Movatterモバイル変換

Judges 2:4
And it came to pass, when the angel of the LORD spake these words unto all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice, and wept.

Jeremiah 3:13,22-25
Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD…

Jeremiah 31:9
They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraimis my firstborn.

twenty years in all,
The specific mention of "twenty years" highlights the patience required during this time. Biblically, the number twenty can symbolize a period of waiting or testing. This duration also sets the stage for the eventual revival under Samuel's leadership. It reflects a time when Israel was without the visible presence of God, as represented by the Ark, which was central to their worship and identity as God's chosen people.

as the ark remained at Kiriath-jearim.
Kiriath-jearim, a town in the territory of Judah, became the temporary resting place for the Ark. This location was significant because it was not the central place of worship, Shiloh, where the Ark had previously been housed. The Ark's presence in Kiriath-jearim symbolizes a period of dislocation and the need for Israel to return to proper worship. Archaeological evidence suggests Kiriath-jearim was a fortified city, which may have provided security for the Ark during this time.

And all the house of Israel mournfully sought the LORD.
This phrase indicates a collective spiritual awakening and repentance among the Israelites. The mourning reflects their recognition of sin and the absence of God's favor. Seeking the LORD suggests a desire to return to covenant faithfulness and to restore their relationship with God. This period of seeking is reminiscent of other biblical calls to repentance, such as in2 Chronicles 7:14, where God promises to hear and heal the land if His people humble themselves and pray. This turning back to God sets the stage for Samuel's leadership and the eventual anointing of a king, which would lead to the establishment of the Davidic line, a type of Christ as the ultimate King.

• “That day” points back to the moment the ark arrived at Kiriath-jearim after God struck Beth-shemesh (1 Samuel 6:19–21).

• The writer highlights a prolonged lull—life moved on, but nothing truly changed. Similar pauses appear in Judges where Israel sat in uneasy peace until oppression forced repentance (Judges 3:11, 30; 5:31).

• The silence hints at spiritual drift: God’s presence was near, yet the nation stayed distant.

• Twenty years is long enough for a whole generation to come of age—time for reflection, disappointment, and longing.

• Scripture often treats twenty-year spans as seasons of transition (Judges 4:3; 15:20; 16:31). Here, it measures Israel’s slow awakening from complacency.

• The delay underscores that revival is not automatic; hearts must first grow tired of emptiness.

• The ark, symbol of God’s throne (Exodus 25:22), stayed in a hill-country town instead of the central sanctuary—an out-of-sight reminder of shattered glory (compare1 Samuel 4:10–11).

• Abinadab’s house guarded the ark (1 Samuel 7:1), yet public worship around it seems minimal until David later moves it (2 Samuel 6:2;1 Chronicles 13:3;2 Chronicles 1:4).

• The location speaks volumes: Israel had God’s presence but not God’s priority.

• Years of Philistine dominance (1 Samuel 7:3, 7) and internal barrenness finally broke the people. Their collective lament echoes earlier cries for deliverance (Judges 10:10;1 Samuel 12:10).

• “Sought the LORD” marks more than emotion—it signals repentance and desire for covenant renewal (Deuteronomy 4:29;2 Chronicles 7:14;Psalm 34:18).

• This heart-shift prepares the way for Samuel’s call to put away idols and serve the LORD alone (1 Samuel 7:3–4), setting the stage for decisive victory at Mizpah.

For two decades the ark sat quietly in Kiriath-jearim while Israel drifted, oppressed and spiritually dry. That long wait exposed the emptiness of life lived without wholehearted devotion. At last the nation’s sorrow turned to seeking, and God answered through Samuel’s leadership. The verse reminds us that while God’s presence may be near, renewal comes only when His people earnestly turn back to Him.

It had been a stern trial time. The great victory of Aphek and the destruction of Shiloh had laid all Israel at the feet of their Philistine enemies, and they, we know, made their supremacy bitterly felt. The restoration of the Ark in no wise signified that they loosed their hold on the conquered people. This long time, when the hand of Philistia pressed so heavily on Israel, was the important period of Samuel's life. For these twenty years he must have laboured incessantly to wake up the old worship of the Eternal and the pure life loved by God among the people. The early dreams of his boy days, the hopes excited by his burning enthusiasm, were scattered to the winds.

The fatal battle of Aphek, the capture of the holy Ark, the death of his old guardian, the great high priestly judge Eli, the sack and devastation of Shiloh, the loved sanctuary, the terrible and continued oppression of Philistia, had opened the eyes of the young inspired man of God. Taught by the bitter lessons of adversity, he saw it was by no bold stroke of a few gallant patriots that the nation could be saved; all such efforts Samuel the seer, after the crushing defeat of Aphek, saw would only sink the nation into still lower depths of degradation and misery. Other and different things were needed before the lion standard of Judah could be safely unfurled, or the war-cry of Ephraim raised on her mountains. "What means he used we are not told, or what was his mode of life during those twenty years of waiting and work; but probably the life of the young prophet-judge was that of a fugitive, going stealthily from place to place that he might teach and preach, hiding in the caverns in the limestone ranges of Judaea, emerging thence to visit now one quarter of the country and now another, ever in danger, but gradually stirring up, not merely those districts which were contiguous to the Philistines, but all Israel to a sense of the greatness of their sins, and to the necessity of renewed trust in and return of old love to their God. And so a fresh spiritual life by degrees sprang up among the people, and with it came the certainty of the future restoration of their national independence."--Dean Payne Smith.

And all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord.--The English Version is singularly happy here. The Hebrew word Englished by "lamented after" has been variously rendered and paraphrased. The Syriac translates, "they all cast themselves down after Jehovah." Gesenius and some would translate "were assembled together;" others, "the people of Israel quieted themselves, and in quiet devotion followed Jehovah," but the English Version is best on all grounds. This "lamenting" or"hungering after the Lord" was a gradual result of Samuel's unwearied labours. The assertion of1Samuel 3:19, that "none of his words fell to the ground," especially belongs to this period of restless activity, when dangers and apparently insurmountable difficulties hemmed him in; slowly, but surely, the heart of the people, roused by his loving but passionate appeals, returned to their Eternal Friend; sick of crime and folly, gradually they began to hate their impurity and moral degradation; by degrees they began to loathe their idolatry; and when Samuel, after his twenty years of faithful restless work among them, summoned them boldly to declare their abhorrence of the strange Philistine gods, and the life taught and lived by the Philistine peoples, the heart of all Israel responded with intense gladness to the summons.

Then the wise and patriotic statesman-prophet saw the hour of deliverance and national restoration had struck. No longer solitary hamlets and scattered families mourned after the glorious Eternal and His pure holy worship and life; but the heart of a whole people mourned after the Lord, and hungered for His presence among them once more.