Whenever a people is set right in its relation to God and purified from its sin, it is certain to obtain victory over its enemies and 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 contrary the one to the other, and the more intense the former becomes, the more intense also becomes the latter. The "prince of this world" dislikes to be deprived of his captives, and therefore seeks to prevent sinners from coming to the Lord (Luke 9:42), and hinders saints from working for him (1 Thessalonians 2:18).

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. "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 time, when they were making their peace with God" (Matthew Henry).

II. THE PREPARATION FOR THE CONFLICT (vers. 7, 8, 9).

1. Mistrust of self. "They were afraid of the Philistines." Their experience of defeat and oppression had taught them their own weakness and cured their presumption. The consciousness of human weakness is the condition of receiving Divine strength (2 Corinthians 12:10; Hebrews 11:34).

2. Trust in God. "Cease not to cry unto the Lord our God for us," etc. (ver. 8). Their need impelled them to look to God, whom they called their God, with reference to his 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-dedication, of which the whole burnt offering was the expression and appointed means, 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 tabernacle, 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" (Malachi 1:11). "A most important part of the prophetic office was to maintain the spiritual character of the Hebrew worship, and to prevent the degeneracy of the people into such ritualism as they had fallen into at the time our Lord appeared" (Kitto). "Let, then, thy oblation be without earthly affection or 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 and sacrifice thyself wholly as a perpetual burnt offering, and, forgetting all created things, say, 'Behold, my Lord and Creator, each and all 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 a piercing and prolonged cry. And with his prayer their own rose up to heaven. "By prayer (if thou use it well) thou wilt put a 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! "The forty years' domination of the Philistines over Israel (Judges 13:1) could not be overthrown by the supernatural strength of Samson, but was terminated by the prayers of Samuel" (Wordsworth). Samson only began to deliver Israel (Judges 13:5); Samuel completed the work.

III. THE RECEPTION OF HELP (vers. 9, 10).

1. It came in answer to prayer. "And the Lord answered him."

2. It came at the moment of their greatest extremity. "And as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel." But man's extremity is God's opportunity (Genesis 22:11-14).

3. It came in an extraordinary manner. "The Lord thundered with a great thunder on that day." It was, as it were, his voice in answer to prayer. The ordinary forces of nature operated in such a manner as to make it plainly appear that they were directed by his hand (1 Samuel 2:10).

4. It was most effectual. "They were discomfited and smitten before Israel" (Job 40:9; Psalm 77:18).

IV. THE PURSUIT OF THE FOE (ver. 11).

1. The sense of the presence of God inspires his people with fresh confidence and courage, and without it they can do nothing.

2. The help of God does not render their cooperation unnecessary. It rather calls for the putting forth of their Strength. He gives them strength that it may be employed against the enemy, and in the faithful and zealous use of it he gives them more strength, and crowns their efforts with success.

3. Victory over the enemy should be followed up to the utmost (Judges 8:4). "They smote them until they came to Beth-car." How often from not following up a victory are its advantages lost!

V. THE MEMORIAL OF THE VICTORY (ver. 12).

1. The help which is derived from God should be gratefully ascribed to him.

2. Thanksgiving to God should be expressed in a definite and permanent form.

3. One deliverance is an earnest of another.

4. The memorial of past deliverance should incite to future confidence, and the continued use of the means in connection with which it was achieved. "Hitherto; for all Jehovah's help is only hitherto - from day to day, and from place to place; not unconditionally, not wholly, not once for all, irrespective of our bearing" (Edersheim). More conflicts have to be waged, and it is only in mistrust of self, trust in God, self-dedication, and prayer that they can be waged successfully. "The life of man is nothing else but a continual warfare with temptation. And this is a battle from which, as it ends only with life, there is no escape; and he who fights not in it is of necessity either taken captive or slain. Because of this warfare thou must watch always, and keep a guard upon thy heart, so that it be ever peaceful and quiet" (Scupoli).

VI. THE MAGNITUDE OF THE RESULT (vers. 13, 14). A true revival is always followed by beneficial and lasting effects.

1. The power of the enemy is broken. "The Philistines were subdued, and came no more into the coasts of Israel."

2. A sure defence is afforded against every attempt they may make to regain their dominion. "The hand of the Lord was against them all the days of Samuel."

