The Ark returns to Israel - 1 Samuel 4:12-22

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Last time that I taught, I was teaching in 1

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Samuel chapter 5 and I want to do a brief overview of where we left off and also bring some correction that was brought to my attention during our last study.

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So before we begin, I'd like to begin with prayer. Father, we just thank you this morning for the privilege of being a part of your body.

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And Lord, as we examine your word this morning, we ask that you and you alone would not only be glorified, but that you would enable us to understand the principles that you impart through your word.

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We ask that you, the Holy Spirit, would grant illumination as we examine this text.

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We just give you thanks, Lord, for the privilege of collective gathering and we pray that you would be glorified through all we do.

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We ask this in Jesus' precious name, amen. So if you would turn with me to chapter 5,

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I'll do a brief overview. I discovered after the question was asked and I incorrectly contributed my response and I discovered that I had left off an entire page of notes, which

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I would like to recap this morning and hopefully bring clarity. Let's begin in 5 verse 3 and 4.

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But when they arose, excuse me, when the Ashtonites arose early the next morning, behold,

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Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of the

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Lord. So they took Dagon and set him in his place again.

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But when they arose early the next morning, behold, Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of the

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Lord. And the head of Dagon and both palms of his hands were cut off on the threshold and only the trunk of Dagon was left to him.

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Commentators give differing views as to the essence of this account.

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A commentator by the name of Phineas gave his interpretation of the head and the hands of Dagon being cut off.

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His interpretation was the ancient temples were small in size.

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If the statue fell forward, the head and the hands could have easily fallen upon the threshold.

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This was more of a naturalistic view or interpretation of the miracle and was considered really untenable by most scholars.

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He gives this interpretation. Since the idle Dagon, which was standing by the side of the ark, was thrown down towards the ark as to lie upon its face in front of it, the pieces that were broken off, the head and the hands could not have fallen sideways as to lie upon the threshold.

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So this interpretation by Phineas was disputed by most scholars on the basis of the original

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Hebrew words, which were rendered cut off. The NIV, however, transfers this verse this way, but the following morning when they arose, there was

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Dagon fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the Lord. His head and hands had been broken off and were lying on the threshold.

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Only his body remained. Now, most translations, such as the

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King James Version, New American Standard Version, Render, and the

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Amplified Version, render the words cut off. So that would be the more accurate translation of that text.

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In the MacArthur Study Bible, he gives a footnote on verse 4 which reads,

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Head, hands were cut off. The first display of God's authority over Dagon was not perceived.

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God's second display of authority, the cutting off of Dagon's head and hands, were a common sign that the enemy was dead and was to be understood as God's divine judgment on this false idol.

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In Judges, chapter 7, verse 25, we read this.

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They captured the two leaders of Midian, Oreb, and Zeab, and they killed

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Oreb at the Rock of Oreb, and they killed Zeab at the winepress of Zeab.

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While they pursued Midian, and they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeab to Gideon from across the

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Jordan. In 1 Samuel 17, 54, then it says this,

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Then David took the Philistine's head and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his weapon in his tent.

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In 2 Samuel 4, verse 12, it says this,

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Then David commanded the young men, and they killed them and cut off their hands and their feet and hung them up beside the pool in Hebron.

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But they took the head of Ish -bosheth and buried it in the grave at Abner in Hebron.

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This practice of cutting off the head or hands of the enemy was in this period symbolic.

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That is, it was symbolic of defeating the enemy. So in a review of chapter 5 from last time, verses 6 through 12, the

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Philistines mistakenly thought Israel had more than one

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God, and that those gods had brought all kinds of plagues against the

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Egyptians. In chapter 4 of 1 Samuel 4, it says this in verse 8,

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Woe to us! Who shall deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods?

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God had afflicted them with devastation, tumors, which was considered by several scholars bubonic plague.

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I did a little research on bubonic plague, and in the 13th century in Europe and also the 16th century in Europe and Asia, there was a great plague.

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Now, this was at that time especially a very deadly disease.

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It had no means of treating it, and most often those who contacted the disease died.

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It's transmitted by fleas and rodents. And the symptoms,

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I don't want to be too graphic, but this is the symptoms that they would have undergone. There was vomiting, and there was pus -filled boils and tumors, and also blackened dead skin.

