1 Samuël 7:10

10 En het geschiedde, toen Samuel dat brandoffer offerde, zo kwamen de Filistijnen aan ten strijde tegen Israel; en de HEERE donderde te dien dage met een groten donder over de Filistijnen, en Hij verschrikte hen, zodat zij verslagen werden voor het aangezicht van Israel.

1 Samuël 7:10 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 7:10

And as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering
&c.] Which he might do by a priest, as Ben Gersom suggests, he being only a Levite; though he being a prophet, and an extraordinary person, and this an extraordinary case, he might do it himself, as Gideon and others, as well as offer it in another place than where the tabernacle was; Shiloh being now destroyed, persons and places for sacrifice were now dispensed with: and before Samuel had made an end of offering the sacrifice,

the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel;
and were come as far almost as Mizpeh, where Israel were, and Samuel was sacrificing:

but the Lord thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the
Philistines;
which fulfilled Hannah's prophecy, ( 1 Samuel 2:10 ) and this, as Josephus ^F14 says, was attended with lightning, which flashed in their faces, and shook their weapons out of their hands, so that they fled disarmed; and also with an earthquake, which caused gaps in the earth, into which they fell:

and discomfited them;
disturbed, affrighted them, and threw them into confusion and disorder, as well as destroyed many of them:

and they were smitten before Israel;
the meaning of which is not that they fled before them, and were killed by them; but that before Israel could come out against them, and fight with them, they were smitten and destroyed, many of them by the thunder and lightning, and by the earth opening upon them, and devouring them; for this phrase, "before Israel", denotes time, as Abarbinel observes, and not place.

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FOOTNOTES:

F14 Antiqu. l. 6. c. 2. sect. 2.

1 Samuël 7:10 In-Context

8 En de kinderen Israels zeiden tot Samuel: Zwijg niet van onzentwege, dat gij niet zoudt roepen tot den HEERE, onzen God, opdat Hij ons verlosse uit de hand der Filistijnen.

9 Toen nam Samuel een melklam, en hij offerde het geheel den HEERE ten brandoffer; en Samuel riep tot den HEERE voor Israel; en de HEERE verhoorde hem.

10 En het geschiedde, toen Samuel dat brandoffer offerde, zo kwamen de Filistijnen aan ten strijde tegen Israel; en de HEERE donderde te dien dage met een groten donder over de Filistijnen, en Hij verschrikte hen, zodat zij verslagen werden voor het aangezicht van Israel.

11 En de mannen van Israel togen uit van Mizpa, en vervolgden de Filistijnen, en zij sloegen hen tot onder Beth-kar.

12 Samuel nu nam een steen, en stelde dien tussen Mizpa en tussen Sen, en hij noemde diens naam Eben-Haezer; en hij zeide: Tot hiertoe heeft de HEERE ons geholpen.