The Capture of the Ark

Transcript

GRS 2-61
3/18/2007
The Capture of the Ark
1 Samuel 4-5
Gil Rugh

We are studying the book of Samuel, so if you turn to first Samuel chapter four, what we are doing in our study of the Old Testament is we are working through the books that move the history along. Some of the books fill in details that took place. We did Genesis, Exodus, we skipped Leviticus because Leviticus develops a law, but it doesn’t move the history along. We did the book of Judges, but we did not do Ruth because Ruth does not move the history along, but it relates an account of an incident that took place within the time framework of the Judges. The period of Judges runs from really the death of Joshua to the establishing of the monarchy in Israel with Saul as the first king. A period of 300 to 350 years. The bulk that was recorded in the book of Judges, but these opening chapters of Samuel are still part of the period of the Judges.

Eli is one of the Judges of Israel. Samuel will also be a Judge in Israel. This man have a little different roles that we have looked, we are looking at Samuel now, who was also a prophet and a priest as well as a Judge. Samuel was not a military Judge like many of the others were. Men who stepped up to provide military leadership for Israel to break the hoard of their enemies, that cycle of Israel’s sin bringing God to judgment at the hands of their enemies, then Israel’s repentance and God raising up a Judge to deliver them. Samuel will function as a prophet and a priest and the Judge of Israel, but not the military leader of Israel like the other judges have.

We have looked through the first three chapters. Chapter three really prepared us for the end of Eli’s ministry which will take place in chapter four and that’s where we will see the beginning of Samuel’s ministry as well. Remember, Samuel had a miraculous birth, his mother has been bearing, born in answer to prayer to God and thus given to the Lord, lent to the Lord literally for the duration of his life, so as a young man, young child, he was taken after he was weaned to the temple at Shiloh. So as a young man, young child he was taken after he was weaned to the temple at Shiloh, it’s where the tabernacle is. At Shiloh, it’s where Eli represented the nation as priest and Judge and there he is raised. Now he comes to be a young man.

God has revealed in chapter three that Eli is going to come under judgment with all of his descendants because of the unfaithfulness of Eli’s sons and the fact that Eli did not deal with their sin. They are called sons of Eli were worthless men, even committing immorality with the women who served at the tabernacle at Shiloh.

Chapter four records the death of Eli and his two sons as part of the judgment of God on Eli’s household. Remember, a judgment on his household which will continue generation after generation after generation and we even noted in the temple in the millennium the impact of Eli and his son’s sins is felt because they have been replaced by a different family of Levites who are privileged to serve when the messiah rules.

Chapters four to seven, we are not going to do all of these chapters at this time, but chapters four to seven record the conflict that Israel has with the Philistines. The Philistines noted as part of the group known as the Sea People that came across the Mediterranean and began to invade Egypt and Palestine on 1300 – 1200 BC in that region. The Egyptians were able to drive them out, turn them back, but they were successful. The Philistines were, in settling the region along the coast of the Mediterranean region we know as Canaan or Palestine and we get the Palestine from a corruption of – a variation of the name Philistine. So a common name used down to until today. They have been a problem from the time of the Judges, we won't go back and look, but one of the Judges recorded in Judges Chapter three, Shamgar, he defeated 600 Philistines. Samson, you remember in chapters 13 and 14 of the book of Judges and his conflict with the Philistines, so naturally, it’s they have come in invading from the Mediterranean Sea coming across the Mediterranean from the eastern side of the Mediterranean Sea, naturally they begin to try to enter Egypt, they are driven back, they are successful in coming into the land of Canaan. They settled basically close to the coast, they will have five major Philistine cities. They will be brought to our attention in these chapters. The first king of Israel Saul, we get to the end of the book of Samuel Chapter 31, he is going to die in a battle with the Philistines and you are well familiar with the name of the Philistines because they are an ongoing enemy of Israel even in the David’s time.

