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Ebenezer: "The Stone of Help" · Traveler’s Tales

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  There are places in our lives that deserve a marker.
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  Places where God answered a prayer. Places where
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  He provided when we could not see a way forward. Places where He
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  protected us, strengthened us, or carried us through something we
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  were certain would overwhelm us. And when we look back
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  at those places, we can say with confidence,
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  God helped me there. Welcome to Traveler's Tales,
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  produced by Enjoying the Journey. I'm Greg Dowdy. The Bible
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  was written in real places among real people in moments
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  of history that God used to reveal timeless truth.
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  And when we understand more about those places, people,
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  and moments, Familiar passages often come alive with
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  details we may have passed over before, and they help us see
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  more clearly the God who stands behind every page.
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  Special thanks to our friend John Buckner, whose research helps us
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  appreciate the richness of the biblical world.
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  Today, our journey takes us to a stone set
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  up more than 3,000 years ago, a stone
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  with a name and a message that still speaks to us today.
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  The Bible says in 1 Samuel 7:12,
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  then Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpah and Shen,
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  and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying,
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  hitherto hath the Lord helped us. The word
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  Ebenezer means stone of help. But to appreciate
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  that stone, we need to understand what happened on that ground
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  before. Years earlier, Israel had fought
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  the Philistines in approximately the same region, and they had
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  suffered a devastating defeat. The account is recorded
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  in 1 Samuel 4. After initially losing
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  thousands of men, the Israelites decided to bring the Ark of the
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  Covenant into the camp. Their thinking seems
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  to have been that the presence of the Ark would guarantee victory.
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  But there was a serious problem: they wanted God's power,
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  without God's presence in their lives. They had
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  begun treating the Ark almost like the pagan nations treated their religious
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  objects, as though possessing something associated with God would
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  guarantee His blessing. They had the symbol
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  of God, but their hearts were far from God.
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  And there is a warning here for us. It is possible
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  to own a Bible but neglect the God
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  who gave it. It's possible to attend church while our hearts
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  drift away from the Lord. It's possible to sing the songs,
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  know the language, practice the traditions, and still begin
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  depending upon the forms of Christianity rather
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  than Christ himself. God will never be
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  reduced to a religious good luck charm,
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  and Israel discovered that painfully. They were defeated,
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  thousands of people died, and the Ark of the Covenant
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  was captured by the Philistines. But the Philistines
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  soon discovered that capturing the Ark did not mean
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  they had conquered Israel's God. 1 Samuel 5 repeatedly
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  describes the hand of the Lord as being heavy
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  upon them. Eventually, the Philistines wanted nothing more
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  to do with the Ark and sent it back to Israel. Then the years
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  began to pass. 1 Samuel 7 tells us that 20
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  years went by, and something began to change in Israel.
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  Samuel called the nation back to God. He said
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  in verse 3, if ye do return unto the Lord with
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  all your hearts, then put away the strange gods
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  and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the
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  Lord, and serve him only. That is exactly what they
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  did. They put away their idols, they gathered at Mizpah,
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  they fasted, they confessed their sin.
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  And while Israel was seeking God, the Philistines heard about the gathering and
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  decided to attack. Now think about the contrast.
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  Years earlier, Israel had marched into battle carrying
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  the Ark and assuming they would win. This time,
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  they were not trusting in an object, They were crying out to
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  God. Samuel offered a lamb as a burnt offering
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  and prayed for Israel. And while the sacrifice was being offered,
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  the Philistine army began moving toward them. Humanly speaking,
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  it looked like the perfect moment to attack. Israel wasn't
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  prepared for battle. They were gathered for worship. They were praying. A lamb
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  was being sacrificed, and the enemy was coming.
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  But the Philistines had forgotten something. Israel may not have
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  been ready for the Philistines, but God was.
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  1 Samuel 7:10 says, but the Lord thundered
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  with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines and
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  discomfited them. What an incredible scene!
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  The Israelites didn't manufacture that victory. God thundered.
