_REPENTANCE AND REVIVAL._
1 SAMUEL vii. 1-9.
With the men of Bethshemesh the presence of the ark had become the same
terror as it had been successively at Ashdod, Gath, and Ekron. Instead
of the savour of life to life, it had proved a savour of death to death.
Instead of a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, it had become a stone
of stumbling and a rock of offence. They sent therefore to their
neighbours at Kirjath-jearim, and begged them to come down and remove
the ark. This they readily did. More timid men might have said, The ark
has brought nothing but disaster in its train; we will have nothing to
do with it. There was faith and loyalty to God shown in their readiness
to give accommodation to it within their bounds. Deeming a high place to
be the kind of situation where it should rest, they selected the house
of Abinadab in the hill, he being probably a Levite. To keep the ark
they set apart his son Eleazar, whose name seems to indicate that he was
of the house of Aaron. They seem to have done all they could, and with
due regard to the requirements of the law, for the custody of the sacred
symbol. But Kirjath-jearim was not turned into the seat of the national
worship. There is no word of sacrificial or other services being
performed there. There is nothing to indicate that the annual feasts
were held at this place. The ark had a resting-place there--nothing
more.
And this lasted for twenty years. It was a long and dreary time. A rude
shock had been given to the sacred customs of the people, and the comely
order of the Divine service among them. The ark and the other sacred
vessels were separated from each other. If, as seems likely (1 Sam.
xxi.), the daily offerings and other sacred services ordained by Moses
were offered at this time at Nob, a sense of imperfection could not but
belong to them, for the ark of the covenant was not there.
Incompleteness would attach to any public rites that might now be
celebrated. The service of Baal and Ashtaroth would have a less powerful
rival than when the service of Jehovah was conducted in all due form and
regularity at Shiloh. During these years the nation seems to have been
somewhat listless on the subject, and to have made no effort to remove
the ark to a more suitable place. Kirjath-jearim was not in the centre,
but on the very edge of the country, looking down into the territory of
the Philistines, not far from the very cities where the ark had been in
captivity, a constant reminder to the Israelites of its degradation.
That Samuel was profoundly concerned about all this we cannot doubt. But
he seems to have made no effort to remedy it, most probably because he
knew it to be God's order first to make the people sensible of their
wickedness, and only thereafter to restore to them free access to
Himself.
What then was Samuel doing during the twenty years that the ark was at
Kirjath-jearim? We can answer that question only conjecturally, only
from what we know of his general character. It cannot be doubted that
in some way or other he was trying to make the nation sensible of their
sins against God; to show them that it was to these sins that their
subjection to the Philistines was due; and to urge them to abandon their
idolatrous practices if they desired a return to independence and peace.
Perhaps he began at this period to move about from place to place,
urging those views, as he moved about afterwards when he held the office
of Judge (vii. 16). And perhaps he was laying the foundations of those
schools of the prophets that afterwards were associated with his name.
Whenever he found young men disposed to his views he would doubtless
cultivate their acquaintance, and urge them to steadfastness and
progress in the way of the Lord. There is nothing said to indicate that
Samuel was connected with the priestly establishment at Nob.
There are two great services for God and for Israel in which we find
Samuel engaged in the first nine verses of this chapter: 1. In exhorting
and directing them with a view to bring them into a right state before
God. 2. This being accomplished, in praying for them in their time of
trouble, and obtaining Divine help when the Philistines drew near in
battle.
1. In the course of time the people appear to have come to feel how sad
and desolate their national life was without any tokens of God's
presence and grace. "All the house of Israel lamented after the Lord."
The expression is a peculiar one, and some critics, not understanding
its spiritual import, have proposed to give it a different meaning. But
for this there is no cause. It seems to denote that the people, missing
God, under the severe oppression of the Philistines, had begun to grieve
over the sins that had driven Him away, and to long after Him, to long
for His return. These symptoms of repentance, however, had not shown
themselves in a very definite or practical form. Samuel was not
satisfied with the amount of earnestness evinced as yet. He must have
more decided evidence of sincerity and repentance. He insisted on it
that they must "put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among them,
and prepare their hearts unto the Lord and serve Him only."
Now the putting away of the strange gods and Ashtaroth was a harder
condition than we at first should suppose. Some are inclined to fancy
that it was a mere senseless and ridiculous obstinacy that drew the
Israelites so much to the worship of the idolatrous gods of their
neighbours. In reality the temptation was of a much more subtle kind.
