A Study of the Life of Samuel
Sermon # 4
“Bringing Back God’s Glory!”
1 Samuel 4:1 – 6:17
We have seen how Samuel dominates the first three chapters of 1 Samuel and now he fades into the background while the spiritual condition and political affairs of Israel continue in a down-ward spiral. You need to remember that this is the period of the judges, a time that scripture characterizes as when “every man did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6). This dark time is epitomized by the departure of symbol of God’s presence, the Ark of the Covenant, from the people of Israel. Don’t forget how 1 Samuel 3:1 described this period as a time when God was not speaking to his people very often: “… the word of the LORD was rare in those days; there was no widespread revelation.” The spiritual leaders were corrupt and God’s people were not obeying his law so why should he say anything new to them? It seems that since men were not listening to God in those days he rarely bothered to speak to them. This lays the ground work for the departure of God’s glory from Israel. Unfortunately we will come to discover that the capture of the ark and its removal to the land of the Philistines only symbolizes what is already true, what has been true for a long time, the glory of God has departed from Israel.
In 1 Samuel Four, verse one, “… Now Israel went out to battle against the Philistines, and encamped beside Ebenezer; and the Philistines encamped in Aphek. (2) Then the Philistines put themselves in battle array against Israel. And when they joined battle, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand men of the army in the field.”
In the passage before us Israel is once again pitted against the Philistines. In this initial confrontation with the Philistines Israel suffered a defeat with a loss of 4,000 men, the elders and leaders of Israel were totally bewildered and perplexed. Calling an emergency meeting to analysis the defeat in verse three, they focused on one basic question, “Why did the Lord bring defeat upon us today?” (v.3). If they had stopped to evaluate their own sinful lifestyles they would have had the answer.
They asked the right question but unfort-unately they drew the wrong conclusion. The reminder of verse three reveals that they decided to use the Ark to try to manipulate God, “… Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD from Shiloh to us, that when it comes among us it may save us from the hand of our enemies."
Keep in mind that God had given Israel very distinct instruction through Moses as to the way in which military campaigns were to be conducted (Deuteronomy 20) but none of them seem to have been put into practice on this occasion. No priest is called to ask counsel of God or bless the going forth of the army of Israel. In a very modern fashion Israel only seems interested in God getting them out of the mess they have gotten them-selves into. They did not begin to think either of God, nor of the Ark of the Covenant until after they had suffered defeat.
Instead of searching their hearts and confessing their sins, they decided to imitate Joshua and Moses and take the Ark of the Covenant into battle with them (Numbers 10:33-36). They apparently regarded the Ark of the Covenant as some sort of giant good luck charm saying, “If we bring the Ark here then our luck will change.”
The children of Israel either did not know or did not care to consider that the presence of a physical symbol of God’s presence would do no good, when the hearts of the people were far from Him! Even as believers today we need to get over the idea that God will bless us in spite of disobedience.
Notice with me that the text reveals three wrong ways in which people try to interact with God.
1. God Refuses to Be used As A Good Luck Charm (4:4-7)
“So the people sent to Shiloh, that they might bring from there the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts, who dwells between the cherubim. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God. (5) And when the ark of the covenant of the LORD came into the camp, all Israel shouted so loudly that the earth shook. (6) Now when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, "What does the sound of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews mean?" Then they understood that the ark of the LORD had come into the camp. (7) So the Philistines were afraid, for they said, "God has come into the camp!" And they said, "Woe to us! For such a thing has never happened before. (8) Woe to us! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness.”
The ark was about 4 ft long by 2 ft high and 2 ft. wide. The ark was made of wood and overlaid with pure gold. On the top of the ark was a solid slab of gold called the mercy seat and in the ark was the tables of God’s law. Out of the mercy seat were the Cherubim with their wings outstretched. The ark was the most sacred piece of furniture in the temple and it was kept in the holy of holies. It was so holy that it was kept behind a veil and only the high priest was allowed to look upon it once each year when he offered the sacrifice for the atonement for Israel’s sins (Lev. 16).
Now they sent for the ark and wanted it present with them. It was not that they wanted the ark that they may serve God or worship God or reverence God – they wanted the presence of God for their own purposes. They were not seeking the will of God, they were not walking by faith and they certainly were not seeking to glorify God. Even worse, the two wicked sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas would be carrying the ark of God.
It was significant for Israel to learn that they could not manipulate God by means of His Ark to given them victory when their heart were not right with Him. A modern form of this is to see the promises of God as some kind of magical formula, “If I do this, this and this, then God must do this…” Christians need to learn that God is not like a mop or a dish rag that we call upon just to clean up our messes. He would not allow Israel to use Him, and he won’t let us either! The question remains, “Are we putting God first in our lives or “summoning” God when all else has failed us?”
