3 Then Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel , saying , " If you return to the Lord with all your heart , remove the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you and direct your hearts to the Lord and serve Him alone ; and He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines ."
Matthew Henry's Commentary on 1 Samuel 7:3
Commentary on 1 Samuel 7:1-4
(Read 1 Samuel 7:1-4)
God will find a resting-place for his ark; if some thrust it from them, the hearts of others shall be inclined to receive it. It is no new thing for God's ark to be in a private house. Christ and his apostles preached from house to house, when they could not have public places. Twenty years passed before the house of Israel cared for the want of the ark. During this time the prophet Samuel laboured to revive true religion. The few words used are very expressive; and this was one of the most effectual revivals of religion which ever took place in Israel.