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Good morning my good friends who are on the “Walking with Jesus” journey with me.
We’re following an exciting story that has some interesting links to the famous Indiana Jones movie “Raiders of the Lost Ark”.
Yesterday in 1 Samuel 6 we saw that the Ark of the Covenant of God was sent back to Israel by the Philistines who had captured it in battle. Because soon after they brought the Ark into Philistine territory, they found they suffered greatly because the mighty hand of God’s judgment was upon them.
Here’s a question for us to consider today? When you know you’ve done wrong, you’ve violated God’s holiness, what is required to restore things to the way they should be, maybe even better than they were before?
We know 1 John 1:9 tells us “If we confess our sins He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” Remember this powerful statement is made AFTER Jesus died on the cross for our sins, and rose victoriously from the grave, triumphant over sin and death. In the times of Samuel, repentance, animal sacrifices and especially the Day of Atonement, were key in dealing with sin.
For the Philistines, we saw they felt not only should they return the Ark, but they should also send gold offerings along with the Ark, in hopes it would satisfy the God who had His hand of judgment upon them.
For the Israelites who received the Ark, they felt they should offer up a sacrifice to God in their jubilation, so they chopped up the cart for firewood, and slaughtered the two cows and sacrificed them. But then what?
1 Samuel 6:19 tells us what happened next, and it’s a shocker! “But God struck down some of the men of Beth Shemesh, putting seventy of them to death because they had looked into the Ark of the LORD. The people mourned because of the heavy blow the LORD had dealt them, and they asked “Who can stand in the presence of the LORD this holy God? To whom will the Ark go up from here?”
Does that seem extremely harsh my friends? It is severe, that’s for sure! 70 men died, and the crime? Someone lifted the lid of the Ark of the Covenant and looked inside!
I can understand their inquisitiveness, after all the Ark had been in Philistine territory seven months, and the Hebrews knew that inside this Ark should be the 10 Commandments tablets of stone, engraved by the finger of God, which Moses had brought down from the mountain. (Exodus 34) But who knew what had happened in these months?
Here’s an important lesson, my friends. Over the years, under the failed spiritual leadership of Eli and his sons Hophni and Phinehas, the people had become uninformed about the Holiness of God and how to respect Him in worship and care for the sacred artifacts in the Tabernacle. As a people they had drifted far from God, and their spiritual leaders were making a mockery of worship at Shiloh. They even had removed the sacred Ark of the covenant from the Most Holy Place of the Tabernacle, and sent it to the battlefield, where it had been captured!
God’s people had also become lazy in their worship and their lifestyles. They were far from living lives that honored God. This harsh action of Holy God was a wake-up call to His people. They remembered Hophni and Phinehas had died in battle, and Eli had died when he heard the news. This was a call to remember His instructions about the holy things, and a call to return to right and honorable relationship with Him in living as people of God.
If you look again at the map I’ve enclosed, you can follow the journey of the Ark from Shiloh, to Ashdod, to Gath, to Ekron, to Beth Shemesh.
We can understand that the people of Beth Shemesh would be fearful of having the Ark in their town, due to the death of 70 men. We are not sure why they chose Kiriath Jearim, but as we see in 1 Samuel 7:1 “So the men of Kiriath Jearim came and took up the Ark of the LORD. They took it to Abinadab’s house on the hill and consecrated Eleazar his son to guard the Ark of the LORD.
It was a long time, 20 years in all, that the Ark remained at Kiriath Jearim, and all the people of Israel mourned and sought after the LORD….”
We don’t know why Abinidab’s house was chosen, but what a tremendous privilege, to have the Ark of the Covenant of God in his home!! And not just for a day or two, but for a long, long time!
What an interesting turn of events, do you agree? While it is true Shiloh and the Tabernacle were a long distance to the north, do you find it interesting the people did not make the effort to return the Ark to Shiloh? In fact Shiloh is never mentioned again in the story! Most Bible scholars believe that when the Philistines defeated the Israeli army and captured the Ark, they later sent soldiers to capture the town of Shiloh!
