Ebenezer Stone
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1 So the men of Kiriath Jearim came and took up the ark of the Lord. They brought it to Abinadab’s house on the hill and consecrated Eleazar his son to guard the ark of the Lord. 2 The ark remained at Kiriath Jearim a long time—twenty years in all.
Then all the people of Israel turned back to the Lord. 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.
5 Then Samuel said, “Assemble all Israel at Mizpah, and I will intercede with the Lord for you.” 6 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[a] of Israel at Mizpah.
7 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. 8 They said to Samuel, “Do not stop crying out to the Lord our God for us, that he may rescue us from the hand of the Philistines.” 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.
10 While Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to engage Israel in battle. But that day the Lord thundered with loud thunder against the Philistines and threw them into such a panic that they were routed before the Israelites. 11 The men of Israel rushed out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, slaughtering them along the way to a point below Beth Kar.
12 Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer,[b] saying, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.”
13 So the Philistines were subdued and they stopped invading Israel’s territory. -
Perserverence
Introduction
More than 20 years have passed since 1 Samuel 3 when Samuel heard the Lord's voice in the middle of the night when Eli the priest told him to go back to his room and say 'speak Lord for I am listening.'
In Chapters 4 and 6 the Israelites have been defeated in battle, the Ark of the Covenant has been stolen and Eli's sons Hophni & Phinehas were killed in battle. Eli fell off his chair, broke his neck and died (on hearing about his sons). Not a time of good news but it was a time of fulfilment of the prophecy of 20 years earlier (1 Samuel 3:11).
Meanwhile, the Ark in the possession of the Philistines was causing all sorts of trouble, plagues, tumours plus their god Dagon was mysteriously toppled and smashed when the Israelite Ark was left overnight in the temple of Dagon. They sent the Ark back to the Israelites on a cart and we pick up the story in 1 Samuel 7 as it arrived in Kerath Jearam where it stayed until the reign of David when it was taken to Jerusalem.
I would like to study this passage by looking at their Returning to the Lord, them coming Under Attack and the Ebenezer Stone.
Returning to the Lord
Under Attack
Ebenezer Stone
Returning to the Lord
Have you enjoyed your sport this week? We have been spoilt for choice, golf and the Ryder Cup, the usual Football, Cricket and the Rugby World Cup.
We elevate sports stars to god-like heights and then find they are only human. It is a modern-day form of idolatry'.
1 Samuel 7:3 tells us the reason why the Israelites had been defeated and humiliated by the Philistines.
'If you are returning to the Lord.. get rid of your foreign gods' (v3)
In a word Idolatry. They had been disloyal to Yahweh, the one true God and mixing it with Baal and Astartes (v4) gods that were to do with the sun god and agricultural success and soil and fertility. The worship was of an erotic, sensual nature and it had influenced the Israelites.
During those twenty years Samuel had exercised his God-given ministry as judge and prophet. Undoubtedly he challenge them about their waywardness and sin but they did not change. It is one thing to be called to repent it is another thing to act on those calls. People can regret the effect or outcome of sin but not repent of those sins. Presumably, the death of seventy men recorded in 1 Samuel 6:19 was a distant memory twenty years later, they did not learn from it, they ignored it or had forgotten about it.
Samuel was now calling the people back to the one true God and verse 3 says if you are returning to the Lord your God with all your heart, then prove it, get rid of the foreign gods and God will deliver you from the Philistines.
This may sound a bit like a history lesson to you but today we live in a society which can influence us and draw us away from loving 'the Lord your God with all your heart.' As a nation we are guilty of idolising our sports stars, men and women and then there is music, dancing eg Strictly, we even make celebrities out of people watching TV - gogglebox!
Each of us must ask the question at this point in time do you Love 'the Lord your God with all your heart' (1st and 2nd of 10 Commandments)?
Even if you are not challenged by those examples, then shopping and the lure of material things and TV and Films tempt to draw us away from loving 'the Lord your God with all your heart.' As the Israelites had allowed things to infiltrate their dependency on God – we too can allow this infiltration. Compromise says surely these things are not too bad – TV or films, enjoying drink, watching sex scenes, elevating celebrities. Tolerance is a word of the moment but tolerance must be set against the Second Commandment, you must have ‘no other gods before me.’
