1 Samuel 7:7 Commentary and Bible Study

But as soon as there was all this consecration and repentance and genuine devotion of heart, occurs, the Philistines attempt this pre-emptive strike. They thought it was a gathering for rebellion or something of the kind, and they marshalled themselves and went against Israel, and the children of Israel were terrified. ‘They said to Samuel, Cease not to cry unto the Lord our God for us, that he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines.’ They have now left behind and forgotten all about their superstitious dependence on the ark: ‘Oh get the ark and put it in a prominent place.’ They are no longer thinking like pagans, as they were previously: ‘If the ark is with our commanders, then we will win the battle.’ They have given all that up, and they have now come down to saying, ‘Samuel, you are our principal man of faith; just pray for us.’ They have seen sense; it is entirely for the Lord. You might react to that and say, With all that repentance we are not seeing much courage and faith in the Lord, but actually we may take it as a good sign, because the problem prior to this in earlier episodes had been their self-confidence. They thought they could defeat the Philistines by themselves, and they went straight into it and they were sorely hurt. But now at least they haven't got this false confidence; they know they need the Lord.Samuel, of course, is a great hero of prayer in the Bible as Jeremiah tells us. The great hall of faith, so called, in Hebrews 11 puts Samuel with the others, and lists his accomplishments. People raise their eyebrows when they read Hebrews 11, and they see Samuel's name with those who subdued kingdoms, and won great battles, and they say to themselves, ‘Well this is all a muddle, because Samuel was never a general or a soldier. He never went to war; he won no battles. All he did was pray.’ Yes, and that was what won the battles. So he is rightly in the hall of faith with the warriors and the battle winners. ‘He will save us out of the hand of the Philistines’, and as Samuel was offering up an offering and going to prayer, the Philistines were smitten.