1 Samuel 7:5

5 Then Samuel said, Let all Israel come to Mizpah and I will make prayer to the Lord for you.

1 Samuel 7:5 Meaning and Commentary

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 repentance for their sins, reform from them, and have remission of them, and be delivered out of the hands of their enemies.

1 Samuel 7:5 In-Context

3 Then Samuel said to all Israel, If with all your hearts you would come back to the Lord, then put away all the strange gods and the Astartes from among you, and let your hearts be turned to the Lord, and be servants to him only: and he will make you safe from the hands of the Philistines.

4 So the children of Israel gave up the worship of Baal and Astarte, and became worshippers of the Lord only.

5 Then Samuel said, Let all Israel come to Mizpah and I will make prayer to the Lord for you.

6 So they came together to Mizpah, and got water, draining it out before the Lord, and they took no food that day, and they said, We have done evil against the Lord. And Samuel was judge of the children of Israel in Mizpah.

7 Now when the Philistines had news that the children of Israel had come together at Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And the children of Israel, hearing of it, were full of fear.