Ebenezer

If you’ve ever sung the hymn, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”, you likely sang these phrases: “Here I raise my Ebenezer, hither by Thy grace I’ve come.” You may have wondered a bit about what those words might mean. What is an Ebenezer, and why would I raise it?
For answers, we have to look in the Old Testament, in the beginning chapters of the book of 1 Samuel.
This period of history for Israel was a rocky one, aptly summarized in the last verse of Judges (21:25): “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.” Judges 2 explains the pattern: Israel turned away from God, so God allowed their enemies to oppress them. Then they turned back to God, who raised up judges for them and brought deliverance. In time, they turned away from God again and the pattern started all over. “They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways” (Judges 2:19b).
It was into this setting that the final judge, Samuel, was sent by God. From the time he was a very
young boy, Samuel served under Eli the priest in the tabernacle of God. God spoke to Samuel to warn Eli
about the sins his sons were committing, but Eli did not take a stand to stop them. Along with Eli’s sons,
many in Israel had turned away from God. In 1 Samuel 4:2-3, they blamed God when they were
defeated in battle by the Philistines, and they decided that they would force God’s hand to help them.
After all, they reasoned that they had the Ark of the Covenant which had been carried in front of Israel
as they crossed the Jordan and as they circled around Jericho before its defeat. They decided that surely
the Ark was the key to God’s intervention!
God had instructed that the Ark was to remain in the Most Holy Place, only to be accessed once a year
by the High Priest. It was not even to be looked upon by the priests and had to be covered when it was
transported (which was only when & how God instructed). Israel and its priests, though, were so far
removed from God’s ways that they completely ignored God’s instructions and had no fear or honor of
His holiness.
Although the arrival of the Ark was highly emotional and boosted morale, 1 Samuel 4:10 tells us that the
Israelites were defeated and 30,000 soldiers were killed. The Ark was captured, and Eli’s two sons (the
priests) were killed. When the news came to Eli, he also died. His daughter in law went into labor and
died after giving birth to a son and naming him “Ichabod” because she said, “the Glory has departed
from Israel” (v. 22). Truly, there was reason for Israel to feel that God had abandoned them.
God used this time to show the Philistines His power, and they wound up sending the Ark back to Israel.
God also used this time to bring His own people back to Him, and Samuel called them to assemble in
true repentance: He charged them to commit to God only and to God completely: “Commit yourselves
to the Lord and serve Him only, and He will deliver you” (1 Sam. 7:3).
As the people came together to repent before God, another crisis came up. 1 Sam. 7:7 tells us that the
Philistines took advantage of Israel’s assembly as an opportune time to attack. Maybe some Israelites
questioned whether this repentance made any difference at all, or even if God really cared at all. The
Bible tells us that they were afraid, but their response this time was the right one. They turned to God
for help. This time, God did not allow Israel to be defeated. As Samuel prayed “the LORD thundered with loud thunder against the Philistines” (7:10b) and they panicked and ran, so Israel pursued them and
defeated them.
This is where we get to Ebenezer. 1 Samuel 7:12 states, “Then Samuel took a stone and set it up
between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, ‘Thus far the LORD has helped us’.” In the
King James Version, Samuel says, “Hitherto hath the LORD helped us.” God had brought a great victory,
and Samuel wanted the people to recognize and remember God’s work.
I think it is important to see that God’s help was not just demonstrated by victory. Samuel didn’t say, “In this battle, in this victory, God helped us.” Samuel was saying that God had been helping Israel all along. He had been their help even in the previous despair, when Ichabod was born. God had never
stopped working to bring Israel to this point, a point where they were fully committed to Him. The
“hitherto” included all of Israel’s past. It was a specific reminder of God’s faithfulness.
In Psalm 124, David reminds Israel of this same truth: “If it had not been the LORD who was on our
side,” then Israel would have been destroyed, “then over us would have gone the raging waters.” He
ends this Psalm with these words: “Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made Heaven and earth.”
Like Samuel, David was raising an Ebenezer. Since God had demonstrated His help up to this point, He
could be trusted completely for the future.
The disciples of Christ surely experienced a time like the time of Ichabod when Christ was crucified. They
surely felt that all the Glory was gone. Yet God brought a great victory, as the stone in front of the tomb
was rolled away. This stone changed from a symbol of Ichabod to an amazing Ebenezer. As Jesus
reasoned with two disciples on the Emmaus road, he explained “what was said in all the Scriptures
concerning himself” (Luke 24:27). He showed them the “Hitherto hath the Lord helped us” from all of
Israel’s history, and he challenged them to see God’s work in it all.
We must realize that in all of our paths, God is with us. He works even in the times when we get off
track. He brings us through the times when we feel that all Glory is gone. He brings us to the times of
rejoicing and victory through Christ. We can and should find ways to raise our Ebenezer—to celebrate
and remember that God is our help!