(The Path of the Ark #4) Christ Preeminent — Ed Miller

O Father, we do thank you this evening that once again you have privileged us to come together, to gather in your name, to trust as a corporate body, thy Holy Spirit, to unveil the Lord Jesus to our hearts.

We thank you for every part of the Bible, but in a special way. Tonight we thank you for 1 Samuel, and we would ask you to open our hearts to your revelation in that book. We acknowledge right up front our inadequacy, and we would just thank you in advance that you delight to show us the Lord Jesus.

Deliver us from flesh and blood and human wisdom and reasoning and all possibilities of futility for this time together. Set us free, and we pray that it might be a good time in union with thee. Enable us to be detached from all of the cares and the pressures of life, and in these moments we would ask for your Holy Spirit to capture our attention and enable us to appropriate Christ.

Thank you in advance, we pray in the all-pervading name of our Lord Jesus. Amen. Okay, I'll ask you to open please to 1 Samuel. Eventually we'll get to chapter 6 and 7, but let's begin at the beginning.

Welcome again to our study on God coming to rest in His temple. This is just a short little series of 6 lessons, and we're only, well this is lesson 4. And so I'll try to, for those that have not been here, I'll try to give a little review.

The Ark’s Path and God’s Resting Place

And I think every lesson stands by itself, and you'll be able to see the Lord. In this devotional study, we're tracing the Ark of the Covenant and the path of the Ark of the Covenant until it finally comes to rest in Solomon's temple.

And what I'm trying to show, I'm trying to illustrate is this, that the path the Ark took before it finally came to rest in Solomon's temple is exactly the path the Lord takes before He finally rests in His temple in His people.

It's exactly the same path. And in our study, we've sort of picked up at the end of God's revelation on the Ark. In other words, the Ark has already been around for about 400 years when we pick up our story.

And after so long a time, the Ark begins to move again. For 350 years of that 400 years, nothing happened. The Ark was just there, and it wasn't moving, it wasn't doing anything. And all of a sudden, something happened, and the Ark began to move.

And the Ark didn't stop moving until it went to Jerusalem, the city of Peace. Until it went to the temple. Until it went to the heart of the temple, which is the Holy of Holies. And once it reached the heart of the temple, the Holy of Holies, it filled the entire temple with the glory.

And there, according to Chronicles, the Ark rested. And from there, the Ark reigned. And from there, the glory of God governed. And so we're trying to follow that path, because we're the temple, we have the Holy of Holies, God wants to rest in us.

God wants to reign from us. God wants the glory of God to fill us and to govern our lives. And so the parallels are just tremendous. What we're trying to do, and I believe if we carefully hone in on the record as the Holy Spirit gives it, and if we follow the path of the Ark, we'll be able to trace out exactly what God is doing as he moves in our life.

There are actually discernible revelations that are illustrated by the Ark, and we can see them in our own experience. In other words, we're studying the Christian life, and how God moves in the Christian life.

Following the Ark is very much like a testimony. It's like reading your own autobiography. And I'll tell you, as I go through this again and again, I have to marvel at the patience of the Lord. Of all the revelations of God, I think patience has been the one that has transformed me the most.

As he moves toward his resting place, he shows an unbelievable patience. Is it possible that we give the Lord Jesus the same kind of bumpy ride that ancient Israel gave the Ark? And I think it's exactly so.

And when we see how patient God was, and how he instructed them and taught them how to handle the Ark, sometimes they forgot the Ark. Sometimes they neglected the Ark. Sometimes they illegitimately handled the Ark.

Sometimes they superstitiously handled the Ark. Sometimes they just turned it over to their enemies, and so on. And we see how we treat the Lord Jesus. So far, we've looked at, I don't know what to call them.

You can call them steps, or stages, or plateaus, or the first thing God shows, or the second thing, or whatever you want to call them. But there are clear, I'll call them steps, clear steps, and they're given in the right order.

This is not only the order of the history, but it's the order of the spiritual history. It's the order by which we will experience God's work in our life. After 350 years, what got the Ark moving again?

Hannah’s Cry for Spiritual Fruit

The story begins with Hannah. 1 Samuel chapter 1 -3. The story begins with a barren womb. The story begins with a cry. The story begins with a barren womb crying out to God for fruit. And not only fruit from God that Hannah pays, fruit from God that I can turn around and give back to God.

