Written by: Jo Lambert - Girls' Brigade

1 Samuel 4 v 10-14
So the Philistines fought hard and defeated the Israelites, and every Israelite soldier ran away to his own home. It was a great defeat for Israel, because thirty thousand Israelite soldiers were killed. The Ark of God was taken by the Philistines, and Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, died.
That same day a man from the tribe of Benjamin ran from the battle. He tore his clothes and put dust on his head to show his great sadness. When he arrived in Shiloh, Eli was by the side of the road. He was sitting there in a chair, watching, because he was worried about the Ark of God. When the Benjaminite entered Shiloh, he told the bad news. Then all the people in town cried loudly. Eli heard the crying and asked, “What’s all this noise?”
The Benjaminite ran to Eli and told him what had happened. 

Notes
The Israelites had taken the Ark of God, which was an important and sacred symbol to them, into the battle with the Philistines, which is likely to have led them to complacency. Perhaps they thought that they were taking God into the battle by taking the thing that represented Him to them. However, they lost. Not just a bit, but they were thrashed, losing over 30,000 soldiers.

Among the men that were killed were Eli’s 2 sons, Hophni and Phinehas; Eli had been a great man for many years and the news the messenger brought would be similar to the news of Diana, Princess of Wales dying, or 5,000 people dying in New York on the 11h September 2001. We can easily recall the grief that was (and still is being) expressed not just in the cities or nations affected, but also across the world in some way. People everywhere would have been shocked, saddened and gone into a state of mourning. Indeed, all the people ‘cried loudly’. There is nothing different about bad news and the way it affects people today. We still feel the anguish of those directly concerned and we still express our anguish for the situations we hear of through the media.

We have the opportunity as Christians to pray for these situations, but most importantly to pray for the people involved. We can offer prayer to God through mediation and appeal, and pray with the people who are affected in any way by the ordeals they experience.

It is a valuable opening to share the love and power of God with others.

1 Samuel 4 v 15-18
Eli was now ninety-eight years old, and he was blind. The Benjaminite told him, “I have come from the battle. I ran all the way here today.”
Eli asked, “What happened, my son?”
The Benjaminite answered, “Israel ran away from the Philistines, and the Israelite army has lost many soldiers. Your two sons are both dead, and the Philistines have taken the Ark of God.”
When he mentioned the Ark of God, Eli fell backward off his chair. He fell beside the gate, broke his neck, and died, because he was old and fat. He had led Israel for forty years.

Notes
The shock of losing the Ark of the Covenant was too much for Eli who fell off his chair! The Ark of the Covenant was the holiest sign of God's presence. In or near it were placed a few highly significant mementos of the journey to the Promised Land: the stone tablets of the Law of Moses, a jar of the miraculous manna, and Aaron's sprouted staff. 

This story shows the madness of Israel, as they were under the impression that possession of the ark automatically guaranteed victory over their enemies. To them, it was a sign that God was with them and they relied upon that too much rather than praying to Him and asking Him to guide and guard them during the conflict with the Philistine army.

How often do we think that by taking a ‘mascot’ of God in one form or another we will be safe? 
A cross on a chain or in a pocket is fine, but what are we using it for? A token gesture to invite God to travel with us, or a reminder that we need to constantly pray and ask God to be with us? 
A picture in our rooms, is it a nice way of reminding us that God is part of our life, or a focus for our prayer and quiet time with Him?

In a world where people are searching for spirituality of some kind, we have an amazing talisman. Not in the form of an object, but in the form of a loving and saving Lord. Maybe we should start focusing on the reality of God rather than the objects we have to remind us of God.

1 Samuel 4 v 19-22
Eli’s daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant and was about to give birth. When she heard the news that the Ark of God had been taken and that Eli, her father-in-law, and Phinehas, her husband, were both dead, she began to give birth to her child. The child was born, but the mother had much trouble in giving birth. As she was dying, the women who helped her said, “Don’t worry! You’ve given birth to a son!” But she did not answer or pay attention. She named the baby Ichabod, saying, “Israel’s glory is gone.” She said this because the Ark of God had been taken and her father-in-law and husband were dead. She said, “Israel’s glory is gone, because the Ark of God has been taken away.”

