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Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
What do you do when the darkness, confusion and pain in life, due to wrong choices, just keeps getting worse? What should we do when it feels like we are getting sucked deeper and deeper into despair? Let’s dig into 1 Samuel 5 in God’s Word today, to find some answers to these very real, life questions.
The Ark of the Covenant of God had been captured by the Philistines, and the city of Ashdod was in an uproar. People were getting sick and dying. The idol Dagon had fallen on its face into the dirt twice, when the Ark was placed in its temple, the second time experiencing significant damage.
The people of Ashdod had concluded their nightmare had begun when the Ark had been brought to their town. So while the power of the God of the Hebrews, the Israelites, was all around them, rather than bowing in worship, their reaction was “The ark of the god of Israel must not stay here with us, because His hand is heavy upon us and our god Dagon…Have the Ark of the god of Israel moved to Gath.” (1 Sam. 5:7,8)
Look around our world my friends? Has this happened over and over? The evidence of the Majesty of Holy, Almighty God is undeniable, but rather than bowing in worship, people refuse to acknowledge God, and they push God aside? And what do you see has been the result of rejecting God, of pushing God out, in your part of the world?
So let’s pick up story in verse 9: “But after they had moved it (the Ark of God’s Covenant with Israel) the LORD’s hand was heavy against that city, throwing it into a great panic. He afflicted the people of the city (Gath), both young and old, with an outbreak of tumors. So they sent the Ark of God to Ekron. As the Ark of God was entering Ekron, the people of Ekron cried out, ‘They have brought the Ark of the god of Israel to us to kill us and our people.”
Fear can be like a firestorm swept along by a strong wind. It’s contagious and can become paralyzing, even deadly. Do you see a firestorm of fear accompanying the Ark of God as it is moved from Ashdod to Gath and then to Ekron? There was good reason for this fear, a pandemic of tumors and death was happening in whatever Philistine town the Ark of the God of Israel spent any time. Do you see it is exactly the opposite of what happened with God’s people when the Ark was in its Most Holy Place in the Tabernacle?
For the Hebrew people, the Ark meant comfort, blessing, confidence, for it represented the presence of Majestic, Holy, Almighty God and it contained the Law of God, the tablets of stone, engraved by the finger of God, which Moses had brought down from Mount Sinai hundreds of years before. (Exodus 34)
Fear is not stagnant is it? Fear breeds more fear and thus must be confronted with something that will put out the fire of fear before it consumes hope and even reason. God’s answer to fear is TRUTH, His Truth, and POWER, His Power, and LOVE, His Love! It has changed people and communities around the world for centuries!
Do you remember 1 John 4:18 “There is no fear in Love. Perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.” Yes… I hope you have experienced the power of God’s love my friends! God was trying to show the Philistines His Power, and the Truth that He alone is God, so that if they would bow their hearts before Him, He would shower them with His Love! But for the people of Ashdod, Gath and Ekron, they confronted the paralyzing fear with a God rejecting plan… move the Ark away from us, far away… fast!
Can you find the cities of Ashdod, Gath and Ekron on this map of Israel in the days of Samuel? I wonder if you remember which town the giant Philistine warrior Goliath was from? (1 Samuel 17:4) That famous event with young David and his slingshot and 5 stones was still about 30 or 40 years into the future, so Goliath may not yet have been born when the Ark was in Gath, but I’m sure he would have heard the story many times, as he was growing up there.
“So they called together all the rulers of the Philistines and said ‘Send the Ark of the god of Israel away; let it go back to its own place, or it will kill us and our people.’ For death had filled the city with panic; God’s hand was very heavy upon it.” (1 Sam. 5:11)
This raises an important question: Do we see in the Bible the evidence that God sometimes inflicts illness, causes natural disasters, sending even things we might call ‘plagues’, for the purpose of showing His mighty power, punishing evil behavior, and even humbling the proud… all for the ultimate purpose of drawing people to an awareness of God and giving them an opportunity to place their belief and trust in God? YES my friends, YES, and 1 Samuel 5 is another evidence of this. Has it ever happened in your city?
God was showing the people of Ashdod, Gath and Ekron that He was far more powerful than their idols, and the defilement of His holy majesty by hauling the Ark of the Covenant around like some war trophy called on a response from the Majestic, Almighty, Holy, Living God of the Hebrews!
It was an evangelistic opportunity for the Philistines! While we know of no ‘missionary’ who might have been among them proclaiming the truth of God, they were experiencing God’s Presence & Power, and they had the opportunity to bow in adoration and turn from their idols to Jehovah God. Remember, they were neighbors of Israel. They knew of the God of the Hebrews and their amazing history with Jehovah God.