Alright chapter four, as I mentioned it’s about the death of Eli and his sons and the loss of the Ark. An amazing event takes place the Ark of the Covenant will be captured by the Philistines in a battle. First four verses relate the defeat that the Israelites experience at the hand of the Philistines and that results in them bringing the Ark to the place of battle, thus the word of Samuel came to all Israel and this just continues the flow if you look at verse 19 of chapter three. Samuel grew and the Lord was with him to let none of his words fail. All Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was confirmed as a prophet of the Lord and the Lord appeared again at Shiloh because the Lord revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the lord. Remember, during the days of Eli, we were told that it was rare to have a word from the Lord, but now God is speaking again through his prophet, prophet being Samuel. Thus the word of the Lord and the word of Samuel came to all Israel as God’s spokesman.

Now Israel went out to meet the Philistines in battle and camped beside Ebenezer while the Philistines camped at Aphek. Okay, now you will have to look on a map. I hope you have an atlas, if you don’t have an up to date atlas, you got to stop to get one sometime because as you work through the word and I say get an up to date atlas because they have put the color pictures in and if you get a decent atlas, you can work through the bible and I am just looking at one of them and a number of them have the same thing, they will even give you maps for this particular time out of 1 Samuel 4 for example and show you where the ark was, where it was moved to, what happened when it was conquered and how it was taken down the coast to another Philistine city. So it helps you get a picture in your mind of some of these geographical areas which you may not be as familiar with, so you read the name Ebenezer and Aphek and where are we. The ark is at Shiloh, Aphek is about 25 miles going west from Shiloh.

Some of you have been to the middle east and the Palestine and Aphek is about ten miles north of the modern city of Tel Aviv, so if you look at a map, you will get and this is the Northern edge of the Philistine territory that we are in now. We are not told what happened here, how this battle was precipitated, well it’s just part of the ongoing back and forth struggles or whatever. The result of the battle was a major defeat for Israel. Verse two, “The Philistines drew up in battle array to meet Israel. When the battle spread, Israel was defeated before the Philistines who killed about four thousand men on the battlefield”. So major casualty is here for Israel.

So when Israel reassembled in their camp, verse three, “the elders of Israel said, "Why has the LORD defeated us today before the Philistines?” here the recognition that it wasn’t the Philistines ultimately that brought the defeat of Israel, but it was the hand of the Lord and this is associated with Israel’s unfaithfulness, the unfaithfulness of Eli’s family. So their attitude is let us take to ourselves from Shiloh the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord that it may come among us and deliver us from the power of our enemies.

Now you have seen the mixture that’s taken place. They recognized that their defeat is a result of the – it is the doing of the Lord, it’s not just the Philistines were better soldiers or a greater army, the lord defeated them. They know the Lord has the sovereignty to deliver them. However, they don’t really consider why did the Lord bring this defeat upon them and with a mixture that has taken place and the involvement in the practices of paganism of the land that has corrupted them, their view of the Ark of the Covenant becomes almost like a magical kind of approach, we will bring the Ark of the Covenant over and that means now we will have victory, but the real issue is the sin that exist in the land, but they think they are remedied by some physical actions here. The Ark was the visible representation of God’s presence among the people. You know the end of verse three says that it may come among us and deliver us from the power of our enemies. So just bringing the ark will do it, we don’t have to deal with our sin, we don’t have to turn from that sin, we just bring the Ark here and that’s all like a magical entity force. Verse four, “So the people sent to Shiloh, and from there they carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts who sits above the cherubim; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of the Lord” and you put this together and you get the hopelessness of the situation.

Ark of the Covenant is not a big item, it’s about – and don’t go by my measurements, but it’s about 45 inches long and it’s about 27 inches high. How big is 27 inches I don’t know, and about 27 inches deep. So it’s a chest really. A larger chest, not a huge chest, but a large chest, when you think of the ark of the covenant you have a proper perspective of its size and remember it had rings on the corners and they ran poles through the rings and that’s how they transported the Ark. The designated individuals from the tribe of Levi were assigned to carry the Ark. It was made out acacia wood and overlaid with gold except the lid of this chest was pure gold and then over the chest were the cherubim facing each other with their wings spread over and touching and then on the seat of the Ark of the Covenant, under the Cherubim is where God manifested his presence in Israel.

