to take (in the widest variety of applications) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
a
אַחַ֗ת'a.Chat
H259
properly · noun, common feminine singular absolute
stone
אֶ֣בֶן'E.ven
H68
a stone · noun, common feminine singular construct
set
וַיָּ֤שֶׂםvai.Ya.sem
H7760
to put (used in a great variety of applications · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Mizpeh
הַמִּצְפָּה֙ha.mitz.Pah
H4709
Mitspah · definite article + proper noun, a place name
Shen
הַשֵּׁ֔ןha.Shen
H8129
Shen · definite article + proper noun, a place name
called
וַיִּקְרָ֥אvai.yik.Ra'
H7121
to call out to (i.e. properly · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
name
שְׁמָ֖הּshe.Mah
H8034
an appellation · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
Eben-ezer
אֶ֣בֶן'E.ven
H72
Eben-ha-Ezer · proper noun, a place name
saying
וַיֹּאמַ֕רvai.yo.Mar
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
LORD
יְהוָֽהYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
helped
עֲזָרָ֥נוּ'a.za.Ra.nu
H5826
to surround · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
2 Corinthians 1:10 Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;
Joshua 4:9 And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests which bare the ark of the covenant stood:…
Acts 26:22 Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those whi…
Genesis 22:14 And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.
Genesis 35:14 And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he talked with him, even a pillar of stone: and he poured a drink offering thereon, and he pour…
1 Samuel 5:1 And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it from Eben-ezer unto Ashdod.
Isaiah 46:3-4 Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which are borne by me from the belly, which are carried from…
Genesis 31:45-52 And Jacob took a stone, and set it up for a pillar.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 7:7-12
Here, I. The Philistines invade Israel (Sa1 7:7), taking umbrage from that general meeting for repentance and prayer as if it had been a rendezvous for war, and, if so, they thought it prudent to keep the war out of their own country. They had no just cause for this suspicion; but those that seek to do mischief to others will be forward to imagine that others design mischief to them. Now see here, 1. How evil sometimes seems to come out of good. The religious meeting of the Israelites at Mizpeh brought trouble upon them from the Philistines, which perhaps tempted them to wish they had staid at home and to blame Samuel for calling them together. But we may be in God's way and yet meet with di…
Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen--on an open spot between the town and "the crag" (some well-known rock in the neighborhood). A huge stone pillar was erected as a monument of their victory (Lev 26:1). The name--Eben-ezer--is thought to have been written on the face of it.
Next: 1 Samuel Chapter 8
Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 7:12
Called the name of it Eben-ezer - אבן העזר Eben haezer, "The Stone of Help;" perhaps a pillar is meant by the word stone.
John Gill on 1 Samuel 7:12
And Samuel took a stone, and set it,.... Not for worship, but as a monument of the victory obtained by the help of God: and this he placed
between Mizpeh and Shen; which latter signifies a tooth, and designs the precipice of a rock which juts out, and hangs over in the form of one:
and called the name of it Ebenezer; which signifies "the stone of help"; and is the same place which by anticipation has this name, 1 Samuel 4:1, so that in the selfsame place where the Israelites were twice beaten by the Philistines, and the ark taken, was this salvation wrought for them:
saying, hitherto hath the Lord helped us; this was but the beginning of their deliverance from the Philistines, and which w…
"That stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone." That is the stone that is called Ebenezer in the book of Kings [Samuel]. That stone is Christ. The name Ebenezer, moreover, means "the stone of help."
For we may be sure that the very aim of those who pass over [from Israelite to Christian] is transformed from the old to the new, so that the aim of each is no longer the attainment of material felicity but spiritual happiness. That explains the action of the great prophet Samuel himself, before he had anointed King Saul.Samuel cried out to the Lord on behalf of Israel, and God heard him; and when he offered a whole burnt offering, and the foreigners approached to do battle with the people of God, the Lord thundered over them, and they were thrown into confusion and panic as they faced Israel, and so they were overcome. Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between the old and the new Mizpah and gave it the name Ebenezer, which means "the stone of the helper." And he said, "So far the Lord has helped us." Now Mizpah means "aim." That "stone of the helper" is the mediation of the Savior, through whom we must pass over from the old Mizpah to the new, that is, from the aim which looked for material bliss—a false bliss, in a material kingdom—to the aim which looks for spiritual bliss, the really true bliss, in the kingdom of heaven. And since there is nothing better than this, God helps us "so far."
