WWUTT 294 God Defeated Israel?

God is so holy and so just. He will not allow His name to be misused.

All of us have committed blasphemy against God. We are only able to praise His name in a right way because of what

Christ has done for us. When we understand the text. Many of the

Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text is an online ministry dedicated to teaching the

Word of God in context, promoting sound doctrine while exposing the faulty. Here's your teacher,

Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. We are in 1st Samuel today. Last week when we began our study of 1st

Samuel, we got through the first three chapters. Today we'll be looking at the next three chapters, 4, 5, and 6.

If you want to open up your Bible and join with me there. A very significant story that we read about today concerning the

Ark of the Covenant. And where the Ark ends up at the end of this story is where it will remain until David retrieves it in 2nd

Samuel and brings it back to Jerusalem. Now the Israelites use the

Ark as kind of a good luck charm to help them in battle against the Philistines.

But God does not allow them to do that. He shows His power both to the nation of Israel and to the

Philistines in judgment in this particular story as we read about. Now last week as we were introduced to the figure of Samuel who was going to become a great prophet in Israel.

It was said in 1st Samuel chapter 3 verse 1 that Samuel was ministering to the

Lord in the presence of Eli. And the word of the Lord was rare in those days. There was no frequent vision and the

Lord came to Samuel and he did not know it was the Lord that was speaking to him until Eli told him that it must be

God that was speaking to him. So then we read about the boy Samuel in the favor of the Lord that is upon him.

So here as we begin our reading today in 1st Samuel chapter 4 verse 1 we read and the word of Samuel came to all

Israel. So the word of the Lord came to Samuel and then the word of Samuel will come to all

Israel. Yet Samuel does not play a very prominent role in this particular story.

Likely it's because it happened at a time before Samuel came to at least a prominent position that Israel would have listened to.

So this is kind of a humbling of Israel that we're going to read about here that would have opened up their ears to listen to a prophet of God.

So Samuel is mentioned at least at the very beginning as the word of Samuel coming to all Israel. And then what we read about in chapters 4 5 and 6 is a humbling of Israel so that their ears would be open to listen to this prophet of God.

1st Samuel chapter 4 beginning in verse 1 the word of Samuel came to all Israel.

Now Israel went out to battle against the Philistines. They encamped at Ebenezer and the

Philistines encamped at Aphek. Now before going on Ebenezer is a place that actually hasn't received its name yet.

We don't see the name ascribed to that particular location until 1st Samuel chapter 7. But as all of these things have been recalled in a past tense sort of a recollection.

Then as somebody would have been reading this historical account in 1st Samuel chapter 4.

They would have known that it was at the location of Ebenezer that the Israelites would have been at for this particular battle.

Though it was not yet called Ebenezer at that time. Samuel is the one that gives Ebenezer its name.

And it comes from 1st Samuel chapter 7 verse 12 when he raises up a stone as a monument in remembrance of the way that the

Lord helped Israel. And that's what Ebenezer means stone of help.

So when we sing in the old hymn come thou fount. There's that second verse that says here

I raise mine Ebenezer hither by thy help I'm come. What does that mean? Raise my

Ebenezer. Are we talking about Ebenezer Scrooge in the song all of a sudden? No it means stone of help.

So you see the context in the verses it goes on talking about how the Lord has helped me.

So Ebenezer means stone of help. You think of stones that have been raised in Israel to mark a particular occasion or location because the

Lord would have helped a person in that place. One of the most prominent stories that we have in the Old Testament of raising up a stone in remembrance is when

Jacob slept on a stone pillow. And then he saw the staircase in his dream with angels ascending and descending.

And then he awoke and said surely the presence of the Lord is in this place. So he raised up a stone as a monument to that particular location.

It's kind of like that. So Samuel is going to raise up a stone several chapters later.

We'll read about it next week. And that place will be called Ebenezer named after that stone of help in remembrance of how the

Lord had aided them. So we go on from there. The Philistines drew up in line against Israel.

And when the battle spread, Israel was defeated before the Philistines, who killed about 4 ,000 men on the field of battle.

The Philistines overpowering the Israelites. And when the people came to the camp, the elders of Israel said, why is the

Lord defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the Ark of the Covenant of the

Lord here from Shiloh that it may come among us and save us from the power of our enemies.

So the people sent to Shiloh and brought from there the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of hosts who is enthroned on the cherubim.

