1 Samuel 7:14 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
1 Samuel 7:14
And the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron even unto Gath; and the coasts thereof did Israel deliver out of the hands of the Philistines. And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites.
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
Psalms 106:34 They did not destroy the nations, concerning whom the LORD commanded them:
Deuteronomy 7:2 And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with…
Deuteronomy 7:16 And thou shalt consume all the people which the LORD thy God shall deliver thee; thine eye shall have no pity upon them: neither shalt thou…
Judges 4:17 Howbeit Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite: for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor a…
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 7:14
The cities which the Philistines had taken - We are not informed of the particulars of these reprisals, but we may rest assured all this was not done in one day: perhaps the retaking of the cities was by slow degrees, through the space of several years.
There was peace between Israel and the Amorites - That is, all the remaining Canaanites kept quiet, and did not attempt to molest the Israelites, when they found the Philistines, the most powerful of the ancient inhabitants of the land, broken and subdued before them.
John Gill on 1 Samuel 7:14
And the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel,.... We nowhere read that the Israelites went out to war with them, and took these cities from them by besieging and assaulting them; but they made a demand of them after the above victory obtained, by which the Philistines were so intimidated, that they quietly surrendered them to them:
from Ekron even unto Gath, and the coasts thereof, did Israel deliver out of the hands of the Philistines; not by dint of sword, but by demand, to which they submitted; and though Ekron, if not Gath, fell to the tribe of Judah by lot, yet were never in their possession; and so are to be understood exclusively here, that not t…
The Church Fathers
There was peace between Israel and the Amorites. After the ascension of the Lord, with the Churches confirmed in faith, there was our peace, which made both one, between those from the Jews and those who believed from the Gentiles. There will also be in you, when you live as a true Israelite, that is, without deceit, peace with the former bitter enemy, which is interpreted as Amorite, when you have taught all vices conquered in you to favor virtues, and the members which were weapons of iniquity for sin, you will have made weapons of righteousness for God. For as long as the grace of the true Samuel lives and reigns in your mind, although you cannot completely be free from sin as a human, whatever filthy thoughts, as if ambushing the spiritual virtues, the hands of the Philistines may take from you, you will recover with his daily help, and you yourself will also free into the boundaries of your good works from the hand of the Philistines, because the patience of the poor will not perish forever. And although you may not be able to be invulnerable in the midst of battle, once the course is completed, you will be granted the crown of life.
25. Those ruined multitudes of angels are the cities that were taken away. But then they are restored, when from the elect human nature is assumed that which may supply what was lost from among the angels. This can also fittingly be understood of the conversion of wicked men. For the cities of the Philistines are taken away when the unity of the faithful is deceived by temptation, and they are subjected to themselves by being plunged into sins. But the cities that were taken away are restored to Israel: because penitents in this life make such satisfaction that in everlasting glory they are presented resplendent for the joy of the elect. And because not only those who neglect to do good, but even those who abundantly commit iniquity, are saved through repentance, it is added: "From Ekron even unto Gath." 26. Accaron means "barren," Geth means "winepress." Barren indeed are those who do not perform good works. In the winepress, moreover, the grape is pressed, and wine is brought forth. But what is worldly desire, if not the grape of a reprobate mind? And what is the fervor of sinning, if not the liquor of wine, which makes the sinner's mind forgetful of eternal goods? For when sin is generated from the desire of the heart, it is as though wine is produced from the grape in a winepress. From Accaron therefore all the way to Geth, the cities that had been taken away are restored to Israel: because the minds of those who neglect to do good and who boldly perpetrate evil, which now return to the Lord through repentance, are then shown to be resplendent in the common glory of the elect. For their evils by no means come into God's memory, since they themselves have not forgotten to blot them out through the affliction of repentance. 27. What is this peace, except that which the prophet Micah declares, saying: 'And he shall be peace in the land, when he shall come' (Mic. 5:5)? Hence Paul says: 'He himself is our peace, who makes both one' (Eph. 2:14). But what does it mean that peace is shown between Israel and the Amorite? What is designated by the Amorite, except the reprobate portion of mankind? And who are figured by Israel, except the elect? And because the elect will be at the right hand of God, but the reprobate at the left (Matt. 25:33), while peace is declared to exist between both, the glorious blessedness of the saints is demonstrated—who agree with the…
Dictionary and topics
Amorites — Highlanders, or hillmen, the name given to the descendants of one of the sons of Canaan (Gen. 14:7), called Amurra or Amurri in the Assyrian and Egyptian inscriptions. On the early Babylonian…
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…
Amorites · Not exterminated — Not exterminated
Amorites, The · Had peace with Israel in the days of Samuel — Had peace with Israel in the days of Samuel
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 Amorites had inhabited Canaan and the region east of the Jordan before Israel’s conquest of the Promised Land (see Gen 15:16; Deut 3:8; Josh 2:10). Some Amorites remained in the area after the conquest (see 2 Sam 21:2).
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.
