1 Samuel 7:13 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
1 Samuel 7:13
So the Philistines were subdued, and they came no more into the coast of Israel: and the hand of the LORD was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
more
יָסְפ֣וּya.se.Fu
H3254
to add or augment (often adverbial · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
coast
בִּגְב֣וּלbig.Vul
H1366
properly · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
Israel
יִשְׂרָאֵ֑לYis.ra.'El
H3478
Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
hand
יַדyad-
H3027
a hand (the open one (indicating power · noun, common both genders singular construct
LORD
יְהוָה֙Yah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
Philistines
בַּפְּלִשְׁתִּ֔יםba.pe.lish.Tim
H6430
a Pelishtite or inhabitant of Pelesheth · preposition with the article + noun, gentilic masculine plural absolute
days
יְמֵ֥יye.Mei
H3117
a day (as the warm hours) · noun, common masculine plural construct
Samuel
שְׁמוּאֵֽלshe.mu.'El
H8050
Shemuel · proper noun, a man's name
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
Judges 13:1 And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years…
1 Samuel 17:49-53 And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into…
Judges 13:5 For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb:…
1 Samuel 13:1-5 Saul reigned one year; and when he had reigned two years over Israel,
1 Samuel 14:6-16 And Jonathan said to the young man that bare his armour, Come, and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised: it may be that t…
1 Samuel 14:20-23 And Saul and all the people that were with him assembled themselves, and they came to the battle: and, behold, every man’s sword was against…
1 Samuel 28:3-5 Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had lamented him, and buried him in Ramah, even in his own city. And Saul had put away those that had fa…
1 Samuel 31:1-7 Now the Philistines fought against Israel: and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gilboa.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 7:13–end
We have here a short account of the further good services that Samuel did to Israel. Having parted them from their idols, and brought them home to their God, he had put them into a capacity of receiving further benefits by his ministry. Having prevailed in that, he becomes, in other instances, a great blessing to them; yet, writing it himself, he is brief in the relation. We are not told here, but it appears (Ch2 35:18) that in the days of Samuel the prophet the people of Israel kept the ordinance of the passover with more than ordinary devotion, notwithstanding the distance of the ark and the desolations of Shiloh. Many good offices, no doubt, he did for Israel, but here we are only told ho…
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 7:13
They came no more into the coast of Israel - Perhaps a more signal victory was never gained by Israel; the Lord had brought them low, almost to extermination; and now, by his miraculous interference, he lifts them completely up, and humbles to the dust their proud oppressors. God often suffers nations and individuals to be brought to the lowest extremity, that he may show his mercy and goodness by suddenly rescuing them from destruction, when all human help has most evidently failed.
John Gill on 1 Samuel 7:13
So the Philistines were subdued,.... Not that their country was conquered, or they made subject and become tributaries to Israel; but they were so humbled, as not to attempt to give the people of Israel any further trouble and distress, who were now delivered from their oppression and tyranny:
and came no more into the coast of Israel; at this time they did not gather together their forces dispersed, nor raise and bring a new army into the land of Israel; they contented themselves with placing garrisons on the coast, but did not attempt to enter and invade them any more; that is, for a long time, even until Samuel was grown old, and the people would have a king, and had one, which offended…
The Church Fathers
And the Philistines were humbled, etc. When they came to that assisting stone, to which the Psalmist according to the Hebrew truth alone sings: "Be to me a strong rock and a fortified house, to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress" (Psalm 30), our enemies will be humbled, nor will they again invade the borders of our strength, when they see themselves defeated with us glorified before the Lord. For as long as we toil in this world, the wars of temptations will never be lacking.
23. These things indeed so express the deeds of each of the elect, that they indicate both the battle array and the joys of recompense of the holy catholic Church. For blessed Paul showed this victory of the universal Church as yet to come after the glory of our resurrection; who, as though present at the future incorruption, taunted death, saying: "Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" (1 Cor. 15:54-55). He also saw the Philistines humbled, because, making mention of the apostate angels, he kindled the elect to love of their future dignity, saying: "Do you not know that we shall judge angels?" (1 Cor. 6:3). For then indeed the Philistines are humbled, when the demons are cast into the fires of eternal flame prepared for them from the foundation of the world. And they no longer attempt to come into the borders of Israel, because they do not go out to tempt the hearts of the elect. But what are the borders of Israel, if not the heavens? And how shall the evil spirits come into the borders of Israel, who are so condemned in the depths of hell that they never rise up from the submersion of their punishments? Because, therefore, they are cast down by eternal oppression, it is fittingly added: "And the hand of the Lord was upon the Philistines all the days of Samuel." 24. For what are the days of the good teacher, if not those springlike rays of shining eternity? These are fittingly said to belong to Samuel: because even though they are common to all the elect, by a certain special grace they shine for the joys of preachers. Or certainly they belong to preachers, because they shine more especially in the minds of those by whose preaching they are now made known to the holy Church. Moreover, the hand of the Lord is said to have been upon the Philistines all the days of Samuel, because the divine power always oppresses evil spirits, which in the glory of eternal brightness never ceases to gladden the elect as well. Then indeed the losses of the angels are repaired, when whatever had been taken away from blessedness out of the order of created spirits by their pride is made up from elect men.
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.…
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…
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…
Hand · .Was against the Philistines — .Was against the Philistines
Philistines · Miraculously routed at Mizpeh — Miraculously routed at Mizpeh
Samuel · The Philistines — The Philistines
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).
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…
The Philistines were quiet for some time—until Saul became king (see 13:5). • God’s powerful hand, not Samuel’s giftedness, was the key factor in Israel’s deliverance from the Philistines.
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.
And the hand of the Lord was upon the Philistines, etc. The grace of Christ was made to crush the enemies of the primitive Church wherever the light of the Gospel shone in Judea, nor is it repulsed by disbelief and persecution. And the souls deceived by unclean teachers or spirits, are rendered and brought back to the society of the Church, from those who remained sterile of good works, to those who not only remained fruitless for themselves but also tried to oppress those who were fruitful. For Accaron turns into sterility, Geth into a winepress. And indeed, the understanding of sterility is clear, because every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire (Matthew III). The winepress, however, signifies persecutors of the good, as the Psalms inscribed for the winepresses, and the action of the winepresses themselves demonstrate. For the wood cut from the root, stripped of leaf and bark, and utterly deprived of any hope of bearing fruit, is compacted solely for the pressing of grapes or olives. While pressed by weight, with the husks crushed and skins emptied, the most joyous must and the richest streams of oil flow; the precious liquid indeed is stored in the cellars, but the waste shells are thrown out. Indeed, the winepresses remain empty of fruit, only eagerly awaiting when they begin to press something, until even themselves, worn by long use, are consigned to flames to be burned. Thus, surely, thus the torturers of the Church not only lack the greenery of faith, the leaves of confession, and the good fruits of operation; but also do not cease to weary the fruitful souls engaged in works of mercy and love, and other virtues' pursuits, up to the dissolution of the flesh. For they have nothing more to do after these things, when the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it, and they, always being adversaries to the good, are forever consigned to the flames of Gehenna at the appointed time. Yet because some from such individuals, through Christ's mercy, reclaim the salvation they lost in the first man, it is rightly said that Israel's cities, from Accaron to Geth, that is, from sterility to the winepress, are restored. Indeed, the Accaronite was Sergius Paulus the proconsul, the Accaronite was Dionysius the Areopagite. The Gethite was that young man aspiring to threaten and kill…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