3. Lost territory is restored (ver. 14). Along the whole line, extending north and south, from Ekron to Gath.

4. Far reaching peace is established. "And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites." "When a man's ways please the Lord he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him" (Proverbs 16:7). The battle of Ebenezer may be considered one of the decisive battles of the world, inasmuch as it introduced a new order of things in Israel. and contributed in an eminent degree to its subsequent prosperity and power. "The revival of religion has ever had a most important bearing on social and moral improvement. The return of man to God restores him to his brother. Restoration to the earnest and hearty performance of religious duties towards God leads to a corresponding reformation in relative and political duties. Those countries in Europe which have had the greatest religious reforms have advanced most in liberty, civilisation, and commerce. They are not trodden by the iron heel of despotism, and they possess the greatest amount of domestic quiet. It was the revival of religion which secured the Protestant succession to England, and many of the liberties which we now enjoy. It was the revival of religion that gave such a martyr roll to the Scottish Covenanters, and led to the revolution settlement of 1688. In Israel every revival of religion was succeeded by national prosperity and political independence" (R. Steel). - D.

The world believes in chance, and without doubt there is some ground for its belief, but whether that ground constitutes a real foundation we may doubt. What does chance mean? It means that it is something which happens, falls out, without being foreseen or intended. Nothing happens unforeseen by the Great Mind that rules over all. All chance is "direction which thou canst not see;" but though we do not see it the direction was not the less there.

1. The doctrine of chance has been applied to the formation of the world. It has been said that the world is the result of the interaction of the atoms through all the past Eternity, at last falling by chance into an orderly arrangement. Let us suppose an immense number of alphabets were thrown together — a sufficient number of them, for instance, to make up the Bible, say a million of letters or so — and that someone were to be appointed to throw them up every second through a hundred million of years, is there any likelihood that they would come down once in such an order as to make the Bible, or a single book of the Bible, or a single chapter of the Bible, or a single verse? Never. Yet that is just what Lucretius supposed to happen with the making of the world from the interaction of the atoms. There must be intelligence; there must be design to elicit that which we call the world. The Greek word which we translate "world" signifies something arranged, something orderly, and hence beautiful.

2. Tendencies, that is, laws, are capable of being observed and provided for. And this is the great business of man, as Bacon observed, "Man the minister and interpreter of nature, does and understands as much as his observations on the order of nature, either with regard to things or the mind, permit him, and neither knows nor is capable of more." That is, he is to find out just what order that is which God has given to nature, and guide himself accordingly. If things were only to fall out by chance it would be utterly impossible to foresee or to guide ourselves in view of any event. If we found that the hard brick of today was soft as its original clay tomorrow, and that without any perceptible reason; or the strong timber was attacked with a weakness at varying and uncertain intervals; or that the slate which threw oft the rain of yesterday was become a sieve to the torrent of today; or that the window which was translucent had suddenly become opaque; if we could assign no reason for these sudden changes, and all other things were alike in this, we should be utterly incapable of any useful work. If the human mind were powerful enough to take in and calculate all the various forces which enter into the movements of each, it would be able to show the reasons for the slightest change in the direction and force of the wind, of the smallest flock of the cloud, and of every flash of the aurora of the north sky, and of every variation in the health of the hypochondriac. It is yet possible that science may be able to predict what was, in former days, only possible to prophecy.

