Twenty Years In All

1 Samuel 7:2-3,5 – The ark remained at Kiriath Jearim a long time—twenty years in all. Then all the people of Israel turned back to the Lord. So Samuel said to all the Israelites, “If you are returning to the Lord with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the Lord and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.”… Then Samuel said, “Assemble all Israel at Mizpah, and I will intercede with the Lord for you.”

2 Kings 18:5 – Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him.

Jeremiah 24:7 – I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.

Joshua 24:14 – “Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.

Deuteronomy 6:13 – Fear the Lord your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name.

Application:

• ·         Samuel, like Moses, was later remembered as a great intercessor. Both were appointed by God to mediate His rule over His people, representing God to Israel and speaking on Israel’s behalf to God.
• ·         Hezekiah’s uniqueness is to be found in his trust in the Lord, while Josiah’s uniqueness is to be found in his scrupulous observance of the Mosaic law.
• ·         “My people…their God” is the classic statement of covenant relationship
• ·         Fear the Lord means trust, serve and worship Him.
• ·         To take an oath in the Lord’s name was a key sign of loyalty to and trust in Him and of the rejection of all other gods, even an implicit denial that they amounted to anything or even existed.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV