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Good morning to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
When you find yourself in a desperate situation, your back against the wall, with everything that is important to you on the line… what do you do then? Where do you go in your most desperate moments?
We’re in the story of Samuel, found in the Bible, in 1 Samuel 4 today. It’s a historic moment, in fact this chapter is unlike any other in the Bible and is etched in Israel’s history in some ways as horrible as the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 586bc.
We don’t have an exact date, and we presume some years have elapsed since the close of chapter 3. Israel’s army has gone out to the battlefield to defend it’s western flank. Their arch enemy the Philistines were a violent people who lived along the Mediterranean coast and for many decades regularly invaded the western towns of Israel, seeking to expand their territory.
In those days, as today, Israel was surrounded by nations who wanted their extinction and attacked their peripheral towns often. Not with tanks and missiles but with foot soldiers, bows, arrows and spears. It was a vicious type of hand to hand combat warfare.
This map will help you understand 1 Samuel 4-7. Do you see where Shiloh is at the top of the map? Remember that’s where the Tabernacle of God is located, with the High Priest Eli, his priestly sons Hophni and Phinehas, and the young prophet Samuel, who are serving the spiritual needs of the Hebrew people. West of Shiloh, in the shaded area of the map, the Philistine territory, you’ll see the town of Aphek. The red arrows coming from Aphek toward Shiloh represent invading Philistine soldiers that regularly crossed the border to attack Israel in the north.
1 Samuel 4:2 gives us a glimpse into this historic day of battle: “The Philistines deployed their forces to meet Israel, and as the battle spread, Israel was defeated by the Philistines who killed about 4000 of them on the battlefield. When the soldiers returned to camp, the elders of Israel asked, ‘Why did the LORD being defeat upon us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the Ark of the LORD’s covenant from Shiloh, so that it may go with us and save us from the hand of our enemies.”
Please remember one of the distinctives of the people of Israel was they had no human king, God was their leader. That’s called a “theocracy”. God had promised to provide for them, protect them, and bless them as a people, as long as they worshiped Him and followed Him as their God and King. The fleeing slaves learned that at Mount Sinai with Moses. As they entered the Promised land with Joshua, he too tried to lead the people in following God obediently. Remember his farewell message: “Choose you this day whom you will serve, as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” (Joshua 24:15)
But they didn’t.
Not long after Joshua’s death, Judges chapter 2 tells us the people of Israel had turned away from God. Judges 2:12-17 says “They forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They provoked the LORD to anger because they forsook Him… in His anger the LORD handed them over to raiders who plundered them… they were in great distress. Then the LORD raised up judges who saved them out of the hands of those raiders. Yet the Israelites would not listen to their Judges.” God raised up men and women who served as God’s appointed Judges calling the people back to God and God’s laws. But the people continually turned away from these God provided Judges and turned back to their idols. That’s the story of the Bible book of Judges.
This is the era in which Samuel was born. There is no identifiable Judge or national leader which is why spiritual leadership was so important. But we’ve seen in the first three chapters of 1 Samuel, that Eli and his sons were failing badly as the spiritual leaders. Israel was in spiritual free-fall, and that’s why God was raising up young Samuel.
The “elders” referred to in verse 3, would be the older, mature leaders of the towns in the north of Israel. Please note they view their military defeat that day through spiritual lenses asking “Why did the LORD bring defeat upon us today…?” I often hear similar questions in our day don’t you? Why has God allowed the Coronavirus outbreak? Why has God allowed the extreme heat and dryness in Australia resulting in devastating fires? And yet those asking these questions, then and now, usually have little interest in God except to blame Him when life get’s painful.
The solution which the elders of Israel proposed, was beyond preposterous. The Ark of the Covenant was Holy! The Shekinah Glory of God’s Presence hovered over that Ark and when the High Priest entered that Most Holy place annually, for the day of Atonement prayers, it was a very sacred encounter with God. The Ark was to remain in the Most Holy Place of the Tabernacle as a symbol of God’s Holy Presence and a reminder of His miraculous faithfulness to His people over the centuries.
It was called the “Ark of the Covenant” because Moses had placed inside that Ark, the stone tablets which he had taken up Mount Sinai and upon which God Himself had engraved the 10 Commandments of His covenant with His people! (Ex. 34:39; 40:20)
The idea that this sacred Ark would be removed from the Most Holy Place of the Tabernacle of worship and brought to the battlefield as some type of good luck charm or military weapon, had never before been suggested, and was a sad reflection of how far away from God even the elders of Israel had drifted.
