Biblical Revivals and Awakenings
So far in our series we’ve looked at eight examples of revival in the Bible:
- Seth
- Noah
- Job
- Abram
- Joseph
- Moses
- Joshua
- Judges
We move next to a great revival that began with the hopes and prayers of three women.
Naomi and Ruth’s Revival
Our story begins with a woman named Naomi. She lived during the time of the Judges in Israel. She lived with her husband and two sons in Bethlehem, Judah, until a famine forced them to move in search for food. No specific famine is mentioned in Judges, but we see one possibility in Judges 6.
Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years, and the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of the Midianites, the children of Israel made for themselves the dens, the caves, and the strongholds which are in the mountains. So it was, whenever Israel had sown, Midianites would come up; also Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them. Then they would encamp against them and destroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep nor ox nor donkey. For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, coming in as numerous as locusts; both they and their camels were without number; and they would enter the land to destroy it. So Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord. Judges 6:1-6
If you’ll look back to Judges chapters 4 and 5, you’ll see that Deborah was Israel’s warrior judge and prophetess prior to the children of Israel doing evil in God’s sight in Judges 6. The end of Judges 5 reads – “So the land had rest for forty years.” God blessed Israel as long as Deborah was the judge. However, when she died the children of Israel returned to their evil and God punished them. That was the pattern from judge to judge to judge.
Deborah most likely judged Israel at the end of the 13th century BC and early part of the 12th century BC. If the famine spoken of in Ruth 1 was the same as Judges 6, then we get some idea of the time frame that Naomi and her family moved to Moab.
Naomi’s husband eventually died and she was left with her two sons. The boys took Moabite women for wives, but Naomi’s sons also died. That left Naomi without a husband or sons. We’re not told how her husband and sons died, but some scholars believe they may have been killed in local or regional warfare. Ruth 1:4 tells us that “they dwelt there about ten years,” but it’s unclear if that ten years was the total time Naomi lived in Moab or the years her sons were married before they died.
Naomi heard that “the Lord had visited His people by giving them bread” (Ruth 1:6). The word “visited” is the Hebrew word פְקַד (paqad). It means “to attend to, muster, appoint.” The idea is visiting someone for the purpose of being kind. This might be when God used Gideon to defeat the Midianites and restore Israel (Judges 6 – 8). Gideon may have been Israel’s judge when Naomi decided to return to Bethlehem. Israel was “quiet” for 40 years in the days of Gideon. That would have been during the middle part of the 12th century BC.
Naomi’s daughters-in-law planned to travel with her, but Naomi recommended that each of them return their mother’s house and marry again. However, both women wept and told Naomi they wanted to go with her. Naomi pleaded with them to return to their parents’ home, and one of them did go back to her parents’ home. However, one said she would stay with Naomi. Her name was Ruth.
But Ruth said: ‘Entreat me not to leave you, Or to turn back from following after you; For wherever you go, I will go; And wherever you lodge, I will lodge; Your people shall be my people, And your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, And there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, If anything but death parts you and me. Ruth 1:16-17
Naomi saw Ruth’s determination and stopped pleading with her to return to her parents’ home. They traveled together until they came to Bethlehem. The people of Bethlehem were excited to see Naomi return to their village, but Naomi was very sad about what had happened to her.
But she said to them, ‘Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and the Lord has brought me home again empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me? Ruth 1:20-21
Naomi’s name comes from the Hebrew word נֹעַם (noam), which means “pleasantness, delightfulness.” Naomi told the people of Bethlehem to call her Mara (מָרָא), which means “bitter.” Naomi needed a personal revival, but God did something even greater. As you read the Book of Ruth, you will see how Ruth met her “kinsman redeemer,” Boaz (Ruth 4:1-12). They married and Ruth became pregnant with a little boy.
And they called his name Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David. Ruth 4:17b
Ruth was the great-grandmother of David, King of Israel. Ruth’s name is mentioned in the lineage of the Messiah, Jesus.
Ram begot Amminadab, Amminadab begot Nahshon, and Nahshon begot Salmon. Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David the king. Matthew 1:4-6
Based on David’s birth date (approximately 1040 BC), we find that the timeline back to Jesse, Obed, Boaz and Ruth works well with what we’ve seen in the Book of Judges.
