SEV Biblia, Chapter 7:6
Y juntándose en Mizpa, sacaron agua, y la derramaron delante del SEÑOR, y ayunaron aquel día, y dijeron allí: Contra el SEÑOR hemos pecado. Y juzgó Samuel a los hijos de Israel en Mizpa.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - 1 Samuel 7:6
Verse 6. Drew water, and poured it out] It is not easy to know what is meant by this; it is true that pouring out water, in the way of libation, was a religious ordinance among the Hebrews, (Isaiah xii. 3,) and among most other nations, particularly the Greeks and Romans, who used, not only water, but wine, milk, honey, and blood, as we find by Homer, Virgil, Euripides, Sophocles, Porphyry, and Lucian. Our Lord seems to allude to this ceremony, John vii. 37, 38, where see the note. The Chaldee Paraphrast understands the place differently, for he translates: "And they poured out their hearts in penitence, as WATERS, before the Lord." That deep penitential sorrow was represented under the notion of pouring out water, we have a direct proof in the case of David, who says, Psa. xxii. 14, I am POURED OUT LIKE WATER, my heart is like wax; it is MELTED in the midst of my bowels. And to repentance, under this very similitude, the prophet exhorts fallen Jerusalem: Arise, cry out in the night; in the beginning of the watches POUR OUT thine HEART LIKE WATER before the face of the Lord; Lam. ii. 19. David uses the same image, Psa. lxii. 8: Trust in him at all times, ye people; POUR OUT your hearts before him. The same figure is used by Hannah in chap. i. 15 of this book; I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit; I have POURED OUT my soul before the Lord. Perhaps the drawing and pouring out of water mentioned in the text was done emblematically, to represent the contrition of their hearts.
And Samuel judged] He gave them ordinances, heard and redressed grievances, and taught them how to get reconciled to God. The assembly, therefore, was held for religio- politico-military purposes.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 6. And they gathered together to Mizpeh , etc.] Even all Israel, at least the heads of the people, and representatives of them: and drew water, and poured it out before the Lord ; drew it from some fountain near at hand, and poured it out as in the presence of God, who was where his people were met together. Jerom relates it as tradition of the Jews, that curses were cast into this water, as in the water of jealousy, and that idolaters were tried by it; and that whatever idolater, who denied he worshipped idols, and tasted of it, his lips so stuck together that they could not be separated, and by this means was known and put to death; and therefore it is said Samuel judged now at this place: but it should be observed, this water was not drank, but poured out; and that as a token of their humiliation, as Jarchi, that they were before the Lord, as water poured out; and of the sincerity of their repentance, as the Targum, which is, “they poured out their heart in repentance, as water;” and of the atonement and expiation of their sins, which passed away as water to be remembered no more, as Kimchi, or rather signifying hereby that they thoroughly renounced idolatry, that nothing of it should remain; as water entirely poured out, there remains not so much as any smell of it in the cask, as does of honey or oil, or such kind of liquor; for what a learned writer says, that this was in token of joy, like that at the feast of tabernacles, when they drew water out of the fountain of Siloah, seems not so agreeable, since this was a day of humiliation, fasting, and prayer, as follows: and fasted on that day, and said there, we have sinned against the Lord ; Samuel prayed in public for them, with whom they joined; and they fasted in a literal sense, abstaining from food, and made a confession of their sins; this was the work of that day: and Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpeh ; not that he now began to judge them, but went on in a more public and vigorous manner to judge them; he sat, and heard, and tried causes that came before him; explained the laws of God to them, and enforced the obedience of them; reformed abuses that were among them, and punished idolaters.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 5, 6 - Israel drew water and poured it out before the Lord; signifying their humiliation and sorrow for sin. They pour out their hearts in repentance before the Lord. They were free and full in their confession, and fixed in their resolution to cast away from them all their wrong doings. They made a public confession, We have sinne against the Lord; thus giving glory to God, and taking shame to themselves. And if we thus confess our sins, we shall find our God faithful and just to forgive us our sins.
Original Hebrew
ויקבצו 6908 המצפתה 4709 וישׁאבו 7579 מים 4325 וישׁפכו 8210 לפני 6440 יהוה 3068 ויצומו 6684 ביום 3117 ההוא 1931 ויאמרו 559 שׁם 8033 חטאנו 2398 ליהוה 3068 וישׁפט 8199 שׁמואל 8050 את 853 בני 1121 ישׂראל 3478 במצפה׃ 4709
