1 Samuel 7:9

9 Then Samuel took a suckling lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the LORD. He cried out to the LORD on behalf of Israel, and the LORD answered him.

1 Samuel 7:9 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 7:9

And Samuel took a sucking lamb
Which it might be, and yet more than eight days old, for under that it might not be sacrificed, ( Exodus 22:30 )

and offered it for a burnt offering wholly unto the Lord;
the whole of it was burnt, skin and all, whereas the skin was the priest's in other burnt offerings; and this is remarked ^F13 as one of the three things in which it differed from other offerings; the word being feminine, the Jews gather from hence, as Jarchi notes, that females might be offered at a private altar:

and Samuel cried unto the Lord for Israel;
not only offered a sacrifice for them, but prayed for them:

and the Lord heard him;
and answered him, either by causing fire to come down on the sacrifice, by which it was consumed, or by the voice of thunder, which frightened and discomfited the Philistines; and the event of things manifestly showed it.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F13 Midrash Schemuel apud Abarbinel in loc.

1 Samuel 7:9 In-Context

7 When the Philistines heard that the Israelites had gathered at Mizpah, their rulers marched up toward Israel. And when the Israelites learned of this, they feared the Philistines

8 and said to Samuel, “Do not stop crying out to the LORD our God for us, that He may save us from the hand of the Philistines.”

9 Then Samuel took a suckling lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the LORD. He cried out to the LORD on behalf of Israel, and the LORD answered him.

10 As the Philistines drew near to fight against Israel, Samuel was offering up the burnt offering. But that day the LORD thundered loudly against the Philistines and threw them into such confusion that they fled before Israel.

11 Then the men of Israel charged out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, striking them down all the way to an area below Beth-car.