Fruit from God for God. And the whole story begins with that cry of a barren womb longing to produce. Longing for fruit. Longing for issue. Longing for life. And I'm talking spiritually. When a barren womb cries out to God, and says, Lord, I'm tired of playing games, I'm tired of faking it, I'm tired of imitation fruit.

That's fruit. I long for life. For fruit. Fruit from God for God. God has to move. And He always does. And that's how the story begins. And after 350 years, that is the thing. That got God moving again.

And now the Ark begins to move in response to this cry for production, this cry for life. Let me remind you of one of the keys to understanding this entire history. And that is that the physical illustrates the spiritual all the way through.

You know, when you trace this, sometimes it's just like so much history. You know, and you see the Ark is all over the lot. And the Ark is all from this place to that place. North, South, East, and West.

And sometimes your mind swims when you read all that physical geography. But if you read it as we're reading it, realizing that physical geography illustrates spiritual geography. That there is in your heart, not only a Jerusalem and a temple, but there's also a land of the first things.

You have somewhere in that life of yours an ash god. You have a Gath. You have an Ekron. There's a Beth-shemesh in your heart. There's a house of Abed-Edom. There's a Kerek-Jem. And it's all in there.

So as the Ark moves on the level of earth in his geography on the map, it's the Lord moving in your life. And we'll see that as we go along. I hope by now you've at least seen the Philistine part of your life.

Part of your heart. Because so much revolves around the Philistine. In summary, let me just nail it down for you. The Philistine part of your life is that which we call, there's many names for it, but the natural man, the flesh, self, ego, the rude man, the rude Adam.

It's me, Ed Muller. My abilities, my resources, my works, my strength. That's the Philistine part of me. And as the story opens, Israel for a long time had been enslaved to the Philistines. God's redeemed people are captives.

They're being ruled over. There's an enemy ruling over them. They're under the dominion of the Philistines. And with Hannah's cry for life, and with God's beginning to move, the windows of heaven become open for the first time.

The Word Returns and Israel’s Misguided Zeal

Grants, if you would, chapter 3, verse 1. This is how the story begins. Word from the Lord was rare in those days. Precious in those days. There was no word from God. Heaven was closed and God wasn't speaking.

But then Hannah cried out and God began to answer. And Samuel was the first part of that answer. And then look at chapter 3 at the end, verse 20. And 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 by Shiloh, by the word of the Lord. Thus the word of Samuel came to all Israel. And now for the first time, the word of God was rare.

There was no word. No revelation. No vision. No dream. No prophecy. No verse. God wasn't speaking. And now all of a sudden, with Samuel, God begins to talk again. And God begins to communicate. And God begins to give light in revelation.

And there's an enthusiasm that goes through the camp of Israel. And that through all they knew at this point, God is moving toward His rest, but we don't know that. All they know at this point is, God wasn't talking, and now He is talking.

And it felt so spiritual, because God had turned the light on in a few things. And so they did the most spiritual thing they could think of. Chapter 4, verse 1. Israel went out to meet the Philistines in battle.

And they thought, Wow, now that God is speaking, and God's on my side, let's get rid of those Philistines. They considered the Philistines public enemy number one. And they said, I will not be a slave any longer to my flesh.

I'm not going to be a slave any longer to the old Adam. Well, that would use a whole story, but you know the heart of it. My, they suffered a tremendous defeat at the hand of the Philistines. Their hearts were right, but they didn't know God yet.

They didn't know the ways of God yet. At this point, they didn't understand, number one, how mighty the Philistines were. They didn't understand, number two, how God would finally give victory over the Philistines.

They were zealous, they were enthusiastic, they even had some natural courage. At verse two of chapter four, Israel was defeated before the Philistines. And that first attack, they lost 4 ,000 men. Then they attacked again.

They thought they'd get it right. They put the ark out in the front. Said, this time we'll keep our eyes on the ark. Keep our eyes on Jesus. Chapter four, verse 10 and 11, this time they lost 30 ,000 men.

The two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were killed. Eli was killed. The chapter ends with Ichabod being born. And that was sort of written over the whole battle, the whole testimony. Ichabod, the glory of the Lord, has departed.

Now don't get lost in that physical history. Israel was the same as you are, the same as I am. This is the path God always takes. And at the beginning, the first thing we know is, God wasn't talking, now he's talking.

And then we go after the foolish things. And we go after that physical part. We're tired of sinning. We're tired of responding to sin. We're tired of not being able to control our sin. And so we go after it and we go and attack it.