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That was a result of this horrendous disease. In chapter 6, we find the

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Philistines in a state of confusion and chaos. God's hand had been heavily upon them, and they had taken the

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Ark of the Lord from the Israelites. As a result, God had sent plagues of tumors, which resulted in massive chaos and destruction as well as death.

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Amongst all the cities which the Ark of the Lord had been taken, all these diseases followed.

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So this was the hand of God upon them. They wanted to figure out somehow how to appease

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God because of what they had done. And they wanted to return the

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Ark to its rightful place, to the people of Israel. So they called upon the five lords.

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Let's look at chapter 6 now, starting with verse 1. And we'll read through to verse 6.

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Now the Ark of the Lord had been in the country of the Philistines seven months, and the

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Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, What shall we do with the

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Ark of the Lord? Tell us how we shall send it to its place. They said,

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If you send away the Ark of the God of Israel, do not send it empty, but you shall surely return to him a guilt offering.

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Then you will be healed, and it will be known to you by his hand is not removed from you.

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Then they said, What shall be the guilt offering which we shall return to him?

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And they said, Five golden tumors and five golden mice, according to the number of lords of the

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Philistines, for one plague was on all of you and on your lords.

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He shall make in the likeness of your tumors and the likeness of your mice that ravage the land, and you shall give glory to the

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God of Israel. Perhaps he will ease his hand from you, your gods and your land.

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Why then do you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts?

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When he had severely dealt with them, that they not allow the people to go and they departed.

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So in verse 1, when it says, Now the Ark of the Lord had been in the country of the

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Philistines, translating in the country, it simply translates that the

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Ark of the Covenant was in the fields. The Ark of God had been in the hands of the

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Philistines now for seven months. They had wrought destruction through means of the plague, and the longer that the

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Philistines resisted and refused to recognize the chastening hand of the living

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God, the more the plagues continued to afflict them.

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In verse 2 of chapter 6, we read this, And the

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Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, What shall we do with the

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Ark of the Lord? Tell us how we shall send it to its place. Now, these lords were the leaders of each city.

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There were five of them for the five cities, and they were like kings or rulers over these cities, but they were conflicted.

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They didn't have any idea what to do now that they had captured the

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Ark and it had brought God's judgment upon them. So they wanted to understand what to do.

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So who do they call? Naturally, they call the diviners and the priests.

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The priests and diviners were those who sought secret knowledge, especially of the future.

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These diviners were the pagan counterparts of the Old Testament prophets.

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The diviners were revealing, as Scripture reveals, that the divination and the information was by demonic power.

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The prophets of the Old Testament received their revelation from the

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Holy Spirit. These pagan diviners and priests had concluded the only way that they could appease

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God was to return the Ark of the Lord to its rightful place with the people of Israel in the land of Israel.

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So they thought, however, to return the Ark without a gift, that would offend the

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God of Israel even further. So in verse 3, we read this.

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They said, if you send away the Ark of the God of Israel, do not send it empty, but you shall study and surely return to him a guilt offering.

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Then you will be healed, and it will be known to you why his hand is not removed from you.

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So, as these wise men concluded that they had to send a guilt offering.

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Now, the guilt offering was in a noun form, and it was a sign of contrition.

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Now, the King James version reads trespass in verse 3, whereas the

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Amplified, the New American Standard, and the NIV translate the word guilt.

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The meaning of trespass is in a noun form, it means to violate or commit an act, or in this case, a sin against a holy

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God. Guilt in a noun form was used in this context.

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In the giving of a guilt offering, the intent was to let

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God know that they had trespassed and dishonored the God of Israel by capturing the

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Ark. So how are we to understand this offering?

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The priest realized that any payment to God for sin must be costly.

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The Philistines were paying a high price for what they had done to offend the

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Lord. It was obvious that they couldn't satisfy God's wrath only by making a costly sacrifice.

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However, offerings must correspond with the punishment. That's the conclusion they made.

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Since God's judgment involved disease, mice, that produced tumors, which most scholars think that was a disease which consumed their body, they wanted to have these mice which brought in this disease made of gold.

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From the biblical standpoint, there are some obvious problems with this type of an offering.

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Mice are among the ritually detestable animals that God forbade to consume to be used for offerings.

