Shmuel Alef 7:9

9 And Shmuel took a suckling lamb, and offered him for an olah unto Hashem; and Shmuel cried out unto Hashem on behalf of Yisroel; and Hashem answered him.

Shmuel Alef 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.

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FOOTNOTES:

F13 Midrash Schemuel apud Abarbinel in loc.

Shmuel Alef 7:9 In-Context

7 And when the Pelishtim heard that the Bnei Yisroel were gathered together at Mitzpah, the rulers of the Pelishtim went up against Yisroel. And when the Bnei Yisroel heard it, they were afraid of the Pelishtim.

8 And the Bnei Yisroel said to Shmuel, Cease not to cry out unto Hashem Eloheinu for us, that He will save us out of the yad Pelishtim.

9 And Shmuel took a suckling lamb, and offered him for an olah unto Hashem; and Shmuel cried out unto Hashem on behalf of Yisroel; and Hashem answered him.

10 And as Shmuel was offering up the olah, the Pelishtim drew near to battle against Yisroel; but Hashem thundered with a kol gadol on that day upon the Pelishtim, and threw them into confusion and panic; and they were struck down before Yisroel.

11 And the Anshei Yisroel went from Mitzpah, and pursued the Pelishtim, and struck them down, until they came to below Beit-Kar.