Notes
Eli’s daughter-in-law goes into premature labour because of the shock on hearing that her husband, Phinehas, and father-in-law, Eli, had both died. Eli’s death is not necessarily because of the death of his sons, but of hearing that the Ark of God had been taken from the Israelites by the Philistines. To an old man like Eli, this news would have signalled to him disaster for Israel, whom he had acted as priest and judge over for 40 years. As mentioned yesterday, he also saw the Ark as God’s presence and with its departure God also left them.

The death of Eli’s daughter-in-law is more likely to be because the 2 significant men in her life had died, her husband and his father. Her death is recorded in the name of her son Ichabod meaning the glory has departed, which mirrors Eli’s feelings. To the people of Israel it was the end of an era. Their judge and leader had died along with his two heirs; in many ways a family line had gone, but in reality Eli’s family didn’t die out, t but they were no longer seen as significant players in the leadership of Israel.

In cases of death and sadness, we often focus on what has gone and our human nature makes us grieve. We should, with our God of hope, offer thanksgiving to Him and concentrate on the future He has for us. God is not a God of sadness, but one of hope and future for all His followers.

1 Samuel 5 v 1-5
After the Philistines had captured the Ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. They carried it into Dagon’s temple and put it next to Dagon. When the people of Ashdod rose early the next morning, they found that Dagon had fallen on his face on the ground before the Ark of the LORD. So they put Dagon back in his place. The next morning when they rose, they again found Dagon fallen on the ground before the Ark of the LORD. His head and hands had broken off and were lying in the doorway. Only his body was still in one piece. So, even today, Dagon’s priests and others who enter his temple at Ashdod refuse to step on the doorsill.

Notes
The Philistine army, in their triumph over Israel took the Ark of God back home with them as their trophy in many ways. They saw the Ark in a similar way to the Israelites, as the reality of God. In their elation of winning, they appear to want to humiliate God by placing Him alongside their pagan god Dagon. At this point in the story there is an element of humour, when Dagon falls in the company of God; the statue did not simply fall off a pedestal or platform onto the floor, but fell on its face before God. And not once, but twice. The power of God was far stronger than that of a pagan symbol and even in its own territory, Dagon was powerless to God.

The God we read about in this chapter is not a far off God, one who was around thousands of years ago, but one who is present in this age. He is one who still has the power and authority to overcome evil and wickedness. He is available to those who call on His name in 2001 just as he was in the time of Eli and his descendants.

In times of struggle and adversity, we can still call on the power of God and indeed the name of His Son, our Lord Jesus. He is waiting for us to respond to Him and invite Him to help us in every situation we face, every day of our lives.

1 Samuel 5 v 6-9
The LORD was hard on the people of Ashdod and their neighbors. He caused them to suffer and gave them growths on their skin. When the people of Ashdod saw what was happening, they said, “The Ark of the God of Israel can’t stay with us. God is punishing us and Dagon our god.” The people of Ashdod called all five Philistine kings together and asked them, “What should we do with the Ark of the God of Israel?”
The rulers answered, “Move the Ark of the God of Israel to Gath.” So the Philistines moved it to Gath.
But after they moved it to Gath, there was a great panic. The LORD was hard on that city also, and he gave both old and young people in Gath growths on their skin

Notes
It’s ironic that even though the Ark of God did not signify His presence in that one and only place, when He had left Israel the Philistines suffered greatly. Wherever it was moved to in the Philistine land there was sickness and danger. And although there is an element of humour in the situation, a better description is certainly irony. The pain that the Philistines received through skin growths and boils would have been far from funny. This is evident in the actions of the city leaders from all five Philistine cities, who gathered together to determine the best course of action to stop the tumours their people experienced. They agreed to move the Ark to another place, which they would assume to bring a relief from the suffering, but this act simply moved the suffering to another place. They hoped that their human acts would prevent the plague of growths continuing. It became incredibly apparent that this was not the case as wherever the Ark went, so did the plague of growths go!

Once again, God asserts His supremacy over the country leaders and their god; the initial pride of victory over the Israelites is soon turned to danger and panic.

It is wise to remember that we cannot over-ride God’s plans and desires for peace and safety of His people. Humans across the world seem to believe that they are far stronger and have more power than the Creator of the universe, how wrong they are!

