Covenant Renewal

As we resume our studies in 1 Samuel, Israel is beginning to “lament after the Lord.” The language in this statement is a bit unusual, but we have seen Israel doing this sort of thing before—especially in the book of Judges. In fact, Israel is passing through a very Judges-like cycle of covenant infidelity, oppression, repentance, and deliverance. The people largely abandoned the worship of Yahweh during Eli’s time and apparently began to serve other gods. Therefore, God allowed the Philistines to defeat them in battle and to overrun the sanctuary at Shiloh. Though God Himself brought the ark of the covenant back from its captivity among the Philistines, it languished for about 20 years in Kirjath Jearim even as the nation languished under Philistine oppression. But now, Israel is beginning to “lament after the Lord,” just as they so often cried out to God for deliverance after a period of oppression in Judges. Here in 1 Samuel, just as in Judges, God-ordained oppression is finally humbling the Israelites. They are beginning to cry to God for deliverance.

At this point, Samuel himself reappears in the narrative. We know nothing of his life or ministry since Eli died and the tabernacle was overrun. Perhaps he has been traveling about calling Israel to repentance, and his message is at last bearing fruit. In any case, it is he who instructs the newly repentant Israelites as to what they must do. He calls them to take concrete steps, to get rid of all foreign gods and to rededicate themselves to Yahweh, promising that God will send deliverance if they do so. The Israelites show that their repentance is genuine by doing as Samuel says. But this repentance is largely on the individual level; there needs to be corporate repentance, too. So Samuel invites all of the people to come to Mizpah, some seven miles north of Jerusalem, for a solemn covenant-renewal assembly. When they come together, the Israelites draw and pour out water before God (symbolizing deep distress; as the water is wasted, so Israel has wasted its status as God’s covenant people), they fast (depriving themselves to show their focus on God), and they confess their sin. Then Samuel “judges” Israel in the prophetic sense; he prays for them as he promised he would and, as God’s representative, assures them of their reconciliation to Him.