1 Samuel 7:12

“Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far has the LORD helped us.”

The Jews lived under a Theocracy, and received from God a greater number of visible interpositions in their favor than any other nation under Heaven. In remembrance of these, many different memorials were erected, and many rites instituted; so that the people might be kept in a steadfast adherence to him as their rightful Sovereign, and in a constant dependence on him as their almighty Protector.

But they were ever prone to depart from him, and to transfer their allegiance to the gods of the heathen that were no gods, but idols of wood and stone. For these iniquities, they were frequently given up into the hands of their enemies, and left to feel the bitter consequences of their impiety. But, when they were made sensible of their guilt, and brought to humble themselves before God, he returned in mercy to them, and effected for them the deliverance they implored. Such an interposition was obtained for them by the prayers of Samuel; and in remembrance of it was the stone erected, to which my text refers.

But, as God is the Governor of all the earth, and interposes still for his people as really, though not so visibly, as in the days of old, we will not confine our views of this transaction to the particular deliverance to which it primarily refers, but will extend them generally to the Church at large; and consider it as,

I. A commemorative act.

The Jews at this time were grievously oppressed by the Philistines. Samuel called them to repentance, and promised, that, if they would put away their false gods, and return with penitential sorrow to the Lord their God, they should be delivered out of the hands of their enemies. That their return to Jehovah might be the more solemn and universal, Samuel appointed all the heads of the nation to meet him at Mizpah. But the Philistines, jealous of so large an assemblage of Israelites on the borders of their country, came forth to attack them; and God, in answer to the prayers of Samuel, rescued his people from their hands, and utterly discomfited the Philistine armies. To commemorate this deliverance, Samuel “put up the stone, which he called Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto has the Lord helped us.”

But, to understand the precise scope of this memorial, we must advert to the means by which the deliverance was obtained. Then we shall see that the stone thus raised, proclaimed, to the whole nation:

1. That God is a hearer of prayer.

This the people could not but acknowledge, since they all had applied to Samuel to entreat the Lord in their behalf, verse 8. And this was a truth which it was of the utmost importance to commemorate, since it demonstrated Jehovah to be the only true God. To this truth the whole Scriptures bear witness. It was in answer to the cries of Israel that God had formerly delivered them from Egypt, and brought them in safety through the Red Sea. When Amalek came forth against them to destroy them in the wilderness, it was not by the sword of Joshua, but by the prayers of Moses, that Israel obtained the victory; for, when the hands of Moses hung down, Amalek prevailed; but, in consequence of their being held up until the evening, Israel prevailed, and gained at last a complete triumph. In every part of their history the same truth was manifested. See Psalm 106:43-44 and Psalm 107 throughout. And to this hour are the memorials of it the greatest possible encouragements to seek for mercy at his hands.

2. That God will deliver his penitent and believing people.

Here we must have an especial eye to the occasion before us. The people, in compliance with the exhortations of Samuel, prayed, and fasted, and confessed their sins, and put away their strange gods, and gave themselves up to Jehovah, “to serve him only, verse 6.” This showed the sincerity of their repentance, without which they could not hope for mercy at God’s hands.

But, as humiliation alone could be of no avail, Samuel offered a suckling lamb as a burnt-offering to God, thereby acknowledging the people’s desert to be utterly consumed, and their hope of acceptance only through a vicarious sacrifice. It is remarkable, that, as Samuel was in the very act of offering this sacrifice, “God thundered with a great thunder upon the Philistines,” and, by the terror which those thunders inspired, caused them to fall an easy prey to the sword of Israel, verse 9-11. A still more glorious testimony he gave to Peter’s exhibition of this Lamb of God as crucified for the sins of men. See Acts 10:43-44.

Thus the people were reminded, that in all their approaches to the throne of grace there must be a union of penitence and faith; and that, whenever they so approached God, they would assuredly be delivered, however great might be the difficulties in which they were involved, or imminent the dangers to which they were exposed.

