99:6 says, “Moses and Aaron were among his priests, Samuel was among those who called on his name; they called on the Lord and he answered them.” And the result? The Philistines were totally routed in a way that highly magnified the power of Samuel’s prayer, Samuel and the power of God. The prayer of Samuel was honored; for at the very time when he was offering up his sacrifice, and his prayer with it, the battle began, and turned immediately against the Philistines. While he was yet speaking God heard, and answered in thunder. Isaiah 65:24 says, "Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear.”

God showed that it was Samuel’s prayer and sacrifice to which He responded and by it let Israel know that He graciously accepted the humble dependence on the prayer of faith from the mouth and heart of a godly prophet. The power of God was greatly honored; for He took the work into His own hand, and shook them up, not with great hail-stones, this time which would kill them, but with a loud thunder. They were so afraid they ran in a panic and Israel’s army could also receive some encouragement by being used of God for completing the victory. The army itself had the pleasure of triumphing over their oppressors. See how soon the Israelite army could see the benefit of their repentance, reformation and return to God which they had just done a very short time before this great deliverance! When they have returned to God and engaged Him for them, none of their enemies could stand before them.

Samuel erected a memorial of thanks for this victory. Verse 12 says, “Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, ‘Thus far the Lord has helped us.’” Samuel set up an Ebenezer, the stone of help. If ever the people’s hard hearts would forget the impression of this act of God, this stone would either revive the remembrance of it, and make them thankful, or stand as a witness against them for their unthankfulness. Twenty years previously, at this very same place, the Israelites were soundly defeated by the Philistines in Eli’s day as 1 Samuel 4:1 says, “Now the Israelites went out to fight against the Philistines. The Israelites camped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines at Aphek.” The sin which brought on that defeat was just now pardoned by their repentance and the pardon was sealed by this glorious victory in the very same place where they had suffered that loss. Samuel himself took care to set up this monument. Hitherto the Lord hath helped us, in which he speaks thankfully of what was past, giving the glory of the victory to God only, who had added this to all his earlier favors. And at the same time hints of the need for help in the future. Up until now you have helped us but let this be only the beginning. We will continue to need your help. This seems to be his meaning. Whether or not this was clear to that audience, let us take on this meaning. God has helped us up until now, but we will continue to need Him and His help! The beginnings of mercy and deliverance are to be acknowledged by us with thankfulness so far as they go, though they are not completely finished and the issue seem uncertain. Would this have been Paul’s meaning when he said this as is recorded in Acts 26:22:  “2 But God has helped me to this very day; so I stand here and testify to small and great alike.”

We have here also a short record of more good things that Samuel did for Israel. He had separated them from their idols and brought them home to their God. But this record does not tell us what 2 Chronicles 35:18 refers to in telling of a great celebration of the Passover during the days of Josiah. It says there, “18 The Passover had not been observed like this in Israel since the days of the prophet Samuel; and none of the kings of Israel had ever celebrated such a Passover as did Josiah, with the priests, the Levites and all Judah and Israel who were there with the people of Jerusalem.” Evidently in the days of Samuel the prophet, the people of Israel kept the ordinance of the passover with more than ordinary devotion, in spite of the great distance of the ark and the destruction of Shiloh. But verses 13 and 14 do tell us of this significant triumph. “So the Philistines were subdued and they stopped invading Israel’s territory. Throughout Samuel’s lifetime, the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines. 14 The towns from Ekron to Gath that the Philistines had captured from Israel were restored to Israel, and Israel delivered the neighboring territory from the hands of the Philistines. And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites.”

The Philistines perceived that God now fought for Israel and that His hand was against the Philistines, and this kept them in awe of Israel’s God and they restrained their wrath against Israel. Samuel was a protector and deliverer of Israel, not by reason of his sword, as Gideon, nor by strength of arm, as Samson, but by the power of prayer to God and carrying on a work of reformation among the people. By his influence Israel had the courage to reclaim two major cities, Ekron and Gath, which the Philistines had unjustly taken from them. Furthermore, the Amorites were at peace with Israel. Not that Israel made any league with them, but they were quiet.

Samuel administered public justice, as a prophet he taught them their duty and reproved them for their sins, which is called judging. Moses judged Israel when he made them know the statutes of God and his laws. Samuel judged them to the last, even after Saul was made king; as he had promised them when Saul was inaugurated, that he would continue to do two important things for them—pray and teach. 1 Samuel 12:23 says, “23 As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you. And I will teach you the way that is good and right.” Prayer and the ministry of the Word were also priorities of the Apostles. If we will make them our priorities we will do well. As a magistrate, he tried causes and determined them, tried prisoners and acquitted or condemned them, according to the law. This he did all his days until he grew old. When he was in his prime he rode the circuit, to accommodate the needs of people scattered out over the whole country. He kept courts at Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah, all in the tribe of Benjamin; but his constant residence was at Ramah, his father’s city, and there he judged Israel, as people came to him there as recorded in 1 Samuel 7:17, “But he always went back to Ramah, where his home was, and there he also held court for Israel. And he built an altar there to the Lord.”

He built an altar to the Lord, not to compete with the altar that was at Nob, or Gibeon, or wherever the tabernacle was, but since divine justice had destroyed Shiloh, and with no other place yet chosen for them to which to bring their offerings, being a prophet, and under divine direction, he did as the patriarchs did, he built an altar where he lived, both for the use of his own family and for the good of the country and those who came to him and it at Ramah. The young man, David, fleeing from the angry Saul, the king to be was one of the persons who went to Samuel at Ramah for help. Great men or those who aspire to do a great service for the Lord can use their financial resources, power, and interest, in their senior years to help the next generation be prepared for their absence. Build an altar at your home and continue to serve privately as Samuel did.