to walk (in a great variety of applications · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
from
מִדֵּ֤יmi.Dei
H1767
enough (as noun or adverb) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
year
שָׁנָה֙sha.Nah
H8141
a year (as a revolution of time) · noun, common feminine singular absolute
year
בְּשָׁנָ֔הbe.sha.Nah
H8141
a year (as a revolution of time) · preposition + noun, common feminine singular absolute
circuit
וְסָבַב֙ve.sa.Vav
H5437
to revolve · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Beth-el
בֵּֽיתbeit-
H1008
Beth-El · proper noun, a place name
Gilgal
וְהַגִּלְגָּ֖לve.ha.gil.Gal
H1537
Gilgal · conjunction + definite article + proper noun, a place name
Mizpeh
וְהַמִּצְפָּ֑הve.ha.mitz.Pah
H4709
Mitspah · conjunction + definite article + proper noun, a place name
judged
וְשָׁפַט֙ve.sha.Fat
H8199
to judge · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Israel
יִשְׂרָאֵ֔לYis.ra.'El
H3478
Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
places
הַמְּקוֹמ֖וֹתha.me.ko.Mot
H4725
properly · definite article + noun, common feminine plural absolute
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 5:10 Speak, ye that ride on white asses, ye that sit in judgment, and walk by the way.
Judges 10:4 And he had thirty sons that rode on thirty ass colts, and they had thirty cities, which are called Havoth-jair unto this day, which are in t…
Judges 12:14 And he had forty sons and thirty nephews, that rode on threescore and ten ass colts: and he judged Israel eight years.
Psalms 75:2 When I shall receive the congregation I will judge uprightly.
Psalms 82:3-4 Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.
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 7:16
He went from year to year in circuit - When he was at Beth-el, the tribe of Ephraim, and all the northern parts of the country, could attend him; when at Gilgal, the tribe of Benjamin, and those beyond Jordan, might have easy access to him; and when at Mizpeh, he was within reach of Judah, Simeon, and Gad; but Ramah was the place of his ordinary abode; and there he held his court, for there he judged Israel; and, as it is probable that Shiloh was destroyed, it is said, Sa1 7:17, that there (viz., at Ramah) he built an altar unto the Lord. This altar, being duly consecrated, the worship performed at it was strictly legal. Ramah, which is said to be about six miles from Jerusalem, was the seat…
And he went from year to year in circuit,.... As judges do; or "from the year in the year" (r) from the time of the year in the year, as the Targum, from the middle of it, that is, every half year; and so Josephus says (s), that he went twice a year in circuit: and the places he went to, and where he held his courts of judicature, were
Bethel, and Gilgal, and Mizpeh; by Bethel is not meant Shiloh, as Abarbinel, for that was now destroyed; nor Kirjathjearim, where the ark was, for it would have been called by its name; but the same Bethel that was near to Ai, and not far from Shiloh, and was in the tribe of Benjamin, as all those places were. Gilgal was where the tabernacle, ark, and camp of…
The Church Fathers
29. Bethel is called the house of God; Gilgal, a wheel; Mizpah, as has already been repeated above, is interpreted as a watchtower. What then does Bethel signify, if not men appointed to the office of the sacred altar, who, while they devote themselves to spiritual pursuits, are as it were intimates and members of the household of almighty God? And what does Gilgal, which is called a wheel, designate, if not the order of married persons? For they go around as if on a wheel, since they cannot be entirely free from the cares of this changing world. And what is expressed by Mizpah, which is interpreted as a watchtower, if not those who, devoting themselves to divine contemplation, burn with desire for heavenly joys alone? What then does it mean that Samuel is said to travel around to Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah, and to judge Israel in those same places, if not that the chosen preacher follows the examples of all the orders of the elect, so that he may be a learned judge of the faithful who are subject to him? For he will not be able to render fair judgment if he disdains to take from the examples of the elect who came before him what he decides. But let him also travel through these places each year, so that as a prudent teacher he may examine one by one the perfection of each order: so that the more carefully he has observed the virtues of his predecessors, the more fittingly he may arrange present affairs. There, therefore, there let him judge Israel, so that the faithful subjects whom he instructs toward the vision of God, he may correct by the righteousness of those whom he undoubtedly believes to have been pleasing to God. Bethel, which is called the house of God, can also designate the entire Church of the elect; and Gilgal, which is interpreted as a wheel, can designate Sacred Scripture. Whatever indeed a teacher brings forth for the advancement of his subjects, he receives either from the example of the elect, or from the teaching of sacred eloquence, or from the revelation of inner and secret contemplation. 30. Samuel therefore goes around Bethel, since the preacher of the Church seeks the authority for arranging his works from the examples of the elders. He goes around Gilgal, that is, the wheel, when he derives the authority of his teaching from the instruction of Holy Scripture. He also goes around Mizpah, when through the meditation of secret…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Bethel — House of God. (1.) A place in Central Palestine, about 10 miles north of Jerusalem, at the head of the pass of Michmash and Ai. It was originally the royal Canaanite city of Luz (Gen. 28:19). The…
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.…
Gilgal — Rolling. (1.) From the solemn transaction of the reading of the law in the valley of Shechem between Ebal and Gerizim the Israelites moved forward to Gilgal, and there made a permanent camp (Josh.…
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…
Nob — High place, a city of the priests, first mentioned in the history of David’s wanderings (1 Sam. 21:1). Here the tabernacle was then standing, and here Ahimelech the priest resided. (See AHIMELECH.)…
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…
Beth-El · By Samuel — By Samuel
Court · CIRCUIT — CIRCUIT
Gilgal · by Samuel — by Samuel
Judge · Held circuit courts — Held circuit courts
Judges, Extraordinary · Names of: Samuel — Names of: Samuel
Samuel's judicial labours. - With the calling of the people to Mizpeh, and the victory at Ebenezer that had been obtained through his prayer, Samuel had assumed the government of the whole nation; so that his office as judge dates from his period, although he had laboured as prophet among the people from the death of Eli, and had thereby prepared the way for the conversion of Israel to the Lord. As his prophetic labours were described in general terms in Sa1 3:19-21, so are his labours as judge in the verses before us: viz., in Sa1 3:15 their duration, - "all the days of his life," as his activity during Saul's reign and the anointing of David (1 Samuel 15-16) sufficiently prove; and then in…
Bethel and Mizpah were places of national assembly in the judges era (Judg 20:1, 18, 26; 21:1-2). Bethel’s significance went back to the days of Abraham (Gen 12:8; 13:3-4; 28:10-22; 35:1-15). • Gilgal, located near Jericho, had been a sacred place since Joshua’s day (Josh 4:19-24; 5:2-10). From this circuit, Samuel influenced “all the people of Israel” (1 Sam 10:17).
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.
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).