And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas were there with the Ark of the Covenant of God. So the

Israelites are going to use the Ark of the Covenant is kind of like a good luck charm. As long as we have this Ark with us, then we're going to end up winning the battle.

But that is not a heart and a mind that is praising the Lord. It is using something that had been gifted to the

Israelites for their benefit rather than to God's glory. So the

Ark of the Covenant is kind of a symbol of the throne of God. The top of the Ark was referred to as the mercy seat of God.

And there his presence was between the two cherubim that were sculpted and there on the top of the

Ark. If you remember the movie Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, you know, the Ark of the

Covenant that is portrayed there in that film. That's actually an accurate portrayal of what the Ark would have looked like.

And so God's presence was there on the top of the Ark. And when Moses went into the place of meeting to talk to God, and it references that Moses spoke to the

Lord face to face. It's not that Moses was talking to the face of God as you would look at a person's face and talk to them.

It was merely a figure of speech to say that Moses talked to God just like you would sit down and have coffee with somebody voice to voice.

And the voice of God emanated from that that center part of the top of the

Ark of the Covenant right between the two cherubim. So this was referred to as kind of the throne of God.

It was a it was an earthly symbol of a heavenly throne. So we go on in verse five.

As soon as the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord came into the camp, all Israel gave a mighty shout so that the earth resounded.

Kind of, you know, you probably think of Jericho, right? When they took the Ark of the Covenant around Jericho and then the people shouted and Jericho fell.

And perhaps this is what Israel was thinking of when they entered into battle in this way. Verse six.

When the Philistines heard the noise of the shouting, they said, what is this great shouting in the camp of the Hebrews mean?

And when they learned that the Ark of the Lord had come to the camp, the Philistines were afraid for they said, a

God has come into the camp. And they said, woe to us for nothing like this has happened before.

Woe to us who can deliver us from the power of these mighty gods. These are the gods who struck the

Egyptians with every sort of plague in the wilderness. Take courage and be men,

O Philistines, lest you become slaves to the Hebrews as they have been to you. Be men and fight.

And so this is kind of the the pep talk that the Philistines were giving themselves before going into battle against the

Hebrews. Now, the word Israel for the Israelites was it was the title of their nation.

Hebrews would have been an ethnic term. So that was the ethnic people descendant of Eber. They were referred to as Hebrews.

And Abraham, as far as what is stated in the scriptures, he's the first man to be called a

Hebrew. So then in verse 10, the Philistines fought and Israel was defeated and they fled every man to his home.

And there was a great slaughter for 30 ,000 foot soldiers of Israel fell and the

Ark of God was captured. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas died.

Remember, this was part of Samuel's vision that we read about last week, that the Lord said to him that Hophni and Phinehas would die on the same day.

And so they did here in this battle against the Philistines. Then in verse 12, a man of Benjamin ran from the battle line and came to Shiloh the same day with his clothes torn and with dirt on his head.

When he arrived, Eli was sitting on his seat by the road watching for his heart trembled for the

Ark of God. And when the man came into the city and told the news, all the city cried out.

So Eli was probably not so in favor of Israel using the

Ark of the Covenant in battle the way that they did, because here it says that he was trembling in fear.

He obviously had some misgivings of the way that Israel was using the Ark. So then in verse 14, when

Eli heard the sound of the outcry, he said, what is this uproar? Then the man hurried and came and told

Eli. Now Eli was 98 years old and his eyes were set so that he could not see.

And the man said to Eli, I am he who has come from the battle. I fled from the battle today.

And he said, how did it go, my son? He who brought the news answered and said, Israel has fled before the

Philistines. And there is also been a great defeat among the people. Your two sons also,

Hophni and Phinehas are dead and the Ark of God has been captured. As soon as he mentioned the

Ark of God, Eli fell over backward from his seat by the side of the gate and his neck was broken and he died.

For the man was old and heavy. He had judged Israel for 40 years. And so it was out of that fear that hearing that the

Ark of God was captured caused him so much vexation. He fell over backward, broke his neck and he died.

And we don't have any indication that Eli was a man of God. He did not have a reverent fear of the

Lord. He was afraid, but he was afraid of judgment. He didn't have that worshipful fear of God.

He did not have a repentant heart. As we looked at last week in chapter three, when the word of the

Lord came to Samuel, he revealed to Samuel what he was going to do to the house of Eli.

And Eli made Samuel tell him what God had said. And God said that I'm about to punish his house forever for the iniquity that he knew because his sons were blaspheming

God and he did not restrain them. And after Samuel told this to Eli, Eli's response was this is chapter three, verse 18.

