The Capture and Return of the Ark

I really enjoyed today’s reading. I had so many things come to mind that I hope to bring out in today’s post without being too long.

The Philistines Capture the Ark
What were the Israelites thinking? Their enemy defeated them killing about four thousand men. The elders asked “Why did the Lord bring defeat on us today…” Did they really need to ask? Maybe I should not be so judgmental. I can’t tell you how many times I have been confused about why I didn’t gain the victory in situations. I have justified my sin so many times thinking that God would excuse it because He loves me and surely would not allow me to look a fool. When in reality I needed to refresh my relationship with Him and repent.

The Israelites did a very foolish thing. They took the Ark of the Lord with them to battle. The notes in my study Bible made a point about how the Israelites used the Ark as a “good luck charm.” It seems they were putting their faith in the box as if “it” was the source of strength. Israel lost the battle with the Philistines and the Ark was captured. I wonder though what everyone was truly afraid of when the Ark was captured? Were they afraid that the Philistines would now have the power or were they afraid of the Lord Almighty being angry with them for disobedience?

During this battle Eli’s sons were killed which fulfilled the prophecy that they would die on the same day. When Eli heard the news of his sons being killed and the Ark being captured he fell off his chair, broke his neck and died. Eli’s daughter-in-law also dies after giving birth to a son. She went into labor after receiving the news of her husbands death and the capture of the Ark. She names her son Ichabod (which means “no glory”), since the glory had left Israel.

After the Ark of the Lord had been with the Philistines for seven months they were ready to send it back. I guess they thought they had captured Israel’s power source too. I wonder if they thought they would use it like a magic wand. I loved the first part of chapter five when they placed the Ark in the temple of Dagon. Dagon, the god the Philistines worshiped, fell on it’s face before the Ark of the Lord Almighty. The funny part, to me, is that they picked it up and put it back in it’s place only to find it back down the next morning but it’s head and hands broken off.

Where ever the Ark was located, the Lord began to afflict the people in the cities with tumors. No one wanted the Ark in their city so they kept moving it. Soon they sought the advice of their priests and diviners. They wanted to know how to get rid of it properly which means they have learned to have some respect for this God of the Israelites. The priests and diviners give this advice:

• The Ark should be accompanied by a guilt offering.
• The offering should be golden tumors and rats to represent the affliction the Lord had sent on the people. (rats were not mentioned before but they are here??)
• There should be five golden rats and five golden tumors to represent the five leaders and the people.
• They are to put the Ark and guilt offering onto a cart yoked to two cows that have given birth and never have been yoked before. Then set them loose without guidance and watch which way they will go. If the cart goes to the Israelites then they will know that it was the Lord who afflicted them.

Did you notice that while the cows went straight to Beth Shemesh, where the Israelites were, they lowed all the way. I wonder if that was because they were leaving behind their calves. I read in my notes that the calves of the cows were pinned up so that if the Lord was not the one in control then the cows would naturally go to their calves (motherly instinct).

When the cart gets to Beth Shemesh, the people see it coming and rejoice. The cows stop beside a rock and the Israelite people cut up the cart for fire and sacrifice the cows as a burnt offering. It was almost a happy ending until seventy of the people of Beth Shemesh die because they looked into the Ark of the Lord which was forbidden. They decided to send the Ark to Kiriath Jearim and place it in the house of Abinadab. They consecrated Abinadab’s son Eleazar to guard the Ark. The Ark remained there for twenty years.

In chapter seven we begin to see the leadership of Samuel. Samuel instructs the people of Israel that if they want to return to the Lord they must get rid of their other gods. The Israelites, once again, turned to the Lord. The next time the Philistines attacked, the Lord drove away the Philistines and they stopped invading Israel’s land, because the Israelites cried out to the Lord. The hand of the Lord was against the Philistines during all of Samuel’s lifetime. Israel was even able to regain the towns from Ekron to Gath that the Philistines had captured.

Israel Asks for a King
Chapter eight is a significant point-in-time for the Israelites. They had never had a king before and now they think that they need one like all the other nations. Samuel was getting old and his sons did not follow in his ways. The people saw this as a good opportunity, I guess, to demand Samuel appoint them a king. Samuel went straight to the Lord, as we all should, to tell Him about the people’s absurd request. The Lord told him to listen to the people but to first warn them of the consequences. The people did not listen to Samuel. They still wanted a king over them so they could be like other nations. Does this sound familiar to anybody? Can you apply this to your own life or country? The main problem with the people’s request is not that they were asking for a king but that they wanted to be like the other nations. Like the Israelites, we are to be set a part from other nations or the world.

One thing I have noticed is that the more I am in the Word of God the easier it is to do things pleasing to Him. When I fall away from fellowship with Him the easier it is to desire the things of this world. There is always a pull/temptation to the world’s ways but with the Lord’s strength I can resist. This reminds me of one of my favorite hymns.

“Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His Glory and Grace.”