But instead, do you see what they did? I invite us to read chapter 6 today. It’s a remarkable strategic plan based on the stories they had heard from centuries before, of the plagues in Egypt and Pharaoh’s refusal to relent and release the Hebrew slaves.
The Philistine leaders determined NOT to make the same horrible mistake with this God of the Hebrews. Rather than refuse, they decided to relent and send the Ark back to Israel with a guilt offering of gold tumors and gold rats, to symbolize the plagues God had sent upon them.
But as you read, notice one very important decision the Philistines made. They wanted to know the truth. Were all the terrifying things that happened since the Ark came into there territory just coincidence or were they really the work of the God of Israel? So their plan was to separate two newly calved cows from their calves and yoke them together, and hitch them to a newly built cart, place the Ark of God on the cart, and just let the cows wander naturally, with no driver, no human aide . . . and then watch to see what happens. “If it (the Ark) goes up to its own territory (Israel)… then the LORD has brought this great disaster on us. But if it does not, then we will know it was not His hand that struck us and that it happened to us by chance.” (1 Samuel 6:9).
So let me ask you my friends… what do you think of this plan and their reasoning? Foolish or wise? Can God guide cows hitched for the first time to a cart carrying the Ark? Would the God of the Universe care about such a test? Please read what happened next, in verses 10-12!! What do you conclude? “Then the cows went straight up toward Beth Shemesh, keeping on the road and lowing all the way, they did not turn to the right or to the left. The rulers of the Philistines followed them as far as the border…”
If you look at the map I provided you can easily see Ashdod, Gath, Ekron and Beth Shemesh, so you can trace the journey of the Ark. What does that tell you my friends, about the attention God is always paying to the details of what’s going on here on earth, and what He can do to accomplish HIS purposes here among us? Remember Psalm 33:13-15? “From heaven the LORD looks down and sees all mankind; from His dwelling place He watches all who live on earth – He who forms the hearts of all mankind, considers everything they do…”
Please look carefully at 1 Samuel 6:13-16. What a remarkable description of that glorious moment when the harvesters working in their wheat fields, looked up and saw a brilliant reflection of the sun off that golden Ark on the cart coming their way! God not only had provided a wonderful wheat harvest to feed His people, He was bringing back His Ark of the Covenant to His people! What a day of rejoicing and celebration!
By the way, if you visit the Holy Land today, you will likely be taken to a very large field at Beth Shemesh, which has a huge rock on one end. It is possible that is the field where the Ark came that day! I’ve stood there. What an amazing experience to imagine being in that field that day, with the Ark rumbling up the road with the sun reflecting off its gold!
Please note how the Israeli harvesters responded. . . worship, rejoicing, celebration! I think we’ll stop right here, in this day of jubilation and just put ourselves into the party! Do you notice verses 16-18? “The five rulers of the Philistines saw all this and then returned that same day to Ekron.” These would be the governors of the cities of Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gaza, Gath, Ekron. And what do you suppose they reported to their people upon their return?
And what do you suppose the celebrating harvesters reported to their families and friends when they returned home that night? Do you see verse 18? “The large rock on which they set the Ark of the LORD is a witness to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh.”
You’ve noticed, I’m sure, how many times God’s people either stood up a rock pillar, or piled up a pile of rocks, or in this case used a huge, immovable rock altar, to commemorate a special encounter with God in a certain place. Remember Bethel (Gen. 28) or Gilgal (Joshua 4) or Shechem (Joshua 24), and now Beth Shemesh (1 Samuel 6)
For generations, Hebrews families who visited the town of Beth Shemesh came to Joshua’s field and this rock. They’d sit as families on the rock and the Dad of the family would tell the story of 1 Samuel 4,5,6 right there. Can you see the children with their eyes open wide, and their mouths hanging open in amazement as their daddy described the cows mooowing and pulling the cart with the Ark up the road right to the rock where they sat!? And then they’d pray together, thanking God for His goodness to Israel, His faithfulness to His promises, and His mighty power. Have you done that my friends?
Have you told the wonderful stories of the Bible to your children and grandchildren so that they know them, they believe them and most important, they trust in the God of those wonderful Bible stories? So let me end with this one question:
What does 1 Samuel 5 & 6 tell you about Holy, Majestic, Almighty God?
Click to read today’s chapter: 1 Samuel 5; 1 Samuel 6. (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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