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So we have in Leviticus chapter 11 verse 29, it says this,

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Now these are to you the unclean among the swarming things. Swarm on the earth the mole and the mouse and the great lizard and its kinds.

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The images of the tumors were likewise unclean before the Lord. So the

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Philistines had learned much at the heavy hand of the Lord, but they failed to realize that the saving truth that we receive does not come from the diviners and pagan consultants.

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Such truth only comes from the word of God, the scriptures. What the

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Philistines should have done was to consult with an Israelite priest, just as we should consult with God's word to satisfy

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God. A true priest would have told them the proper guilt offering, and this was given in Leviticus chapter 5.

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Bring to the Lord at his compensation a ram without blemish out of the flock.

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With the prophet Isaiah, he would have gone a little bit further and informed them that these animal sacrifices look forward to the coming of the

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Savior whom God would send. In Isaiah 53, it says this,

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He was wounded for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities.

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Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.

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All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way, and the

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Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all, Isaiah 53, 5 and 6.

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Finally, in the New Testament also, in 1 Peter 2 .24,

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we also have a quote from John the Baptist in John 1 .29,

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Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,

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John 1 .29. Back in 1

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Peter 1 .24,

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I believe, Peter says this, 3 .24,

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I'm sorry, thank you, 2 .24,

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thank you, sorry. Peter says this in his epistle,

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And he himself bore our sin, and we have returned to the shepherd and the guardian of your souls.

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So, as we consider these texts, we recognize that these diviners, these pagan priests had no understanding of who the

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God of Israel was. The Philistines actually thought that God was in the

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Ark. They thought that Israel had many gods, that's why all five cities were plagued.

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But it wasn't that. It was God, Jehovah God, carrying out his judgment upon them.

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Back to 1 Samuel 6, verse four.

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Then they said, what shall the guilt offering which we shall return to him?

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And they said, five golden tumors and five mice, according to the number of the lords of the

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Philistines. For one plague was on all of you and on your lords.

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Verse five, so you shall make likeness of the tumors and likeness of your mice that ravage the land.

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And you should give glory to the God of Israel. Perhaps he will ease his hand from you and your gods and your land.

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So they had the right understanding that Jehovah God should be honored, but they had no idea that God desired repentance and he desired them to turn from their sin, turn from their idols and turn to him and to salvation.

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The offering was presented before the God of Israel as a guilt offering in hopes that he might remove the plagues for the five

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Philistine cities, which were Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath and Ekron.

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All of those cities who had the ark in their possession were plagued.

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And then verse six, six, it's interesting what they said. They quoted, they said this.

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Why then do you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When he had severely dealt with them, did they not allow the people to go and they departed?

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So he was recalling what God had done to the Pharaoh and the armies of Egypt.

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First the plagues, Pharaoh didn't turn, but he rather hardened his heart.

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He's using the same word, hardened here. So this word refers to being stiff, dried and rebellious.

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It's used in both accounts. It also has the understanding of to brace up or to brace up or tighten or to stoutly resist.

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It's a state of obstinacy and rebellion. They recognize that, these priests.

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So they brought that text and mentioned that to these lords.

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There were actually 13 passages in the book of Exodus in which the word hardened was used, referring to Pharaoh's heart, 13 times.

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In verse seven, chapter six, he goes on and he says this.

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Now therefore, take and prepare a new cart to milch cows on which there has never been a yoke and hench the cows to the cart and take their calves home.

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Now I had to get a little bit of research on that to understand what they were saying.

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So some of the terminology here may not be familiar to us. Milch cow was something that was brought back in the 12th century,

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I believe. And basically a milch cow is a first time calf cow, in other words, this cow had just recently calved and what they wanted to do is take this cow and put a yoke on it and attach it to the cart.

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So what would be the reason? I don't want you to look in your footnotes if you have a study Bible. What would be the reason that they would have two of these milch cows, or heifers, that were first time calvers?

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Why would they want to use that, those two cows, to pull the cart with the

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Ark of the Covenant on it? Peter, that's very good.

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That's one of the things that you have to consider in this. I called

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Tim Shields on this to verify what a cow that just had calves would be like.

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And he said, you can't hardly separate them from their calves when it's time to feed. So they would have an instinctive desire to return to the stable so that they could feed their calves.

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So that was a strong drawing. And they're attaching this cow to the cart.

