Good Wednesday to you my ‘Walking with Jesus’ friends,
I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase ‘momentum swing’. It is used in athletics and politics and business and sometimes in health care. Probably you’ve experienced a ‘momentum swing’ so you know how frightening and exhilarating it can be, all at the same time. Join me back in Shiloh, Israel, about 3000 years ago where a great ‘momentum swing’ takes place both here in Shiloh, at the Tabernacle, and also at the frontlines on the battlefield where the ferocious Philistines and the Israelites are fighting.
We find the account in 1 Samuel 4. The record says: “When the Ark of the LORD’s covenant came into the camp, all the Israelite soldiers raised such a great shout that the ground shook.” (1 Samuel 4:5) Now that my friends, is a serious ‘momentum swing’! Before the arrival of the Ark, these same soldiers were deeply discouraged, probably some ready to quit and run away from the battlefield under the cover of night, abandoning their fellow soldiers. Why? Because the day before, the Israelite army had been trounced by the Philistine army and Israel had suffered the death of 4000 soldiers in one day!
But suddenly that same Israelite army camp has the energy and confidence of invincibility. Why? Because the Ark of the Covenant of the God of Israel had been brought FROM the sacred, Most Holy Place of the Tabernacle in Shiloh, and brought TO the battlefield! For these Israelite soldiers, none of whom had ever seen the Ark, but all of whom believed the God of Israel was the same God who had delivered Moses and their ancestors from Egyptian slavery about 500 years before, nothing could have inspired more confidence than the sight of this Ark in their camp at that battlefield!
These were soldiers not theologians or even deeply spiritual men, thus it’s safe for us to assume NONE of them had given any thought to the defilement of the holy Ark which they were now part of by kidnapping the Ark from its home in the Tabernacle and bringing it to the battlefield as some sort of a good luck charm!
On the other side of the battlefield, the Philistines were riding high on the momentum of great victory they had experienced that day, but now suddenly the noise rising up from the Israelite camp awakened anxiety in the Philistine camp. A ‘momentum swing’ was happening among the ferocious Philistine army.
The record says: “Hearing the uproar the Philistines asked, ‘What is all this shouting in the Hebrew camp?’ When they learned the Ark of the LORD had come into the camp, the Philistines were afraid. ‘We’re in trouble! Nothing like this has ever happened before. Woe to us! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? They are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues. Be strong, Philistines! Be courageous men or you will be subject to the Hebrews as they have been to you. Be valiant men and fight!” (1 Samuel 4:6-9)
You can hear the Philistine ‘momentum swing’ can’t you? From confidence based on victory that day on their battlefield, to now fear based on the stories of long past history that had been passed down to them generation after generation. That calls us to ask ourselves some important questions?
What are the stories which you believe to be true, which instill great confidence in you that God is more than able to do miraculous, amazing things regardless of the size of the problem? Are any of those stories your personal past experience, or that of someone in your family or some close friends? And if you don’t know any such stories, what does that say about the limitations of your spiritual heritage and your personal spiritual journey, your knowledge of and your relationship with God?
Now with such dramatic momentum swing in both the Israelite and Philistine camps, what do you suppose happened the next day on the battlefield? Let’s check the record: “So the Philistines fought, and the Israelites were defeated, and every man fled to his tent. The slaughter was very great; Israel lost 30,000 foot soldiers. The Ark of God was captured by the Philistines and Eli’s two sons Hophni and Phinehas died that day.” (1 Samuel 4:10,11) That is one of the most powerful, discouraging, dreadful statements in the entire Bible!
Scan the landscape out there, as you look out over the battlefield and imagine 30,000 Israelite bodies lying dead on the ground? Perhaps it is more like 40,000 bodies because surely the Philistine army suffered great losses that day too! And over there, under that tree, are the dead bodies of Hophni and Phinehas, the two priestly sons of Eli. And there, off in the distance, the dancing and cheering throng of Philistine soldiers carrying the precious, sacred Ark of the Covenant of God.
Never before had the Ark of God been in the possession of anyone other than the Hebrews! And only for the past day or two had the Ark been out of the Most Holy Place of the Tabernacle, brought here to the battlefield in hopes God would rise up and defeat the wicked Philistines. Oh my, what a disaster!
Such news spread very quickly, even at a time in history without cell phones or internet. A runner ran from the battlefield back to Shiloh for he had unimaginable news to share with Eli and Samuel and the people of Shiloh. Out of breath the young runner arrived in Shiloh and the record says: “When he arrived, there was Eli sitting on his chair by the side of the road, watching, because his heart feared for the Ark of God. When the runner entered the town and told what had happened on the battlefield, the whole town sent up a cry. Eli, hearing the outcry asked, ‘What is the meaning of this uproar’? The runner hurried over to Eli, who was 98 years old and who was nearly blind. He told Eli, ‘I have just come from the battlefield… Israel fled before the Philistines, and the Israelite army has suffered heavy losses. Also, your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas are dead, and the Ark of God has been captured!’
When he mentioned the Ark of God, Eli fell backward off his chair…his neck was broken and he died, for he was an old man and heavy. Eli had led Israel 40 years.” (1 Samuel 4:12-18)
Pause for a moment. Look around this scene at the town of Shiloh. People screaming and crying, throwing their arms into the air calling for God as they grieve what they’ve just heard. Eli’s dying body lying on the ground, his last thoughts are of his dead sons and the sacred Ark of God in the hands of Philistine soldiers, even now heading to one of those fortified Philistine cities.
And over there, in a nearby house, a pregnant woman has gone into premature labor, hearing this dreadful news. She is the wife of Phinehas and in birth complications she is dying now as she gives birth. With her final breaths she names her baby “Ichabod” and as she pushes him out of her birth canal, with her dying breath she cries out, ‘The glory has departed from Israel, for the Ark of God has been captured.’ (1 Samuel 4:19-25)
This is one of the darkest days in the history of the people of Israel. As the moon rose over that region of Israel that night, the stench of death was everywhere. But much worse than the loss of thousands of soldiers and the High Priest and his two priestly sons, was the unthinkable loss of the Ark of God!
While the record does not tell us, I wonder where Samuel spent that night? Perhaps he was back in the Tabernacle where he first heard God’s call as a young lad. This was the best place for Samuel, now feeling the full weight of the burden of an entire nation in despair. This night would likely be sleepless and filled with prayer as Samuel sought God seeking to understand what he should now do to step into the leadership gap and draw a grieving nation to God?
Let’s pause with Samuel and allow the eyes of your heart to roam across the battlefield, the nearly empty Israelite camp, and back at Shiloh. Do your ears hear the tears, the wailing, the loss of all hope? And as the eyes of your heart roam our modern landscapes, across Ukraine or the Gaza Strip or towns in Israel ravaged by Hamas or other places in our world where some people are hopeless, do you hear some saying “Ichabod”, ‘all hope is lost’?
What words of hope can you offer our world, my friends? Let’s worship and see what God speaks into your heart and mine?
Today’s Scripture is 1 Samuel 4:4-22.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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