So here Israel has been involved in the paganism of the land and the false worship and the priests acting as God’s representatives who come with the Ark are involved in immorality, are themselves godless men, Hophni and Phinehas. Backup to chapter two verse 12 “Now the sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas by name were worthless men. They did not know the lord and you remember chapter two verses 22, Eli was very old, he heard all his sons were doing towards Israel, how they lay with the women who serve at the doorway of the tent of meeting. They required the people who came down for sacrifice to give them the meat before they offered it to the Lord, so they despised the offering of the Lord and they were just worthless men and here these worthless, godless immoral men come along with the Ark of the covenant, so now all this filth that characterizes them is nothing. We have the magical presence of the Ark and will have victory. It gives you something of the condition of the Israel, it’s called the Ark of the Covenant incidentally because in this chest was placed the Covenant that God had given to Moses on Sinai. So you have the Ten Commandments resting here, the summary of the Mosaic law. So it’s the Ark of the testimony or the Ark of the Covenant because in it was placed the covenant that God had given to Moses on Sinai.

They have got the Ark now in the Camp, Hophni and Phinehasn are here, the priests who represent Israel supposedly, men who don’t know the Lord. So now what happens? Look at verse five following, “As the ark of the covenant of the LORD came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth resounded.” That I mean the whole host of Israel and his armies are shouting because now the Ark of the Lord is here which means the Lord has come and he is present in that sense in Israel at this place. So there is such a shout that the Philistine army across the way hears. When the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said “what does the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews need? I mean what are they celebrating? We just crushed them and have got casualty spread out all over, I think this is why all of them are shouting”, then they understood that the Ark of the Lord had come into the camp. The Philistines were afraid, for they said God has come into the camp. Amazing what the pagan people around know about Israel and Israel’s God. “Woe to us! For nothing like this has happened before. Woe to us! Who shall deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who smote the Egyptians with all kind of plagues in the wilderness”.

Isn’t it amazing? These people have heard of the God of the Israelites. Some of these things happened before the invasion of these people into this part of the land, but you see the fame of the Lord had spread through his actions in Egypt and the destroying of the nation and after all of these years. It’s been over 300 years since these events took place in Egypt and they still remember it, they are still talking about it. It’s still in the minds of these pagan unbelievers. Now, remember the view that they have. This is the God or gods of the Jews, there was not an option that the Philistines will bow before the God of Israel because then they would have to convert to Judaism and become worshipers of Israel’s God because this is the God of Israel, their view is Israel has their God or gods, we have our God, other nations have their gods, so when we go to a battle, it’s not only a battle, what else? It’s a battle of one God against another God and so now we have this mighty God and they are not sure that their God and gods are great enough to take on the gods of Israel.

While they are ringing their hands, somebody among the Philistines step up in verse nine and say “Take courage and be men, O Philistines, or you will become slaves to the Hebrews as they have been slaves to you, therefore, be men and fight”. In fact they say, look, you don’t have any choice, you are either going to go into slavery to the Israelites or you are going to make a fight of this and see if you can win and you don’t want to become slave to the Israelites, so I guess we got to go to war and fight and hope for the best. Take courage men and be men and so the Philistines fought and Israel was defeated. Amazing, Israel was defeated and they are put to flight. The slaughter was very great. 30,000 soldiers are casualties in Israel of that battle, they have already lost 4000, now they lose another 30,000 and it is a devastating blow to Israel, they are crushed in this battle and that’s not the worst, the Ark of God was taken. The two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas died.

