Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Samuel 7:8

"And the children of Israel said to Samuel, Cease not to cry unto Jehovah our God for us, that he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines." — 1 Samuel 7:8 (ASV)

Cease not to cry unto the Lord our God for us. —The fear on the part of Israel was very natural. Unarmed—or, at least, very poorly armed and equipped—the assembled Israelites saw from the heights the advancing Philistine army. What hope was there for their ill-disciplined masses when they joined battle with that trained host of fighting men? But they remembered the days of old, and how, when Moses prayed, the angel of his presence saved them. Did they not then have with them a seer equal to Moses, greater than Joshua, one with whom the Eternal of Hosts was accustomed to speak, as friend speaketh with friend? So in that supreme hour of danger they turned to Samuel the seer.

They said, "We are just going, all unarmed, to meet that armed host; cease not to cry unto the Lord our God for us." And Samuel, we read in the brief and graphic account before us, hurriedly—for the time was short, and the enemy close at hand—and with rites somewhat different from those prescribed in the Law—for the occasion was indeed a critical one—offered up a sacrifice and raised that strange, piercing cry which many in Israel had heard before when Samuel the seer prayed. While the prophet-statesman was sustaining that loud, imploring cry, and while the smoke of the slain lamb was still ascending, the first line of the Philistine army appeared on the topmost slope of Mizpeh.

Once more, as in days of old, the glorious Arm fought with no earthly weapons for the people. A terrible thunderstorm burst over the combatant hosts, the storm probably beating in the faces of the advancing Philistines. The tribes welcomed it as the answer to their prophet’s prayer, and with a wild enthusiasm charged down and broke the serried ranks of their oppressors. Josephus tells us of an earthquake, which added fresh horrors to the scene of battle.

Each crash of thunder, each wild and furious gust of hail and rain, the men of Israel welcomed as a fresh onslaught from an unseen army fighting by their side. The dismayed Philistines fled, and the rout was complete. The defeated army hurried panic-stricken over the same ground near Aphek, famous twenty years before for their significant victory. The scene of carnage now received the significant name of Eben-ezer, or The Stone of Help.