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  And there's a fascinating detail in the Hebrew language behind this
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  passage. 2 words associated with thunder and sound
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  appear in the description. One is ra'am,
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  carrying the idea of thunder or raging. The other
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  is kol, a Hebrew word frequently translated voice
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  or sound. In other words,
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  God made his voice heard,
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  and that would have carried enormous significance in the ancient
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  world. Israel had previously turned to Baal and Ashtaroth.
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  Baal was worshiped as a storm deity, while Ashtaroth
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  was associated with fertility and war. But on
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  this battlefield, the Lord demonstrated who truly
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  ruled the storm and who truly determined the outcome
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  of the battle. The false gods were silent,
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  but Jehovah thundered. Psalm 29 says,
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  The voice of the Lord is upon the waters. The God of
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  glory thundereth. The voice of the Lord
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  is powerful. The voice of the Lord is full of majesty.
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  And when God thundered, the Philistines fled.
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  Israel pursued them and recovered territory that had previously
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  been lost. Then Samuel did something significant.
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  He picked up a stone. And he placed it between Mizpah and
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  Shen, and he gave that stone a name: Ebenezer,
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  the stone of help. Samuel was creating a
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  visible reminder so that future generations
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  could look at that stone and remember, we did not win
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  this battle by ourselves. God helped us.
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  There is a humility in the words Samuel chose: Hitherto
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  hath the Lord helped us. He didn't say,
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  look what we accomplished. He said, look what God did.
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  And every one of us needs some Ebenezers
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  in our lives. Maybe yours is not a literal
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  stone. Maybe it is a date written beside a verse in your Bible.
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  Maybe it's a place you can still remember where God answered a prayer.
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  Maybe it is a season your family survived only because the Lord sustained
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  you. Maybe it's a financial need God supplied, a door
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  he opened, some burden that he carried, a temptation he helped
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  you overcome, a time when he gave you strength when you knew
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  you did not possess it. Do not forget those places,
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  because one of the great dangers of the Christian life is that today's
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  difficulty can make us forget yesterday's deliverance.
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  Sometimes we become so consumed with what we need God to
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  do next that we forget everything he's already done.
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  That is why we need our Ebenezars. When another
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  battle comes, we can look back and say, the God who
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  helped me there is still God here.
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  But there is an even greater victory pictured in the story. At Ebenezer,
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  a lamb was being sacrificed while the enemy approached.
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  And centuries later, outside Jerusalem, another lamb
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  was sacrificed while the great enemies of mankind seemed to be
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  winning. Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, hung upon a cross.
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  To those watching, Calvary appeared to be a defeat,
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  but the enemy had badly miscalculated.
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  Christ was not losing the battle, he was winning it.
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  Through his death, burial, and resurrection, Jesus Christ conquered
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  sin, death, hell, and the grave. At Ebenezer,
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  Israel recovered ground that had been taken by the Philistines.
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  At Calvary, Christ began the work of restoring what sin had
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  taken from humanity. The greatest Ebenezer
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  in history is an empty cross and an empty tomb
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  declaring, God has helped us.
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  So perhaps today would be a good time to look back.
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  Where has God helped you? Where did he provide?
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  Where did he protect? Where did he strengthen you or
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  answer a prayer? Where did he carry you when you could
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  not carry yourself? Remember it, thank him
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  for it, and then allow yesterday's faithfulness
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  to strengthen today's faith. You may be facing
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  another battle right now. The enemy might be approaching.
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  You may not know how the situation is going to turn out, but you have
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  some stones behind you. You have evidence that God has been
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  faithful before. And when you remember what he has already
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  done, you can face what is ahead with
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  renewed confidence. Samuel raised his stone and
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  called it Ebenezer. Hitherto hath the Lord
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  helped us. And perhaps we could say it this way: if
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  God has faithfully brought us this far, we have every
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  reason to trust him with the road that still lies ahead.
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  Thank you for joining us today on Traveler's Tales. Our prayer
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  is that these stories from the lands, people, and history
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  of the Bible will deepen your own understanding of Scripture and
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  strengthen your confidence in the God who gave it. There's always
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  more to discover in God's Word, and every discovery should lead
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  us to know Him better and trust Him more. To continue growing
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  in your study Scripture. Visit us at etj.bible
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  where you'll find Bible teaching, devotional resources,
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  and practical tools designed to help you enjoy the journey of
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  knowing God and his word.