Now, we all know these gods cannot meet our deepest desire, our team is defeated and we experience the emptiness and the let down that should have been predictable but these things still draw us away from loving 'the Lord your God with all your heart.'
Samuel in calling his people back to the one true God (v3) says, get rid of the foreign gods and God will deliver you from the Philistines.
We can apply the message to ourselves. It is about a returning of the heart. Only you and God know if you are truly loving Him with all your heart, and rejecting worldly things that draw you away from Him.
So Samuel in 1 Samuel 7:5 told them to come to Mizpah, all of you, and I will pray to the Lord for you.' That is what they did, in a public act of repentance - they prayed, fasted and were genuinely sorry for not loving 'the Lord God with all their heart.'
Under Attack
Samuel called a National Assembly at Mizpah (which means watchtower).
1 Samuel 7:7-11
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. 8 They said to Samuel, “Do not stop crying out to the Lord our God for us, that he may rescue us from the hand of the Philistines.”
9 So 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. 10 While Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to engage Israel in battle. But that day the Lord thundered with loud thunder against the Philistines and threw them into such a panic that they were routed before the Israelites. 11 The men of Israel rushed out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, slaughtering them along the way to a point below Beth Kar.
Mizpah was a city on a hill (in Benjamite territory) and their gathering could be seen by the Philistines. So the Philistines attacked the Israelites at Mizpah again. Ch 4 v 1 tells us that the Philistines had already defeated the Israelites there, years before. Now we have deja vue, fear gripped them as they thought the worst (v8) they said to Samuel , “Do not stop crying out to the Lord our God for us, that he may rescue us from the hand of the Philistines.”
The difference between the last attack of the Philistines and this attack was the state of their heart. Israel had returned to the Lord and the false idols had been smashed.
In that place Mizpah, a place of repentance, they came under attack and as Samuel cried out to the Lord - a great crack of thunder confused the Philistines and they retreated and the Israelites chased after them and won a victory.
A wonderful story of the Lord intervening when they were under attack and helpless.
Can you see the lesson for us today? As you choose to rededicate your life to God or resolve to do something for God, you will come under attack (from all kinds of enemy) you will feel vulnerable, helpless but your help and strength is in the Lord, not in your own determination or own abilities. It may be that you have lost a battle in this same place Mizpah, and I believe the Lord will allow you to gain victory where you feel you may have lost a battle before [may be relationships, money, pride, anger, lust, drink] He will be your strength and shield, ever-present help, strong tower – yes we will come under attack.
Helen Roseveare was a missionary doctor in the Congo in Africa from 1953 to 1973. She worked with WEC, Worldwide Evangelization Crusade. She survived rape and trial during the Congolese civil war in 1964 because of the intervention of the villagers she had helped previously.
In her darkest days of rape and torture she asked the Lord why was he allowing all this to happen to her when she was only trying to serve him. The Lord spoke one word to her ‘privilege’ and then He said, “can you thank me for trusting you with this experience even if I never tell you why.”
She learnt to see it as a privilege to come under attack.
The enemy does not want you to survive nor does he want you to grow in faith, he does not want you to testify of your wonderful saviour, Jesus Christ.
We sing 'O give me Samuel's heart’ and that attitude of the heart was about trust.
Learning to thank him for trusting you with the experiences of coming under attack was what that meant for Helen Roseveare.
We will come under attack but we have a mighty Saviour who has won us the victory on the cross.
Ebenezer Stone
The monks who started Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina were walking along a road and noticed a huge granite flat rock. People of the town said that the rock was a trading place for slaves who would stand on that rock and be sold as slaves. The monks moved the scree to their monastery and sculptured a baptismal well in its centre. A plaque on it says, "On this rock, people once were sold into slavery. Now upon this rock, through the waters of baptism, people become free children of God." Source - Rev. Greg Rickle
God was faithful and Samuel erected a stone and called it 'Ebenezer' the stone of help. This was the day, this was the place where they came back to the Lord with all their hearts, the place where they gained a victory over the Philistines and that began a period of decline for the Philistines and Samuel became judge throughout the land.