Their religious worship as prescribed by Moses had little to attract the
natural feelings of the human heart. It was simple, it was severe, it
was self-denying. The worship of the pagan nations was more lively and
attractive. Fashionable entertainments and free-and-easy revelries were
superadded to please the carnal mind. Between Hebrew and heathen
worship, there was something of the contrast that you find between the
severe simplicity of a Puritan meeting and the gorgeous and fashionable
splendour of a great Romish ceremonial. To put away Baalim and Ashtaroth
was to abjure what was fashionable and agreeable, and fall back on what
was unattractive and sombre. Was it not, too, an illiberal demand? Was
it not a sign of narrowness to be so exclusively devoted to their own
religion that they could view that of their neighbours with no sort of
pleasure? Why not acknowledge that in other religions there was an
element of good, that the services in them were the expression of a
profound religious sentiment, and were therefore entitled to a measure
of praise and approval? It is very certain that with this favourite view
of modern liberalism neither Samuel nor any of the prophets had the
slightest sympathy. No. If the people were in earnest now, they must
show it by putting away every image and every object and ornament that
was connected with the worship of other gods. Jehovah would have their
homage on no other terms. If they chose to divide it between Him and
other gods, they might call on them for help and blessing; for it was
most certain that the God of Israel would receive no worship that was
not rendered to Him alone.
But the people were in earnest; and this first demand of Samuel was
complied with. We are to remember that the people of Israel, in their
typical significance, stand for those who are by grace in covenant with
God, and that their times of degeneracy represent, in the case of
Christians, seasons of spiritual backsliding, when the things of this
world are too keenly sought, when the fellowship of the world is
habitually resorted to, when the soul loses its spiritual appetite, and
religious services become formal and cold. Does there begin to dawn on
such a soul a sense of spiritual poverty and loneliness? Does the spirit
of the hymn begin to breathe from it--
"Return, O holy Dove, return,
Sweet Messenger of rest!
I hate the sins that made Thee mourn
And drove Thee from my breast."
Then the first steps towards revival and communion must be the forsaking
of these sins, and of ways of life that prepare the way for them. The
sorrow for sin that is working in the conscience is the work of the Holy
Ghost; and if the Holy Ghost be resisted in this His first operation--if
the sins, or ways toward sin, against which He has given His warning be
persisted in, the Spirit is grieved and His work is stopped. The Spirit
calls us to set our hearts against these sins, and "prepare them unto
the Lord."
Let us mark carefully this last expression. It is not enough that in
church, or at some meeting, or in our closet, we experience a painful
conviction how much we have offended God, and a desire not to offend Him
in like manner any more. We must "prepare our hearts" for this end. We
must remember that in the world with which we mingle we are exposed to
many influences that remove God from our thoughts, that stimulate our
infirmities, that give force to temptation, that lessen our power of
resistance, that tend to draw us back into our old sins. One who has a
tendency to intemperance may have a sincere conviction that his acts of
drunkenness have displeased God, and a sincere wish never to be drunk
again. But besides this he must "prepare his heart" against his sin. He
must resolve to turn away from everything that leads to drinking, that
gives strength to the temptation, that weakens his power of resistance,
that draws him, as it were, within the vortex. He must fortify himself,
by joining a society or otherwise, against the insidious approaches of
the vice. And in regard to all that displeases God he must order his
life so that it shall be abandoned, it shall be parted with for ever.
You may say this is asking him to do more than he can do. No doubt it
is. But is not the Holy Spirit working in him? Is it not the Holy Spirit
that is urging him to do these things? Whoever is urged by the Holy
Spirit may surely rely on the power of the Spirit when he endeavours to
comply with His suggestions. When God works in us to will and to do of
His good pleasure, we may surely work out our own salvation with fear
and trembling.
Having found the people so far obedient to his requirements, Samuel's
next step was to call an assembly of all Israel to Mizpeh. He desired to
unite all who were like-minded in a purpose of repentance and
reformation, and to rouse them to a higher pitch of intensity by contact
with a great multitude animated by the same spirit. When the assembly
met, it was in a most proper spirit. They began the proceedings by
drawing water and pouring it out before the Lord, and by fasting. These
two acts being joined in the narrative, it is probable they were acts of
the same character. Now as fasting was evidently an expression of
contrition, so the pouring out of the water must have been so too. It is
necessary to remark this, because an expression not unlike to our text,
in Isa. xii., denotes an act of a joyful character, "With joy shall ye
draw water out of the wells of salvation." But what was done on this
occasion was to draw water and _pour it out before the Lord_. And this
seems to have been done as a symbol of pouring out before God
confessions of sin drawn from the depths of the heart. What they said in
connection with these acts was, "We have sinned against the Lord." They
were no longer in the mood in which the Psalmist was when he kept
silence, and his bones waxed old through his roaring all the day. They
were in the mood into which he came when he said, "I will confess my
transgressions to the Lord." They humbled themselves before God in deep
convictions of their unworthiness, and being thus emptied of self they
were in a better state to receive the gracious visitation of love and
mercy.
It is important to mark the stress which is laid here on the _public
assembly_ of the people. Some might say would it not have answered the
same end if the people had humbled themselves apart--the family of the
house of Levi apart, and their wives apart, every family apart, and
their wives apart, as in the great mourning of Zechariah (Zech. xii.
