1 Samuel 7:5

And Samuel said, Gather all Israel to Mizpeh, and I will pray for you unto the LORD.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
Samuel	שְׁמוּאֵ֔ל she.mu.'El	H8050	Shemuel · proper noun, a man's name
said	וַיֹּ֣אמֶר vai.Yo.mer	H559	to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Gather	קִבְצ֥וּ kiv.Tzu	H6908	to grasp · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine plural
Israel	יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל Yis.ra.'El	H3478	Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
Mizpeh	מִצְפֶּה Mitspeh	H4708	Mitspeh
pray	וְאֶתְפַּלֵּ֥ל ve.'et.pa.Lel	H6419	to judge (officially or mentally) · conjunction + verb, hithpael, 1st person common singular
LORD	יְהוָֽה Yah.weh	H3068	Jehovah · proper noun, a title

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 20:1 Then all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation was gathered together as one man, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, with the land…
1 Samuel 12:23 Moreover as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and the right wa…
Joshua 15:38 And Dilean, and Mizpeh, and Joktheel,
1 Samuel 7:12 Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Eben-ezer, saying, Hitherto hath the LORD helped us.
1 Samuel 7:16 And he went from year to year in circuit to Beth-el, and Gilgal, and Mizpeh, and judged Israel in all those places.
1 Samuel 10:17 And Samuel called the people together unto the LORD to Mizpeh;
2 Kings 25:23 And when all the captains of the armies, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, there came to Gedali…
Nehemiah 9:1 Now in the twenty and fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackclothes, and earth upon them…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 7:3-6

We may well wonder where Samuel was and what he was doing all this while, for we have not had him so much as named till now, since Sa1 4:1, not as if he were unconcerned, but his labours among his people are not mentioned till there appears the fruit of them. When he perceived that they began to lament after the Lord he struck while the iron was hot, and two things he endeavoured to do for them, as a faithful servant of God and a faithful friend to the Israel of God: - I. He endeavoured to separate between them and their idols, for there reformation must begin. He spoke to all the house of Israel (Sa1 7:3), going, as it should seem, from place to place, an itinerant preacher (for we find no…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Samuel 7:3

THE ISRAELITES, THROUGH SAMUEL'S INFLUENCE, SOLEMNLY REPENT AT MIZPEH. (Sa1 7:3-6) Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel--A great national reformation was effected through the influence of Samuel. Disgusted with their foreign servitude, and panting for the restoration of liberty and independence, they were open to salutary impressions; and convinced of their errors, they renounced idolatry. The re-establishment of the faith of their fathers was inaugurated at a great public meeting, held at Mizpeh in Judah, and hallowed by the observance of impressive religious solemnities. The drawing water, and pouring it out before the Lord, seems to have been a symbolical act by which, in the people…

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Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 7:5

Gather all Israel to Mizpeh - This appears to have been an armed assembly, though probably collected principally for religious and political purposes; but Samuel knew that an unarmed multitude could not safely be convened in the vicinity of the Philistines.

John Gill on 1 Samuel 7:5

And Samuel said, gather all Israel to Mizpeh,.... Not Mizpeh in Gilead, on the other side Jordan, but a city which lay on the borders of Judah and Benjamin, where the tribes met on the account of the Levite's concubine, Judges 20:1. This order Samuel gave by messengers sent to the several tribes, or the heads of them, to meet him at this place: and I will pray for you unto the Lord; no doubt he prayed for them privately, that the reformation begun might be carried on, and appear to be sincere, and hearty, and general, and universal; but he was desirous that they might appear in a body, and join with him in public prayer for their spiritual and temporal welfare; that they might have true rep…

The Church Fathers

11. Mizpah is interpreted as "watching" or "contemplation." The blessed Paul explains this contemplation when he says: 'For now we see through a glass, darkly' (1 Cor. 13:12). For to watch is, for us, to contemplate eternal goods from the heights of the Scriptures. For we watch, as it were, what we already know by the truth of faith, yet do not yet see with unveiled face. For converted sinners to gather at Mizpah is to trust, through the attention of the mind, in the mercy of almighty God. But let them so presume upon the mercy of God that they nevertheless do not neglect to wipe away through penance what they recall having done wickedly.
— Gregory the Dialogist, Commentary on 1 Kings, Book 3, Chapter 5

Samuel said: Gather all Israel to Mizpah, etc. The Savior said to the apostles that by preaching the word of the Gospel, they should gather all spiritual Israel to Mizpah, that is, to the watchtower, namely of the new truth and life. From this gathering of the universal church, the Catholic Church took its name in Greek. Placed in its unity, the Savior himself, praying, commends each to the Father, who before his passion, praying through the apostles, said: But I do not pray for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they all might be one (John XVII). And now the Apostle teaches that he does the same, saying: Who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us (Rom. VIII).
— Bede, Commentary on Samuel

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

Benjamin, The Tribe Of — The contrast between the warlike character of the tribe and the peaceful image of its progenitor comes out in many scattered notices. Benjamin was the only tribe which seems to have pursued archery…
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.…
Idolatry — Image-worship or divine honour paid to any created object. Paul describes the origin of idolatry in Rom. 1:21-25: men forsook God, and sank into ignorance and moral corruption (1:28). The forms of…
Judges, Book of — Is so called because it contains the history of the deliverance and government of Israel by the men who bore the title of the “judges.” The book of Ruth originally formed part of this book, but about…
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…
Intercession · OF MAN WITH GOD — OF MAN WITH GOD
Mizpah · .Assembled by Samuel — .Assembled by Samuel
Prayer, Intercessory · Exemplified: Samuel — Exemplified: Samuel
Revivals

1 Samuel 7:5

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 7:3-6

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Samuel 7:3

Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 7:5

John Gill on 1 Samuel 7:5

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

1 Samuel 7:5

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 7:3-6

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Samuel 7:3

Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 7:5

John Gill on 1 Samuel 7:5

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on 1 Samuel 7:5-14

Tyndale Open Study Notes on 1 Samuel 7:5

Rashi on 1 Samuel 7:2