Look at verse 4 my friends, it’s a defining moment in the history of the nation of Israel: “So the people (soldiers & elders) sent men to Shiloh, and they brought back the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD Almighty who is enthroned between the cherubim. And Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the Ark of the Covenant of God.”
Does this almost suck the air out of your lungs? Can you imagine the scene at Shiloh? A group of soldiers come from the battlefield, worn-out and with a look of defeat on their faces. They approach Eli, Hophni and Phinehas and explain they’ve lost 4000 fellow soldiers and the elders have requested the Ark be brought to the battle front!?
No more shocking request could have been made. No person had ever imagined such a request. How long they debated, we don’t know. But it appears finally Eli agreed, and sent his priestly sons Hophni & Phinehas to accompany the Ark, as they removed it from the Most Holy Place of the Tabernacle, and began their trek back to the battlefield!
There is no evidence anyone asked God what to do. No sacrifice, no prayer. Just a dreadful, terrible, Godless decision.
Do you see the phrase “The Ark of the Covenant of the LORD Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim.” If you look back to Exodus 24:19-22 you’ll see the exact words God spoke to Moses, giving the instructions about the fabrication of this remarkable chest of acacia wood, overlayed with pure gold. “Make an atonement cover of pure gold… and make two cherubim out of hammered gold at the ends of the cover… The cherubim are to have their wings spread upward, overshadowing the cover… The cherubim are to face each other, looking toward the cover. Place the cover on the Ark and put in the Ark the Testimony which I will give you (10 Commandment Tablets of stone). There above the cover, between the two cherubim… I will meet with you and give you all My commands for the Israelites.” (Ex. 25:17-22)
There are many artist renditions of what the Ark may have looked like. Here is one.
Perhaps the word “cherubim” is unfamiliar to you my friends. There are several names of specific types of angels given to us in the Bible. The Seraphim in Isaiah 6 and the Cherubim mentioned here are two different angelic groups.
God placed Cherubim at the entrance to the Garden of Eden to keep Adam and Eve OUT after their sin. (Gen. 3:24) Ezekiel saw Cherubim in his vision in Ezekiel 10. In the Most Holy Place of the Tabernacle, and later the Temple, engravings were made of Cherubim angels on the walls and even woven into the veil to symbolize the holy, sacred place where the Ark and God’s Presence were.
Do you see in Exodus 25:22, the promise of God that His Presence would hover there, between the Cherubim above the Ark? Do you see the importance of the sacredness of the Most Holy Place where the Ark was kept? Do you understand how vital it was to the Hebrews that they knew God’s Presence was among them, His people?
But on this fateful day the Ark was forcefully removed from the Tabernacle Most Holy Place, by soldiers, and probably put on some type of cart, and hauled off to the battlefront! The Majestic Holiness of God was defiled, and Eli stood by helplessly, while his priestly sons walked off, alongside the Ark of the Covenant of God! While Samuel is not mentioned, we can be sure he was watching in disbelief!
As this little group rushed through the town of Shiloh I can only imagine the gasps, probably many people falling to the ground in shock. Few, if anyone, had ever seen this Ark before, it was always behind the veil in the Tabernacle. Now it was rumbling down the road, like a cart full of vegetables, with soldiers, Hophni and Phinehas running along side.
Israel, the society of God’s people, was crumbling, falling apart. I would imagine tears turned to wailing, and near panic must have struck the town. What could possibly happen to Shiloh without the Ark there? And might God do in response to the Ark being brought to the battlefront as some super weapon?
Friends, let’s stop there for today and just reflect. Has this happened in North America, Europe and many other parts of the world? Over the past decades has humanity collectively said “GOD get OUT”!? “Get out of our entertainment, our politics, our schools, our businesses, our health care, our courtrooms, our homes and even our churches!!!”
And look around the place where you live, where-ever it is in the world. What has happened to your society, your culture, as God has been pushed out? Crime, abortion, drug addiction, political corruption, corrupt courts, corrupt businesses, broken families, despicable entertainment. . . . .
1 Samuel 4 is our world today my friends, isn’t it?
I invite you to ponder this and pray about this. What is God showing us? What happens when a people push God out of their lives, their families, their communities, their nations?
This was not an invasion of a foreign enemy who charged into Shiloh and stole the Ark. This was Hebrew soldiers, led by their elders, who removed the Ark from its Most Holy Place! They took it not to be used in a Holy Worship service, but rather to be used in battle! Look closely, how have we tried to manipulate God or God’s truth to accommodate our agenda? And what should God do in response when His people try to use Him, or His word, or His worship as a weapon to achieve our desires?
Tomorrow we’ll look at the rest of this horrible, historic chapter. You won’t believe what happens next!!
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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