What's an "Ebenezer"?

Thought it's good to talk about why this site is so named... and to talk about that great hymn, Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing, by Robert Robinson.

Come Thou Fount of every blessing
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it,
Mount of God's unchanging love.

Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Hither by Thy help I'm come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be!
Let that grace now like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here's my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

There in the 2nd Stanza, is the word "Ebenezer" and I'll be honest here - I've sung this hymn for the longest time without understanding what that word meant. I recall purposing to go do some research and figure it out but I just never gotten down to it. Yeah, and I still sang this to my Lord and King, the Almighty God... as if I could have actually intended what I sung without understanding it. Gah.

That word is taken from the passage below:

I Sam 7:12

Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen and called its name Ebenezer; for he said, "Till now the LORD has helped us." (emphasis mine)

Right there at the bottom of the page, there's a footnote which reads "Ebenezer means stone of help". Ah-ha! 

Reading around in the chapter, we find this situation - Israel has repented and returned to the one true God and while they gathered at Mizpah, the Philistines rose up to attack them. Samuel instructed the children of Israel to cry out to the Lord for aid whilst he presented a burnt offering to the Lord, and the Lord did save them. The Philistines were soundly defeated.

And this was when Samuel "took a stone... and called it's name Ebenezer".

The account is made all the more amazing when one reads a little before I Sam 7. In chapter 4, we read that instead of crying out to the Lord, the Israelites foolishly thought that by bringing the Ark of the Covenant into battle, God would somehow be obliged to defeat the Philistines. One can even hear the haughtiness of the elders of Israel (1 Sam 4:3) affirming this superstition.
It is astounding to read of the sons of Eli, who was the High Priest, accompanying the Ark out into battle. One would expect Eli to have known better when 1 Sam 3:18 records him saying "It is the LORD. Let him do what seems good to him." (emphasis mine) Why didn't he stand against this superstitious act?
The Lord did not yield to their superstition and the Ark was captured while Israel suffered a crushing defeat.

This stands in stark contrast to the events in chapter 7, where Israel "lamented after the Lord" (1 Sam 7:2) and they cried out to the Lord to save them. These later events portray the people finally getting it right and not yielding to foolish superstition. Samuel said "Till now the LORD has helped us" (emphasis mine) and that is true - It was indeed the Lord doing what seemed good to Him.

All these Biblical facts add an incredibly rich meaning to Ebenezer.  It is a word that reminds me of God's attributes:

His Sovereignty 
God is not moved by superstitious rituals/acts. As if by my obedience, God is obligated to do some good for me. As if when I obey a commandment, God must therefore bless me. As if.

His Holiness
God demands the right heart before Him. A heart that cries out to Him in submission and is willing to yield to His Will. (Ps 51:17) A heart that loves Him and seeks to obey Him. (Jn 14:15)

His Love
God will help us in accordance to His good and perfect will. The palmist sang in Ps 46:1-3 that:

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble at its swelling.

Now, over and above the daily blessings from God... there is one Help worth mentioning time and again. One Help that will always be remembered and it must be reminded to all. It is this Help that Mr Robert Robinson writes about in the 2nd half of stanza 2:

Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.

Indeed, God has already given us the greatest Help and that is Christ! What a joy to think upon the reality of this Gift!

 

Here I raise my Ebenezer

Hither by Thy help I'm come

Uno

And so it starts…


Blogging was the last thing on my mind… I remember trying to blog some 8 years back and I don’t think I even started on a post. Signing up must have been tiring back then. Heh. So obviously, I have some kind of intention behind starting one, right? So here are the reasons for starting this endeavour.

1. I think it’s good to have additional Christian presence in the Blogosphere.
2. I hope to be able to edify other Christians in this effort.
3. I wish to have a never-ending journal that I can view anywhere and everywhere.
4. I need to exercise my writing skills, seriously.

So yeah, it’s kinda obvious that this blog will be intended for a Christian audience… therefore, be expectant about the content that is to come!


And now to figure out how to work this blogger thing…


Cheerio!
DanT