841 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And therefore I have sworn unto the house of Eli,.... Either had done this before, which was signified to him by the man of God, or did swear now for the confirmation of his threatenings, and to assure the certain performance of them: that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering for ever: not even typically,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Samuel lay until the morning,.... It is not said he slept; it can hardly be thought he should, when it is considered what a new, strange, and uncommon thing had befallen him; what honour had been conferred on him a child, that the Lord should vouchsafe to speak and communicate his mind to him, and what dreadful things were said of Eli's...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then Eli called Samuel,.... Perceiving he was risen by the opening of the doors of the tabernacle, which he might hear; and observing he did not come to him as usual, to know whether he wanted anything, and being impatient to hear what was said to him of the Lord: and he said, Samuel, my son; called him by his name, and in a very tender and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he said, what is the thing that the [Lord] hath said unto thee?.... The word "Lord" is not in the text, but it is "that it hath said"; the voice that had so often called him in the night, and which yet Eli knew was the voice of the Lord; and as it was, he was sensible there was something of importance said, and he had great reason to believe...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Samuel told him every whit, and hid nothing from him,.... And so approved himself to be a faithful prophet of God, and man of God, as he is afterwards called; the whole counsel of God is to be declared by his servants the prophets, and the ministers of his word; nothing is to be concealed, which it is the will of God should be made known,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Samuel grew,.... Not only in years and stature, but in grace and goodness, in wisdom, knowledge, and understanding, both with respect to things natural and spiritual, and in esteem, credit, and reputation among men: and the Lord was with him; he was not only in favour with men, but with God; and had fresh and repeated tokens of the grace and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And all Israel, from Dan even unto Beersheba,.... That is, from the most northern border of the land of Israel, on which Dan lay, to the utmost border of it southward, where Beersheba was, the fame of Samuel for his piety, prudence, and prophecy, was spread abroad; so that all knew that Samuel was established to be a prophet of the Lord; or that...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the Lord appeared again in Shiloh,.... In the tabernacle there; he had appeared before to Samuel, when he called him, and declared to him what he designed and resolved to do to Eli and his family, and now appeared again to him in the same place before the battle of the Israelites with the Philistines, of which there is an account in the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 4 This chapter is a narrative of a war between Israel and the Philistines, in the time of Samuel, and of the consequences of it. In the first battle, the Philistines had the better of the Israelites, which caused the latter to inquire into the reason of it, and who proposed to fetch the ark of the Lord, and did, to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the word of Samuel came to all Israel,.... Or was "known", as the Targum, the word of prophecy by him, which related to what befell Eli and his family; this was spread throughout the land, and everyone almost had knowledge of it, and which began to be fulfilled in the war between Israel and the Philistines, later related; or the doctrine,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the Philistines put themselves in array against Israel,.... Prepared for battle, and put themselves in a posture for it; formed themselves in a line of battle, and so invited and challenged the Israelites to fight them: and when they joined battle; engaged with each other, the Israelites doing the same, putting themselves in a proper form and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when the people came into the camp,.... At Ebenezer, where they pitched their tents, and from whence they went out to battle, and whither they returned after their defeat: the elders of Israel said, wherefore hath the Lord smitten us today before the Philistines? they were right in ascribing it to the Lord, who had suffered them to be defeated...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
So the people sent to Shiloh,.... They liked the proposal of the elders, took their advice, and joined with them in a message to Eli the high priest at Shiloh: that they might bring from thence the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts, which dwelleth between the cherubim; which overshadowed the mercy seat that was upon the ark, and was the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when the ark of the covenant of the Lord came into the camp,.... Being brought thither by the men that carried it: all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth rang again; this they did as now sure of victory, because of the ark, and to give spirit and courage to each other to go forth to battle, and to strike a panic into their...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout,.... For it being so loud as to make the earth ring, it was heard in the camp of the Philistines, which might not be at any great distance from the camp of Israel; how far from each other were Aphek and Ebenezer is not certain; they said, what meaneth the noise of this great shout in the camp...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the Philistines were afraid,.... When the spies returned, and reported to them the reason of the shouting: for they said, God is come into the camp; into the camp of Israel, because the ark represented him, and was the symbol of his presence; and these Heathens might take the ark itself for an idol of the Israelites; the Targum is, "the ark of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Woe unto us, who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods?.... Of whom they spoke in an ironical and sneering manner; or if seriously and through fear, they use their own Heathenish language, as if the Israelites had many gods, as they had, though mightier than theirs; though the Syriac and Arabic versions read in the singular, out of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Be strong, and quit yourselves like men, O ye Philistines,.... Since this was all they had to depend upon, their manly courage; if they did not exert that it was all over with them; and seeing their case was desperate, having gods as well as men to fight with, it became them to exert themselves to the uttermost; which did they, there was a...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the Philistines fought,.... With great ardour and spirit, quitted themselves like men of valour and courage, their case being desperate as they imagined, since God was in the camp of Israel: and Israel was smitten: were routed and beaten: and they fled every man into his tent; such of them as escaped the sword of the Philistines fled to their...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the ark of God was taken,.... By the Philistines; which was suffered partly as a punishment to the Israelites, for fetching it from the tabernacle without the will of God, and for their vain confidence in it; and partly that the Philistines might have an experiment of the power and might of God, as Procopius Gazaeus observes, by what they...