It is the Lord let him do what seems good to him. So Eli wasn't convicted. He wasn't cut to his heart.

He wasn't repentant. He didn't mourn and weep and beg God for forgiveness. He just kind of had this attitude like, well, you know, he's

God and God's going to do what God's going to do. So let it be so. So because this was not the attitude of Eli's heart, he did not die in good favor with the

Lord. And so we see this also as we go on. Chapter four, verse 19. Now his daughter -in -law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant, about to give birth.

And when she heard the news that the ark of God was captured and that her father -in -law and her husband were dead, she bowed and gave birth for her pains came upon her.

And about the time of her death, the women attending her said to her, do not be afraid for you have born a son.

But she did not answer or pay attention. And she named the child Ichabod saying the glory has departed from Israel because the ark of God has been captured and because of her father -in -law and her husband.

And she said the glory has departed from Israel for the ark of God has been captured.

And then the authority of a judge that Eli had over Israel was not going to be passed on to his grandson.

It wasn't going to be passed on to Ichabod because God said that his judgment was going to be upon the house of Eli forever.

So that responsibility as a judge and as a prophet would be passed on to Samuel who was not of the house of Eli.

So then chapter five, when the Philistines captured the ark of God, they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.

Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it into the house of Dagon and set it up beside Dagon.

And when the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, behold, Dagon, their God, had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the

Lord. So they took Dagon and put him back in his place. Now Dagon is that's a name that means fish

God. The word dag means fish. So that's where the name comes from. It was likely a name that the

Hebrews called the Philistines God. But maybe the Philistines didn't call Dagon or their

God Dagon. Maybe they had a different name for him. I'm not really sure on that. But I know that there were occasions where the

Hebrews had a name for a false God. That was that was the name they gave to that God, not according to what the pagans called that God.

For example, the name Moloch, which was the the false God that had the head of a bull and the body of a man.

And it was to Moloch that children would be sacrificed. The firstborn would be sacrificed to Moloch.

Well, that name in Hebrew means the king of shameful sacrifice. So it would not have been the name that the

Canaanites gave to that God. It was what the Hebrews called that God, because the rituals associated with that God were so deplorable that that was the name that they gave to it.

So Dagon may have been the Hebrew name for that fish God that the Philistines had worshipped.

The fish is a symbol of fertility, probably because of how many eggs a fish will lay.

And so that's why there were many pagan peoples that worshipped fish as a symbol of fertility.

And also the water is a source of power and and plentiful agriculture.

So that's likely why the Philistines worshipped a fish God Dagon, the fish

God. So this was the place where a Dagon idol had been set up and they would worship that idol.

And they put the Ark of the Covenant in the same place, because as far as the Philistines were concerned, this was the

Hebrews God. They captured the Hebrew Hebrews God. So we're more powerful. Look how powerful we are.

And this God is now going to serve us. So we're going to put this symbol of the

Hebrews God in with the symbol of our God with Dagon. They'll just be in the same place. These two gods can work together and we'll be we'll benefit all the more.

And you see how unreasonable that is. I mean, how powerful can a God really be when that God is doing your bidding instead of you doing that God's bidding?

But what the Philistines think of Dagon was the same way that the Israelites were thinking of God, which was why

God would not allow the Israelites to defeat the Philistines. And rather, it was God who defeated the

Israelites. He was not going to be used as a good luck charm. The Lord God of Israel did not do

Israel's bidding. Israel was to worship God. And so because that was not the attitude of their heart, it was not to give glory to God, but rather find ways that God can benefit them.

God would not fight for them. Instead, he allowed the Philistines to defeat them. And so now

God being placed in the presence of this false God, Dagon, he's going to show his power to the Philistines as well to let them know.

Yeah, you don't have control over me either. So as we keep going here in verse four, but when they rose early on the next morning, behold,

Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the Ark of the Lord. And the head of Dagon and both his hands were lying cut off on the threshold.

Only the trunk of Dagon was left to him. So God, by means of this symbol, is showing the

Philistines that he has more power over their false God. Their false

God is going to bow down and worship me. And you know what? He's also going to be destroyed in the process.

So that's what they found symbolically in that place where they had set the

Ark of the Lord. Verse five. This is why the priests of Dagon and all who enter the house of Dagon do not tread on the threshold of Dagon and Ashdod to this day.

