The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Samuel — Section 135

II. REPENTANCE PREACHED AND PRACTIRED. When the time came for the peopll' t,, b1Jnr him with an awakened conscience, Samuel addressed all the tribes with a voice of moral authority that recalls the admonitions of Moses and the last words of Joshu11 (ver. 3). And the people obeyed his word, showing their repentance in the most thorough and practical way· by "putting away Baalim and Ashtaroth." So must -every true prophet or preacher of righteousness summon men to repentance, and testify to them that God will not take their part while their hearts are disloyal to him. It is useless to lament after the Lord and still retain false gods. Our God is not mocked, nor can his favour be gained by mere words and empty sighs. III. A NEW ORDER BEGUN. At Mizpah, after solemn public confession of si_n against Jehovah, "Samuel judged the people of Israel." He seized the opportunity to institute a more authoritative and vigorous administration of public affairs. He knew well the need of establishing order and discipline under the sacred law. And the people consented. So when there is sincere repentance a new order begins. The authority of the law of the Lord over conscience and life is acknowledged, and there is evinced a new obedience. IV. A FIGHT FOR HOLY LIBERTY. The Philistines had no objection to the Israelite worship of Baal and Astarte ; but so soon as they heard of their return to the service of Jehovah and of the increased authority of Samuel, they mustered their forces to attack them. And the faith of the penitent tribes was not yet sufficiently -established or assured to prevent their being "afraid of the Philistines." They stood their ground, however, and asked Samuel to pray for them to the Lord. So they got the victory. When a backslider returns to God, endeavouring to regain his self-respect, and to resume his place as a well-doer, he finds that evil rises up within him and fights hard for tlie mastery. As Pharaoh would not let the people go, and the Philistines would not let them restore religion or regain national independence with- out a struggle to keep them down, so does sin strive to retain under its yoke the sinner who is escaping· through repentance. But let faith appeal to God along with the burnt offering of entire consecration to him. He gives the victory to the weak. V. 'GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF HELP FROM GoD. Samuel knew the value to a nation bf inspiriting recollections, and therefore set up a stone or pillar to commemo- rate· the great· victory. But he wns· careful to make it a witness not to Israel's prowess, but to Jehovah's timely help. It was Ebenezer, the stone of help. It said "Te Deum Laudamus." • The spiritual life has its Ebenezers,-many of them. Nations are ready enough to raise proud pillars and triumphal arches to celebrate their feats in war. Europe has ever so many columns, streets, square~, and boule- vards, and bridges·named after battles. Let us remember the battles of principle, the fights with temptation through which we have passed. When we have failed, oui:s is the ·shame. When we have overcome, to God be the glory. W c recommend not remembrance only, but some stone of remembrance. It is a true anu wise impulse which has often led Christians to commemorate a great deliverance or consolation vouchsafed to themselves by building a church, an hospital, or an almshouse, or by founding a mission; ·or some institution of learning or benevolence. Such a stone of remembrance helps him who rears it to resist the tendency to let religious impressions and ·memories fade from the mind, and it proclaims to others that some men, at nil events, have proved· God as the Hearer of prayer and the Helper of the needy.-F. Vers. 2-6.' (MIZPAH.}:..:....;A nation'al revival. The history of religion in the world is largely a history of a series of declensions nnd revivals; the former being due to the downward tendency 'of human nature, the latter to the gracious interposition of God. Of this fa:ct the period of the judges affords an illustration. The revival which took plac-e·at its commencement ( Judges ii. 1-5) is specially worthy of notice; another, and more importnnt, occurring toward its close, is here described. It wns-1. Needed on account of the condition of the people of Israel. The great defeat which they suffered twenty years before (ver. 1; eh. iv. 1; vi. 1) checked their prevailing sin, especially as manifested in sacerdotal ism, formalism, superstition, and· presumption ; but it by no means cured it. Superstitious veneration for sacred objects passed rapidly, as commonly happens, into unbelieving irreverence (eh. vi. 19) and spiritual indiffer- ence; whilst participation in the false worship and corrupt practices of the heathen K2  TII E FIRST noOK OF SA~l t.: ET,. [, II. \'II. 1-17,