1 Samuel 7:1-17: Turning Back to God

1 Samuel 7:1-17: Turning Back to God

We’ve been working our way passage by passage through the book of 1 Samuel, and today the next passage we come to is 1 Samuel 7:1-17. It says,

1 And the men of Kiriath-jearim came and took up the ark of the Lord and brought it to the house of Abinadab on the hill. And they consecrated his son Eleazar to have charge of the ark of the Lord. 2 From the day that the ark was lodged at Kiriath-jearim, a long time passed, some twenty years, and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord. 3 And Samuel said to all the house of Israel, “If you are returning to the Lord with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you and direct your heart to the Lord and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.” 4 So the people of Israel put away the Baals and the Ashtaroth, and they served the Lord only. 5 Then Samuel said, “Gather all Israel at Mizpah, and I will pray to the Lord for you.” 6 So they gathered at Mizpah and drew water and poured it out before the Lord and fasted on that day and said there, “We have sinned against the Lord.” And Samuel judged the people of Israel at Mizpah. 7 Now when the Philistines heard that the people of Israel had gathered at Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the people of Israel heard of it, they were afraid of the Philistines. 8 And the people of Israel said to Samuel, “Do not cease to cry out to the Lord our God for us, that he may save us from the hand of the Philistines.” 9 So Samuel took a nursing lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. And Samuel cried out to the Lord for Israel, and the Lord answered him. 10 As Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to attack Israel. But the Lord thundered with a mighty sound that day against the Philistines and threw them into confusion, and they were defeated before Israel. 11 And the men of Israel went out from Mizpah and pursued the Philistines and struck them, as far as below Beth-car. 12 Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen and called its name Ebenezer; for he said, “Till now the Lord has helped us.” 13 So the Philistines were subdued and did not again enter the territory of Israel. And the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. 14 The cities that the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron to Gath, and Israel delivered their territory from the hand of the Philistines. There was peace also between Israel and the Amorites. 15 Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. 16 And he went on a circuit year by year to Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah. And he judged Israel in all these places. 17 Then he would return to Ramah, for his home was there, and there also he judged Israel. And he built there an altar to the Lord. 

May God bless the reading of his Word.

Let’s pray: Father, your Word is more to be desired than gold and sweeter also than honey. So help us to see its value, taste its sweetness, and experience its power this morning through the Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

I imagine just about all of us have heard or read about well-known people who have been caught doing something scandalous and have understood the need to issue some sort of apology for their behavior. However, let’s just say that the apologies they offer under such circumstances quite often leave much to be desired. 

For starters, these well-known figures often find ways to minimize their wrongdoing and downplay the severity of the harm it’s caused to others. It’s also common for them to blame other people for their wrongdoing instead of taking personal responsibility for the choices they’ve made. And there’s really nothing new about either of these tendencies. They’ve both been around for thousands of years. 

Yet there is another tendency that, I believe, is more unique to our modern age. I’ve noticed that people—and especially high-profile people—will often respond to the exposure of their scandalous behavior by informing everyone that they plan to get the therapy they need in order to deal with their issues. I can’t help but think of one well-known athlete who admitted to cheating on his wife with numerous other women—since the evidence was irrefutable—but then assured everyone that he planned to get therapy he needed in order to deal with that issue in his life. 

Now, I’m not saying that therapy can’t be helpful when it comes to dealing with traumatic experiences from our past or other issues of a similar nature. However, in our modern culture, therapy seems to have become a popular substitute for repentance. Instead of repenting of their sin and making a definitive determination to turn away from it, people seem to much prefer to simply get therapy for their issues and struggles. 

And I don’t think it’s all that difficult to figure out why that’s the case. It’s much easier to attempt to process the pain of our past hurts than it is to confront the reality of our present sin. It’s also much easier to embark on a journey of self-discovery and self-expression than it is to commit to a life of holiness and agree to be held accountable for that. These are some of the reasons why people seem to prefer therapy above repentance. 

Yet, as we’ll see this morning, repentance is the key to us experiencing freedom from the sinful desires and tendencies that would otherwise dominate our lives. Even though therapy or blame-shifting or minimizing our sin might initially seem to be easier and more attractive options than repentance, they’ll never allow us to experience the freedom from our sins that I think most of us desire. If we want to be liberated from the sinful tendencies would otherwise enslave us, repentance is the gateway to that freedom. 