The hand of the Lord was heavy against the people of Ashdod, and he terrified and afflicted them with tumors, both

Ashdod and its territory. And when the men of Ashdod saw how things were, they said, The Ark of the

God of Israel must not remain with us, for his hand is hard against us and against Dagon our

God. So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines and said, What shall we do with the

Ark of the God of Israel? And they answered, Let the Ark of the God of Israel be brought around to Gath.

So they brought the Ark of the God of Israel there. But after they had brought it around, the hand of the

Lord was against the city, causing a very great panic. And he afflicted the men of the city, both young and old, so that tumors broke out on them.

So they sent the Ark of God to Ekron. But as soon as the Ark of God came to Ekron, the people of Ekron cried out,

They have brought around to us the Ark of God of Israel to kill us and our people. They sent therefore and gathered together all the lords of the

Philistines and said, Send away the Ark of the God of Israel, and let it return to its own place, that it may not kill us and our people.

For there was a deathly panic throughout the whole city. The hand of God was very heavy there.

The men who did not die were struck with tumors, and the cry of the city went up to heaven.

So the power of God being displayed even to these Philistines, as much as it was also displayed against Israel in judgment.

Now chapter 6. The Ark of the Lord was in the country of the Philistines seven months, and the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners and said,

What shall we do with the Ark of the Lord? Tell us with what we shall send it to its place. They said,

If you send away the Ark of the God of Israel, do not send it empty, but by all means return him a guilt offering.

Then you will be healed, and it will be known to you why his hand does not turn away from you. And they said,

What is the guilt offering that we shall return to him? And they answered, Five golden tumors and five golden mice, according to the number of the lords of the

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

So you must make images of your tumors and images of your mice that ravage the land and give glory to the

God of Israel. Perhaps he will lighten his hand from off of you and your gods and your land.

Why should you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? Once again, the reputation of the

God of Israel because of what he did to the Egyptians spread far and wide in the land.

After he had dealt severely with them, and they did not send the people away, and they departed. Now then, take and prepare a new cart and two milk cows, on which there has never been a yoke.

And yoke the cows to the cart, but take their calves home away from them. And take the Ark of the

Lord, and place it on the cart, and put in a box at its side the figures of gold, which you are returning to him as a guilt offering.

Then send it off, and let it go its way, and watch. If it goes up on the way to its own land to Beth Shemesh, then it is he who has done us this great harm.

But if not, then we shall know that it is not by his hand that we have been struck. It happened to us by coincidence.

The men did so, and they took the two milk cows and yoked them to the cart and shut up their calves at home.

And they put the Ark of the Lord on the cart and the box with the golden mice and the images of their tumors.

And the cows went straight in the direction of Beth Shemesh along one highway, lowing as they went.

They turned neither to the right nor to the left, and the lords of the Philistines went after them as far as the border of Beth Shemesh.

Now the people of Beth Shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley, and when they lifted up their eyes, they saw the

Ark, and they rejoiced to see it. The cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh and stopped there.

A great stone was there, and they split up the wood of the cart and 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 beside it in which were the five golden figures, and set them upon the great stone.

And the men of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices on that day to the

Lord. And when the five lords of the Philistines saw it, they returned that day to Ekron. So this whole thing with the gold tumors and the gold mice, this was the way that pagans tried to appease their false gods.

As though they were saying, hey, we recognize that we ticked you off somehow, and you're upset with us, and so we know that these tumors that we have are because we've made you mad.

So we're showing you that we realize we've messed up. Please accept this gold offering and then stop with the tumors.

So that's what they were thinking in the way that they offered this to God. There really wasn't a fear of God. They were just trying to appease the

God somehow so that these afflictions would stop coming upon them.

So in verse 17, these are the golden tumors that the Philistines returned as a guilt offering to the

Lord, one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath, and one for Ekron.

And the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, both fortified cities and unwalled villages, the great stone beside which they set the ark of the

Lord is a witness to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh. And he struck some of the men of Beth Shemesh because they looked upon the ark of the

Lord. He struck 70 men of them, and the people mourned because the Lord had struck the people with a great blow.

Then the men of Beth Shemesh said, Who is able to stand before the Lord, this holy God? And to whom shall he go up away from us?

So they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath -Jerim, saying, The Philistines have returned the ark of the

Lord. Come down and take it up to you. And I'll get into the beginning of chapter 7 here, at least get this far.

And the men of Kiriath -Jerim came and took the ark of the Lord and brought it to the house of Abinadab on the hill.