Israel thought the foolish things were enemy number one, but the reality is, the corrupt priesthood was enemy number one. And so they prayed the word, deliver us from our enemies. But they fought the foolish things.

And God began to answer their prayer. And he camouflaged his victory in defeat. And he fought. They thought he was going to go after the foolish things, but instead he went after the priesthood. God always begins in the spiritual, in the heart.

And he had to get rid of that old corrupt priesthood first. And he was actually doing the most for them, when they thought he was doing the least. So that's the path so far. God begins when we hunger.

God moves first against the corrupt priesthood in our life. And as soon as we experience his moving, his light, and we think we can go to war against the foolish things, we begin to experience defeat.

Then we get frustrated. And we don't know what to do. And God is faithful and patient, and he continues to teach us his ways. Last week we looked at step three. Step one is hunger. Step two is dealing with the corrupt priesthood.

God Rejects the Flesh and Its Attempts to Please Him

Last time we looked at step three, illustrated in 1 Samuel 5, 1 to 6, 18. As I said, there's a Philistine part of me. And quite honestly, and everybody's different, but it takes a long, long, long, long time for that Philistine part of me to realize that God will never be happy in the land of the Philistines.

He just won't be happy there. There's no place that can be called his home in the Philistine part of me. God has rejected the flesh and every attempt the flesh makes to make God happy. And you almost have to laugh, you know, when you read the Bible record, because the Philistines kept trying to make God comfortable.

And they put the ark up here, and he wasn't happy, and they knocked it over, they're gone, and then they put it in another place, and every time they turned around, hemorrhoids and mice, hemorrhoids and mice.

We're going to that last time. And you have to almost smile at the Bible record, but you don't smile too much when you look in the mirror. You don't smile too much when you see the spiritual counterpart.

You don't smile when you remember the Philistine part of you trying to make God happy, and trying to give him a place, and everything was devastated, and he sent his mice in, and just undercut everything.

And you don't know what's happening, and you don't know what's going on, and God is just never happy. And every time you try to make him happy, they gave him a place of honor right next to their day ground.

He rejected that. They gave him a place of popularity in the city of the giants. He rejected that. They brought him up to the hill, and put him in a private place all by himself, and just keep him laying, and he rejected that.

He blasted every attempt the Philistines made. And finally after seven months of devastation, they decided to let the Lord choose his own path. Brothers and sisters in Christ, you know sometimes we read some of these histories, la la la, try to get into the reasonings of these frustrated Philistines.

According to the record, they didn't want to let the ark go. See the ark, every time you see the word ark, you can think the word Jesus. It's a picture of Christ, and especially King Jesus. And to the Philistines, according to the record, they understood that the ark represented God, and they actually prized it, and they respected it, and they tried to give it a home.

1 Samuel 6, 1 to 12, shows that it took a mighty miracle of God to finally convince the Philistines that God had rejected every part of them. That part of me, that part of you, just doesn't want to let it go.

Somehow you think, somehow, someway, someday, I'll figure out a way to make God happy, and I'll figure out a way to make God glad. But of course, it's frustrating and it's painful, but the flesh finally learns, let him go.

And so supernaturally, we won't go through it again, but through the miracle of the milk cows, God convinced them that he'd never be satisfied. Those are the steps we saw so far. Starts with hunger, God deals with the corrupt priesthood first, and then the next lesson is that God has totally rejected the Philistine part of me, and every attempt to make him glad, to make him happy.

There's no place, nothing I can do, that will make him happy. When we left off our study, God was continuing his path toward his resting place, and from the land of the Philistines, by a mighty miracle of God, he made his way to Beth Shemesh.

That's where we left off, the city of Priz. So let's begin in chapter 6 please, all along as I read from verse 13. And now the people of Beth Shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley. They raised their eyes, saw the ark, and were glad to see it.

The cart came into the field of Joshua the Bessamite, and stood there where there was a large stone, and they split the wood of the cart, and they offered the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. And the Levites took down the ark of the Lord, and the box that was with it, and which were the articles of gold, and put them on the large stone.

The men of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed sacrifices that day to the Lord. When the five lords of the Philistines saw it, they returned to Echon that day. Now again, brothers and sisters in Christ, this is our response, in the day God teaches us, it's not by works.

In the day God teaches us, He's rejected the Philistine part of us. We respond as they did in 1 Samuel 6, 13 -16. Unspeakable joy. Now remember, they still don't know what to do with the ark. They don't know what to do with Jesus.

