"Raise my Ebenezer"

“Raise my Ebenezer”

1 Samuel 1100 years before Christ, it was a spiritually dark time for Israel the priesthood was corrupt and people were turning away from God. There was a remnant that were following God but by and large Israel was falling away.
1 Sam chapters 4-6 The Israelites brought the Ark of the covenant into Shiloh they were just defeated by the Philistines and 4000 men fell. The Bible says they the Hebrews shouted so loudly that the earth shook.

Talk about the Ark Priest came into the holy of holies one time a year on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) the priest brought the blood of a goat to atone for the sins of the people
The Mercy Seat and the two cherubim angels and the Lord dwelt there. Contents Ten Commandments, Aarons Rod that budded with almonds to prove that he was the priest and chosen by God , and the Golden pot of hidden manna. These we all reminders of what God did for them.

So of course when the ark was moved for worship they were going to be excited and shout. The Philistines heard the shout and pretty much said lets put an end to this

The Philistines defeated Israel and took the Ark of the Covenant and slaughtered 30,000 people.

When they told Eli the priest that his two sons where killed and the ark was taken he fell over and broke his neck and died.

So the Philistines moved the Ark around for 7 months and during that time they suffered plagues of tumors and rats so they said we have to get rid of this thing. So their priests said send it back with 5 images of gold tumors and 5 golden rats as a sacrifice. They hooked it to two cows and said if it returns to its own territory it was the Lords hand that struck us, if not it was by chance. Well guess what it went to the Israelites field of Joshua in Beth Shemesh

After the ark was in Beth Shemesh and 50,000 people died for looking into the ark they were so disturbed by what happened they brought the ark to Kirjath Jearim which is 10 miles from Jerusalem

Pick up in
1 Sam 7:1-12 Israel was weak and afraid and did not have spiritual focus, but the Lord was the one who did the work.

Vrs 1-2 Eleazar “God is power or help”
House of Israel lamented after the Lord “had sorrow or mourned deeply”

Vrs 3-4 Samuel spoke… If you return to the Lord with all your heart, serve Him and put away false gods.
Ashtoreth- Goddess of fertility and sexuality
Baal-pegan god of nature and fertility
Basically Samuel was saying they had to renounce their perverted sinful selfish ways
These two manmade gods are the eppitomy of a life centered around self.
The promise is that God will deliver them from the Philistines.

What is God saying to us? Change your mind, about who Jesus is believe that He is your Savior. As a Christian change your actions, be obedient and put God first, don’t put other things or people before God.

Vrs 5-6 Then Samuel prayed, obviously praying to the Lord is a center piece to seeing something in our lives change. Notice the Israelites response, the fasted and recognized their sin.

Vrs 7-8 The Philistines heard and attacked, and the Israelites appealed to Samuel to keep praying because they were afraid.

Vrs 9-11 The Lord confused the Philistines and the Israelites were able to drive them back

Vrs 12 Then Samuel put up the stone as reminder.

So in this biblical account we see they received the message, listened to it and God rewarded them, but God was the one who did the work and Samuel wanted to put up a constant reminder of how God will help his people if they listen to Him.

Literally speaking, an Ebenezer is a "stone of help," or a reminder of God’s Real, Holy Presence and Divine aid. Spiritually and theologically speaking, an Ebenezer can be nearly anything that reminds us of God’s presence and help