Now, remember the prophesy that had been given back in chapter two verse 34, “'This will be the sign to you which will come concerning your two sons” the prophet who was sent to speak to Eli, “Hophni and Phinehas: on the same day, both of them will die” and so you see the fulfillment of that prophesy now. Both the sons of Eli Hophi and Phinehas died. The capture of the Ark of the Covenant is a tragedy on the scale that it’s hard to imagine. I mean as far as the Philistines are concerned, the God of Israel has been captured. You would sometimes wonder why would God allow this to happen. I mean here are the Philistines, pagan, godless people who know nothing about the living God except what they have heard about his actions on behalf of Israel. Now they succeed in crushing the people of this God, the Israelites and capturing this God because in capturing the Ark of the Covenant, they in effect have defeated this God. You think why would the Lord allow that to happen, I mean here they have been in awe of him over 300 years, they have not forgotten and this has been passed down from generation to generation about the might of the God of the Israelites and now he is taken captive in battle. That’s a strange way for the Lord to operate.

Turn over to the book of Psalm chapter 78, Asaph who wrote many of the Psalms wrote about this event and he said it was based upon the sinfulness of Israel that it was part of God’s Judgment on the nation. Psalm 78, you know in the title of the psalm, God’s guidance of his people in spite of their unfaithfulness, “A maskil of Asaph” so Asaph is the writer of this particular Psalm under the inspiration of the spirit, we want to jump down for time to verses 56. Verse 54 gives you the title, the beginning of the section “He brought them to his Holy Land, to this hill country which His right hand had gained” you have this flowing history of Israel and their unfaithfulness and God’s faithfulness. Up in verse 51 we were told he smote the first born of Egypt and so on, then he brought them into the land that he had promised, verse 55, he drove out the nations before them, apportioned them for an inheritance by measurement, made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents, yet they tempted. Here we pick up now with the events and rebelled against the most high God, they did not keep his testimonies, turned back and acted treacherously like their fathers, turned to side like a treacherous bow for they provoked him with their high places, aroused jealousy with their graven images. When God heard, he was filled with wrath and greatly upon Israel, so then he abandoned the dwelling place at Shiloh, the tent which he had pitched among men, he gave up his strength to captivity, his glory into the hand of the adversary. You see what he says here? He gave himself over to the Philistines, gave up his strength to captivity, his glory into the hands of the adversary. He also delivered his people to the sword and was filled with wrath at his inheritance.

So what has happened here is part of God’s judgment on the nation, pagan godless nation, his own people now conquered by their enemies and God and the place where God manifest his presence is no longer in Israel. Now it is in the hands of the enemies of Israel, the Philistines and the enemies of the God of Israel.

Alright, come back to first Samuel chapter four. Now remember, we saw something of the character of the period of the judges, when we looked at the book of Judges, now we are in Samuel. Understand, that’s still that godless pagan idol worshiping time filled with immorality so that even the priests, Hophni and Phinehas can be involved in immorality with the women at the tabernacle and dishonor the sacrifices of the Lord and so on and it goes on. You have the death of Eli in verses 12 and following. What happens? A man from Benjamin runs from the battle as a messenger and he came to Shiloh. Verse 13, “When he came, behold, Eli was sitting on his seat by the road eagerly watching because his heart was trembling for the Ark of God.” Eli is an old man, verse 15 tells us he is 98 and blind, so he is there watching, he is not actually seeing, but the picture of him here waiting concerned the Ark of the Covenant has been carried from Shiloh to the battle, he was wondering what has happened and now this man comes running with a message and he begins to tell it in the city and when Eli heard the noise of the outcry, he said what does the noise of this commotion mean? Then the man hurriedly came and told Eli, now Eli was 98 years old, his eyes were set so that he could not see. The man said to Eli, I am the one who came from the battle line, indeed I escaped from the battle line today and he said how did things go my son? Then the one who brought the news replied Israel has fled before the Philistines, there has been a great slaughter among the people, your two sons also Hophni and Phinehas are dead and the Ark of God has been taken.