But they sigh a sigh of great relief to find out it's not the flesh. I remember so well in my own life, when God began to dawn this dumb heart of mine, that it wasn't by works. I didn't know grace yet.

I just knew that it wasn't by all my works. Circumcision involves nothing, neither uncircumcision. Absence of legalism is not victory. And I thought just by quitting everything I was involved in, that I had victory.

But that's where they were at that time. Then verse 13, glad to see it. They're filled with joy. There's an act of consecration. An end to the old ways. They burn up the cart, representing the whole Philistine means of transporting the ark.

They burn up the cart. They sacrifice the animals. And they almost have that idea that that's over with, never again. Or so we suppose. Never again will I try to make God happy. The Philistine part of me.

That part's over. Verse 15. They offer good offerings and sacrifice sacrifices that day to the Lord. It was a time of singing and dancing and rejoicing and worship. And not that they knew what to do, but they knew what not to do.

They hadn't figured out yet what to do with the ark. They just knew it's not works. I'm done with that. And all that stuff I was involved with, I'm finished. It's not that way. God will never be pleased with the Philistine part of me.

And they were glad. They were happy. My heart thinks at that point, now I've got it. Now I've arrived. I'm really spiritual now. The ark is still a long way from Solomon's Temple. And a long way from the Holy of Holies.

There are many lessons yet to be learned. They've learned a lot. But God is about to teach them the next truth. Up until this point, the story has revived around the Philistines. And actually tonight, our lesson will continue with the backdrop of the Philistine.

You see, when they saw the miracle, they left. The Bible says in verse 16 that they departed. They went back to Akron, to the land of the Philistine. They left all right, but they're still there. They left, but they're still in the picture.

They're still the king. They're still the boss. And Israel's still slain. Up until this point, Israel is hungry. They want real food. Up until this point, Israel, now God has dealt with the corrupt priesthood, but they have nothing to replace it.

He's dealt with that which was wrong. He showed them that it's not by works. Now they have to learn something else. And let me leave the Philistines for a moment and pick up the new record. Verse 19. Chapter 6.

The Judgment at Beth Shemesh and the Holiness of God

And he struck down some of the men of Bethshemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the Lord. He struck down of all the people 50 ,070 men. And the people mourned, because the Lord struck the people with a great slaughter.

And the men of Bethshemesh said, Who is able to stand before the Lord, this holy God? And to whom shall he go up from us? And so they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath-Jerim, saying, The Philistines have brought back the ark of the Lord.

Come down and take it up to you. Now before we look at the spiritual side, let me answer two little problems in connection with this passage. The first has to do with the number in verse 19. I don't know which translation you have there, but the one I'm using says 50 ,070 men died.

Some manuscripts don't have that large number. In fact, some manuscripts just have the number 70. Not 50 ,070, just 70. If you're using the NIV, it says 70. So does the RSV, the New English Bible, and the paraphrases also, the New England Bible and Amplified Bible and so on.

The Schofield Bible, of course in its very old English, 50 ,000, 3 square and 10. But then in the margin, it gives an explanation that there is a problem with the text, and it's not 100 sure. As far as the principle is concerned, the Bible principle is not affected whether there's 50 ,000, 5 ,000, 50 or 5.

The principle remains the same. So nothing's lost. Personally, I go with the margin number for a couple of reasons. Number one is it's called a great slaughter. In the first battle they had 4 ,000 men died, and it wasn't called a great slaughter.

So I just say a great slaughter is a great slaughter. I lean toward the higher number. And also, I believe God providentially watched over the canon of the scriptures. And I think the best text would say it's 50 ,000.

But I'm not going to argue about that. But that's the first problem, the number. But don't worry about that. Some kind of copyist may be messed up or something. That's not important. The second problem has to do with verse 19.

Because they looked into the ark of God. At first glance, you get the idea either that the ark of the covenant was open, there was no cover on it, no seat, and they glanced inside, or else there was a cover, but it's not mentioned, and they opened it and then looked inside.

Of course, one wonders how an ark 3 1⁄2 feet long, 2 feet wide, and as high as it is wide, how such a small box, how 50 ,000 people, if you take the larger number, could look inside unless they filed past it.

And if they filed past it, you get the idea someone would catch on with thousands of dead bodies to climb over before they look inside. I don't know. Some have suggested that it wasn't even a judgment, that it was an effect.