Yet, even among Christians, repentance seems to be frequently misunderstood. Thankfully, though, our main passage today of 1 Samuel 7 helps us understand what repentance is and how it can be so revolutionary in our lives. In this passage, Samuel leads the Israelites in national repentance. That’s the main idea of this passage. Samuel leads the Israelites in national repentance. 

Now, if you were here last Sunday, you may recall that, in the previous passage, God judged the Israelites by allowing them to be defeated repeatedly by the Philistines. He even allowed the Philistines to capture the ark of the covenant for a period of time. Then, after the Philistines themselves experienced God’s judgement, they returned the ark to Israel. However, when a number of Israelites disregarded God’s instructions and foolishly tried to look inside the ark, God struck down 70 of them for their irreverent disregard for his holiness. So, things were not going well for the Israelites. We also learn from other passages in the Bible that the Israelites were engaged in a lot of idolatrous worship during this period of time. 

Yet, as we said, this passage records Samuel leading them in national repentance. And as we go through this passage, we’re going to see five principles about repentance. If you’re taking notes, feel free to write those down as we come to them. Five principles this passage teaches us about repentance. 

First, repentance begins with lamenting the way our sins have separated us from God. Repentance begins with lamenting the way our sins have separated us from God. Look at verses 1-2: 1 And the men of Kiriath-jearim came and took up the ark of the Lord and brought it to the house of Abinadab on the hill. And they consecrated his son Eleazar to have charge of the ark of the Lord. 2 From the day that the ark was lodged at Kiriath-jearim, a long time passed, some twenty years, and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord. 

So, between the time when God struck down 70 Israelites for disregarding his holiness by looking into the ark and what’s recorded from this point on in chapter 7, a period of 20 years has passed. And as we’ll see, Samuel isn’t just a boy any longer but is now a man and takes an active role in leading the Israelite nation. 

We also see in verse 2 that, after the 20-year period had passed, “all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord.” Other translations say that they “mourned after the Lord” or that they “longed for the Lord.” Essentially, they came to a realization that God was distant from them and—in the words of Isaiah 59:2—that he had hidden is face from them. And they lamented this dreadful state of affairs and longed to be close to God once again. And that’s where genuine repentance begins. It begins with lamenting the way our sins have separated us from God. 

You see, even if we sometimes fail to recognize it, God is the source of all true joy. Even though sin promises us wonderful things, it never delivers on those promises. It’s a mirage that looks good from a distance and might even seem good at first but that eventually brings misery and disaster. 

I appreciate the way God describes the sins of his people in Jeremiah 2:13. He says, “[F]or my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.” A cistern, back in ancient times, was a large hole in the ground that people dug in order to store water for when they needed it. It would typically be lined with rocks and primitive cement to keep the water from draining out. But sometimes, that cement seal would be broken. And that’s what God compares his peoples’ sins to: “broken cisterns that can hold no water.” That’s what our sins are. Even though sin might initially look good and fun for a time, it’s ultimately nothing more than a broken cistern that can hold no water. It doesn’t do for us what we want it to do. Sin never satisfies.  

By contrast, though, God says that he’s “the fountain of living waters”—in that he supplies endless and life-giving refreshment to all who drink from him. God is the only one who can satisfy the thirsty soul. And genuine repentance begins when we realize that and lament our separation from God and long to be close to him. So, understand that genuine repentance doesn’t come from us merely regretting the earthly repercussions of our sinful behavior or being sorry that we got caught doing something bad. Instead, it has to come from a deep yearning within our hearts for God. And returning to our main passage, that’s the sense in which the Israelites “lamented after the Lord.”

Then a second principle we can observe from this passage is that repentance involves renouncing our idols and wholeheartedly turning to the Lord. Repentance involves renouncing our idols and wholeheartedly turning to the Lord. Look at verses 3-4: 3 And Samuel said to all the house of Israel, “If you are returning to the Lord with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you and direct your heart to the Lord and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.” 4 So the people of Israel put away the Baals and the Ashtaroth, and they served the Lord only. 

