"Thus
far the Lord has helped us."
“Ichabod.” That is the name that the dying daughter-in-law
of the high priest gave to her newly born son. She did so because the name
carried the meaning of no glory, for
as she said, “The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been
captured.”.
 |
| 'Ebenezer' is the name of the Bible Institute where Vivian and I taught in Venezuela (I thought I'd take the opportunity to use it as my title illustration) |
She was speaking of the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD God
in the days of Eli the priest. The Israelite army had carried the ark with them
into battle with the Philistines, thinking by doing so they were carrying with them
the presence of God. But they were wrong. Their manner of treatment of the ark
was little better than a good luck charm. They may as well each had a rabbit’s
foot in their pockets or an amulet about their necks.
The battle did not go as the Israelites had hoped. The
Philistines defeated them soundly and even captured the ark. The invading army
carried the ark away into their own country. The glory of God had departed from
Israel.
The Ark in Temple of Dagon
The Philistines carried the ark to their own city of Ashdod
and placed it in the temple of Dagon, which was one of their own gods. They set
the ark beside the statue of the idol. Early the next morning when the priests
of Dagon entered the temple, they found that the statue of their idol had
fallen face down on the floor, prostrate before the ark of God.
The workers returned the statue back to its original
standing position, but the following morning the statue was again flat on the
floor. This time it had fallen into the doorway, with its head and its hands
broken by the fall over the threshold of the door. Only the torso remained
intact.
The writer of the account adds an interesting note
concerning this event by saying, “That is why, to this day, the priests of
Dagon and all who enter the temple in Ashdod do not step on the threshold” (1 Samuel 5:5).
Concerning this custom of stepping over the threshold in the
temple of Dagon, many years later the prophet Zephaniah in writing about the
future Day of Lord, speaks of the judgment of many nations, including those who
worship this false god: “On that day I will punish all who avoid stepping on
the threshold, who fill the temple of their gods with violence and deceit” (Zephaniah 1:9 NIV).
The Epidemic of Tumors
But the troubles were only beginning for the people of
Ashdod. Not only had their god Dagon been broken, but soon the people of the
city and surrounding areas began to be inflicted with tumors. The leaders
determined that the cause of it must be the fact that the Ark of the Lord was
in the city.
They soon declared, “The ark of the God of Israel must not
stay here with us, because His hand is heavy upon us and upon our god Dagon.”
Not knowing what else to do, they carried the ark to another
of their cities—to Gath. This threw the city into “great confusion,” the
scriptures say, because shortly after the arrival of the ark, the men of that
city also began to break out with tumors.
The Philistines then brought the ark to a third of their
cities, this time to Ekron. The Ekronites tried to refuse, crying out, “They
have brought us the ark of the God of Israel in order to kill us and our
people!”
And, as predicted, that is what happened. Many died, and
those who did not were afflicted with tumors. The people assembled all of the
rulers of the Philistines and said to them, “Send away the ark of the God of
Israel. It must return to its place, so that it will not kill our people.”
The ark of God had been in their country for a total of
seven months. Understandably, no city of region of Philistia would accept it
into their presence. The entire nation wanted to be rid of it, but no one knew
just how to go about doing it. The leaders summoned their own priests and
diviners.
The Ark is Returned
The priests told them, “If you return the ark of the God of
Israel, do not send it away empty. You must return it with a guilt offering.
Then you will be healed, and you will understand why His hand has not been
lifted from you.”
“What guilt offering should we send back to Him?” asked the
Philistines.
“Five gold tumors and five gold rats,” the priests replied.
The number was five of each because there were five
fortified cities in Philistia: Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron, each
with their ruler and their own outlying villages. The offering was gold formed
in the shape of the tumors that had inflicted the people, and also rats, which
although not mentioned before this, were also multiplying and ravaging the
land. In our days of thinking of coronaviruses, the thought comes that perhaps
the rats may have also been the carrier of a virus that caused the growth of
the tumors.
Of course, this we do not know. There may not even be
any strictly scientific explanation at all. The plague may simply been done by
direct intervention by God. Whatever the cause may have been, the advice of the
priests and the diviners of the Philistines was sound. As the Philistine
soldiers themselves, the priests seemed to heed the lessons of Israelite
history even more than the people of Israel themselves.
The Philistine priests told their people, “Why harden your
hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened theirs? Make images of your tumors
and of the rats that are ravaging the land. Give glory to the God of Israel,
and perhaps He will lift His hand from you and your gods and your land.”
They also advised the people of the manner in which they
were to transport the ark:
“Prepare a new cart to be drawn by two milk cows that have
never been yoked. Then set the ark of the Lord on the cart, and place a chest
containing the gold objects that you are sending to the God of Israel beside it
put the gold objects you are sending to the Lord as a guilt offering. But do not
allow their calves to go with them. Take the calves away and pen them up.”