We should pray in earnest that God will have victory over the powers that try to eradicate freedom and justice, just as He had victory over a whole nation and its god Dagon so long ago.

1 Samuel 5 v 10-12
Then the Philistines sent the Ark of God to Ekron.
But when it came into Ekron, the people of Ekron yelled, “Why are you bringing the Ark of the God of Israel to our city? Do you want to kill us and our people?” So they called all the kings of the Philistines together and said, “Send the Ark of the God of Israel back to its place before it kills us and our people!” All the people in the city were struck with terror because God was so hard on them there. The people who did not die were troubled with growths on their skin. So the people of Ekron cried loudly to heaven.

Notes
Just as the people of Israel cried out loudly (1 Samuel 4:13) when they heard that the Ark had been taken by the Philistines, so the Philistines began to cry loudly. They do not cry out to anything, god or person, but to heaven (1 Samuel 3:12). It is as though they come to acknowledge that God is greater than anything they have had experience of before and that in their despair and anguish they actually acknowledge God as the most powerful and awesome ruler of the earth.

Evils caused by human disobedience to God, like removing the Ark from its place in Israel, cannot be rectified by mere human exercises, such as moving the Ark from place to place. Such wrong acts can only be rectified by remorse shown to God and a reunion between God and wrongdoer. This is the message central to the New Testament. God came to earth as a man, took the form and life of a human being, shared in the joys and sorrow of humankind. He took all these things onto Himself at the cross where Jesus died.

To become totally new in God’s eyes, we cannot simply try to cover over the things we do wrong by ourselves, but need to share them openly and honestly with God and ask Him to forgive us. Is there something you need to discuss with God at the moment, something you cannot overcome by yourself? Do so, and ask for His forgiveness and strength not to make the same mistake again.

1 Samuel 6 v 1-6
The Philistines kept the Ark of God in their land seven months. Then they called for their priests and magicians and said, “What should we do with the Ark of the LORD? Tell us how to send it back home!”
The priests and magicians answered, “If you send back the Ark of the God of Israel, don’t send it back empty. You must give a penalty offering. If you are then healed, you will know that it was because of the Ark that you had such trouble.”
The Philistines asked, “What kind of penalty offering should we send to Israel’s God?”
They answered, “Make five gold models of the growths on your skin and five gold models of rats. The number of models must match the number of Philistine kings, because the same sickness has come on you and your kings. Make models of the growths and the rats that are ruining the country, and give honor to Israel’s God. Then maybe he will stop being so hard on you, your gods, and your land. Don’t be stubborn like the king of Egypt and the Egyptians. After God punished them terribly, they let the Israelites leave Egypt.

Notes 
The Philistines became aware that the problems they faced were a direct result of possessing the ark of God, however, it took them 7 months before they sent it back. By sending it back to the Israelites it could have been seen as a politically significant admission of weakness and could have been interpreted as an invitation to the Israelites to attack or overthrow them. You can understand their reluctance!
The Philistines wanted to pacify Israel’s God, but at the same they did not want to incite Israel into another battle when most of the population was recovering from epidemic disease and their defences were weak.

By making models of the growths and the rats, they acknowledged that God was the reason for their problems and the gold of the models paid tribute from the 5 Philistine kings. God ultimately removed the disease from their territory through this act of symbolism.

Seven months seems a long time to continue to suffer, especially as the kings had come to the conclusion that the God of Israel was behind their suffering. In Old Testament times, seven was seen as number of ‘wholeness’ or ‘completeness’; it was used many times to complete periods of punishment and refinement by God. Perhaps this was the case here. The seven months of suffering fulfilled their punishment for going against God and they can enjoy the total release of suffering knowing that they had endured all they had.

Sometimes, we assume God will ‘sort things out’ when we want Him to. If we are truly sorry, and seek forgiveness with honesty, God will ‘sort things out’ but in His time. Maybe there are times when we have to endure what we endure, to focus us on God’s complete power and to truly trust in Him now and always.


word-on-the-web uses the Scripture text taken from the Youth Bible, New Century Version (Anglicised Edition) copyright 1993 by Word Publishing Milton Keynes