So, Samuel tells the Israelites that their first order of business needs to be to “put away the foreign gods” that are among them. These were the pagan gods and goddesses of the Canaanites. Over time, the Israelites had gradually given themselves over to the worship of these false deities, but now, Samuel says, they need to be exclusively devoted to the One True God. Only then will they be delivered from the Philistines. 

And even though we may not have literal pagan deities that we worship today—at least, not very commonly in our culture—we still have plenty of idols within our hearts and present in our lives. There are plenty of things that we worship in place of the One True God—whether it be gaining the approval of other people, having or maintaining a particular romantic relationship, enjoying success in our career, accumulating material wealth, obtaining power and influence, achieving notoriety for a certain accomplishment, being physically attractive, enjoying a life of ease and comfort, as well as a wide variety of other things. These are all things that people commonly look to as their ultimate source of significance, security, and satisfaction. 

Of course, it’s not that these things are inherently bad, but when we take a good thing and make it an ultimate thing, it becomes an idol for us. And this is something that virtually everyone does. It’s pervasive in every society. That’s why John Calvin famously described the human heart as a perpetual factory of idols. We’re constantly tempted to worship various things instead of worshiping the One True God. 

So, when you’re repenting, don’t just focus on your outward behaviors. Surface-level behavior modification isn’t the goal here. Instead, you have to go deeper than your outward behaviors and focus on the root causes of those behaviors within your heart. What idols are you worshiping within your heart that have led to you engaging in the behaviors you’ve engaged in? 

In addition, we also see in these verses that repentance involves a whole lot more than merely feeling sorry for our sins. Notice in verse 4 how the Israelites don’t just say they’re sorry for their idolatry and express remorse for it. They take action in the form of actually “put[ting] away” the idols they’ve been worshiping. Similarly, repentance for us isn’t just about feeling sorry for our sins or even weeping over our sins. Instead, genuine repentance involves purposing within our hearts to actually turn away from those sins. In fact, that’s probably a decent definition of repentance—purposing within our heart to turn away from sin. And the genuineness of that repentance is seen as we follow through with what we purpose in our heart in real and tangible ways. As I once heard it said, the evidence of genuine repentance isn’t just tears, but transformation. 

And notice also in these verses that it’s either all or nothing. In verse 3, Samuel speaks of returning to the Lord “with all your heart” and directing their hearts exclusively to the Lord and “serv[ing] him only.” Verse 4 then says that the Israelites did this. They put away their pagan deities and, it states, “served the Lord only.” Likewise, with us, repentance has to be wholehearted. We have to repent not just some of our sins but of all the sins the Holy Spirit brings to our attention. 

Thinking that we’re repenting while, at the same time, tolerating some of what the Holy Spirit has shown us needs to be eliminated would be similar to a husband being found by his wife to have five mistresses and only committing to get rid of four of them. Can you imagine that? Imagine of a wife discovering that her husband has been sleeping with five other women and confronting him about it and the husband telling her how sorry he is for his behavior and begging for her forgiveness but only committing to cut things off with four of the five women he’s been sleeping with. How well do you think that’s going to go over with his wife? Probably not very well. 

So, why would we expect that kind of thing to go over any better with God? Why would we think God would accept our repentance as genuine if we’re still knowingly holding onto a certain sin or sins in our life? He won’t. So, when it comes to repentance, we can’t have a divided heart. It simply won’t do to tell God we’re repenting while at the same time trying to hold onto a particular sin that he’s brought to our attention to. 

So, as we read about the Israelites in this passage forsaking all of their idols and serving the Lord “only,” we should ask ourselves whether we’re actually doing that. Are you devoted exclusively to God, or do you have a divided heart? Are you surrendering everything in your life to him, or is there a part of your life that you’re holding back from him? 

And if you’ll permit one more observation from these verses before we continue on in the passage, I’d like to point out that repentance also involves not merely ceasing our sinning but also replacing our sinful behavior with the corresponding godly behavior. The Israelites not only stop worshiping idols; they simultaneously start worshiping the Lord. 

