1 Samuel 7:6 - meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
1 Samuel 7:6
And they gathered together to Mizpeh, and drew water, and poured it out before the LORD, and fasted on that day, and said there, We have sinned against the LORD. And Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpeh.
to grasp · conjunction + verb, niphal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
Mizpeh
הַ֠מִּצְפָּתָהHa.mitz.pa.tah
H4709
Mitspah · definite article + proper noun, a place name + directional suffix
drew
וַיִּֽשְׁאֲבוּvai.yish.'a.vu-
H7579
to bale up water · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
water
מַ֜יִםMa.yim
H4325
water · noun, common masculine plural absolute
out
וַֽיִּשְׁפְּכ֣וּvai.yish.pe.Khu
H8210
to spill forth (blood · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
before
לִפְנֵ֣יlif.Nei
H6440
the face (as the part that turns) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
LORD
יְהוָ֗הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
fasted
וַיָּצ֙וּמוּ֙vai.ya.Tzu.mu
H6684
to cover over (the mouth) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
day
בַּיּ֣וֹםbai.Yom
H3117
a day (as the warm hours) · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
said
וַיֹּ֣אמְרוּvai.Yo.me.ru
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
sinned
חָטָ֖אנוּcha.Ta.nu
H2398
properly · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common plural
LORD
לַיהוָ֑הla.Yah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · preposition + proper noun, a title
Samuel
שְׁמוּאֵ֛לshe.mu.'El
H8050
Shemuel · proper noun, a man's name
judged
וַיִּשְׁפֹּ֧טvai.yish.Pot
H8199
to judge · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
children
בְּנֵ֥יbe.Nei
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine plural construct
Israel
יִשְׂרָאֵ֖לYis.ra.'El
H3478
Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
Mizpeh
מִצְפֶּהMitspeh
H4708
Mitspeh
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
1 Samuel 1:15 And Hannah answered and said, No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit: I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured o…
2 Samuel 14:14 For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet dot…
Judges 10:10 And the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, saying, We have sinned against thee, both because we have forsaken our God, and also served…
Psalms 62:8 Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah.
Psalms 106:6 We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly.
Jeremiah 9:1 Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!
Joel 2:12 Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:
1 Kings 8:47 Yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they were carried captives, and repent, and make supplication unto thee in the land…
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…
Samuel judged . . . Israel in Mizpeh--At the time of Eli's death he could not have much exceeded twenty years of age; and although his character and position must have given him great influence, it does not appear that hitherto he had done more than prophets were wont to do. Now he entered on the duties of a civil magistrate.
Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 7:6
Drew water, and poured it out - It is not easy to know what is meant by this; it is true that pouring out water, in the way of libation, was a religious ordinance among the Hebrews, (Isa 12:3), and among most other nations, particularly the Greeks and Romans, who used, not only water, but wine, milk, honey, and blood, as we find by Homer, Virgil, Euripides, Sophocles, Porphyry, and Lucian. Our Lord seems to allude to this ceremony, Joh 7:37-38 (note), where see the note.
The Chaldee Paraphrast understands the place differently, for he translates: "And they poured out their hearts in penitence, as Waters, before the Lord." That deep penitential sorrow was represented under the notion of pouri…
And they gathered together to Mizpeh,.... Even all Israel, at least the heads of the people, and representatives of them:
and drew water, and poured it out before the Lord; drew it from some fountain near at hand, and poured it out as in the presence of God, who was where his people were met together. Jerom (k) relates it as tradition of the Jews, that curses were cast into this water, as in the water of jealousy, and that idolaters were tried by it; and that whatever idolater, who denied he worshipped idols, and tasted of it, his lips so stuck together that they could not be separated, and by this means was known and put to death; and therefore it is said Samuel judged now at this place: b…
The Church Fathers
And they gathered at Mizpah, and drew water, etc. The fact that they drew water during prayers and fastings and poured it out before the Lord is a sign and execution of pious devotion. They gathered, as the Lord was preaching, to hear the word of the people, and being deeply moved, they drew from the bottom of their hearts a fountain of tears, which they would pour out as the most pleasing libation to God, offering it through the vessels of their eyes; and they abstained from all the allurements of the world, in that light of heavenly grace, confessing past sins and imploring the mercy of Christ.
