Chapter Seven

The stay of the Ark of the Covenant at Kiriath-jearim. The rule of the judge and prophet Samuel.

1 Samuel 7:1. And the inhabitants of Kiriath-jearim came and took the Ark of the Lord, and brought it into the house of Abinadab on the hill, and consecrated Eleazar his son to keep the Ark of the Lord. On the basis of 1 Chr 15:10-11 scholars believe that Abinadab and his son Eleazar belonged to the tribe of Levi. The Ark of the Covenant remained at Kiriath-jearim until the time of King David, who moved it to the tabernacle he had established in Jerusalem (2 Sam 6:1). As for the tabernacle itself, which had been at Shiloh, it was first moved to Nob (1 Sam 26:1), then to Gibeon (1 Chr 16:39; 2 Chr 1:3), and finally was taken apart and placed in one of the chambers of Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem, together with David’s tabernacle.

1 Samuel 7:2. And from the day the Ark remained at Kiriath-jearim a long time passed, twenty years. And all the house of Israel turned toward the Lord. “And all the house of Israel turned toward the Lord”: under the external pressure of Philistine oppression (1 Sam 7:3), the Hebrews repented of their attractions to the paganism of their neighbors and turned in heart to the fulfillment of the good and perfect law of the Lord.

1 Samuel 7:4. And the children of Israel put away the Baals and the Astartes, and served only the Lord. Baal and Ashtaroth — pagan deities, worshiped in Canaan, Phoenicia, Mesopotamia, and other lands of Western Asia. The cult of Baal spoke chiefly of the fearful power of the deity; the cult of Ashtaroth — of its productive force. The latter was accompanied by various forms of lewdness, elevated to the degree of sacred service to the goddess. (See more in M. Palmov’s work “Idolatry among the ancient Hebrews.” St. Petersburg, 1897, pp. 217–246, 295–335.)

1 Samuel 7:5. And Samuel said: Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray to the Lord for you. “Mizpah” — a city to the northwest of Jerusalem, to the south of Gibeon.

1 Samuel 7:6. And they gathered at Mizpah and drew water and poured it out before the Lord, and fasted on that day, saying: We have sinned against the Lord. And Samuel judged the children of Israel at Mizpah. The drawing of water and pouring it out before the Lord served as a symbol of deep contrition for sins and also of the penitent sacrifice of the Hebrew people. In Lam 2:19 the book of “Lamentations” contains the expression: “Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord!” “Judged” — in the sense of examining cases and disputes of the people, instructing it in the true law.

1 Samuel 7:7. When the Philistines heard that the children of Israel had gathered at Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the children of Israel heard of it, they were afraid of the Philistines. It seemed to the Philistines that the Hebrews had gathered at Mizpah for no other purpose than to attack them.

1 Samuel 7:9. And Samuel took a lamb that was entirely of nursing age and offered it for a whole burnt offering to the Lord, and Samuel cried out to the Lord for Israel, and the Lord answered him. With regard to the peculiarities of the religious and civil life of the Hebrews, the period of the Judges can be considered as a period of patriarchal reaction in the life of the people. The law regarding the unity of the place of worship and the exclusivity of the persons engaged in worship was not observed with great strictness even by the best of the Hebrews of that time. Aside from the tabernacle, sacrifices to the True God were made wherever a person felt the need to make them; and often they were made by people who had no priestly ordination. (See more in I. Troitsky’s work “The religious, civil, and political state of the Hebrews during the time of the Judges.” St. Petersburg, 1885.) “A lamb from the breast” — according to the law (Lev 22:27) the sacrificial lamb must be no less than seven days old.

1 Samuel 7:11. And the children of Israel went out from Mizpah, and pursued the Philistines, and smote them until they came to a place below Beth-horon. According to the opinion of Bishop Harvey, a defensive alliance was concluded between the Hebrews and the Amorites, directed mainly against the Philistines (English Commentary on the Bible).

1 Samuel 7:17. Then he returned to Ramah; for his house was there, and there he judged Israel, and there he built an altar to the Lord. See the note to 1 Sam 7:9.