The Apostle Paul describes this same dynamic in Ephesians 4:22-24, where he speaks of not merely “putting off” the old self but also “putting on” the new self. Genuine repentance involves both of those things—a “putting off” of the old and a “putting on” of the new. Paul then gives several examples of what that might look like. He says in verse 28 that the thief needs to not only stop stealing but also start doing honest work so that he can start being generous to those in need. Paul then gives another example in verse 29 of the need to not only stop allowing corrupting talk to come out of our mouths but to also start using our words to actually build up the people around us. So, it’s not enough to merely stop doing a sinful behavior. We have to also start doing the corresponding godly behavior. And that’s what the Israelites do in 1 Samuel 7 as they start worshiping the Lord.  

Then, moving on in the passage, a third principle we see is that repentance involves taking responsibility for our sin. Repentance involves taking responsibility for our sin. We read in verses 5-6, 5 Then Samuel said, “Gather all Israel at Mizpah, and I will pray to the Lord for you.” 6 So they gathered at Mizpah and drew water and poured it out before the Lord and fasted on that day and said there, “We have sinned against the Lord.” And Samuel judged the people of Israel at Mizpah. 

So, the repentance of the Israelites included a very clear admission of their sin and guilt before God. They confess in verse 6, “We have sinned against the Lord.” And as I mentioned at the beginning, that seems to be an element that’s notably missing from many supposed apologies today. Instead of directly and unambiguously taking personal responsibility for their sin, people will often try to deny their sin, minimize their sin, rationalize their sin, or blame their sin on someone else. Yet true freedom from sin begins where these behaviors end. If we want to be free from our sin, we have to take personal responsibility for what we’ve done. 

And as I said, that’s why I believe the modern trend of substituting therapy for genuine repentance is so problematic. Until we’re willing to move beyond a victimhood mentality, in which we view ourselves as nothing more than a victim to various forces in our hearts and circumstances in our lives and events of our past, we’ll essentially live in a prison of our own making. That’s what a victimhood mentality does—it leaves us locked in a prison of our own making. In reality, the only way we can truly be free from the shackles of our sin is by accepting responsibility for it—just as the Israelites do here in verse 6 by openly acknowledging the reality of their sin against God. 

After that, a fourth principle we see is that repentance can only bring reconciliation with God if atonement is made for our sins. Again, repentance can only bring reconciliation with God if atonement is made for our sins. This is pictured in verses 7-11, which says, 7 Now when the Philistines heard that the people of Israel had gathered at Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the people of Israel heard of it, they were afraid of the Philistines. 8 And the people of Israel said to Samuel, “Do not cease to cry out to the Lord our God for us, that he may save us from the hand of the Philistines.” 9 So Samuel took a nursing lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. And Samuel cried out to the Lord for Israel, and the Lord answered him. 10 As Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to attack Israel. But the Lord thundered with a mighty sound that day against the Philistines and threw them into confusion, and they were defeated before Israel. 11 And the men of Israel went out from Mizpah and pursued the Philistines and struck them, as far as below Beth-car. 

So, the Israelites win a decisive victory over the Philistines. Yet it’s clear that a key factor that leads to this victory is the burnt offering that Samuel sacrifices on behalf of Israel in verse 9. It says that “Samuel took a nursing lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. And Samuel cried out to the Lord for Israel, and the Lord answered him.” A key part of the reason Samuel’s prayer for deliverance is answered is because of the burnt offering Samuel offers. That’s what was needed in order for the sinful Israelites to be reconciled with a holy God and thereby be granted victory over their enemies in battle. 

We find additional information about what a burnt offering was and what it accomplished in Leviticus 1:3-4, in which God says, 3 “If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer a male without blemish. He shall bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before the Lord. 4 He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. 

So, a burnt offering made “atonement” for the sins of God’s people. The God of the Bible is a holy God and is compelled by his own holy nature to punish sin. Yet the idea behind a burnt offering is that the animal being offered as a sacrifice functions as a substitute of sorts for the person who committed the sin. That’s why Leviticus 1:4 instructs the person to lay his hand on the animal’s head. It’s as if the person’s guilt is being transferred to that animal. And it’s in this way that the animal’s death makes atonement for the person’s sin. That’s why, back in our main passage, Samuel had to offer the burnt offering. In order for the Israelites to be reconciled with God, atonement had to be made for their sin. 

