The meaning of Ebenezer originates more than a thousand years before Christ, during the ministry of the prophet Samuel, who played a pivotal role at a key juncture in the history of God’s people. Long has he been remembered as one of Israel’s greatest figures, alongside names like Moses and David. God raised up Samuel as the first prophet after the tragic period of the judges to serve as God’s instrument to establish the kingship in Israel.

Samuel took a stone and set it up . . . and called its name Ebenezer; for he said, “Till now the Lord has helped us.” (1 Samuel 7:12)

The Hebrew word Ebenezer may be the least known lyric among all our most beloved English hymns. Baptist minister Robert Robinson (1735–1790) wrote “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing” at age 22, not long after his conversion, which was influenced in part by the preaching of evangelist George Whitefield.

The meaning of Ebenezer originates more than a thousand years before Christ, during the ministry of the prophet Samuel, who played a pivotal role at a key juncture in the history of God’s people. Long has he been remembered as one of Israel’s greatest figures, alongside names like Moses (Psalm 99:6; Jeremiah 15:1) and David (Hebrews 11:32). God raised up Samuel as the first prophet (Acts 3:24) after the tragic period of the judges (Acts 13:20) to serve as God’s instrument to establish the kingship in Israel.

And yet, apart from the extraordinary stories of his birth and calling (1 Samuel 1–3), and his extensive involvement with anointing (and rebuking) Israel’s first king (Saul) and anointing the second (a young shepherd boy named David), we know fairly little about Samuel.

Hither by Thy Help

What we do know is that during his early days as a prophet, Israel received back the ark of the covenant from the Philistines after seven months, having lost it in war. So distressing was it to lose the ark that when news of it had come to Israel’s judge Eli, he fell backwards from his chair, broke his neck, and died (1 Samuel 4:18). Sadly, even with the loss of the ark, the nation was not yet ready to come before God in full repentance. It took twenty years for the people to be sufficiently humbled to turn to Samuel to lead them in restoring their relationship with God.

Samuel gathered the people at the town of Mizpah. There the people would fast and confess their collective infidelity to God (“We have sinned against the Lord,” 1 Samuel 7:6) and Samuel would pray for them (1 Samuel 7:5). But when the Philistines heard that Israel had gathered at Mizpah, they took it as an opportunity to march on their enemies — and when Israel heard they were coming, the nation panicked. The people pled to the prophet, “Do not cease to cry out to the Lord our God for us, that he may save us from the hand of the Philistines” (1 Samuel 7:8).

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