And they consecrated his son Eliezer to have charge of the ark of the Lord. From the day that the ark was lodged at Kiriath -Jerim, a long time passed, some 20 years, and all the house of Israel lamented after the

Lord. So even after the ark was returned to Israel, God still afflicted the

Israelites, even those who had sacrificed to God, because they laid eyes on the ark.

God is holy and righteous, and he is not going to allow his name to be misused.

He is not going to allow his commands to be broken. And so there were certain ways that the ark of the

Lord was supposed to be handled, and it wasn't being handled in the right way. And so because there were men who were not holy, who did not deserve to be in the presence of God or even look upon the ark of the

Lord, they were struck and were killed, because God continued to show his holiness and his perfect judgment upon Israel, even when the ark of the covenant was returned.

Israel didn't have anything to do with the ark coming back into their possession.

It was always the power of God, and he continued to demonstrate that from the moment that they misused something that God had given them to the moment that it was returned to them.

God is so righteous and he is so holy, he is not going to allow his name to be misused.

And yet all of us have done this. We have taken the body that God had given us and holds together by his power, which we read about in John 1,

Colossians 1, where it says that through him all things hold together. We have taken these bodies, these minds, the lungs that we have, the very breath of God that was breathed into us to give us life, and we've used these things to belittle his name and exalt ourselves in the place of God.

This is the great blasphemy of the universe. We've taken the God who is the creator of everything, so powerful he has created the universe, and the more that we discover about the universe, the more that we should realize how great and huge and powerful our

God is, how much praise and worship he deserves, and yet instead we blaspheme his name and exalt ourselves, using our brains that we have been given by God to think of ourselves as better than him.

And this is blasphemy. All of us have blasphemed the name of God, and what we deserve for this is to be destroyed.

Who is the God of the universe that he would pay any mind to us who think of ourselves as being greater than he?

And instead of doing that, instead of destroying us, which is what we deserve, he sent Christ, and his wrath was poured out on Son.

What the sons of God deserve, because we blasphemed God, God poured out on the

Son who took the wrath that we deserved upon himself. God crushed him, and he satisfied the wrath of God.

This is what the Bible means when it describes the sacrifice of Christ as a propitiation for our sins.

The wrath of God was satisfied, and then Jesus came back to life, showing that he had the power over the grave itself, and so all who are in Christ have been saved from death, and even more than that, have been given his life.

We are made righteous in the presence of God because of what Christ has done, not because of anything that we have done, not because of the movies that we watch, or that we don't cuss, or that we have worked our way to right standing with God.

We can't do that. It is because of what Christ has done that we now can stand in the presence of God and speak his name in a way that is worshipful and right and is pleasing to his ears, because we have been made righteous by Christ.

That's what we understand by this story, the holy righteous perfection of God, and that it is

Christ who makes us right before him. We cannot do anything to appease God, nothing that the

Philistines did would appease God, nothing that the Israelites did appease

God, will appease God. God appeases himself, and he did that with his son,

Jesus Christ, so that through him, we now have fellowship with God. Not only can we speak the name of God in a way that is worshipful and right, we have the privilege of calling him

Father. We can call God Father because we have been adopted as sons and daughters into the family of God through what the son,

Jesus Christ, did for us. Praise God. He demands our worship, and you know what?

He deserves our worship, and we are privileged to worship because we have been made worthy to worship by the sacrifice of Christ.

Our wonderful God, what a loving and generous and merciful God you are.

When what we deserved was death and to be wiped out because of our sins against you, because we exalted ourselves in the place of God, because we thought our ways were better, our ways were right.

We thought that our ways, we knew better than you, and so pursued the things that we wanted with our flesh, our passions, our lusts, our worldly desires, our own fleshly appetites.

We exalted ourselves above you, and what we deserve for that is to just be wiped out.

I mean, who in the world can think of themselves as being more powerful than the great God who created the entire universe?

But yet you didn't destroy us. You were loving and merciful toward us, sending even your

Son, who created all things and through Him all things hold together, to die in our place so that by that sacrifice we would have right standing with God.

We do not deserve this, and yet you have showed us love in this way. So let us worship you because of it.

You demand worship, you deserve worship, and you have made us to worship. So let us worship you.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing and acceptable in your sight.

Oh God, Lord, my Redeemer, He lives so that now

I may live, resurrected in Christ to be with God. Praise you.

In the name of Jesus. Amen. This is a production of First Southern Baptist Church in Junction City, Kansas.