What landmarks do we have of God's faithfulness? Could this service be a landmark for you today?
An Ebenezer stone (meaning; 'the stone of help') not only marked the time and place but declared “Thus far the Lord has helped us.”
The stone spoke of God's faithfulness and also encouraged faith at times of future testing. 'God is my helper I will trust him' Hebrews 13:6.
I wonder what Ebenezer reminders could you create or have you created that tell of God’s provision, God’s deliverance, Gods presence with you. As you look at the reminders we press on with confidence knowing he will again be faithful for the battles we face today and ahead.
Ultimately our Ebenezer is the cross. We look to the cross and we see, nothing in our hands we bring, only to the cross we cling. Our Lord Jesus said it all and has done it all on the cross. Ebenezer the place mentioned in 1 Samuel 4:1 was a place of failure. The Israelites camped there when they lost the Ark. For them Ebenezer was a reminder of past defeats, past failures. But listen afresh, this new message, is that God has chosen you to be the people you are out of weakness and failure. As CH Spurgeon said, “The Ebenezer stone, stone of help could be something to remind you – not a monument, not history but a declaration ‘This far God has Helped us.’”
I am fascinated by the stories behind our hymns. The writers sometimes tell of an event or episode that became the inspiration for a particular song and when I hear or sing the hymn I remember how the Lord has helped the writers. When I visited the hospital wards as a Chaplain, I often reminded patients of their favourite hymns. Their hymns were like Ebenezer stones to them. Look into the Hymns of Joe Scriven or Horatio Spafford and you will know what I mean. Artists sculptures, like Belmont College, that come out of seeing God in a situation are like Ebenezer stones to them. We can look at that piece and know that their Art marked not only God's faithfulness but encouraged faith in the face of future testing, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.”
Singer and hymn-writer Thomas Dorsey needed an Ebenezer Stone, in 1932. He left his pregnant wife and drove to sing at a church meeting. All went well, the people were appreciative. Just after the end, Dorsey received a telegram with the tragic news that his wife and baby boy had died in childbirth. Grief-stricken, Dorsey wondered should he have stayed at home? Had God punished him? A few days after his wife and son’s death, Dorsey sat down at the piano and, sensing God's peace and closeness, began to write and play a new song:
Precious Lord, take my hand, Lead me on, let me stand; I am tired, I am weak, l am worn;
Through the storm, through the night, Lead me on to the light; Take my hand, precious Lord, lead me home.
That Hymn was like an Ebenezer stone to Dorsey.
It was Dr. Martin Luther King Jnr’s favourite song and just before he was shot he had asked Pastor Jessie Jackson to remember to play it that night.
Have you a situation where you can look back and say ‘Thus far the Lord has helped us.” [I suggest you take a stone from pile on the tray provided].
Remember a problem looked too big for you …or a grief too great to bear and hold your symbolic Ebenezer stone. ‘Thus far the Lord has helped us.”
Ebenezer Reminders will not only be a reminder to us but a witness to others of the continuing faithfulness of our Lord.
“Thus far the Lord has helped us.” And he will do it again.
1 Hushed was the evening hymn,
the temple courts were dark;
the lamp was burning dim
before the sacred ark;
when suddenly a Voice Divine
rang through the silence of the shrine.
2 The old man, meek and mild,
the priest of Israel, slept;
his watch the Temple child,
the little Levite, kept;
and what from Eli’s sense was sealed
the Lord to Hannah’s son revealed.
3 Oh! give me Samuel’s ear,
the open ear, O Lord,
alive and quick to hear
each whisper of thy word;
like him to answer at yhy call,
and to obey thee first of all.
4 Oh! give me Samuel’s heart,
a lowly heart, that waits
where in thy house thou art,
or watches at thy gates;
ny day and night, a heart that still
moves at the breathing of thy will.
5 Oh! give me Samuel’s mind,
a sweet unmurmuring faith,
obedient and resigned
to thee in life and death;
that I may read with child-like eyes
truths that are hidden from the wise.
© James Drummond Burns
