June 19, 2025
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Reading along with us in 1 Samuel and Mark? Here’s today’s reading:
1 Samuel 4 (NIV)
1 And Samuel’s word came to all Israel.
The Philistines Capture the Ark
Now the Israelites went out to fight against the Philistines. The Israelites camped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines at Aphek. 2 The Philistines deployed their forces to meet Israel, and as the battle spread, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand of them on the battlefield.…..Continue Reading
The Israelites presume they should take the Ark into battle without inquiring of the Lord why they had been defeated and if they should. If Israel’s behavior was anything like Eli’s 2 sons, then we know why God allowed them to be defeated. But symbol without substance doesn’t work: to have the Ark of God without the presence of God doesn’t work. So now the Ark itself is taken and the reputation it had in terms of what God had accomplished through it is tainted. And the weak leader Eli dies an ignoble death as do his sons and it appears all hope is gone. But hope is never gone when God is available and can be sought after, and trusted and obeyed, and turn from our ways to His ways. So sad events are what they are, but they don’t need to overwhelm us or keep us from seeking God’s will and provision in it.
1 Samuel 4
So the people of Israel used a misguided thought process to try to win this battle. Rather than seeking God for His power and provision they brought the ark. They put more stock in the man-made item than the God that instructed them to make it. They turned the ark into an idol and like many of our idols, God took it away. It was captured by the Philistines, showing that the ark was not greater than God and their trust was in the wrong place. The death of Eli and his sons was expected as God had already told them this punishment was coming for their disobedience and sinful behavior. God teaches many lessons to the Israelites in this one chapter!
1 Samuel 3-4
The glory has departed from
Israel. Reminds me of Ezekiel 10 where Ezekiel sees the Lord’s departure from the temple, for similar reasons, the sinfulness and depravity of the elders of the house of Israel….in the very
Temple itself.
”Then the glory of the Lord departed from the threshold of the temple and stood over the cherubim. And the cherubim lifted their wings and mounted up from the earth in my sight. When they went out, the wheels were beside them; and they stood at the door of the east gate of the Lord’s house, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them.“
Ezekiel 10:18-19 NKJV
1 Samuel 3 and 4