Four things, Israel has fled, there has been a great slaughter, your two sons are dead and the Arc has been captured. Verse 18, when he mentioned the Ark of God, Eli fell off the seat backward beside the gate and his neck was broken and he died for he was old and heavy, thus he judged Israel 40 years. So in the shock of it he just falls over backwards off the seat that he is on and his head breaks, his neck and he is dead and so you see the judgment on Eli and his family and on the nation has come in a devastating way. He judged Israel 40 years. You can see the summary we have in these scriptural events, there is little of those 40 years in these first three chapters and a little bit in the fourth chapter of Eli’s leadership of Israel, but it had covered 40 years. The judgment on his family is not over. Remember, the prophesies given to Eli both through the prophet and through Samuel are devastating. So now we find about his daughter in law, the wife of Phinehas, one of his son’s who has died. She was pregnant and about to give birth and when the news that the Ark of God was taken, her father in law was dead, her husband was dead reach her, the crisis triggers her birth pains and she goes into the process of delivery. Verse 20 “And about the time of her death” and she is going to die giving birth to this son. “About the time of her death the women who stood by her said to her, "Do not be afraid, for you have given birth to a son." But she did not answer or pay attention she called the boy Ichabod, saying, "The glory has departed from Israel” Ichabod means no glory. "Because the ark of God was taken, because of her father-in-law and her husband both died, she said the glory has departed from Israel for the Ark of God was taken”.

We don’t know anything about the character of this woman, we know she was married to a worthless, godless man, you see something of the tragedy that has come to the nation because the glory has departed from the nation, because the place that God manifested his presence and his glory in Israel was over the ark of the covenant under the overspread wings of the cherubim and now it has departed from Israel. God’s judgment, devastating, you can see it’s come down the line now to Eli’s grandson born at a time of tragedy, his mother dies in his birth and his name is a reminder of the sin of his family, he is Ichabod, no glory. His name is a reminder. You know interestingly 500 years later Ezekiel is going to see the final departure of the glory from Israel, just take a moment and go over to Ezekiel chapter 10.

It’s a little different setting and yet certain parts of it are the same. The Assyrian captivity of the northern kingdom has occurred in 722 BC. The northern tribes, ten tribes are carried away into captivity. Now we are about to have the Babylonian captivity. 586 BC of the southern two tribes Judah and Benjamin and in chapter 10 verse 1 “Then I looked, and behold, on the expanse that was over the heads of the cherubim something like a sapphire stone in appearance resembling a throne appeared above them” here, Ezekiel is given a vision of the presence of the lord, you see what is represented in the tabernacle with the Ark of the Covenant, the cherubim, Ezekiel has unfolded before him the heavenly scene of that, but what is happening now is the glory is leaving Israel. Departing from the temple in Jerusalem, so verse 18, “The glory of the Lord departed from the threshold of the temple and stood over the cherubim. When the cherubim departed, they lifted their wings and rose up from the earth When the cherubim departed, they lifted their wings and rose up from the earth in my sight with the wheels beside them; and they stood still at the entrance of the east gate of the LORD'S house, and the glory of the God of Israel hovered over them” and here you have the departure of the glory of the Lord from Israel.

In the context of the Babylonian captivity, that glory departs, you know there is lot of discussion about the Ark of the Covenant and finding the Ark and the power associated with the Ark. The Ark is now just a piece of manmade furniture. The Glory of the Lord no longer resides in the temple of Jerusalem, it’s an empty place and prophesy of the coming back of that glory when Christ comes to earth to rule and the significance of the eastern gate with the departure in verse 19 where the messiah will once again enter the city, some of you have been there and the Muslims built a cemetery in front of the eastern gate because Jews can't go through a cemetery and so the messiah won't be able to come in the eastern gate because they have a cemetery there. Interesting thinking of man, but here is the departure in the final sense, this departure in first Samuel four is temporary as you are aware, so come back to first Samuel chapter four verse 22, but it anticipates the time when the glory will be gone and apart from Israel on a final – I would say final until the judgment of God is poured out with such severity that Israel will turn to their messiah and that’s how Israel will be saved and then the glory of the lord in the person of the messiah will come and be restored in Jerusalem.