Before we leave this amazing story, please notice that God also blessed Naomi. Her bitterness was changed to joy. That’s what revival can do for God’s people.
Then the women said to Naomi, ‘Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without a close relative; and may his name be famous in Israel! And may he be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age; for your daughter-in-law, who loves you, who is better to you than seven sons, has borne him.’ Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her bosom, and became a nurse to him. Ruth 4:14-16
Through this wonderful story of Naomi and Ruth we see both personal and national revival. Real revival will do that. It can bless the lives of individuals and nations. That’s how God works.
Hannah’s Revival
The children of Israel “again played the harlot with the Baals” as soon as Gideon was dead. “Thus the children of Israel did not remember the Lord their God, who had delivered them from the hands of all their enemies on every side.” (Judges 8:33-35) God revived His people and how did they repay Him? They returned to worshipping false gods as soon as they could.
Israel had several more judges after Gideon, including the famous Samson (Judges 13 – 16). Interestingly, the Book of Judges ends with this sentence:
In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes. Judges 21:25
That’s an important clue as to what God was planning to do next. How did God bring about His eternal plan? Through the prayer of woman He chose for a special reason.
Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim Zophim, of the mountains of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. And he had two wives: the name of one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. This man went up from his city yearly to worship and sacrifice to the Lord of hosts in Shiloh. Also the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, the priests of the Lord, were there. And whenever the time came for Elkanah to make an offering, he would give portions to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and daughters. But to Hannah he would give a double portion, for he loved Hannah, although the Lord had closed her womb. And her rival also provoked her severely, to make her miserable, because the Lord had closed her womb. So it was, year by year, when she went up to the house of the Lord, that she provoked her; therefore she wept and did not eat. 1 Samuel 1:1-7
Hannah was in a tough spot. She was one of two wives of Elkanah. His other wife had children, but God had “closed” Hannah’s womb. She desperately wanted a child. Hannah went up to the “tabernacle of the Lord,” which was located in Shiloh at that time and had been for many years (see Joshua 18). Hannah “was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to the Lord and wept in anguish” (1 Samuel 1:10). Hannah then made a vow to God:
O Lord of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head. 1 Samuel 1:11
Eli was the priest of God at Shiloh at the time. He was also a judge of Israel for 40 years (1 Samuel 4:18). Eli saw Hannah moving her lips and thought she must be drunk. Hannah told Eli that she was not drunk, but was pouring out her soul before the Lord. Eli responded by saying – “Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition which you have asked of Him” (1 Samuel 1:17). Hannah thanked Eli, went her and ate, “and her face was no longer sad.” Hannah knew that God had heard her prayer and would give her a child.
Hannah did become pregnant and gave birth to a little boy. She named him Samuel – “Because I have asked for him from the Lord” (1 Samuel 1:20). Hannah kept her vow to God and brought Samuel to Eli after the boy was weaned. Hannah visited her son once a year when she and her husband traveled to Shiloh to offer the yearly sacrifice. Eli blessed Hannah and her husband and asked the Lord to give them more children “for the loan that was given to the Lord” (1 Samuel 2:20). God did bless Hannah and her husband with three sons and two daughters.
Hannah’s prayer in 1 Samuel 2 is one of the most beautiful and powerful prayers in the Bible. As you read her prayer, you can see how God’s Spirit impacted her knowledge and understanding about God. Her prayer was also prophetic:
He will give strength to His king, And exalt the horn of His anointed. 1 Samuel 2:10b
Keep in mind that Israel did not have a king when Hannah prayed that prayer. Israel had no plans at that time of having a king. God used Hannah to bring a “kingmaker” into the world through her womb, the womb God had closed until His appointed time.
Samuel’s Revival
Samuel “ministered to the Lord before Eli the priest” for several years. This most likely happened in the early part of the 11th century BC. Even though Eli was a priest and judge, what we learn about him and Israel at the time Samuel was a child was not good.