12-14)? We answer, the one way did not exclude the other; we do not need
to ask which is best, for both are best. But when Samuel convened the
people to a public assembly, he evidently did it on the principle on
which in the New Testament we are required not to forsake the assembling
of ourselves together. It is in order that the presence of people
like-minded, and with the same earnest feelings and purposes, may have a
rousing and warming influence upon us. No doubt there are other purposes
connected with public worship. We need constant instruction and constant
reminding of the will of God. But the public assembly and the social
prayer-meeting are intended to have another effect. They are intended to
increase our spiritual earnestness by the sight and presence of so many
persons in earnest. Alas! what a difference there often is between the
ideal and the real. Those cold and passionless meetings that our
churches and halls often present--how little are they fitted, by the
earnestness and warmth of their tone, to give those who attend them a
great impulse heavenward! Never let us be satisfied with our public
religious services until they are manifestly adapted to this great end.
Thus did Samuel seek to promote repentance and revival among his people,
and to prepare the way for a return of God's favour. And it is in this
very way that if we would have a revival of earnest religion, we must
set about obtaining it.
2. The next scene in the panorama of the text is--the Philistines
invading Israel. Here Samuel's service is that of an intercessor,
praying for his people, and obtaining God's blessing. It is to be
observed that the alleged occasion for this event is said to have been
the meeting held at Mizpeh. "When the Philistines heard that the
children of Israel were gathered together to Mizpeh, the lords of the
Philistines went up against Israel." Was not this most strange and
distressing? The blessed assembly which Samuel had convened only gives
occasion for a new Philistine invasion! Trying to do his people good,
Samuel would appear only to have done them harm. With the assembly at
Mizpeh, called as it was for spiritual ends, the Philistines could have
no real cause for complaint. Either they mistook its purpose and thought
it a meeting to devise measures to throw off their yoke, or they had an
instinctive apprehension that the spirit which the people of Israel were
now showing would be accompanied by some remarkable interposition on
their behalf. It is not rare for steps taken with the best of intentions
to become for a time the occasion of a great increase of evil,--just as
the remonstrances of Moses with Pharaoh led at first to the increase of
the people's burdens; or just as the coming of Christ into the world
caused the massacre of the babes of Bethlehem. So here, the first public
step taken by Samuel for the people's welfare was the occasion of an
alarming invasion by their cruel enemies. But God's word on such
occasions is, "Be still and know that I am God." Such events are
suffered only to stimulate faith and patience. They are not so very
overwhelming events to those who know that God is with them, and that
"none of them that trust in Him shall be desolate." Though the
Israelites at this time were not far advanced in spiritual life, they
betrayed no consternation when they heard of the invasion of the
Philistines. They knew where their help was to be found, and recognizing
Samuel as their mediator, they said to him, "Cease not to cry unto the
Lord our God for us, that He will save us out of the hand of the
Philistines."
With this request Samuel most readily complies. But first he offers a
sucking lamb as a whole burnt-offering to the Lord, and only after this
are we told that "Samuel cried unto the Lord, and the Lord heard him."
The lesson is supremely important. When sinners approach God to entreat
His favour, it must be by the new and living way, sprinkled with atoning
blood. All other ways of access will fail. How often has this been
exemplified in the history of the Church! How many anxious sinners have
sought unto God by other ways, but have been driven back, sometimes
farther from Him than before. Luther humbles himself in the dust and
implores God's favour, and struggles with might and main to reform his
heart; but Luther cannot find peace until he sees how it is in the
righteousness of another he is to draw nigh and find the blessing,--in
the righteousness of the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the
world. Dr. Chalmers, profoundly impressed with the sinfulness of his
past life, strives, with the energy of a giant, to attain conformity to
the will of God; but he too is only tossed about in weary
disappointment until he finds rest in the atoning mercy of God in
Christ. We may be well assured that no sense of peace can come into the
guilty soul till it accepts Jesus Christ as its Saviour in all the
fulness of His saving power.
Another lesson comes to us from Samuel's intercession. It is well to try
to get God's servants to pray for us. But little real progress can be
made till we can pray for ourselves. Whoever really desires to enjoy
God's favour, be it for the first time after he has come to the sense of
his sins; or be it at other times, after God's face has been hid from
him for a time through his backsliding, can never come as he ought to
come without earnest prayer. For prayer is the great medium that God has
appointed to us for communion with Himself. "Ask and ye shall receive,
seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you." If there
be any lesson written with a sunbeam alike in the Old Testament and in
the New, it is that God is the Hearer of prayer. Only let us take heed
to the quality and tone of our prayer. Before God can listen to it, it
must be from the heart. To gabble over a form of prayer is not to pray.
Saul of Tarsus had said many a prayer before his conversion; but after
that for the first time it was said of him, "Behold, he prayeth." To
pray is to ask an interview with God, and when we are alone with Him, to
unburden our souls to Him. Those only who have learned to pray thus in
secret can pray to any purpose in the public assembly. It is in this
spirit, surely, that the highest gifts of Divine grace are to be sought.
Emphatically it is in this way that we are to pray for our nation or for
our Church. Let us come with large and glowing hearts when we come to
pray for a whole community. Let us plead with God for Church and for
nation in the very spirit of the prophet: "For Zion's sake I will not
hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the
righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof
as a lamp that burneth."