Chapter five, what happens now, the Philistines have captured the God of Israel. Now I have made a paradox. Someone would say moron, what do you say? They captured the God of Israel? We read Psalms 78, he gave himself into their hands, now the Philistines took the Ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. Ashdod was one of the five major cities of the Philistines and the Philistines took the Ark of God and brought it to the house of Dagon and set it up by Dagon. What they do is they bring it into their temple to Dagon and what this signified is their God was greater and more powerful than the God of Israel. So they placed it in the house of Dagon, not to worship him, but this is indication that Dagon is the most powerful God and now the God of Israel resides in the house of Dagon, he is the supreme God, the most powerful God. They believe in multiple gods, they don’t deny that Israel God was a God, it’s just an inferior God now to their God.

We have come down the coast and Ashdod is, if you were in Jerusalem, you go 33 miles west from Jerusalem and you come to Ashdod, it gives you an idea in your mind if you are a little bit familiar with Palestine. There is a problem, verse three when the Ashdodites arouse early the next morning, behold Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before the Ark of the Lord, so they get up and here is the statue of Dagon on his face before the Ark of the covenant. Hmm maybe we had a minor earthquake, maybe, I don’t know, wind blew that, I don’t know what happened, he would better set him up. So they set up their God again. They rouse early the next morning and their god had fallen on his face before the Ark of the Lord, it sounds like a repeat, but its repeat was another chapter, the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off on the threshold, only the trunk of Dagon was left to him. His head is cut of, his hands cut off indicates his total powerlessness before the God of Israel. Remember what happened to Goliath when David killed him, he runs up a cuts off his head, what greater indication of the total defeat – you know what the philistines will do when they could find the body of Saul? They will cut off his head. What happened with the God of Dagon, his head is cut off, his hands are cut off, he is a powerless God, he is nothing, there is only one true and living God. Now, this probably took care of the superstitious worship of the Philistines, now they worship the God of Israel. You know what the next verse says?

Verse five, “therefore neither the priest of Dagon nor all who enter Dagon’s house tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day” they have to honor their God and since his head and hands were cut off on the threshold, you have to be careful not to step on the threshold because the threshold has become sacred because that’s where his head and hands lay. Now what kind of God do you want to worship? With his head cut off and his hands cut off? But you know you can't change, you worship your God, what we have to do now is do something about this God. Now the hand of the Lord was heavy on the Ashdod, actually ravaged them and smote them with tumors, both Ashdod and its territories. You can bring the Ark of the covenant in terms of the land of the Philistines, you cannot conquer the God of Israel and now there is devastating suffering brought on the people of Ashdod, he ravaged them, they developed tumors and men of Ashdod saw that it was so they said the Ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us for his hand is severe on us and they got our God, I mean we can't coup with this God, he is too powerful, he is too powerful for us, he is too powerful for our God. You see there is not really a missionary program going on in the Old Testament here, there is no changing going on. God is not offering himself to become the God of the Philistines, he is bringing devastating judgment on the Philistines until he is returned to Israel, now anybody who would choose to become a worshiper of the God of Israel can convert to the worship of the Israelites because the only acceptable priest to it is in Israel, but that’s not the way it’s going here. So the people of Ashdod want to get rid of the Ark, it’s not a symbol of victory any longer, it is a cause of terror.

So they gathered all the lords of the Philistines and said, what shall we do with the Ark of the God of Israel? They said, let the God of the Ark of Israel be brought around to Gath, that’s another one of the major cities, five major cities of Israel, so they bring it to Gath, they brought the Ark of the God of Israel to Gath, after they brought it around, the hand of the lord was against the city with very great confusion, he smote the men of the city, both young and old, tumors broke out upon them, so they sent the Ark of God to Ekron, another of the major cities of the Philistines and when the Ark of God came to Ekron, the Ekronites cried out saying they have brought the Ark of the God of Israel around to us to kill us and our people and then the philistines have come to realize they could defeat the Israelites, they cannot defeat the God of the Israelites, they can't conquer this God and contain him in the temple of their God, their God cannot defeat this God, this God is more powerful than all the gods and so they are in terror, therefore they sent therefore and gathered all the lords of the Philistines and said, send away the Ark of the God of Israel, let it return to its own place so that it will not kill us and our people for there was a deadly confusion throughout the city, the hand of the lord was very heavy there and the men who did not die were smitten with tumors and the cry of the city went up to heaven, so it’s here, we just have a summary, we say they were smitten with tumors, but you are told many people are dying, it’s a plague following the Ark and those who don’t die are getting these tumors and they realize we are dead people, we got to get rid of the Ark, it’s similar to the experience of the Egyptians.