In other words, when you see the Lord, you die. Just because he's so glorious. Not because he's mad. Not because he's angry. It's just that he's so glorious. And anybody who looks at the Lord will be alive.

I personally lean toward the fact that it was a judgment because of verse 19. And it says, The Lord struck the people with a great slayer, and I don't think they were just killed because of the brightness of his glory.

Though, of course, that's a possibility. But the question comes, what happened? Did they touch it? Did they open it? Did they look inside? Actually, the Hebrew language, according to the scholars, doesn't give the idea that they looked inside at all.

Literally, the Hebrew word means to look upon. To gaze. To stare. Again, the Bible principle is really not affected whether they stared on it, or stared toward it, or stared into it. You're going to get the same Bible principle.

We know this. Whatever that look was, it called down the displeasure of God. He didn't like it. Whatever it was, whether they looked at it, or toward it, or in it. Now, before I go about what I believe is the heart of the Lord in this passage, try to enter into it.

Try to get into the shoes of these dear folks at Beth Shemesh. Their day sure ended on a solemn note. You've got to try to think of this. In the morning, they're all weeping. They lay on the field. And they're surprised by the Lord's return.

It was a happy occasion. They get all excited. The weeping stops. The rejoicing begins. Evidently, the news spreads everywhere. And by mid-afternoon, there are 50 ,000 people that have gathered. This is big news.

This is a tremendous thing, a big day. And they have a consecration service, and a worship service, and they make an altar out of the wood, and they offer these cows unto the Lord. They're singing and rejoicing.

And all of a sudden, the Lord visits them with a tremendous judgment. In one minute, it's all over. Thousands are dead. What happened? And why? Then, the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh concluded was, God is too early to be happy.

Anywhere. He can't be happy. He's just too early. And glance, if you would, at verse 20. They said, Who is able to stand before the Lord, this holy God? The Lord's back. He may as well not be. He may as well not be.

For all of this, from their point of view, at this point, with the right they had, He's no friend to them. In fact, He's quite a stranger. Just when they thought they finally had it right, as all the land remained, the whole world came down.

And God is displeased again. Now, what happened? What was their crime? What was their guilt? What did they do according to the record? Now, read in between the lines. What did they do according to the record that so displeased God?

Now, for the answer to the question, you must not only read the end of chapter 6, but you must also read chapter 7. It's unfortunate that that breaks right there, between chapter 6 and 7. There are several passages I wish didn't break where they did.

I wish John 14 didn't break where it broke. John 13 didn't break where it broke. And I wish this chapter didn't break where it broke. They're tied together. Chapter 7, 20 years later, explains what happened at Beth Shemesh.

And if you don't understand chapter 7, you're not going to know exactly what happened here. Let me try to set it up for you as it happened. However you interpret verse 19, they looked into the ark, or at it, or toward it.

They gazed, they stared. According to the record, their crime was looking. That was their crime. Gazing. Staring. Now, let me put it in the language of the New Covenant. I want to do this because then you may not agree with me, but you know exactly what I'm saying.

I want to be simple as pie. I really, I'm not that concerned whether we agree, but I want you to understand when we're done, exactly what we said. I told you when we introduced this series, that the ark was a picture of the Lord Jesus.

Especially King Jesus, because it was in the shape of a throne. And every time you see the word ark, you can substitute the name Jesus and not lose the sense. In fact, it will help you with the spiritual sense.

And so he's saying, their sin was, they looked at the ark. And they translated it into the New Covenant. They looked at Jesus. Now, don't get too theological. I'm not talking about what God told Moses in Exodus 33, verse 20.

You cannot see my face. No man can see my face and live. I'm not talking about that. I'm not talking about what frightened Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 6, verse 5. Where is me? I'm ruined, for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.

I'm not talking about what Paul wrote to Timothy in 1 Timothy 6, 16. He dwells in unapproachable light where no man has seen or can see. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the term that we use all the time, looking unto Jesus.

That's what they did. And that's what displeased God. It didn't please Him. They looked to Christ and were judged. They looked unto Jesus and God was displeased with that. Hebrews 12, 2. Fixing your eyes on Jesus.

You say, I thought looking to Jesus was the great gospel, didn't He? I thought that's what we were supposed to do. Why did looking unto Jesus cause Him such displeasure and bring such judgment? We need to understand what it means to look to Jesus and what it means not to look to Jesus.

There's a possibility of looking to Jesus in such a way that God is not pleased at all. In fact, He's very displeased. Obviously, I thought they were on the right track looking unto Jesus. Obviously, again, something was missing.