There is an interesting reference to this, about 500 years later, in Jeremiah 7:12 where God’s message to His people, through Jeremiah the prophet is shocking: “Go now to the place in Shiloh where I first made a dwelling for My name, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel… what I did to Shiloh, I will now do to the house that bears My Name, the temple you trust in…”
Soon after Jeremiah said these words, King Nebuchadnezzar led his Babylonian army to invade and destroy Jerusalem, including the fabulous Temple, in 586bc, taking from that Temple all the artifacts of worship, including this Ark, as spoils of war.
Evidently God allowed the Philistines to invade and demolish the town of Shiloh, and perhaps damage the Tabernacle, making it unusable, thus the Ark was taken to Abinidab’s house in Kiriath Jearim.
Notice please what Samuel says to the people in 1 Samuel 7:3 “And Samuel said to the whole house of Israel, ‘If you are returning to the LORD with all your hearts, then rid yourself of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths, and commit yourself to the LORD and serve Him only, and He will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines. So the Israelites put away their Baal’s and Ashtoreths, and served the LORD only.”
Samuel knew the truth. Not only had the people drifted far away from God, and not only had their spiritual leaders failed them, but in their drift, the people had embraced the idols of the surrounding nations and were worshiping them ALSO, in addition to their insincere worship of God! That’s very dangerous my friends, and I see it everywhere in our day, don’t you?
People going through the motions of Sunday church, but at the same time, embracing the idols and values of their evil societies, and thus their lifestyles are hypocritical and their values are in conflict with God. While they claim to be Christians, the lives they live are often more similar to people who make no claim to be religious. Do you see this where you live, my friends?
Do you see how easily good, God honoring people, can drift to this place of God defiling dysfunction? That is why 70 men died at Beth Shemesh, and 30,000 soldiers had died on the battlefield the day the Ark was captured! Spiritual drift is dangerous my friends. Rebellion against God invites His Justice response. God will not be mocked.
But in the next verses of 1 Samuel 7 we see God’s loving compassion and His forgiving response to the repentance of His people. Samuel called for a great assembly, and we can assume thousands of Israelites came before God, perhaps they even had a huge bonfire, burning all their idols. They repented before God and worshiped Him. Samuel recorded it this way: “On that day they fasted and there they confessed, ‘We have sinned against the LORD.’ And Samuel was the leader of Israel at Mizpah.” (1 Samuel 7:6)
Oh how I love the next verses my friends. The people repented of their evil ways and Samuel led them in worship of Almighty, Holy God. Their enemies the Philistines heard about this worship gathering, and assumed they’d be so busy worshiping they’d be easy prey for an attack, but they forgot to figure into their invasion plan, the power of Almighty God!
Watch this friends, it’s a reality picture. Satan hates worship of Holy God in the Name of Jesus our Savior and through the Presence of the Holy Spirit, and Satan will try anything to disrupt such worship! God, however, welcomes our worship and responds to our repentant, authentic worship by driving away Satan and his opposition! I’ve seen it a many, many times, have you?
I urge you, my friends… use these powerful verses in 1 Samuel as a tangible picture of what God wants to do when you gather with authentic Christ followers for worship… anywhere, anytime, with any number of people who’ve been redeemed by the blood of Jesus. “While Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to engage Israel in battle. But that day the LORD thundered with loud thunder against the Philistines and threw them into such a panic that they were routed before the Israelites…
Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it “Ebenezer” saying, ‘Thus far the LORD has helped us.” So the Philistines were subdued and did not invade Israelite territory again. Throughout Samuel’s lifetime, the hand of the LORD was against the Philistines.” (1 Samuel 7:10-13)
Do I hear a big cheer all around the world where “Walking with Jesus” reaches? Is this happening in your city my friends? Is Jesus pushing back the darkness, defeating Satan’s demons by His mighty power, in response to the repentance and worship of God’s people in your part of the world? Oh the power of the Name of Jesus! Remember what Peter and John experienced and proclaimed in Acts 3 & 4? Oh my friends let’s praise Jesus, right now, wherever you are. . .
Thank you Jesus for the powerful truth of 1 Samuel 7! We praise you that YOU are the Victor, Jesus, that Your Name is the name above all names, and that YOU have defeated Satan, sin and death. We echo the words of Samuel “thus far the LORD has helped us…”
Click to read today’s chapter: 1 Samuel 6. 1 Samuel 7.(At the top you can choose a different translation.)
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“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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