Why "Ebenezer"?
“Here I raise mine Ebenezer;
hither by thy help I'm come;
and I hope, by thy good pleasure,
safely to arrive at home.”
—RobertRobinson, “Come, Thou Fount of EveryBlessing”
The Philistines attacked. And Israel cried out, while Samueloffered sacrifices to the Lord. So God threw the Philistines into a panic, and the enemywas routed. The Israelites pursued and defeated the Philistines and the peoplerejoiced. Here’s what happened next:
“Then Samuel tooka stone and set it up between Mizpah and Jeshanah, and named it Ebenezer; forhe said, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.” So the Philistines were subdued anddid not again enter the territory of Israel; the hand of the Lord was againstthe Philistines all the days of Samuel. The towns that the Philistines hadtaken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron to Gath; and Israelrecovered their territory from the hand of the Philistines. There was peacealso between Israel and the Amorites. (1 Samuel 7:12–14 NRSV)
“Ebenezer,” means “the stone of help,” a monument remindingall of the divine aid they had received.
Centuries later Charles Dickens named his main character in A Christmas Carol “Ebenezer Scrooge.” Andwhen Scrooge stands before his own stone, his headstone, he begs for anotherchance.
This year we watched the George C. Scott version of the story, and the graveyard scene provided a powerful picture of repentance. Ebenezer Scrooge was a changed man. And as Dickens so beautifully wrote, "Manylaughed to see this alteration in [Scrooge], but he let them laugh and littleheeded them, for he knew that no good thing in this world ever happened, atwhich some did not have their fill of laughter. His own heart laughed and thatwas quite enough for him. And it was always said of him that he knew how tokeep Christmas well if any man alive possessed the knowledge."
Let us keep Christmas well, my friends. By the Lord’s divinehand, we have received help in the form of a child in a lowly manger, a king ina stable, a ruler who serves. Immanuel—God!With us! Merry Christmas!