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So the men of Kiriath Jearim came and got the ark of the Lord. They brought it up to Abinadab's house on the hill. They set his son Eleazar apart to guard the ark. 2 The ark remained at Kiriath Jearim for a long time. It was there for a full 20 years.
Then all the Israelites turned back to the Lord. 3 So Samuel spoke to all the Israelites. He said, ‘Do you really want to return to the Lord with all your hearts? If you do, get rid of your false gods. Get rid of your statues of female gods that are named Ashtoreth. Commit yourselves to the Lord. Serve him only. Then he will save you from the power of the Philistines.’ 4 So the Israelites put away their statues of gods that were named Baal. They put away their statues of female gods that were named Ashtoreth. They served the Lord only.
5 Then Samuel said, ‘Gather all the Israelites together at Mizpah. I will pray to the Lord for you.’ 6 When the people had come together at Mizpah, they went to the well and got water. They poured it out in front of the Lord. On that day they didn't eat any food. They admitted they had sinned. They said, ‘We've sinned against the Lord.’ Samuel was serving as the leader of Israel at Mizpah.
7 The Philistines heard that Israel had gathered together at Mizpah. So the Philistine rulers came up to attack them. When the Israelites heard about it, they were afraid. 8 They said to Samuel, ‘Don't stop crying out to the Lord our God to help us. Keep praying that he'll save us from the power of the Philistines.’ 9 Then Samuel got a very young lamb. He sacrificed it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. He cried out to the Lord to help Israel. And the Lord answered his prayer.
10 The Philistines came near to attack Israel. At that time Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering. But that day the Lord thundered loudly against the Philistines. He threw them into such a panic that the Israelites were able to chase them away. 11 The men of Israel rushed out of Mizpah. They chased the Philistines all the way to a point below Beth Kar. They killed them all along the way.
12 Then Samuel got a big stone. He set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer. He said, ‘The Lord has helped us every step of the way.’
13 So the Philistines were brought under Israel's control. The Philistines didn't attack their territory again. The Lord used his power against the Philistines as long as Samuel lived. 14 The Philistines had captured many towns between Ekron and Gath. But they had to give all of them back. Israel took back the territories near those towns from the control of the Philistines. During that time Israel and the Amorites were friendly towards each other.
15 Samuel continued to lead Israel all the days of his life. 16 From year to year he travelled from Bethel to Gilgal to Mizpah. He served Israel as judge in all those places. 17 But he always went back to Ramah. That's where his home was. He served Israel as judge there too. And he built an altar there to honour the Lord.
2:12–7:17 Eli's sons did evil things as priests and Eli didn't stop them. Samuel acted differently than they did. Samuel wasn't in the family line of Aaron. But he served God faithfully like priests were supposed to. The first message that Samuel shared as a prophet was against Eli and his sons. The prophecy came true after a battle between the people of Israel and the Philistines. The Israelites wanted God to protect them and to help them win the battle. They used the ark of the covenant to try and force God to do this. But they weren't obeying God or trusting him to save them. This was very different from how the ark was used in the battle against Jericho (Joshua 6:1–14). Eli's sons were killed in the battle with the Philistines. Eli died when he heard that the Philistines captured the ark of the covenant. The Philistines suffered a plague because they had taken the ark. The plague was God's judgement against them. It showed them that God was more powerful than their false gods. When the ark was returned to Israel, Samuel served the Israelites as their leader. He was the last one to lead like the 12 judges had led. He helped the Israelites turn back to God. They stopped worshipping false gods and instead worshipped only God. This showed that they were being faithful to the Mount Sinai covenant. Then God saved them from their enemies. This was one of the covenant blessings.