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Now, let's go on a little bit. Then the mid did so and took two cows, verses 10 through 11, and hitched them to the cart and shut up their calves at home.

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They put the Ark of the Lord on a cart and the box with the golden mice and the likeness of their tumors.

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So here they have this cart. And they've attached it to this cow.

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But they're also gonna have to yoke these two cows because there's gonna be two cows drawing a cart.

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Now think about this. Here's a cow that just had calves. And they're taking it away from the calves.

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They need to be milked. And they're putting a yoke on the cows.

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I asked Tim Shields, how difficult would that be to put a yoke on an animal, either a cow or a horse, without some degree of training and braking?

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He said, it's near impossible to do. He said, even when you're showing calves, he said,

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I used to show at 4 -H, he said, I had a very, very difficult time just harnessing the calf with a lead rope.

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Think about putting a yoke and then attaching that to the cart and pulling a cart, never having pulled a cart before, two calves bellowing in the background, crying out for the mother.

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So my question is this. What would be the design and purpose, if you haven't read ahead yet, of them doing so?

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Okay, they're taking this cow, just calved, attaching it to the cart. What would be the purpose of these diviners and priests to do so?

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Yes, excellent.

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Did you hear, Emily? The reason that they use these milked cows was that if they did this and attached it to the cart, and these cows were sent down the road to Beth Shemesh, they would know that this was truly of the

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Lord, and it was the Lord who carried out this affliction upon them. So this was a test, just as Emily said.

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And the test was very well designed, actually. It would have been a very difficult thing to do, if not almost impossible, to take a cow that's never been yoked, and then attach it to a cart, and send it down the road unattached.

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Let's go on. Verse 12, and the cows took the straight way in the direction of Beth Shemesh.

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They went along the highway, lowing as they went, and they did not turn aside to the right or to the left.

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And the lords of the Philistines followed them to the border of Beth Shemesh.

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Now the cows headed in the direction on this road, which they were very crude roads, which was the road to Beth Shemesh, without turning aside to the left or right, and yet the calves were baying in the background.

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That would have to be the Lord carrying that out. This cow would have turned right around, probably jackknifed the cart, probably tore it all apart, and dragging itself back to her calves, just so they could be fed.

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The other thing. The cows, when it says they were lowing in the text, that lowing is,

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I asked what a current term, because that's rather early centuries terminology.

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A lowing is just bellowing, or what he says, bawling, B -A -W -L -I -N -G.

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So that's the sound that they would be giving out, and would be a natural, instinctive thing for the mother, the cow, to turn around or try to get back to her calves.

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Pretty foolproof test. Indeed, that would have been a strong evidence that that was the case.

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Now we, I wanna also add something here.

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Now they take the Ark of the Lord in verse eight, and place it on the cart, put the articles of gold, which you return to him as a guilt offering, in the box by its side, then send it away, and watch.

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So what they had done, they built a new cart. Now why would they do that?

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I mean, this is a pagan diviner, suggesting this to the lords of the

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Philistines. But he wanted them to build a new cart. Why would that be? What was that again?

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Perfect. That would be a sign that it was the best offering they're sending back, because it was a new cart, never had been used for common practice.

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And that's what they wanted. They wanted a new cart placed upon the Ark, alongside the box that contained the tumors and the mice made of gold, which would have been anathema to do.

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In verse 13, it says this. Now the people of Beth Shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley, and they raised their eyes and saw the

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Ark, and were glad to see it. The name Beth Shemesh means the house of the sun, or if it's

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Eresh Shemesh, it means the city of the sun. In verse 13, the people of Beth Shemesh were busy.

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This was harvest time. And in Palestine, it's usually in around May that they harvest their wheat and their crops.

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As they did so, they looked up, and they saw the Ark returning to the

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Israelites. Now for the people, this would have been a sight that they never anticipated.

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But they rejoiced. But there's a problem with that. And we'll find out in a little while.

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The Israelites didn't know whether or not they would ever see or possess the Ark of the Covenant again.

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And upon seeing the Ark, the people were glad.

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Yet even looking at the Ark was forbidden by God.

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Only the Levi priests were allowed to look upon the exterior of the

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Ark. Not even the Koahites were allowed to look upon the

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Ark. Now the Koahites were the ones who carried the furnishings of the tabernacle.

