(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
1 Samuel 7:7–12, “And when the Philistines heard that the children of Israel were gathered together to Mizpeh, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the children of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines. And the children of Israel said to Samuel, Cease not to cry unto the LORD our God for us, that he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines. And Samuel took a sucking lamb, and offered it for a burnt offering wholly unto the LORD: and Samuel cried unto the LORD for Israel; and the LORD heard him. And as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel: but the LORD thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and discomfited them; and they were smitten before Israel. And the men of Israel went out of Mizpeh, and pursued the Philistines, and smote them, until they came under Bethcar. Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the LORD helped us.”
The Philistines weren’t fools, they were not going to wait to be destroyed. Even though they could remember their bad experience with the ark they could also remember their comprehensive victory in their last battle. They may have had to submit to the Lord but they didn’t have to submit to Israel, at least that’s what they believed. While Israel had repented, they hadn’t learned to trust the Lord yet. These things take time and require a commitment to trust the Lord over a long period of time. However, the Philistines didn’t give them much time because they didn’t want to let Israel grow strong. No one would just sit around a wait for defeat if they didn’t have to. Israel already knew that Samuel had a connection with the Lord. They could remember that the Lord spoke to Samuel when he was just a child and the Lord’s words, as reported by Samuel, came true. They expressed their willingness to follow Samuel as Judge so they asked him to pray for them. They weren’t sure that they could achieve anything but they knew that the Lord would hear Samuel’s prayers and save them from their fierce enemies. Samuel offered a sacrifice, as required by the Law, similar to the time of the first Passover, he offered a lamb as a burnt offering to the Lord. After that, Israel didn’t have to do anything. Unlike the time when Hophni and Phinehas took the ark into battle the Lord heard Samuel’s prayer and caused a massive thunder storm so that the Philistines were totally terrified and they ran away. They remembered that the Lord had brought a plague upon them when they took that ark as a booty and didn’t want that to happen again. As the Philistines ran away the Israelis chased them and fought against them. It was one of the rules of war in those days that a retreating enemy was to be chased, destroyed and plundered. Samuel understood that the Lord was responsible for the victory and set up a memorial stone to commemorate the victory and gave the stone a name to show that the Lord, and the Lord alone, helped them that day.
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