And Samuel judged the children of Israel at Mizpah. The heavens are not clean in his sight (Job XV), and he finds perversity in his elect. Therefore, those too who, transcending all earthly things, gathered at the lookout of heavenly things, which Mizpah signifies, to Christ, who pre-eminent by the name of the sons of Israel, that is, men seeing God, still have much for which, as men, they may be chastised by a strict judge. Whence Isaiah says: And he shall judge the poor in righteousness (Isa. XI). There is no doubt that he speaks to those to whom he says: Blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of God (Matt. V); for judging the same, he says: Are you still without understanding? (Matt. XV).
At one time the Hebrew people and all the Israelite tribes, because of the offensiveness of their sins, were held under the heavy domination of the Philistines. In order to be able to overcome their enemies, as the sacred history shows, they restored strength of soul and body with a self-imposed fast. They had judged rightly that they deserved that hard and wretched subjection because of neglect of God's commandments and the corruption of their lives, and that in vain did they fight with weapons unless they had first made war on their sins. By abstaining, therefore, from food and drink they imposed the penalty of severe punishment on themselves, and to conquer their enemies, they first conquered the enticement of gluttony in themselves. In this way it happened that the fierce adversaries and harsh masters yielded to those who were fasting whom they had overcome when they had been full. We too, dearly beloved, situated as we are among many struggles and battles, if we wish to overcome our enemies in the same way, we may be healed by the same practice. Indeed, our situation is the same as theirs, seeing that they were attacked by bodily adversaries, we by spiritual enemies. If our spiritual enemies may be overcome by the correction of our lives bestowed on us through the grace of God, even the force of our bodily enemies will also give way to us. They will be weakened by our correction, since not their merits but our own sins made them onerous to us. Therefore, dearly beloved, in order that we may be able to overcome our enemies, let us seek divine help by observing the commands of heaven, knowing that in no other way can we prevail over our foes except by prevailing over ourselves as well.
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.…
Fast — The sole fast required by the law of Moses was that of the great Day of Atonement (q.v.), Lev. 23:26-32. It is called “the fast” (Acts 27:9). The only other mention of a periodical fast in the Old…
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…
Mourn — Frequent references are found in Scripture to, (1.) Mourning for the dead. Abraham mourned for Sarah (Gen. 23:2); Jacob for Joseph (37:34, 35); the Egyptians for Jacob (50:3-10); Israel for Aaron…
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…
Confession Of Sin · Exemplified: Israelites — Exemplified: Israelites
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…
drew water . . . poured it out: This type of ceremony is not mentioned elsewhere in the Old Testament. • At times Israelites went without food to express grief or to seek the Lord’s favor (2 Sam 1:12; 12:22-23; 1 Kgs 21:27; Ezra 8:21-23; Neh 9:1; Esth 4:3, 16; Joel 2:12; cp. Luke 2:37; Acts 13:2-3; 14:23). • To have Samuel as Israel’s judge was refreshing compared to Eli’s failed leadership (see 1 Sam 4:18 and corresponding study note) and the leadership of some other judges (e.g., Gideon, Judg 8:22-27; Jephthah, Judg 11:30–12:7; and Samson, Judg 13:1–16:21).
Rashi on 1 Samuel 7:6
They drew water and poured it out.4Perhaps as Dovid did in II Shmuel 23:16. Targum Yonoson renders, "and they poured out their hearts like water, in repentance, before '."5See Eichah 2:19.ה And according to its simple meaning, it is merely symbolic of humility, [i. e.,] we are before You like these poured out waters.6Water may also be referring to the Torah which is often compared to water. By filling their hearts with Torah, the Bnei Yisroel were able to recognize their sins, feel the need to change their ways and return to ‘ה.
Shmuel judged. Between two litigants regarding monetary matters between them,7People sought to cleanse themselves of sins that had been committed between their fell…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Intercession
· OF MAN WITH GOD
— OF MAN WITH GOD
Judges, Extraordinary · Names of: Samuel — Names of: Samuel
Revivals · .Samuel — .Samuel
Samuel · Israelites repent be — Israelites repent be
Water · Libation of — Libation 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).
