The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Samuel — Section 139

enemies nnd enjoy prosperity and peace. Israel was now restored from its apostasy, and on the very spot where it experienced an overwhelming defeat twenty years before it gained a signal triumph. We have here- I. THE GATHERING OF THE ENEMY (ver. 7). 1. So long as the yoke of the ungodly is patiently borne they remain quiet, and do not deem it needful to harass the victims of their oppression. 2. The revival of piety and activity seldom fails to call forth the fierce opposition of evil men. The spirit of good and the spirit of evil are con- trary the one to the other, and the more intense the former becomes, the more intense also becomes the latter. The II prince of this world" dislikes to be deprived of his captives and therefore seeks to prevent sinners from coming to the Lord (Luke ix. 42), and' hinders saints from working for him (1 Thess ii. 18). 3. The purpose for which the pious assemble is not always understood by their enemies; their meeting for prayer is sometimes mistaken for an organising of a political or military attack upon them ; and their union for any purpose whatever is instinctively felt to bode them no good, and regarded as a sufficient ground for their dispersion. 11 Now we see here-(1) How evil sometimes seems to come out of good. (2) How good is sometimes brought out of that evil. Israel could never be threatened more seasonably than at this time, when they were repenting and praying; nor could the Philistines have acted more impoliticly for themselves than to make war upon Israel at this lime, when they were making their peace with God" (Matthew Henry) . •II. THE PREPARATION FOR THE CONFLICT (vers. 7, 8, 9). 1. Mistrust of self 11 They were afraid of the Philistines." Their experience of defeat and oppression had taught them their own weakness and cured their presumption. The conscious- ness of human weakness is the condition of receiving Divine strength (2 Cor. xii. 10; Heh. xi. 34). 2. Trust in God. 11 Cease not to cry unto the Lord our God for us,'' &c. (ver. 8). Their need impelled them to look to God, whom they called tlieir God, with reference to h.is covenant, and from whom they expected deliverance according to the promise previously given to them (ver. 3). "They have found their God again, after whom they had till now sighed and mourned" (Erdmann). Their urgent request of Samuel was an evidence of their reliance on Jehovah and the proper way of seeking his aid, for Samuel was not only a spokesman for God to men, but also a spokesman for men to God, and he proceeded to exercise the priestly function of mediation by offering sacrifice and making intercession. 3. Self-dedica- tion, of which the whole burnt offering was the expression and appointed meansr "the sign of complete consecration of the whole man, and here of the whole people ; " the sucking lamb being a symbol of their new life now freely devoted to God. Samuel acted as priest at Mizpah and elsewhere by Divine commission under peculiar circumstances; the regular priesthood being in abeyance, the ark separated from the .tabern'ncle, Shiloh desolate, and no other place chosen by God "to put his name there;" and as· preparatory to the time "when in every place incense shall be offered to my name, and a pure offering" (Mal. i. 11 ). "A most important part of the pro- phetic office was to maintain the spiritual character of the Hebrew worship, and to- prevent the degeneracy of the people into such ritualism as they hnd fallen into at the time our Lord appeared" (Kitto). "Let, then, thy oblation be without earthly affection ot self-will of any kind. Look neither to earthly nor heavenly blessings, but only to the will and order of God, to which thou shouldst submit und sacrifice thyself wholly as a perpetual burnt offering, and, forgetting nil created things, say, 'Behold, my Lord and Creator, each and nil of my desires I give into the hand of thy will and thine eternal providence. Do with me as seemeth good to thee in life • and death, and after death; as in time, so in eternity" (Scupoli). 4. Prayer. '' And Samuel cried unto the Lord for Israel" with n piercing and prolonged cry. And with his pr.ayer their own rose up to heaven. "By prayer (if thou use it well) thou wilt put 11 sword into the hand of God, that he may fight and conquer for thee." A praying army is irresistible. What victories have been achieved by prayer I "The forty years' domination of the Philistines over Israel (Judges xiii. 1) could not be overthrown by the supernatural strength of Samson, but was terminated by the pruyers of Samuel" (Wordsworth). Samson only bego,.. to deliver Israel (Judges xiii. 5); Snmuel com- pleted the work.  136 THE FIRST BOOK 01<' SAMUEL. [cu. vu. 1-17.