From the day the chest lived at Ye’arim Township time went on; twenty years passed. The entire household of Yisra’el grieved after Yahweh, and Shemu’el said to the entire household of Yisra’el, ‘If with your entire heart you’re coming back to Yahweh, remove the foreign gods and the Ashtars from among you. Direct your heart firmly towards Yahweh and serve him alone, and he will rescue you from the hand of the Pelishtites.’ So the Yisra’elites removed the Masters and the Ashtars and served Yahweh alone.
Shemu’el said, ‘Gather all Yisra’el at The Watchtower and I’ll plead with Yahweh on your behalf.’ They gathered at The Watchtower and drew water and poured it out before Yahweh. They fasted that day and said there, ‘We have done wrong against Yahweh.’ So Shemu’el exercised authority for the Yisra’elites at The Watchtower. The Pelishtites heard that the Yisra’elites had gathered at The Watchtower and the Pelishtites’ lords went up against Yisra’el. The Yisra’elites heard and were afraid of the Pelishtites.
So the Yisra’elites said to Shemu’el, ‘Don’t be deaf to us and not cry out to Yahweh our God so he may deliver us from the hand of the Pelishtites.’ So Shemu’el got a suckling lamb and offered it up as a whole burnt offering for Yahweh. Shemu’el cried out to Yahweh on behalf of Yisra’el, and Yahweh answered him. As Shemu’el was offering up the burnt offering, the Pelishtites were coming up for battle against Yisra’el, but Yahweh thundered with a loud voice that day against the Pelishtites and threw them into a turmoil, and they took a beating before Yisra’el. The Yisra’elites went out from The Watchtower, pursued the Pelishtites and struck them down as far as below Bet Kar.
Shemu’el got a stone and put it between The Watchtower and The Tooth, and named it ‘Help Stone’. He said, ‘As far as this Yahweh helped us.’ The Pelishtites bowed down and didn’t any more come within Yisra’el’s border again. Yahweh’s hand was against the Pelishtites all the days of Shemu’el. The towns that the Pelishtites had taken from Yisra’el came back to Yisra’el, from Eqron as far as Gat. Yisra’el rescued their border from the hand of the Pelishtites, and there was peace between Yisra’el and the Amorites.
Shemu’el exercised authority for Yisra’el all the days of his life. 16He went year by year and travelled round to Bet-el, Gilgal and The Watchtower and exercised authority for Yisra’el at all these sites; then his return to The Height, because his home was there. He exercised authority for Yisra’el there and built an altar for Yahweh there.
Goldingay, John The Bible for Everyone . SPCK. Kindle Edition.
Teach us, good Lord,
to serve thee as thou deservest;
to give and not to count the cost;
to fight and not to heed the wounds;
to toil and not to seek for rest;
to labour and not to ask for any reward,
save that of knowing that we do thy will,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen
St Ignatius