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1 Samuel 7 Bible study: The LORD helped us
The name Ebenezer is in the story before the stone: Israel camped beside Ebenezer before the battle where the ark was taken (4:1, 4:11). Here Samuel sets up a stone and calls it Ebenezer, "The LORD helped us until now" (7:12), after the LORD thundered on the Philistines while Samuel was still offering (7:10).
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“Then Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpah and Shen, and called its name Ebenezer, saying, “The LORD helped us until now.””
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“The name Ebenezer is used in 1 Samuel before Samuel names his stone.”
Is that in 1 Samuel 7, or not? Make your call.
What's really going on
Twenty years, and a lament
Chapter 6 ended with a message to Kiriath Jearim: "The Philistines have brought back the LORD’s ark. Come down and bring it up to yourselves" (6:21). So "The men of Kiriath Jearim came and took the LORD’s ark, and brought it into Abinadab’s house on the hill, and consecrated Eleazar his son to keep the LORD’s ark" (7:1). Then the chapter measures time: "From the day that the ark stayed in Kiriath Jearim, the time was long—for it was twenty years; and all the house of Israel lamented after the LORD" (7:2) (tap lamented). The verse counts twenty years from the day the ark came, and then says all Israel lamented. It doesn't say the ark left then. It is still there when David comes for it: they "brought it out of Abinadab’s house that was on the hill" (2 Samuel 6:3).
Where it leads to Jesus
I prayed for you
1 Samuel 7:5leads toLuke 22:32
Samuel said, "I will pray to the LORD for you" (7:5); the people begged, "Don’t stop crying to the LORD our God for us" (7:8); and "Samuel cried to the LORD for Israel, and the LORD answered him" (7:9). At the Passover meal with his apostles (Luke 22:14-15), Jesus told Simon, "Satan asked to have all of you, that he might sift you as wheat, but I prayed for you, that your faith wouldn’t fail" (Luke 22:31-32). No New Testament passage cites Samuel's prayer at Mizpah, so setting the two side by side is a reading. Some hear in both the same thing: one who prays to God for others while an enemy comes against them (7:7-8; Luke 22:31). Others read each in its own setting: Samuel cries to the LORD at the people's request for rescue from the Philistines (7:8), while Jesus prays for Simon's faith against Satan's sifting, and tells him, "when once you have turned again, establish your brothers" (Luke 22:32).
Honest questions
Questions people ask about 1 Samuel 7
That was a taste
The rest of 1 Samuel 7 is waiting in Favor
- If you are returning
- At Mizpah: water, fasting and a confession
- The LORD thundered, and a stone was set up
- Samuel's circuit, and what comes next
- Samuel, praying for the people
- 6 questions as you read
- 13 more Hebrew words
- A short check at the end
- Your notes, saved as you go
Favor reads the Bible in order, so you'll reach 1 Samuel 7 with everything before it in view. First week free, then $10 a month per person.
The Hebrew word behind it
אֶבֶן הָעֵזֶרeven ha'ezersay E-ven ha-AY-zer
Strong's: "stone of the help". It is two Hebrew words: even, stone, and ezer, help, with the between them. Samuel "took a stone", set it up "and called its name Ebenezer, saying, “The LORD helped us until now.”" (7:12). The name comes three times in the Hebrew Bible, all in 1 Samuel. The first two are in the story of the ark: Israel "encamped beside Ebenezer" (4:1), and the Philistines "brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod" (5:1). Chapter 7 tells how Samuel's stone got its name. It doesn't say whether it stood where Israel had camped in chapter 4.
For your group
1 Samuel 7 Bible study questions
- 1Samuel set up a stone and said, "The LORD helped us until now" (7:12). If you set up a marker for a time the LORD helped you, where would it stand, and what would it remember?
- 2Samuel told Israel to "put away the foreign gods … and serve him only" (7:3). What competes with God for first place in your life, and what would putting it away look like this week?
- 3The people asked Samuel, "Don’t stop crying to the LORD our God for us" (7:8). Who prays for you? Who could you pray for this week, and how would you tell them?
Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads 1 Samuel 7 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.
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Questions
What is Favor?
Favor is a Bible study app that explains every chapter as you read: the Hebrew and Greek behind the words, the details most readers miss, and how each part of the Bible leads to Jesus. Read on your own, or start a Bible study with friends, family or your church.
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The World English Bible, a modern, readable translation in the public domain. God's name appears as "the LORD", as in most English Bibles.
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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home