Albert Barnes Commentary 1 Samuel 7

This verse belongs more properly to 1 Samuel 6:0. Abinadab and his sons were probably of the house of Levi. The catastrophe at Bethshemesh must inevitably have made the Israelites very careful to pay due honor to the ark in accordance with the Law; to give the care of the ark to those who were not of the house of Levi would have been a gross violation of the Law.

And all the house of Israel lamented ... - The occupation of the country around Shiloh by the Philistines was one reason the ark was kept for so long at Kiriath-jearim. A further reason, however, appears to have been the Israelites’ fall into idolatry. This sin caused them to neglect the ark and brought upon them servitude to the Philistines—likely the last twenty years of the oppression described in Judges 13:1, which is explicitly connected with their idolatry.

Now, likely through the exhortations of Samuel, coupled with the chastening of the Philistine yoke, the Israelites repented and returned to the God of their fathers (1 Samuel 7:3).

Compare the marginal references. Twenty years of Samuel’s life had passed since he was last mentioned (1 Samuel 4:1). He now appears in the threefold character of prophet, judge, and the acknowledged leader of the whole people. His words were an answer to a profession of repentance by Israel, the practical proof of which would be to put away all their false gods (compare the note on Judges 6:10).

Will pray for you... So Moses prayed for the people at Rephidim (Exodus 17:11–12) and for Miriam (Numbers 12:13); so Elijah prayed at Carmel (1 Kings 18:36, 42); so Ezra prayed at the evening sacrifice (Ezra 9:5); so the High Priest prayed for the house of Israel on the Day of Atonement; and so our Lord Jesus Christ ever lives at God’s right hand to make intercession for us.

Two rites are brought together here that belong especially to the Feast of Tabernacles and the Day of Atonement, respectively: drawing and pouring out water, and fasting. For this reason, some think that Samuel chose the Feast of Tabernacles, and the fast that preceded it, as the occasion for assembling the people. Others explain the pouring out of water as symbolizing the pouring out of the heart in penitence, as if it were water; as a symbolic act expressing their ruin and helplessness (2 Samuel 14:14); or as typifying their desire that their sins might be forgotten, as waters that pass away (Job 11:16).

The phrase And Samuel judged appears to mark the beginning of his civil and military judgeship, which started at Mizpah on this occasion. As a civil judge, he did exactly what Moses did (Exodus 18:13–16). As a military judge, he did what Othniel, Ehud, Barak, and Gideon had done before him: he organized and marshalled the people for effective resistance against their oppressors and led them to victory.

This implies a united invasion by the whole Philistine force, which explains the terror of the Israelites .