Just turn back to Exodus chapter 12, read the statement. Exodus 12 verse 33, after God brought the various plagues on the Egyptians and then you come to look at the devastating death of the first born, verse 33 of exodus 12, the Egyptians urged the people to send them out of the land in haste, for they said, “We will all be dead”. That’s exactly the response of the philistines, we have got to send the Ark of the Covenant back to Israel where it belongs or none of us will survive.

Basically what the Egyptians came to, we have got to set the Israelites free or the God of Israel will kill us all, there is no opposing the living God, I mean the foolishness of man goes on, but there is no opposing the living God. So we are going to stop here, but chapter six will talk about the return of the Ark from the Philistines and what happened with the Ark in other places, then we will come to chapter eight and Israel will demand a king and you come to chapter nine and we are going to be ready for the anointing of the king and we will move into the monarchy. Let’s just look at a few of the lessons from these two chapters that we have looked at. First, the discipline of the lord is severe. One of the dangers even for the people of God is that they begin to take sin lightly and the danger is because God does not clearly chasten us for sin immediately. We begin to develop some kind of thinking that the sin has become acceptable to him, that he has altered his thinking about it and one of the lessons we learn from the old testament history is God’s view of sin is fixed and settled and it will never ever be acceptable or tolerable to him, so in chapter four verse two Israel was defeated before their enemies, 4000 died, down in verses ten and eleven, verse ten, 30,000 died, then the sons of Eli are killed, the Ark is taken.

When God brings his chastening judgment on his people, it can be tremendously severe. Number two, people in sin become insensitive to their sin and this just relates to what I just said, verse three, when the people come into the camp, the elders of Israel said why has the Lord defeated us today before the philistines? I mean, what do you mean why has the Lord defeated us today? We read in Psalm 78 what was going on, they are worshipping the gods of the Canaanites, they are involved in all kind of pagan activities, they are accepting priests to lead them like Hophni and Phinehas who are worthless men, immoral and godless, they despise the offerings of the lord and they are walking along saying why has the Lord brought this defeat upon us.

We become insensitive indulged by our sin and not aware of what is really taking place. Number three, sinning people easily become superstitious and that’s in verses three to five, the Ark is the magical thing and let’s say well yeah that’s silly, how many times we have involved in sin, we think oh well I will go to church and somehow and the Lord will be happy with that, now if I go sit with other believers in a service, that will sort of do away with everything else. I can be involved in various kinds of sinful activity and so on, but you know I go to church and that probably helps at least pacify God, if it doesn’t totally please him and we become superstitious. Israel is treating the Ark as though it’s some kind of magical thing, like an Indiana Jones magical box with powers in and of itself and well you know what are they thinking? Let’s think about it, how easy it is for us to do the same thing if we are involved in sin, but somehow we think well you know I went to church you know I think sort of balancing and sinning people easily becomes superstitious.

Number four, God’s word will always come true. Verse eleven, the Ark of God was taken, the two sons of Eli Hophni and Phinehas died just as God said it would happen, both on the same day. God’s word always comes true and we are reminded of that. Don’t be deceived, God is not mocked, whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap. I mean it’s not that we as God’s people have to live our lives in abject covering fear, but we are not ever to lose our fear of sin. You shall be holy for I am holy, says the Lord. He doesn’t say, be satisfied if you think you are holier than someone else, you be holy like I am holy. You are my people, that’s the standard. God’s word always comes true, he hasn’t lowered the standards, sin hasn’t become acceptable. His discipline is very severe.

