1 Samuel 7:9

9 And Samuel took a suckling lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. Then Samuel cried out to the Lord for Israel, and the Lord answered him.

1 Samuel 7:9 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 7:9

And Samuel took a sucking lamb
Which it might be, and yet more than eight days old, for under that it might not be sacrificed, ( Exodus 22:30 )

and offered it for a burnt offering wholly unto the Lord;
the whole of it was burnt, skin and all, whereas the skin was the priest's in other burnt offerings; and this is remarked ^F13 as one of the three things in which it differed from other offerings; the word being feminine, the Jews gather from hence, as Jarchi notes, that females might be offered at a private altar:

and Samuel cried unto the Lord for Israel;
not only offered a sacrifice for them, but prayed for them:

and the Lord heard him;
and answered him, either by causing fire to come down on the sacrifice, by which it was consumed, or by the voice of thunder, which frightened and discomfited the Philistines; and the event of things manifestly showed it.

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FOOTNOTES:

F13 Midrash Schemuel apud Abarbinel in loc.

1 Samuel 7:9 In-Context

7 Now when the Philistines heard that the children of Israel had gathered together at Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the children of Israel heard of it, they were afraid of the Philistines.

8 So the children of Israel said to Samuel, "Do not cease to cry out to the Lord our God for us, that He may save us from the hand of the Philistines."

9 And Samuel took a suckling lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. Then Samuel cried out to the Lord for Israel, and the Lord answered him.

10 Now as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel. But the Lord thundered with a loud thunder upon the Philistines that day, and so confused them that they were overcome before Israel.

11 And the men of Israel went out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, and drove them back as far as below Beth Car.