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But only after they were covered with a porpoise skin. And that's out of Numbers chapter four, verse 14.

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So these Koahites were servants who brought the items for the temple, and yet they could not look upon the

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Ark. And this is the warning that God gave in Numbers 4 .20,

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the priests were given specific and stern warning. And it says this, but they shall not go in to see the holy objects even for a moment, or they will die.

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That was a severe punishment. It was death to anyone that looked upon the

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Ark aside from the Levites. Yes, Peter.

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Well, yeah, it was forbidden. Only the priests could enter the temple, but to look upon it, if somebody on the outer court were to look in upon it, they would be killed.

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I'll have to do more research to give greater depth for that. In verse 14, the cart came into the field of Joshua, the

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Beth Shemite, and stood there where there was a large stone, and they split the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering.

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So at this time, when this event took place, there was in that location a rock outcrop that stood out, which was notable to the author who pinned for Samuel, or Samuel, the book of Samuel.

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Since both the cows as well as the cart towed the Ark of the Covenant as well as containing the box of the guilt offerings, they were set apart.

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In other words, this cart was actually set apart, sanctified, if you wanna use the term, and this was used only to transport the

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Ark. To Beth Shemesh. So they had to offer the cow in a burnt offering sacrifice, and they broke up the cart, the wooden cart, and used that for the fire to bring the burnt sacrifice.

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Though in this time celebrating the return of the Ark, which the people would have participated in, only the

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Levites would perform the sacrifices being offered. The Philistines, on the other hand, only wanted to rid themselves of this sacred

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Ark, which had only brought plagues of sickness and death to the

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Philistines. The Ark, in their possession, caused all this to come upon them.

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They wanted nothing more than to rid themselves of the Ark and send it back to the

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Israelites. Though the Philistines had overpowered the

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Israelites and captured the Ark of the Covenant, it was never out of the hands of God.

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God desired for them to repent. They didn't do so.

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They sent this guilt offering, which was to supposedly pay for the severity of the sin, and that was even repulsive to God.

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In verse 15, which I'll just start. We won't have time to finish. The Levites took down the

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Ark of the Lord and the box that was with it, in which the article of gold, and put them on the large stone.

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And the men of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings. Beth Shemesh was mostly made up of the

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Levite priests, and then the people are the ones that did the harvesting and the farming.

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So the Levites, as soon as the Ark came in, they would be the ones that would take care of it, and they're the only ones that were allowed to offer sacrifices.

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They sacrificed to the Lord. When the five lords of the Philistines saw it, they returned that day to Ekron.

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So we're gonna stop there. But think about what has transpired here, all the way back to chapter four and five.

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The Philistines defeated the Israelites. The Israelites carnally treated the

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Ark of the Covenant as almost a charm, thinking that if they brought it, not out of reverence, but as using it as something to assist them to win the battle.

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That's how they treated the Ark. That's the state of Israelites at this point.

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They were unrepentant, they were battling without repenting and calling upon the

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Lord to grant them victory, and they were defeated. And the Ark was captive by the

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Philistines. This was also God's judgment upon them.

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As we think about this, think about the reverence that even a pagan diviner wanted to show to God.

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Now, he didn't repent, and there was no evidence of him having a belief in Jehovah God, but he showed reverence.

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It's something today that we don't often see. That is, in the, quote,

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Christian realm, people use God's name, or my buddy upstairs, casually, and blaspheme the name of a holy

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God that we serve. So as we think of this, we have to understand these magicians and diviners understood that God, Jehovah God of Israel, though he didn't truly know what that represented, he wanted to show respect.

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From this, I think we can learn much about our understanding of how we approach

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God in worship and in prayer, and even in the study of his words, prayerfully, repentantly, and with reverence and honor.

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Let's close. Heavenly Father, I thank you for your word. I thank you, Lord, for the privilege that you have given us to have your word revealed to us.

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We thank you for what you have done through your Son and our Lord Jesus Christ, for the privilege of being able to partake in salvation through his perfect sacrifice.

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We ask now, Lord, that you would continue to minister to the saints as we go forth.

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We want to honor you in song and praise, and we wanna honor you as Jim brings forth your word.

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We pray that in all that we do, that you would be glorified. We just pray this in the precious name of our