Number five follows on that, sin always ends in pain, misery and death. Verse 11, we have the death, verse 18, we have the death of Eli and here, the close of his life hearing of the death of his sons, hearing of the capture of the Ark and he dies a failure having brought his family under the judgment of God for not acting as she have himself as we saw on the previous prophesies given concerning him. Down in verse 20 what happens? Phinehas’s wife will die in childbirth and there is no joy that she has given birth to a son Ichabod, there is no glory. The Ark has been captured, the glory has departed. You know we never stop and think, we talk about this and we are reminded of it because it keeps coming up in the Old Testament, but how many examples have we had recently of Christian figures in public places revealed as being in sin? What ruin and misery and pain brought upon them and their family and their ministry, they never sat and thought, you know if I indulge in this, it’s only going to end in misery, you know I think of the pleasure and the joy and things are going fine and that’s when any of us sin, we look at the pleasure of sin, not the end of sin. Sin when it is conceived brings forth great joy, now what it says is sin when it is conceived brings forth death, so if you are indulging in sin, the end is always ruin, the end is always pain it’s always destruction, it’s always misery.

Number six, God and God alone reigns supreme. Chapter five verses three and four, there are other so called gods in the world, but there is only one true living God, the creator of all, the sovereign overall and his will, will be done. There is only one supreme sovereign God and connected to that my last point, number seven. Man cannot fight against God. Verses six to 12, even the defeat of God’s people is part of his plan in chastening and judging them. Israel today lives under the chastening judgment of God. Israel still refuses to bow before the God who is their savior and so they have the worst yet to come, but after the seven years of tribulation, the awesome judgments of that time, they will be brought to their knees. Man can't fight against God, but God is not defeated in the defeat of his people. The defeat of God’s people is part of his chastening process.

But ultimately even Israel will be victorious. That does not mean everyone in Israel because we have Israelites dying everyday. Lost and without hope in the world, doomed to an eternal hell, cut off from the blessings promise to their father Abraham because of their unbelief, but in all this we are reminded man cannot fight against God. It’s feudal, where are the Hitlers and people like that that were going to annihilate Israel? They are gone and Israel still goes on and so it will be, we are serving a great God, why would Israel want to constantly chaff against their God, disobey him, pursue their own ways, why do we think that sin will bring us more joy than the blessings of god can bring us? Why do we think there is another way than the way that God has set before us? He is the sovereign God, for salvations there is only one option, turn from you sin and believe in him. If you choose not to turn from your sin and believe in him you will be judged and sent to an eternal hell, that’s it.

For I would say, as God’s people there is only one way of blessing and that is obedience, submission. The sin that seems so delightful, that seems so fulfilling, so satisfying, so pleasing now can only bring misery and pain and heartache. Why do we think it can be otherwise? We have the example of Israel to learn from. Praise God we have a God of infinite love and mercy and patience. If it had been up to me, I would just wiped Israel off the map and cut it down and start over, but that’s not God’s way. He can't, he promised. Could he like we said this morning? Yes he could, but could he? No he can't. he could because he has the power to do it, but he couldn’t because he is committed himself to their ultimate salvation, but in that, don’t take widely how severe is chastening punishment could be, let’s break in there.

Thank you Lord for your grace, thank you for your love for the nation Israel, thank you then on all the punishments, all the chastening, all the pain, all the suffering, all the deaths you are calling to them to turn from their sins and trust you as their God and savior. Lord thank you and even though the glory departed from Israel, someday the messiah, the one in whom your glory resides, the one who will bring glory back to the nation, he will someday return and Israel will be established as your people on the earth. Thank you lord for your plan for the church that we have been privileged to enter into salvation through faith in your son and are now called to be a holy people as you are holy. Lord I pray that we will be careful not to take sin lightly, to delude ourselves into thinking that our sin has become acceptable or tolerable in your side or maybe delight to walk in obedience to you, we pray in Christ’s name, Amen.