Something's left out because God surely came down hard on His people. Well, let me tell you a story as it happened. And then I believe the next step will become very clear as we see God move toward His temple, toward the heart of that temple, the Holy of Holies.

You see, they didn't know at this point what they had done wrong, just as you, as you going on in the Lord, and you don't realize it either. You go after the finished thing. That sounds so right. That sounds so spiritual.

Then you get a bloody nose and it doesn't work and you're defeated and you come back and try again. You go out after the finished things and you keep trying to make God happy. You go through all that.

You don't know what's happening. And all the time, God's moving. He's heard the cry of Hannah's womb. He's heard the cry for fruit. And God teaches and moves and God's moving in their life. And at this point, they had to conclude He's too holy to be happy.

And there's no way I can make God happy. They had said no to the finished thing part of them. Now they thought they were doing the right thing. Looking to Jesus. Gazing at Him. But this is actually a little bit worse.

I think I'd rather have mice in the hemorrhage than what these poor fellows received because they looked to Jesus. Now I know a lot of people try to tone up their sin by reading in between their eyes and saying, Oh, there was irreverence there.

There was presumption there. Carelessness. Treating the Holy Lord as if it were a piece of common furniture. And what right did these people have to be up to the Holy Lord? I understand where you're coming from when you read that, but I'm not sure the Bible text says that.

At this point, and we're going to hit irreverence a little later, but at this point, I don't think there was irreverence. I think their heart was right with the light they had. And they were just trying to gaze.

They were happy. God's back. And they just looked. And they saw the Ark and said, There it is. There's the Lord. After all this time, seven months, He's come back. And God judged them. The Philistine part of them became so frustrated in chapter 6, verse 2, they finally said, What shall we do with the Ark and the Lord?

I don't know if you can go back in your Christian history and trace out the steps, but do you remember in your earlier Christian life and the struggles where you had to say, Christ is in my life. Christ has come in.

And at first, it's all so glorious and glad. But after a while, you say, Where did I do Him? Where did I put Him? Why is He happy? And you're sort of, and I don't mean to be irreverent, but you're sort of stuck with Jesus.

And you don't know where He goes. And you don't know how to make Him happy. And every time you try, He blesses it. And everything you seem to do seems to fall apart. Hemorrhoids and mice. And so you say, I finally got it.

Look at Jesus. And down you're going in. And you're so confused and frustrated. And so once again, they said, There's no way. God is too holy. And all through your Christian life, you're going to keep giving up.

And then God will come through and say, Alright, must be, I'll try again. And then something else came and said, Ah, forget it. It's not going to work. And then God encouraged. He said, Alright, alright.

One more time. We'll give it a go. And so on. That's how God does it. And so they did the only thing they could think of. Verse 21. So they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kareth-Jerim, saying, The Philistines have brought back the ark of the Lord.

Come down and take it up to you. Kareth-Jerim. The word just means the woods. Woodland. Some think it was actually a small forest. Sitting on a hill surrounded by trees. And at that point in their life, this is very suggestive.

That's about where they were. And that's what Christ was in their understanding. He was just in the woods. And so he said, Let's just put him in the woods at Kareth-Jerim and we'll put him on this hill in his own private place.

Did they choose Kareth-Jerim because it was the largest town close in the path of Shiloh where they were going? It's not clear. We know Kareth-Jerim, unlike Beth-shemesh, was not a city of priests.

According to chapter 7, verse 1, they appointed the son of Abednego. Evidently, he was a Levite. We don't know that from the Bible. The Bible doesn't tell us that. But it's hard to imagine that they would appoint anyone but a Levite.

And they appointed the son of Abednego, Eliezer, to be the guardian of the ark. And then the ark was put on the hill in Kareth-Jerim up in the woods. And there the ark stayed. Now, if you read 7 .2, it looks like the ark stayed there for 20 years.

Listen. It came to Kareth-Jerim that the time was wrong for it was 20 years. But actually, it was not 20 years. Now, I'm not saying the Bible is wrong. Listen to me. It was about 70 or 80 years. You see, it stayed there all through the 40 or 50 years of Samuel and Saul's reign.

And when David finally moved it from Kareth-Jerim, we're about 10 years deep into his reign, it's there for a long time. So why does 7 .2 mention 20 years? And the answer is because in the 20th year, they learned what went wrong at Beth Shemesh.