“Samuel took a sucking Iamb, and offered it for a burnt-offering wholly unto the Lord: and Samuel cried unto the Lord for Israel; and the Lord heard him.... Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us” ―1 Samuel 7:9, 129And Samuel took a sucking lamb, and offered it for a burnt offering wholly unto the Lord: and Samuel cried unto the Lord for Israel; and the Lord heard him. (1 Samuel 7:9)
12Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Eben-ezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us. (1 Samuel 7:12).
OF all animals, this was one of the most helpless and dependent. It well pictured Israel’s own state. It also typified the One who was yet to be manifested as Israel’s Saviour, who, as a lamb dumb before its shearers, was to submit patiently both to man’s malignant treatment and to the judgment of God as He took the place of the guilty. With the lamb on the altar, Samuel cried unto the Lord for Israel, and the Lord heard him, as He always hears those who come to Him in acknowledged repentance and in faith put in their plea.
A memorial stone was erected on the battlefield site to celebrate, not Israel’s might or prowess, but the Lord’s victory over their haughty foes. It is well that we set up such stones of remembrance that we may never forget the mighty acts of our God!
“Ebenezer, stone of help,
Oft I pause to raise anew,
To remind my fainting heart.
God hath helped me hitherto.
Ebenezer points two ways—
Stirs my mem’ry; faith renews,
Thus encouraging my heart.
Lest the thought of Him I lose.
Ebenezer backward looks
O’er the way my feet have trod.
And my Joyful soul gives praise
For the wonders of my God.”
—Zuella Cooke.