Ask Gramps.org

What is an Ebenezer?

Dear Gramps,

In the song “Come thou font of every blessing…” there is a phrase that says ‘here I raise my Ebenezer….’ What, exactly is an ‘Ebenezer’?

Judi, from Mesa/Arizona

Dear Judi,

The phrase, Here I raise my Ebenezer, is the beginning of the second verse of the hymn, “O Thou Fount of Every Blessing.” This hymn was written by Robert Robinson in 1758, and stresses the joy of Christianity and the Christian’s need to rely on the Lord. Robinson chose the phrase, “Here I raise my Ebenezer,” from 1 Samuel 7:12, because it reminds God’s people how He delivered Israel from danger.

Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the LORD helped us (1 Sam 7:12).

The word is the English version of the Hebrew word, Ebenhaezer, meaning stone of help.

Gramps

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