And Samuel took a stone, etc. And indeed we read above of the stone of help, which in Hebrew is called Ebenezer; but there the historian anticipated, whereas here he expresses both the time and the cause of the name being given; which, as a clear type of the Mediator, is rightly called one stone, because there is one Lord Jesus Christ, who justifies the circumcision by faith and the uncircumcision through faith; rightly placed between Masphat and Shen, that is, between the place where the altar of the Lord's cross was erected and the singular lamb was offered who takes away the sins of the world, and between it and the place where the victory of the Lord's word could spread throughout the world. That place, most beautifully lying above Bethcar, that is, the house of the lamb or of recognition, because the same Church of Christ shines throughout the entire world. Nor is it by chance that the same place Shen, that is, is said to be named, because the people of the Gentiles, who cry out to the Lord from the ends of the earth, and with Israel they hear: Rejoice, because your names are written in heaven (Luke 10). Of which it is also said elsewhere: And he calls his own sheep by name (John 10). Therefore the Lord took the precious stone, the chosen cornerstone, that is, himself; and set it between the people of the Jews and the Gentiles, who by the powerful help of his Spirit would gather both into one, and miraculously rescued from all adversities, would raise them up to the contemplation of the glory of his divine majesty; to the vision of which, than which nothing is better (for indeed, whatever we who have merited to behold it, seek nothing greater), because we will rejoice in the greatest good, it is said very well: Because the Lord has helped us thus far. Whence also in the Gospel, the Lord, as if promising the highest and incomparable good to the faithful people, says: He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him (John 14).
Dictionary and topics
David — Beloved, the eighth and youngest son of Jesse, a citizen of Bethlehem. His father seems to have been a man in humble life. His mother’s name is not recorded. Some think she was the Nahash of 2 Sam.…
Eben-ezer — Stone of help, the memorial stone set up by Samuel to commemorate the divine assistance to Israel in their great battle against the Philistines, whom they totally routed (1 Sam. 7:7-12) at Aphek, in…
Ebenezer — (stone of help), a stone set up by Samuel after a signal defeat of the Philistines, as a memorial of the “help” received on the occasion from Jehovah. (1 Samuel 7:12) Its position is carefully…
Idol — (1.) Heb. aven, “nothingness;” “vanity” (Isa. 66:3; 41:29; Deut. 32:21; 1 Kings 16:13; Ps. 31:6; Jer. 8:19, etc.). (2.) ‘Elil, “a thing of naught” (Ps. 97:7; Isa. 19:3); a word of contempt, used of…
Mizpah — Or Miz’peh, watch-tower; the look-out. (1.) A place in Gilead, so named by Laban, who overtook Jacob at this spot (Gen. 31:49) on his return to Palestine from Padan-aram. Here Jacob and Laban set up…
Prayer — Is converse with God; the intercourse of the soul with God, not in contemplation or meditation, but in direct address to him. Prayer may be oral or mental, occasional or constant, ejaculatory or…
Samuel — Heard of God. The peculiar circumstances connected with his birth are recorded in 1 Sam. 1:20. Hannah, one of the two wives of Elkanah, who came up to Shiloh to worship before the Lord, earnestly…
Shen — A tooth, probably some conspicuous tooth-shaped rock or crag (1 Sam. 7:12), a place between which and Mizpeh Samuel set up his “Ebenezer.” In the Hebrew the word has the article prefixed, “the Shen.”…
Stone — Stones were commonly used for buildings, also as memorials of important events (Gen. 28:18; Josh. 24:26, 27; 1 Sam. 7:12, etc.). They were gathered out of cultivated fields (Isa. 5:2; comp. 2 Kings…
Stones — Besides the ordinary uses to which stones were applied, we may mention that large stones were set up to commemorate any remarkable event. (Genesis 28:18; 35:14; 31:45; Joshua 4:9; 1 Samuel 7:12) Such…
Keil & Delitzsch on 1 Samuel 7:5-14
Victory obtained over the Philistines through Samuel's prayer. - Sa1 7:5, Sa1 7:6. When Israel had turned to the Lord with all its heart, and had put away all its idols, Samuel gathered together all the people at Mizpeh, to prepare them for fighting against the Philistines by a solemn day for penitence and prayer. For it is very evident that the object of calling all the people to Mizpeh was that the religious act performed there might serve as a consecration for battle, not only from the circumstance that, according to Sa1 7:7, when the Philistines heard of the meeting, they drew near to make war upon Israel, but also from the contents of Sa1 7:5 : "Samuel said (sc., to the heads or represe…
Ebenezer: The location of this stone memorial is unknown. The Philistines had defeated Israel and captured the Ark at a place with the same name (4:1; 5:1). Samuel erected this memorial to commemorate God’s help in turning the tide against the Philistine attacks.
Rashi on 1 Samuel 7:12
And Shein. The peak of the rock.10Or שֵׁן may denote the shape of the rock, i.e. it was shaped like a tooth; and it may be the same crag referred to below in 14:5.—Da’as Sofrim.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Ebenezer · Name of a memorial stone — Name of a memorial stone
Philistines · Miraculously routed at Mizpeh — Miraculously routed at Mizpeh
Pillar · By Samuel, the — By Samuel, the
Samuel · The Philistines — The Philistines
Shen · A place of unknown lo — A place of unknown lo
Stones · Memorial pillars of — Memorial pillars of
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