But to all future ages also was this memorial intended to convey,

II. An instructive lesson.

1. It plainly teaches us that we should often review our past mercies.

All believers have received mercies in abundance, which they ought from time to time to review, in order to impress a sense of them the more deeply on their minds. For lack of this, how many mercies are forgotten! And what a loss do we sustain by means of our forgetfulness! Blessings that are unnoticed are no more to us than they are to the brute creation; but if we bring them frequently to our remembrance, we have frequently in the retrospect a sweeter taste of them than we had in the actual possession. From this act of Samuel’s then let us learn to pass over no mercy without laboring to imprint it on our minds, and to retain the remembrance of it to our dying hour.

2. It teaches us that we should especially view the hand of God in all of our past mercies.

It is this which gives the chief zest to all our mercies. And to whom can we trace them but to God?

Look at your temporal mercies:

the time, and place of your birth, when the light of the Gospel was shining all around you;

your preservation during the helpless state of infancy, which so many myriads of human beings never survive;

the many deliverances, seen, and unseen, which you have experienced since;

the blessings of health and abundance, while so many have spent their days in sickness and poverty.

View but the last year, and see how many have been plunged into deep distress, from which you are exempt; or been called away into the eternal world, while you are left with protracted opportunities of working out your salvation!

Think of your spiritual mercies. Have you any measure:

of spiritual light in your minds,

of softness in your hearts,

of holiness in your lives?

Have you any hopes in Christ as your Savior?

Have you any experience of the Spirit as your Comforter?

Have you any prospects of Heaven as your inheritance?

Think of multitudes around you, or look at those who are gone beyond redemption, and say whether it is within the power of language to express your obligations to your God! For who is it that has made you to differ? Will you, or can you, trace these blessings to your own superior wisdom, or goodness, or strength? Must you not of necessity acknowledge the hand of God in them, and say, “Hitherto has the Lord helped us!”

Surely in reference to every blessing, whether temporal or spiritual, you must say with David, “Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto your name be the praise!”

3. It teaches us that we should make our experience of past mercies. the ground of expecting all that we can need from God in the future.

Doubtless the memorial raised by Samuel was particularly intended to answer this end. And so should the memorials that are raised in our hearts, “You have been my help; therefore under the shadow of your wings will I rejoice! Psalm 63:7.” “Because the Lord has inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live Psalm 116:2.” This was Paul’s mode of improving past mercies, “God,” says he, “delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver; in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us! 2 Corinthians 1:10.”

From what we have received “hitherto,” we know what to expect henceforth. O blessed effect of preserving memorials of past mercies in our minds! What holy confidence will it introduce into the soul, and what a happy anticipation even of eternal blessedness! Only let the “Ebenezer” which Samuel erected teach us this, and we shall ourselves raise in due time a similar memorial in the realms of bliss.

APPLICATION.

1. Take now a review of all that God has done for you in times past.

Let those who are yet living without God in the world contemplate God’s forbearance towards them.

Let those who have been brought out of darkness into the marvelous light of the Gospel survey the riches of divine grace displayed towards them.

Let believers bring to their remembrance their manifold temptations, their grievous back-slidings, their repeated falls; or, if they have been kept from falling, the almost miraculous supports by which they have been upheld. Then will the example before us have its due effect; and God will receive the glory due unto his name.

2. Look forward now to all that you can need from God in times to come.

Nothing but a sense of our necessities will keep us properly dependent on God. Let your minds then be continually intent on this subject. Think of all you need for body, or for soul, for time, or for eternity—and then see what need you have for help from God in the future.

Yet do not be disheartened by the sight of all your necessities; but remember, that however great they are, “God is able to supply all your needs out of his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Call to mind the promises of help which God has given you in his Word, Isaiah 41:10-16. See how ample they are; how repeated; how strong! Though you are but “a worm,” yet through him “you shall thresh the mountains.”

In a full persuasion of this, commit your every concern to him, and expect that he will be “a very present help to you in every time of need.” Only trust in him with your whole hearts, and “you shall not be ashamed or confounded world without end.”

Charles Simeon (1759-1836)