1 Samuel 7:8

1Sa 7:8 And the children of Israel said to Samuel, Cease not to cry unto the LORD our God for us, that he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines.

Ver. 8. Cease not to cry unto the Lord our God for us.] Samuel they knew to be a Pethuel, {Joe 1:1} a God persuader, a man mighty in prayer, a favourite, and one that had the royalty of God’s ear; they beg of him therefore to exercise his faculty, and to improve his interest in God for them in this exigent, Ne destituas nos ope tua quam praestare potes clamando ad Dominum. {a} Help us, say they, now at a dead lift. So the people afterwards told David at Mahanaim, that he should not go into the field with them, but that he "should succour them," viz., by his prayers, "out of the city." {2Sa 18:3}

{a} Vatab.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Sa_7:8

And the children of Israel said to Samuel, Cease not to cry unto the Lord our God for us.

The cry for mediation

I. Mediation sought. The Israelites, unarmed, undefended, are in great dismay. They turn to Samuel and implore his continued intercession.

1. Times of humiliation for sin and of reformation from sin are times in which the foe is very busy--doing what he can to binder.

2. Times of humiliation and awakening produce a sense of need of an intercessor from personal unworthiness, from the gravity and danger of the occasion, from the difficulty of relation to the unseen. We want someone to act for us. The principle of mediation in the Gospel of Jesus Christ does fit in with our nature and condition.

II. Mediation exercised. Samuel prays and sacrifices.

1. Takes a young lamb.

2. Prays. The mediation of Jesus Christ is so divinely suitable and sufficient, as He is both priest and sacrifice. His offering and intercession may give us boldness and access with confidence.

III. Mediation accepted. The Lord heard him.

1. Interposition by means of the elements of the natural world.

2. The foe is completely routed. (H. Gammage.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Sa 7:8. Cease not to cry unto the Lord, &c. — We are afraid to look God in the face, because of our great wickedness: do thou therefore intercede for us, as Moses did for his generation. They had reason to expect this, because he had promised to pray for them, had promised them deliverance from the Philistines, and they had been observant of him, in all that he had spoken to them from the Lord. Thus they who receive Christ as their lawgiver and judge, need not doubt of their interest in his intercession. O what a comfort it is to all believers, that he never ceaseth, is never silent, but always appears in the presence of God for us.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Signifying, that in the prayers of the godly, there ought to be a vehement zeal.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 8. Cease not to cry unto the Lord] They had strong confidence in the intercession of Samuel, because they knew he was a holy man of God.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(8) Cease not to cry unto the Lord our God for us.—The fear on the part of Israel was very natural Unarmed—or, at least, very poorly armed and equipped—the assembled Israelites saw from the heights the advancing Philistine army. What hope was there for their ill-disciplined masses when they joined battle with that trained host of fighting men? But they remembered the days of old, and how, when Moses prayed, “the Angel of His presence” saved them. Had they not then with them there a seer equal to Moses, greater than Joshua, one with whom the Eternal of Hosts was wont to speak, as friend speaketh with friend? So in that supreme hour of danger they turned to Samuel the seer. We are just going, they said, all unarmed to meet that armed host; “cease not to cry unto the Lord our God for us,” And Samuel, we read in the brief and graphic account before us, hurriedly—for the time was short, and the foe close at hand—and with rites somewhat different from those enjoined in the Law—for the occasion was indeed a critical one—offered up a sacrifice, and raised that weird piercing cry which many in Israel had heard before when Samuel the seer prayed; and while the prophet-statesman was sustaining that loud imploring cry, while the smoke of the slain lamb was still ascending, the first line of the Philistine army appeared on the topmost slope of Mizpeh. Once more, as in old days, the glorious Arm fought with no earthly weapons for the people; an awful thunderstorm burst over the combatant hosts, the storm probably beating in the faces of the advancing Philistines. The tribes welcomed it as the answer to their prophet’s prayer, and with a wild enthusiasm charged down and broke the serried ranks of their oppressors. Josephus tells us of an earthquake, which added fresh horrors to the scene of battle. Each crash of thunder, each wild and furious gust of hail and rain, the men of Israel welcomed as a fresh onslaught on the part of an unseen army fighting by their side. The dismayed Philistines fled, and the rout was complete; the defeated army hurried panic-stricken over the same ground in the neighbourhood of Aphek illustrious twenty years before for their signal victory. The scene of carnage now received the significant name of Eben-ezer, or The Stone of Help.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the children of Israel said to Samuel,.... To whom they applied, not as the general of their forces, but as the prophet of the Lord; believing his prayers for them would be of more avail to them than an army of men ever so numerous, or so well accoutred:

cease not to cry unto the Lord our God for us: he had been praying for them that day, and they desired he would continue praying for them, well knowing that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much; they knew their salvation was of the Lord, and that he only could save them, and that he must be sought unto for it; and as Samuel had an interest in him, they beg he would continue to make use of it on their behalf; in which they expressed their trust in God, their regard to means, the duty of prayer, and the high esteem they had of the prophet of the Lord, whom they entreat to pray for them:

that he will save us out of the hands of the Philistines; who were now coming up against them, and who had for a long time tyrannised over them.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Philistines. Those who distrust their own strength, and join true repentance with prayer, striving to interest the friends of God in their cause, may confidently hope for victory. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

We are ashamed and afraid to look God in the face, because of our great wickedness this day remembered and acknowledged; do thou therefore intercede for us, as Moses did for his generation.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

8. Cease not — The marginal reading is more accurate, Be not silent from us from crying. They now feel that if deliverance comes at all, it must come from Jehovah.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Cease not, &c. - We are afraid to look God in the face, because of our great wickedness: do thou therefore intercede for us, as Moses did for his generation. They had reason to expect this, because he had promised to pray for them, had promised them deliverance from the Philistines, and they had been observant of him, in all that he had spoken to them from the Lord. Thus they who receive Christ as their lawgiver and judge, need not doubt of their interest in his intercession. O what a comfort is it to all believers, that he never ceaseth, but always appears in the presence of God for us.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.