1 Samuel 7:2

It was a just reproach to the priests that one not of their order was sanctified to keep the ark. Twenty years of this time had passed before the house of Israel was sensible of the want of the ark. The Septuagint read it somewhat more clearly than we do; and it was twenty years, and (that is, when) the whole house of Israel looked up again after the Lord.

Twenty years - He saith not, that this twenty years was all the time of the ark's abode there, for it continued there from Eli's time 'till David's reign, 2 Sam. vi, 2, which was forty years: but that it was so long there before the Israelites were sensible of their sin and misery.

And it came to pass, while the ark abode in Kirjathjearim, that the time was long,....

The appearing of the glory of Samuel in his public services for the good of Israel, to whom he was raised up to be a judge, and he was the last that bore that character.

It was a just reproach to the priests that one not of their order was sanctified to keep the ark. Twenty years of this time had passed before the house of Israel was sensible of the want of the ark. The Septuagint read it somewhat more clearly than we do; and it was twenty years, and (that is, when) the whole house of Israel looked up again after the Lord.

The capture of the ark had produced a general indifference either as to its loss or its recovery. all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord--They were then brought, doubtless by the influence of Samuel's exhortations, to renounce idolatry, and to return to the national worship of the true God.

Two enemies held Israel in subjection. The Philistines had fought against them and defeated them, even though they sent to Shiloh and brought the Ark of the Covenant, the symbol of Jehovah's Presence, into their camp. The Lord was not with them, so they were smitten with a great slaughter. The crowning disaster of the day was "the Ark of God was taken." The Philistines carried it away to Ashdod and set it in the house of Dagon, their idol. You remember how God, jealous for His honor and Glory, worked mighty wonders, causing Dagon to fall and inflicting punishment on every city where the ark came, until, at last, the Philistines, wearied with their trials, sent the Ark back to the people on whose behalf Jehovah had shown Himself so strong. Twenty years the Ark abode at Kirjath Jearim and, during all that time, Israel was under the hand of the Philistines. But a worse enemy than the Philistines held sway over the land. Though the Ark had returned, the people had gone away from their God and had set up the abominable worship of Baal and Astarte, the idols of the Phoenicians and other heathen nations by whom they were surrounded. I will not stay to explain to you about these gods. Suffice it to say that the Baalim were the male gods and the Ashtaroth the female—and that worship of these idols was attended with great lewdness and filthiness—in fact, the holy things of Baal and Astarte we would call obscene and degrading. The people were thus in double bondage. The heavy yoke of the Philistines was upon them because the heavier burden of a false worship crushed out the life of their hearts. It may very naturally be asked, "Where was Samuel all that time?" I know not what he was doing during those 20 years, but I have a suspicion.

Two enemies held Israel in subjection. The Philistines had fought against them and defeated them, even though they sent to Shiloh and brought the Ark of the Covenant, the symbol of Jehovah's Presence, into their camp. The Lord was not with them, so they were smitten with a great slaughter. The crowning disaster of the day was "the Ark of God was taken." The Philistines carried it away to Ashdod and set it in the house of Dagon, their idol.

It was twenty years - This chapter contains the transactions of at least twenty years, but we know not the date of each event.

It was twenty years - This chapter contains the transactions of at least twenty years, but we know not the date of each event.

And all the house of Israel lamented ... - The occupation of the country about Shiloh by the Philistines 1Sa 7:3 was partly the reason for the ark being kept so long at Kirjath-jearim. But another reason seems to have been the fall of the Israelites into idolatry, which made them neglect the ark, and brought upon them this Philistine servitude; probably the last 20 years of the Philistine oppression described in Jdg 13:1, which is there expressly connected with Israelite idolatry. Now, probably, through the exhortations of Samuel, coupled with the chastening of the Philistine yoke, the Israelites repented and turned again to the God of their fathers.