And the same is true of us today. In order for us to be reconciled with a holy God, our sins and the objective guilt we bear because of our sins has to be dealt with. God’s justice has to be satisfied. Atonement has to be made. Yet the Bible’s clear that that atonement ultimately doesn’t come through the sacrifice of any animal but rather through the sacrifice of God’s own Son Jesus on the cross. 

You see, the reality is that the animal sacrifices of the Old Testament didn’t actually atone for the sins of God’s people in any final sense. Instead, true and ultimate atonement is only possible through Jesus. Jesus was the ultimate lamb without blemish who lived a perfectly sinless life and then died on the cross to take the punishment for our sins. He was then raised from the dead as a sign that the Father had indeed accepted his sacrifice. And the only way we as sinful people can be reconciled with a hoy God is if we not only repent of our sins but also put our full trust and confidence in Jesus alone for rescue. 

So, in order for us to experience true deliverance from our sins and forgiveness for our sins, it’s critical that we not just repent of our sins but also—as a key element of our repentance—put our faith in Jesus to save us. Faith in Jesus is a critical component of genuine repentance. Without it, all of our attempts to turn away from a certain sinful behavior merely amount to moralism, in which we trust in our own outward morality to gain us entrance into heaven instead of trusting in Jesus. And if we do that, we’re basically just trading in one sin for another. We’re trading in whatever sin we were originally committing for the sin of moralism and self-sufficiency—and we therefore remain under God’s condemnation. 

This is why, as I once heard it said, turning from sin without turning to Jesus is like changing seats on the Titanic. Turning from sin without turning to Jesus is like changing seats on the Titanic. It’s a futile movement that won’t do anything to save us from the judgment that’s coming. That’s why it’s so critical for us to not only turn away from our sins but also put our faith in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus on the cross as the only way we can be reconciled with a holy God. 

Then a fifth and final principle we see in this passage is that repentance brings tremendous blessing. Repentance brings tremendous blessing. This is pictured in verses 12-14: 12 Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen and called its name Ebenezer; for he said, “Till now the Lord has helped us.” 13 So the Philistines were subdued and did not again enter the territory of Israel. And the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. 14 The cities that the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron to Gath, and Israel delivered their territory from the hand of the Philistines. There was peace also between Israel and the Amorites. 

So, the result of Israel’s repentance wasn’t just being victorious over the Philistines in a single battle but a widespread liberation of Israelite cities from Philistine control. This was a fulfillment of what God promised the Israelites through Samuel back in verse 3—that if they repented, he’d deliver them from the hand of the Philistines. 

Likewise, for us today, there’s tremendous blessing on the other side of repentance. Even though repentance might be difficult in any number of ways—especially given how attached we often are to our sins—it’s important to remember that there’s tremendous blessing on the other side of repentance. And that blessing comes to us chiefly in the form of a restored relationship to God. 

As I said at the beginning, God is the source of all true joy. He alone is “the fountain of living waters.” And it’s only when we forsake our broken cisterns and turn away from our sins in repentance that we’re able to drink from that fountain. Repentance is the gateway to all of the blessings that are found in God. 

And speaking especially to those who aren’t yet Christians and haven’t yet repented in a definitive manner and put their faith in Jesus, let me invite you to do that even today. If you sense God tugging at your heart today and prompting you to repent, don’t put that off. The early church father Augustine once said that “God has promised forgiveness to your repentance, but He has not promised tomorrow to your procrastination.” Again, “God has promised forgiveness to your repentance, but He has not promised tomorrow to your procrastination.”

I’d also like to remind you that there’s not a single sin that God can’t rescue you from. Now matter what sins you’ve committed or how deep of a mess you’ve gotten yourself into, God can rescue you. As we just saw in verse 14 of our main passage, God not only enabled the Israelites to win a decisive victory over the Philistines in battle, he also restored to Israel the cities that the Philistines had previously taken as a result of Israel’s unfaithfulness to God over the years. Similarly, no matter how far down the road of sin you’ve traveled and how many cities in your life are being occupied by the Philistines, so to speak, as a result of your sin, God can bring incredible restoration in the form of forgiveness, deliverance, healing, reconciliation, and renewal. 

So, will you repent of your sin and embrace the forgiveness and blessing God offers you? As Isaiah 55:6-7 says so well, 6 “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; 7 let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.