1 Samuel 7:4

4 So the {Israelites} removed the Baals and the Ashtoreths, and they served Yahweh alone.

1 Samuel 7:4 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 7:4

Then the children of Israel did put away Baalim and Ashtaroth,
&c.] Both their male and female deities, of which see ( Judges 2:13 ) ( 3:7 )

and served the Lord Only;
Dr. Lightfoot ^F9 observes, that a spirit of repentance and conversion came generally upon all the people; a matter and a time as remarkable as almost any we read of in Scripture, one only parallel to it; and that is in Acts, chapters two and three, at the great conversion there.

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FOOTNOTES:

F9 Works, vol. 1. p. 54.

1 Samuel 7:4 In-Context

2 {From} the day the ark stayed in Kiriath Jearim, {days multiplied and became twenty years} while all the house of Israel mourned after Yahweh.

3 And Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, "If with all your heart you [are] turning to Yahweh, remove the foreign gods and Ashtoreths from your midst. Commit your hearts to Yahweh and serve him alone. Then he will deliver you from the hand of [the] Philistines."

4 So the {Israelites} removed the Baals and the Ashtoreths, and they served Yahweh alone.

5 Then Samuel said, "Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray to Yahweh for you."

6 So they gathered to Mizpah and drew water and poured [it] out before Yahweh. They fasted on that day and said there, "We have sinned against Yahweh!" So Samuel judged the {Israelites} at Mizpah.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "sons/children of Israel"
• [b]. Hebrew plural "Be'alim" (Ba'al was a major Canaanite deity)