3. But it may be asked, "What do you make of a miracle? Is not that such a breach of the order and continuity of nature as would be equivalent to the intrusion of chance?" We say no, for a miracle is only the operation of a higher law — it is only the result of the influence of the Great Mechanic, who, surely, should not be left out of our calculation of what is possible in this complex world of ours. Science should modestly admit that there may be direction which she cannot see — that there is a Providence "which shapes our ends, rough hew them as we will" — that outside the framework of nature there is an intelligent Mind, and that there may be reasons for its interference just as strong as those which operate on the factory director to mend a broken wheel or to reduce a too violent motion. This sphere, called in our imperfect vocabulary that of miracle, is far removed from that of chance, where uncertainty, doubt, and incapacity ever reign. But it may be suggested here that we should enter into some inquiry about prayer, and about its power to resist the usual order of nature, and thus, as it were, to set aside the government of law. Now, here I would say that, in connection with prayer, we must bear in mind that with its answer, in the Scriptures, the ministry of angels is closely associated. Verily, it is a poor science which takes cognizance alone of the seen and tangible, the weighable and measurable, while there are around us in the ambient ether, or within us in the recesses of the mind, the ministering spirits, "sent forth to minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation." But it is to be observed, that whatever is done by these ministering spirits, is done, not to the production of confusion in the world, but in entire accordance with the lower laws which science observes. To our thought there can be no disorder introduced, when the superior forces are taken into account. Let us take the case of the resurrection of Christ. Science, which took no account of the Spirit of holiness, no account of the Spirit of God with which He was filled above measure, said it was not possible that He should rise again; but the Apostle tells us, it was not possible that He should be holden of death. God was in Him with such presence and power that death was overcome, and life, violently taken away, was restored. Without the Divine power in Christ, the scientific men of the day were perfectly right in assuming the impossibility of the resurrection; but (and here is no chance, but the presence of mighty cause) they were all astral in thinking that there was no resurrection for Him. It was absolutely certain that He should rise again; there was a cause mightier than death operating to His restoration. All this is certainly according to law, as Paul says: "The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." It may be observed that, at least, in those cases which have been dwelt upon by pious persons as answers to prayers, naturalists have invariably reasoned that the same results would have happened without the intervention of prayer at all — which means that they, at least, did not find that any disorder occurred by any power which prayer exercised. These interventions in answer to prayer, by angelic agency or otherwise, seem to give no reason to affirm that chance has any scope or play in the world. This being understood, we may also say a word regarding the frequency of such spiritual agency's operations. Are they of frequent, or only of casual and fitful occurrence? Were they confined to Palestine and prophetic periods, or are they in operation at all times and spheres of the world? It reply, we say, without doubt, they are always working as they are always living, and working according to law, that is, according to the direction of God. But we may surely affirm that they do not interfere with any law of nature, nor are they to be relied on in answer to any prayer offered up to guard us against calamities which we might have avoided, or which we have brought on ourselves by want of proper foresight.

4. There being no such thing, then, as chance, and no violation of the laws of matter by higher power, it is clearly our duty to know what those laws are — especially those which regulate the business, trade, profession, or calling of each. It may be that, after we have done our best, we shall still be ignorant of many things which it greatly concerns us to know, our ignorance of the same bringing to us loss, disaster, even death. But that we might, by exercising foresight, avoid great calamities is certain. One-half, two-thirds, three-fourths of the accidents that occur, destructive of life and limb, should have been avoided. Why should scaffolds be continually falling, dashing human beings to the earth shattered corpses, when a rope of sufficient thickness, or a pole of sufficient firmness, would have prevented the catastrophe? Why should the shop fall under its load, when a trifling bond would have hem its walls perpendicular? Why should a house be burned, when a little care would have cured a defective flue? Why should the ship sink in the ocean, when a good lookout would have avoided collision with the iceberg or the other ship crossing the course. Be it observed, not one of these nor similar accidents but might have been foreseen and prevented. In every case the material employed followed explicitly the laws of its own being. The falling scaffold, the sinking building, the burning city, all took place according to law. When any great disaster happens to a building, we cannot, on that account, say that Heaven is enraged against it, or that it is a judgment on it for the immoralities there nurtured. The judgment is against the folly, the perverseness, the sin of imprudence, carelessness, want of foresight, or wickedness implied in the faulty construction for the sake of gain. Say not that those on whom the tower of Siloam fell were greater sinners than the others in Jerusalem on whom no such judgment came. What we are concerned with is the vast importance of prudence and care in regard to every building where human lives might, with such provision, be imperilled.

5. But still there is one thought which it is important for us to impress upon you. Place yourselves in no peril to which duty does not call — nay, let us broaden the injunction, walk in no path to which duty does not beckon the way, though absolutely safe. We have no promise that we shall have safety save in the paths of right — nay, not even of bodily safety there. Though the outer man perish the inner man will live unhurt amid the war of elements, the wrack of matter, and the crash of worlds.

(J. Bonnet, D. D.)