1 Samuel 7:3 – 8:22

1 Samuel 7

Samuel Leads Israel to Victory

³ Samuel said to the whole house of Israel, “If you are returning to the Lord with all your heart, put away the foreign gods and the Ashtartes ^[1] from among you. Direct your hearts to the Lord and serve him only. Then he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.”

⁴ So the people of Israel removed the Baals and the Ashtartes and served the Lord only. ⁵ Samuel said, “Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray to the Lord for you.”

⁶ So Israel gathered together at Mizpah. They drew water and poured it out before the Lord. They fasted that day, and they said there, “We have sinned against the Lord.”

Samuel acted as judge for the people of Israel at Mizpah.

⁷ When the Philistines heard that the Israelites had gathered together at Mizpah, the serens of the Philistines went up against Israel. When the people of Israel heard this, they were afraid of the Philistines, ⁸ and the people of Israel said to Samuel, “Do not stop crying out for us to the Lord our God, so that he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines.” ⁹ So Samuel took a nursing lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. He cried out to the Lord on behalf of Israel, and the Lord answered him.

¹⁰ As Samuel was offering the burnt offering, the Philistines approached to engage in battle with Israel, but on that day the Lord thundered against the Philistines with a loud roar and threw them into a panic, so they were struck down before Israel. ¹¹ The men of Israel went out from Mizpah and pursued the Philistines and struck them down until they arrived at a point below Beth Kar.

¹² Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named that place Ebenezer, ^[2] saying, “The Lord has helped us this far.” ^{[3] 13} So the Philistines were subdued, and they no longer came into the territory of Israel. The Lord’s hand was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.

¹⁴ The cities that the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel. From Ekron all the way to Gath, Israel recovered the territory of those cities from the control of the Philistines. There was also peace between Israel and the Amorites.

¹⁵ Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. ¹⁶ Each year he would travel in a circuit to Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah, and he judged Israel in all those places. ¹⁷ He then would return to Ramah, where his home was, and he would also judge Israel there. He also built an altar to the Lord there.

Israel’s Request for a King

1 Samuel 8

¹ When Samuel was old, he appointed his sons as judges over Israel. ² The name of his firstborn son was Joel, and the name of his second was Abijah. They served as judges in Beersheba. ³ His sons did not follow in his footsteps. Instead, they turned aside to seek dishonest gain. They took bribes and perverted justice.

⁴ Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. ⁵ They said to him, “Look, you are old, and your sons are not walking in your ways. Now appoint a king for us so that he can judge ^[4] us like all the other nations.” ⁶ But in Samuel’s eyes, their request to receive a king to judge them looked evil, so Samuel prayed to the Lord.

⁷ And the Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people regarding everything they have said to you, because it is not you whom they have rejected. I am the one they have rejected as king over them. ⁸ This is just like all the actions they have taken from the day that I brought them up out of Egypt, right up to this present day. They have forsaken me and served other gods, and now they are also acting the same way toward you. ⁹ So now listen to them. Nevertheless, warn them strongly and show them what the king who reigns over them will do.”

¹⁰ Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people, who had asked him for a king. ¹¹ He said, “This is what the king who reigns over you will do. He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and with his teams of horses, ^[5] and they will have to run ahead of his chariots. ¹² He will make them serve as commanders of a thousand soldiers and as commanders of fifty. He will assign some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest. He will assign some to make his weapons and the trappings ^[6] for his chariots. ¹³ He will take your daughters to serve as perfume makers, cooks, and bakers. ¹⁴ He will take your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, even the best of them, and give them to his officials. ¹⁵ He will take a tenth of your seed and of the produce of your vineyards, and he will give it to the members of his court and to his officials. ¹⁶ He will take your male servants, your female servants, your best young men, ^[7] and your donkeys, and he will use them to do his work. ¹⁷ He will take a tenth from your flocks, and you will become his servants. ¹⁸ In that day you will cry out because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you on that day.”

¹⁹ But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel. Instead they said, “No, we want to have a king over us, ²⁰ so that we also can be like all the nations, and our king can judge us and lead us out to fight our battles.”

²¹ Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he repeated them in the hearing of the Lord. ²² The Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to them, and appoint a king for them.”

So Samuel said to the men of Israel, “Each of you go home to your own city.”