1 Samuel 7 · a question people ask
Why did Israel pour out water before the LORD?
The text says only what they did: they "drew water, and poured it out before the LORD, and fasted on that day, and said there, “We have sinned against the LORD.”" (7:6). Nothing in the chapter tells them to do it, and the chapter doesn't explain it. Christians read it in two main ways. Both agree that it was done "before the LORD" (7:6), on the same day as the fasting and the confession, and that the verse says no more.
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
A picture of a heart poured out
Those who read it this way point to the verb. It is the one Hannah used: "I poured out my soul before the LORD" (1:15). A psalm says, "Pour out your heart before him" (Psalm 62:8), and Lamentations, "Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord" (Lamentations 2:19). Beside fasting and "We have sinned against the LORD" (7:6), they read the water as showing outwardly what Israel was doing inwardly.
1 Samuel 1:15 · Psalm 62:8 · Lamentations 2:19 · 1 Samuel 7:6
Something given to the LORD
Those who read it this way point to another time water was drawn and poured out. David's mighty men "drew water out of the well of Bethlehem" and brought it to David, "but he would not drink of it, but poured it out to the LORD" (2 Samuel 23:16). They read Israel's water, poured "before the LORD" (7:6), as something given up to him, like the lamb Samuel offered "for a whole burnt offering to the LORD" (7:9).
2 Samuel 23:16 · 1 Samuel 7:6 · 1 Samuel 7:9
The verses
“They gathered together to Mizpah, and drew water, and poured it out before the LORD, and fasted on that day, and said there, “We have sinned against the LORD.” Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpah.”