Raise an Ebenezer
“Here I raise mine Ebenezer; hither by Thy help I’ve come...” Those were the original words to the second stanza of Robert Robinson’s famous hymn, “Come Thou Fount of Ev’ry Blessing.” Most modern hymnal publishers have changed the wording because people have become less biblically literate and don’t recognize the reference to “raising an ‘Ebenezer.’” (Hint: It has nothing to do with a Christmas story!) In the early chapters of the book of I Samuel in the Hebrew Scriptures, we observe Israel being harassed by their perennial enemies, the Philistines. It is, actually, their own fault. They had abandoned their worship and service to their one God, Yahweh, and, instead had adopted the pagan practices of the surrounding culture. In a fascinating and sometimes humorous story, the Philistines captured the Israelite’s “Ark of the Covenant,” which was an important symbol of Yahweh’s presence among his people. They made the mistake of setting the Ark up in the temple of their pagan g