Israel’s hope was that the presence of the ark would turn the battle in their favor but Israel’s plan backfired in a big way. The ark may have been with them in the camp but the Lord was against them. Their strategy served only to strengthen the resolve of the enemy to fight that much harder. In verse nine the Philistines say, “Be strong and conduct yourselves like men, you Philistines, that you do not become servants of the Hebrews, as they have been to you. Conduct yourselves like men, and fight!" When Hophi and Phinenas, arrived in the Israelite encampment with the ark, every man shouted so loudly that the ground literally shook (4:5). The conclusion of the Philistines when hear the uproar caused by the arrival of the ark in the Israelite camp was that if they are going to die we can at least die like men. Instead of disheartening the Philistines it caused them to fight even harder.
Beginning in verse ten the disastrous outcome of this battle is given. First and foremost the forces of Israel are defeated with a loss of 10,000 men (v. 10) and those that manage to escape death fled. The Ark of the Covenant is taken by the Philistines (v.11) and the two sons of the priest Eli, Phinehas and Hophni are killed.
Never in the history of Israel has the ark of God ever fallen into enemy hands. As I said earlier, unfortunately the capture of the ark only symbolizes what is already true, what has been true for a long time, the glory of God has departed from Israel.
When the news of the battle, the defeat of Israel, the lost of the Ark and the death of his two sons are reported to Eli the priest he fell off of his chair broke his neck and died (v.18) “Then it happened, when he made mention of the ark of God, that Eli fell off the seat backward by the side of the gate; and his neck was broken and he died, for the man was old and heavy. And he had judged Israel forty years.”
Unfortunately the dying is not over for the house of Eli. The wife of Eli’s son, Phinehas, who is pregnant when she hears of her husband’s death and the death of her husband and father-in-law she goes into premature labor. As she is in labor things do not go well. Informed that her child is a boy, she names him “Ichabod” which means “no glory,” because she realizes the departure of the ark symbolizes the departure of God’s glory (v. 21). Israel had used the ark as a good luck charm, Eli was concerned for the safety of the ark, only this woman seems to be concerned for the glory of God.
2. God Refuses to Be Displayed As a Trophy (5:1-5)
The Philistines captured the Ark but they soon learned that the Ark, like his written word, was designed as a comfort and encouragement to his people but not to his enemies. When the Philistines got what they wanted, they did not want what they had. The real ark gave the Philistines as much trouble as the fictional ark gave the Nazis in the movie “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” God will use the ark to teach both the Jews and the Philistines some important lessons.
In chapter five (verse one) we are intro-duced to the fate of the ark in Philistine hand’s, “Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. (2) When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon and set it by Dagon.
The Philistines took the Ark to their capital city of Ashdod and placed it in the Temple of their chief God – Dagon. Dagon was considered to be the father of Baal. No doubt this was done to show that Dagon was stronger and more powerful than Jehovah, boy were they in for a surprise. When the Philistines entered their temple the next morning verse three reveals that much to their humiliation, they discovered their god face down before the Ark like one of the worshipers. “And when the people of Ashdod arose early in the morning, there was Dagon, fallen on its face to the earth before the ark of the LORD. So they took Dagon and set it in its place again.” When they left that day you can be sure that their idol was securely in its place. There will be no more falling on its face, that’s for sure.
Yet verse four reveals that when they returned the next morning things are even worse than they were before. “And when they arose early the next morning, there was Dagon, fallen on its face to the ground before the ark of the LORD. The head of Dagon and both the palms of its hands were broken off on the threshold; only Dagon’s torso was left of it.” They found that Dagon’s head and hands had been cut off and the torso was again prostrate before the ark.
Now they must begin to wonder if they have the Hebrew God in their hands or if it is the other way around. The Philistines should have asked themselves, “What kind of a god has to be set upright by its subjects and carried off for repairs because it is broken?” The Philistines could have gotten rid of Dagon and theirs sins but they chose rather to get rid of the Ark and their plagues. Though they recognized that it was God’s hand upon them they still refused to repent. They did not in the least profit by their painful experience. Just as today some people refuse to allow God to break through their pride, though they have time after time seen evidence of his hand in their lives. And because they refused to learn from the difficult lessons that God was teaching there are even more difficult lessons to come.
Verse six reveals that the Lord not only humiliated the god of the Philistines but he also judged the people who worship this false god.
