They were trusting him alone to save them from their enemies. However, they had decided that they would serve the real God as their only God. They did not even have a proper army and they had not prepared for a battle. The men from Israel were much too weak to defend themselves.
When they gathered to pray to him at Mizpah, the army from Philistia tried to attack them. God used that storm to save his people, that is, the people from Israel. The storm in 1 Samuel 7:10 was God’s work. However, it is evidence of God’s greatness that he can control the storm (Psalm 104:3 Mark 4:35-41). No person can control a storm, so people have often considered storms to be a special action of God (see Psalm 29:3-9 and Job chapter 37). Also, it would be difficult to see what the rest of the army was doing. The rain would turn the hard ground into mud and nobody can move quickly in mud.
Then thunder (the noise that follows lightning) would make them afraid. A storm would ruin the best plans for a battle, and it could make even the most powerful army weak.ĭuring the storm, lightning would surprise the soldiers. 1 Samuel Commentary > chapter 7 How God used a storm to win a battle 1 Samuel 7:10-11ĭuring ancient battles, even the strongest soldiers were very afraid of storms.
