Samuel - Last of the Judges (Part 3)
The Ark of God is stolen
When Israel went out to battle their rival enemy, the Philistines, they lost about four thousand men. When they returned to camp, they decided to get the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and take that out to battle the next time. They must have forgotten that God is uncontainable. Anyway, when they brought out the ark, a great shout rang out from Israel, and the Philistines were afraid because they knew what the shout meant, and they remembered how God delivered Israel from the hands of the Egyptians. Even the enemy remembered!
That day the LORD saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. Exodus 14:30
Nevertheless, the Philistines went out to battle Israel, and this time Israel lost thirty thousand men. Eli’s sons were killed, and the Philistines took the ark of God. When the people in Shiloh heard of this they cried out, Eli fell off his chair and died, and his daughter in law died giving birth to a son, whom they named Ichabod because they said the glory had left Israel.
The Philistines brought the ark to Ashdod, and put it before their god, Dagon. The Philistines worshiped things made by the hands of men, which were not actually gods at all. So, while the ark was in Ashdod, the Lord cut up and knocked down Dagon, and brought tumors and destruction on the people there. The Philistines called their leaders together to decide what to do with the ark, and it was taken to Gath.
The same things happened in Gath, and then in Ekron, and the people said, “They have brought the ark of the God of Israel to us, to slay us and our people.” The Philistines were being destroyed, and those that did not die were full of tumors. God was doing what the people of Israel could not, He was destroying the Philistines as they passed around the ark.
If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. Deuteronomy 8:19
The Philistines had another meeting, and after seven months, they decided to get rid of the ark. Not only did they send it back, but they filled it with trespass offerings of gold, and gave glory to God. They put the ark on a cart tied to a pair of cattle and said, “if it goes the way of Beth-Shemesh, then we will know that the Lord did this to us, but if it goes off in some other direction we will know it happened by chance.”
God is the one and only God, and He was making it known to all people. Of course the cattle took the cart straight to Beth-Shemesh, and the people rejoiced to see it. However, the destruction was not over because the people of Beth-Shemesh looked into the ark, and over fifty thousand people died. The people lamented and said, “Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God?” Then the people sent the ark to Kirjath-jearim, and it stayed there for twenty years.
The LORD will lay bare his holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God. Isaiah 52:10
Then we see the reason for all of the destruction, and why Israel could not defeat the Philistines in the first place. Samuel tells Israel to put away the foreign gods they were serving, and they would be delivered from the Philistines. They were serving Baalim, and Ashtaroth, while God had called them to be set apart, holy, and serving Him. Israel listened to Samuel, and turned back to God in repentance.
When they chose new gods, war came to the city gates, and not a shield or spear was seen among forty thousand in Israel. Judges 5:8
The Philistines came out again to attack Israel, they just weren’t getting it. Samuel cried out to the Lord, and the Lord thundered upon the Philistines and confused them. Israel went out after them and destroyed them. The Lord was against the Philistines for Samuel’s whole life, and they did not come back to the coast of Israel. Israel took back the cities that the Philistines had taken from them, and Samuel judged Israel all of his days.
The Lord had left Israel; why? Sin
Israel was unable to stand against the enemy; why? Sin
The Philistines were drawn back, defeated, and destroyed; why? Sin
For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. Romans 7:5
Sin has no part with a holy God. When we choose sin, we choose to push God away. When we choose to sin, we choose to suffer the consequences. Lets choose God’s way, every time. Lets choose to turn back to God in every situation…He’s already waiting!
Dave Earley http://www.init-2-winit.org/faithlikeamustardseed http://www.init-2-winit.org/forum
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