“But the hand of the LORD was heavy on the people of Ashdod, and He ravaged them and struck them with tumors, both Ashdod and its territory. (7) And when the men of Ashdod saw how it was, they said, "The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for His hand is harsh toward us and Dagon our god."
A terrible plague came upon the people of Ashdod. It is impossible to be dogmatic about the exact identity of these plagues. Some comment-aries think that it was the bubonic plague, and that the people experienced painful inflammation of the lymph glands, particularly in the groin. Others think that it was a severe form of hemorrhoids because of the translation in the KJV of (1 Sam 5:9) “emerods in their secret parts,” but whatever it is people not only suffered pain and humiliation, they are dying like flies (v. 11). It is apparent that the leaders come to realize that the plague that they are suffering is due to the presence of the ark in their midst.
So they took the ark from Ashdod to Gath (vv.8-9); from Gath to Ekron (v. 10); but the Philistines soon discovered that a terrible plague of tumors broke out in each successive city to which the Ark is taken. Finally recognizing that the affliction was due to the presence of the ark (v. 10) they made the decision to send the ark back to Israel (v. 11), but not without one last test (6:7). While they Philistines do see recognize the plague as the hand of God as judgment for having the ark in their midst, they do not reject their powerless god, nor to they trust in the God of Israel and worship Him. They very simply want God out of their town. They stubbornly clung to the possibility that all of these disasters “could” just bad luck. If they could prove that calamities were all coincidence, they could keep the ark and continue to magnify Dagon’s superiority over Jehovah. In verse seven of chapter six the Philistines outline the scheme they think will test the God of Israel one last time. “Now therefore, make a new cart, take two milk cows which have never been yoked, and hitch the cows to the cart; and take their calves home, away from them. (8) Then take the ark of the LORD and set it on the cart; and put the articles of gold which you are returning to Him as a trespass offering in a chest by its side. Then send it away, and let it go. (9) And watch: if it goes up the road to its own territory, to Beth Shemesh, then He has done us this great evil. But if not, then we shall know that it is not His hand that struck us--it happened to us by chance."
The plan is ingenious, at least they think so, they would take two cows that have calves and separate them from the calves. They would then hitch the cows to a new cart, put the ark on the cart and turn the cows loose. If the plagues are from God, who wants the ark back, then the cows will leave their calves behind, and draw the cart back to Israel. If the cows draw the ark back to Israel it will be safe to assume that the Philistine’s troubles were from God and they did the right thing in letting the Ark go. If, however, the cows didn’t move at all, or if they went to their calves it would be “proof” that the God of Israel was not in control at all and the Philistines had nothing to fear.
When you consider that these cows were nursing their calves, that the cows had never drawn a cart before, the Philistines had the deck nicely stacked in their favor. The odds were with them that these cows would never pull this cart down the road to the nearest Israelite town of Beth-Shemesh. They thought they had all the angles figured out. But they had not reckoned with God for verse twelve reveals that, “Then the cows headed straight for the road to Beth Shemesh, and went along the highway, lowing as they went, and did not turn aside to the right hand or the left.”
The Philistines did not know the true and living God but the cows did and they obeyed Him.
3. God Refuses to be Treated With Distain (6:13-15, 19-21)
“Now the people of Beth Shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley; and they lifted their eyes and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it. (14) Then the cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh, and stood there; a large stone was there. So they split the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the LORD. (15) The Levites took down the ark of the LORD and the chest that was with it, in which were the articles of gold, and put them on the large stone. Then the men of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings and made sacrifices the same day to the LORD. …. (19) Then He struck the men of Beth Shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the LORD. He struck fifty thousand and seventy men of the people, and the people lamented because the LORD had struck the people with a great slaughter.”
When the ark arrive in Beth-Shemesh it should have been covered, it was not suppose to be seen by anyone except the high priest. The people did not do this even though they knew and for the cost for this error of judgment will be high. Some of the people became curious and ‘looked into the ark” and were slain. There is some difference of opinion as to whether these individual looked into or upon the ark but either way it was an action that was forbidden and a number of Israelites lost there lives as a result.
If the pagan Philistines were judged for the way they unknowingly treated the ark, how much more does God hold accountable those who new the law and were living in a Levitical (priestly) city. The awesome event described here certainly would seem to warn us today against a lack of reverence for the things of God. The writer of Hebrews in the New Testament reminds us that “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” May I add that it is even more fearful to fall into the hands of an angry living God!
Abiding Principles
1. While God does not live in our church buildings or in any of its furnishings (Acts 7:48-50) we do want show respect for things dedicated to the glory of God.
2. We do not have the ark to present the presence of God today, we have the Son of God, and he deserves His rightful place of preeminence in our hearts.
