Meanwhile Samuel, of whom we have not heard since he denounced the doom of the house of Ithamar, was growing up an acknowledged Prophet of the Lord. In this sad crisis of the nation’s history he now came forward and convening an assembly at Mizpeh, probably the _Watch-tower_ of Benjamin, solemnly expostulated with the Israelites on their idolatrous practices. With fasting and public confession they acknowledged the righteousness of the late judgments. Water was poured upon the ground, and the people entered into a covenant to abandon the worship of Baal and Ashtaroth. From this day Samuel’s career as Judge began, and was inaugurated by a great victory over the Philistines, who hearing that the Israelites were recovering from their former depression, once more gathered together at Mizpeh, prepared to give them battle. At this crisis, Samuel taking a lamb offered it as a whole burnt-offering for the nation’s sins, and was thus piously employed when the Philistines made their onslaught. But at this moment a terrific thunder-storm burst forth, accompanied, according to Josephus, by an earthquake. Seized with a sudden panic, the Philistines fled in disorder, and were pursued with great slaughter by the victorious Israelites as far as Beth-car (_the house of lambs_), a height to the west of Mizpeh. On the very spot, where twenty years before the Philistines had gained their most signal triumph, Samuel now set up a huge stone to commemorate his victory, and named it Ebenezer, _the Stone of Help_ (1 Sam. vii. 12). The subsequent effects of this success were still more apparent. Not only did the Philistines receive a decided check, but the Amorites also, the scourge of the little tribe of Dan, made peace with Israel, and all the cities in the Philistine territory, which had been taken from the Israelites, from Ekron to Gath, were restored. Samuel’s office as Judge was now confirmed. Ramah, his birth-place, was his residence, and here he erected an altar to the Lord, and thence from year to year went forth in solemn circuit to the old sanctuaries, Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpeh, combining with the duties of a Judge the functions also of a Seer or Prophet, and with all the weight of an Oracle advising in any of the troubles of national or domestic life (1 Sam. ix. 11, 18, 19). As years passed on, and he waxed old, his sons JOEL and ABIAH, like those of Jair and Abdon before him, shared a portion of his judicial functions, and administered justice in the more southerly portions of the country. But they did not walk in their father’s footsteps. He who, when a child, had denounced the terrible doom on Eli for the wickedness of his sons, lived to see his own sons turning aside after lucre, exacting excessive usury, and perverting judgment (1 Sam. viii. 3).