1 Samuel 7:15

_AND SAMUEL JUDGED ISRAEL ALL THE DAYS OF HIS LIFE._ Samuel judged Israel ......

13-17 In this great revival of true religion, the ark was neither removed to Shiloh, nor placed with the tabernacle any where else. This disregard to the Levitical institutions showed that their typical meaning formed their chief use; and when that was overlooked, they became a lifeless service, not to be compared with repentance, faith, and the love of God and man....

Verse 1 Samuel 7:15. _SAMUEL JUDGED ISRAEL ALL THE DAYS OF HIS LIFE._] Samuel is supposed to have lived _one hundred_ years; he did not begin to judge Israel till he was about _forty_ years of age; and if he was _one hundred_ years of age when he died, he must have been a judge _sixty_ years, and consequently filled that office during the whole of Saul's reign. But that he had been dead before Saul's last battle, is evident from the transactions of that king with the witch of En-dor, and probably not long before. Samuel was the _prophet_ of that time; declared the will of the Lord, and frequently directed both the _civil_ and _military_ transactions of the kingdom. Samuel seems, in many respects, to have been considered the _governor of the people_, while Saul was only looked on as the _general of the armies_....

SAMUEL JUDGED ISRAEL ... - The repetition of the phrase in 1 Samuel 7:16, in connection with Samuel’s circuit, is a proof that it is his civil judgeship which is meant. The military leadership of course belonged to Saul, when he became king....

EXPOSITION 1 SAMUEL 7:1 At Kirjath-jearim the people reverently undertook the charge of the ark, and carried out their arrangements so carefully that no further calamity occurred. On its arrival they placed it in THE HOUSE OF ABINADAB IN THE HILL. More probably _at Gibeah, _as it is translated in 2 Samuel 6:3, 2 Samuel 6:4. In Joshua 15:57 a village of this name is mentioned in the tribe of Judah not far from Kirjath-jearim (_ibid. _Joshua 15:60), and probably Abinadab, who lived there, was a L

AND SAMUEL JUDGED ISRAEL ALL THE DAYS OF HIS LIFE. Not only before Saul was made king, but afterwards; for though he had not the exercise of the supreme government of the nation, yet he might act as a judge under Saul, and hear and try causes brought before him, and execute justice and judgment; and as a prophet he taught and instructed the people, and reformed abuses among them; and besides, he held and exercised his extraordinary office, to which he was raised up of God, and even took upon him to reprove Saul himself, and to kill Agag. The Jews say q he judged Israel thirteen years only, eleven by himself, and two with Saul; but his government must be much larger, his with Saul is reckoned forty years, Acts 13:21. q Seder Olam Rabba, c. 13. p. 35. Midrash Tillim apud Abarbinel in loc. Kimchi in loc....

8. SAMUEL EXERCISING HIS OFFICE AND HIS FAILURE Chapter S 7:15-8:3 _ 1. Samuel the Prophet-Judge (1 Samuel 7:15)_ 2. His failure (1 Samuel 8:1) Samuel's activity as the great prophet-judge is now seen. He had a blessed circuit of ministry, which has its spiritual lessons for us. He first visited Bethel (the house of God). Judgment must begin there. When Jacob was obedient to the divine call “Arise and go up unto Bethel,” he buried the strange gods, the household gods under the oak of Shechem. So the evil things must be put away. Then came Gilgal (rolling). There the reproach of Egypt was rolled away (Joshua 5). This is what we need, to be freed from the world, dead to it and the world dead to us. Mizpeh

SAMUEL AS JUDGE. Philistines subdued by Divine intervention; probably an ideal picture, by the Deuteronomic writer, of the happy results of Israel's repentance and Samuel's piety peace, victory, and orthodoxy. The section is the typical form of the Deuteronomic accounts of the Judges apostasy, oppression, repentance, deliverance. The statements that the Philistines ceased to invade Israel, and that the Israelites recovered the Philistine cities from Ekron to Gath, are inconsistent with the older narratives. On the other hand, the writer sees no difficulty in Samuel building an altar at Ramah, because his view was that the limitation of sacrifice to a central sanctuary did not come into force till Solomon built the Temple. 1 SAMUEL 7:2. The return of the Ark leads the people to repent; Samuel encourages them in this by promising deliverance if they worship Yahweh only....

Summary Account of Samuel's Judgeship 13. _So the Philistines were subdued_ Cp. Judges 3:30; Judges 4:23-24. The word signifies "_were brought low_," but does not imply complete subjugation. The forty years oppression (Judges 13:1) now came to an end. _they came no more into the coast of Israel_ The same phrase is used in 2 Kings 6:23, where the very next verse speaks of a fresh invasion. It is obvious therefore that the Hebrew historian could use the expression relatively and not absolutely, to describe a cessation of the Philistine inroads _for the time being_. How long it lasted we are not told, but...

DISCOURSE: 291 SAMUEL’S JUDICIAL CHARACTER 1 Samuel 7:15. _And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. And he went from year to year in circuit to Bethel, and Gilgal, and Mizpeh, and judged Israel in all those places. And his return was to Ramah; for there was his house; and there he judged Israel; and there he built an altar unto the Lord._ AS there are times and seasons commended to our special attention on a religious account, so there are particular occasions which it is proper for us to notice, on account of the interest they create in the public mind, and the facility they afford for imparting instruction suited to them. The pomp with which the judges of the land are surrounded, when they go their circuits for the purpose of dispensing justice through the land, is calculated to make a good impression upon the community at large; and to fill all ranks of me