“Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen and called its name Ebenezer; for he said, ‘Till now the Lord has helped us.’” (1Samuel 7:12 ESV)
“Here I raise my Ebenezer, hither by thy help I’m come.” Whoever has sung the hymn, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” in a church service has wondered at some point what this line means. If you’re anything like my six-year-old, you’ll ask so loudly the whole congregation can hear you say, “What’s an Ebenezer?!” Any Study Bible will tell you that Ebenezer means a “stone of help,” as well as an example of a stone of remembrance, a type of memorial. Throughout the Old Testament, numerous examples are found of followers of the Lord erecting stones of remembrance to remind later generations of the work that the Lord has done (Gen. 28:18, Deut. 27:2-3, Josh. 4:9, 24:26).
In the above passage from 1 Samuel, early in the account of Samuel’s ministry, the Philistines have been harassing Israel, mostly successfully. However, after the Philistines took the Ark of the Covenant, it began to cause disease and plague within their cities, and it was returned to Israel. A revival began within Israel, and Samuel called the people to repentance and to put away their idols. In the midst of the people offering sacrifices and worshiping the Lord, the Philistines launched an attack. However, “the Lord thundered with a mighty sound that day against the Philistines and threw them into confusion, and they were defeated before Israel” (Samuel 7:10). The Mighty Hand of the Lord saved the people as an act of grace; this led Samuel to set up the stone of remembrance, an Ebenezer, as a memorial.
This story, and others like it, remind us of the importance of setting up markers in our lives to commemorate significant events. We do this naturally for big events in our personal lives: wedding rings, diplomas hung on walls, planting a tree to remember a loved one. Some get a tattoo as a visual reminder on their bodies to mark a milestone.
This has me thinking of the communal “memorial stones” we create in our libraries or the institutions we serve under. Perhaps there is a small memorial set up in a corner, or maybe a plaque of an award long won. This may be seen even in the names our libraries or buildings carry. But I wonder, do we take time to celebrate our successes and praise God for His work in our lives? Is there more we could be doing to place concrete and physical reminders of important moments in our institutions?
I’m sure the answer for most of us is yes. So let this be an encouragement to celebrate our community’s successes, to raise our Ebenezers to important achievements, and to recognize God at work. Who knows, maybe we can even create cultures of remembrance where difficulties are noted and achievements and perseverance are celebrated. Libraries are great gathering places where this can occur and where people can come to celebrate and remember!
Alec Ellis
Alec works as the Web Technologies Librarian at Colorado Christian University. He has been a member of ACL since 2021.