And the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no widespread revelation. 1 Samuel 3:1b
Revival needs many things, but the most important is widespread revelation. God’s Word must be known and preached. That was not happening at the time and what happened to Eli, his sons, and Israel are a sad tale of what happens when God’s Word is “rare and not a “widespread revelation.” (See 1 Samuel 4)
However, God wanted to revive His people. That’s why Samuel was born. God gave Samuel a prophecy to give to Eli:
Behold, I will do something in Israel at which both ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. In that day I will perform against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knows, because his sons made themselves vile, and he did not restrain them. And therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever. 1 Samuel 3:11-14
Eli asked Samuel what God had told him, so Samuel repeated the prophecy “and hid nothing from him.” Eli’s response was, “It is the Lord. Let Him do what seems good to Him.” What comes next is important to read:
So Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel had been established as a prophet of the Lord. Then the Lord appeared again in Shiloh. For the Lord revealed Himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the Lord. 1 Samuel 3:19-21
Notice that “all Israel” knew that God had established Samuel as His prophet. That impacted them powerfully after the Philistines attacked their cities, killed thousands of Israelis, and stole the Ark of the Covenant. Eli’s two sons also died. When Eli heard the news, he fell over backward and died (1 Samuel 4).
God protected the Ark and brought great pain on the Philistines and embarrassment to their worship of the god Dagon. They were only too glad to return the Ark to Israel (1 Samuel 5 & 6). God then spoke to His people through Samuel the prophet:
Then Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, ‘If you return to the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths from among you, and prepare your hearts for the Lord, and serve Him only; and He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines.’ So the children of Israel put away the Baals and the Ashtoreths, and served the Lord only. And Samuel said, ‘Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray to the Lord for you.’ So they gathered together at Mizpah, drew water, and poured it out before the Lord. And they fasted that day, and said there, ‘We have sinned against the Lord.’ And Samuel judged the children of Israel at Mizpah. 1 Samuel 7:3-6
Samuel’s primary message to Israel then is what Christians should preach now: confess sin, return to the Lord with all their hearts, and serve the Lord only. Did Samuel’s preaching lead to revival? See for yourself:
So the Philistines were subdued, and they did not come anymore into the territory of Israel. And the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. Then the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron to Gath; and Israel recovered its territory from the hands of the Philistines. Also there was peace between Israel and the Amorites. 1 Samuel 7:13-14
Notice that God “restored” to Israel the cities the Philistines had taken from them. There was also peace between Israel and the Amorites. Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life, but he became old and the people did not want his sons judging them.
Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, and said to him, ‘Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. 1 Samuel 8:4-5
Samuel did not like that request, so he took it to the Lord. Here’s how God responded to Samuel:
Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them. 1 Samuel 8:7
Samuel did as God said and granted Israel’s request. Samuel warned the people what life would be like under the rule of a human king. The people’s response?
Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, ‘No, but we will have a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.’ And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he repeated them in the hearing of the Lord. So the Lord said to Samuel, “Heed their voice, and make them a king. 1 Samuel 8:19-22
God told Samuel to choose Saul to be Israel’s first king. God gave the people the kind of king they wanted – “that we also may be like all the nations.” Samuel anointed Saul king (1 Samuel 10) and all the people shouted, “Long live the king!” I recommend you read Samuel’s address at Saul’s coronation (1 Samuel 12). These words are especially important as we consider how God revives His people:
If you fear the Lord and serve Him and obey His voice, and do not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then both you and the king who reigns over you will continue following the Lord your God. However, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then the hand of the Lord will be against you, as it was against your fathers … Only fear the Lord, and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you. But if you still do wickedly, you shall be swept away, both you and your king.” 1 Samuel 12:14-15, 24-25
Saul had some success as a warrior king with the help of his son Jonathan, but it wasn’t long before Saul disobeyed God. That had serious ramifications for Saul and Israel:
And Samuel said to Saul, ‘You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which He commanded you. For now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you. 1 Samuel 13:13-14
The person who became “a man after His own heart” was David of Bethlehem. God chose David when he was a shepherd boy and Samuel anointed him to become Israel’s king (1 Samuel 16). We all know the story of David and Goliath and how David became a great warrior in Israel’s army. We also know about Saul’s intense jealousy and resentment of David. Saul tried to kill David many times, but God protected David from harm.
Next Time
Samuel died while Saul was still trying to kill David (1 Samuel 25). We will look into David’s “revival” in the next part of our series.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
© Faith and Self Defense, 2023
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