Ebenezer Stones (Part 2)

(Part 1 Here)
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We begin our story in 1 Samuel, Chapter 4, verses 1-11. The leader of Israel at this time was the elderly judge and priest, Eli. Israel's spiritual life as at a historic low. The sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were seducing Israelite women in the very Tabernacle itself. There was no clear prophetic voice in the land. Israel was under attack by the Philistines. Eli’s sons thought that Israel would surely win if the Ark of the Covenant was brought forth into their camp. They brought out the Ark with much shouting and rejoicing. The noise in the Israelite camp was so loud that even the Philistines were scared. But guess what? God did not deliver Israel. They were defeated, the Ark was captured, the sons of Eli were killed, the worship center at Shiloh was destroyed, and the Scripture says the glory departed from Israel.

Hophni and Phinehas, and the people they led, had a magic view of God - repeat the words, say the incantations, and God must come through for you. But God was more interested in his people being in right relationship with him, even more so than He was interested in their deliverance. He wanted his people to know and trust him, not just use him. Therefore he let them be defeated, even to the point of allowing the Ark to be captured.

Now turn with me to chapter seven. It is now years later, and Israel is again under Philistine attack. Samuel gathers the people together at Mizpah to rededicated themselves to follow the Lord. As the Philistines came to attack again, this time God intervened.

Just as Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines arrived for battle. But the LORD spoke with a mighty voice of thunder from heaven, and the Philistines were thrown into such confusion that the Israelites defeated them. The men of Israel chased them from Mizpah to Beth-car, slaughtering them all along the way.

Samuel then took a large stone and placed it between the towns of Mizpah and Jeshanah. He named it Ebenezer - the stone of help- for he said, Up to this point the LORD has helped us, So the Philistines were subdued and didn’t invade Israel again for a long time... 1 Sam. 7: 2-14

Israel was forced to trust God, and seek his presence, by their perilous circumstances. Now they were not dealing with magic at a distance, but with the very present Lord proclaimed by his prophet Samuel. They had to repent, cast away their idols, and get into right relationship with their Lord.

Samuel raised up a memorial stone he called Ebenezer - which means "the Stone of Help." I know that most of you, when you hear the name Ebenezer, expect to hear about Tiny Tim and the Ghost of Christmas Past. But this is where the name originally came from. The stone memorial was set up to remind the people of all God’s acts of deliverance in their national history, and of his renewed deliverance that day. Thus, “Up to this point, the Lord has helped us.”

Have you figured out what Hymn I was referring to a while ago? These words can be found in the hymn entitled “Come, Thou Fount” by Robert Robinson and John Wyeth. The song begins with the words:

Come Thou Fount of every blessing, Tune my heart to sing They grace;
Streams of mercy never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise.

Then in verse two the hymn writers say:

Here I raise mine Ebenezer; Hither by Thy help I’m come;
And I hope by Thy good pleasure, Safely to arrive at home.

Most people who sing these words have no idea what the mean. This is a direct reference to this story in 1 Samuel. To raise up an Ebenezer is to memorialize God’s deliverences in your own life. It can mean an actual memorial, or just acts of remembering. But it is a remembrance that leads to acts of obedient faith.

Which brings us to the point of the message today. We should work hard to remember the past acts of God in our lives, not so we can live in the past, but to motivate us to active, overcoming faith now and in the future. That is the contemporary application and meaning of the Ebenezer Stone.

(Part 3 Tomorrow)