The Delivery Service
The instructions seemed impossible. Anyone with even a
rudimentary knowledge of animals knows that one does not take untrained cows,
place a yoke on their necks to hitch them to a cart, and then expect them to
peacefully pull the load down the road. Even more than that, these cows had to
abandon their mothering instinct, leaving their calves behind.
It was a test, in a way. The Philistine priests determined that,
even when left alone to go as they would, if the cows would pull their cart and
load toward the Israel homeland, then it would be known that it was the Lord
who brought the disaster upon them.
If not, as they told the people, “In that case we will know
that it was not His hand that punished us and that it happened by chance.”
The people followed the instructions of the priest exactly.
When all was prepared, the two milk cows headed straight up the road toward
Israel, lowing as cows do, and pulling their load. They did not stray to the
right or to the left, seemingly not even to get a bit of fresh grass by the
roadside. The rulers of the Philistines followed behind them right to the
border.
The Ark in Beth-shemesh
The border town of Israel was named Beth-shemesh. At the
time when the cart was arriving, the people were in the field by the road, harvesting
wheat. When they heard the cows coming and looked up to see the ark of the Lord
entering their land, they recognized what was happening and were overjoyed at
the sight.
The cows brought the load right to the field and stopped
near a large rock. The people of Beth-shemesh chopped up the cart to make a
fire and offered the two cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. Some Levites
arrived to take down the chest containing the golden offering sent by the
Philistines.
But for reasons unknown to us, some of the people of
Beth-shemesh opened the lid of the ark and looked inside. This was something
that even the clan of the Levites who were charged with caring for the ark[1] were forbidden to. Because
of this act of disrespect, God struck down a number of the people, perhaps
seventy men.
Even the citizens of Israel did not escape the rebuke of God
because of their treatment of the ark. The people of Beth-shemesh had to learn
the same lesson as did the Philistines. The ark is a holy object unto the LORD
God and must be treated with respect.
The people of the village asked the very same question as
did their pagan neighbors: “Who can stand in the presence of the LORD, this
holy God? To whom should the ark go up from here?”
On to Kiriath-jearim
As did the Philistines, the people of Beth-shemesh also looked
for a way to move the ark out of their presence. They sent messengers to another
town, Kiriath-jearim, who delivered the request: “The Philistines have returned
the ark of the LORD. Come down and take it up with you.”
The people of that village agreed to do so, but the lesson
had been learned. They went beyond a cold observance of ritual. The people of
Kiriath-jearim treated the ark with the respect demanded by God. The ark was
brought to the home on the hill, where a man named Abinadab lived with his
family. They then consecrated his son Eleazar to guard the ark of the LORD.
The Bible does not explain why the ark was not returned to
its original home in Shiloh, but there is some archeological evidence that
suggests that city had been destroyed, most likely during the time when the ark
had been in Philistia. Perhaps after the first battle when the ark was taken,
the Philistines then went on to ravage other parts of Israel.
However, we do not actually know the reasons the ark was not
returned to Shiloh. The Bible does not give us that part of history. We only
know that the ark was brought to the home of Abinadab, where it remained for
twenty years.
In those years when it remained in the house of Abinadab,
all of Israel mourned and sought after their Lord God. It began slowly at first
perhaps, but after the twenty years of seeking the Lord, when Samuel saw that
the repentance of the people was sincere, he said to all the house of Israel,
“If you are returning to the LORD with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of
the foreign gods and Ashtoreths among you, prepare your hearts for the LORD,
and serve Him only. And He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines.”
This the Israelites did. They put away the Baals and
Ashtoreths that they had in their homes, and served only the Lord. Then Samuel
said to them, “Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray to the LORD on your
behalf.”
When the people had gathered at Mizpah, they drew water and
poured it out before the Lord as a symbol of the confessions of their sins. But
it was more than simply ceremonial. On that day they also fasted, and there
they confessed in audible voice, “We have sinned against the LORD.”[2]
The Philistines Sense an Opportunity
The Philistines had heard that the Israelites had gathered
at Mizpah, and in this they saw an opportunity. They believed that they could
strike such a large gathering, putting the entire Israelite nation under their
control. The various rulers of Philistia gathered their troops and began their march
toward the gathering at Mizpah.
When word of this pending invasion came to the Israelites,
they began to feel great fear. The Philistines were warlike people who deeply
resented the presence of Israel in Canaan. The armies of Philistia were a
constant threat to Israel, and looked for any opportunity to weaken them and drive
them out of the land.
The Israelites came to Samuel “Do not stop crying out to the
Lord our God for us, that he may save us from the hand of the Philistines,”
they said to him.
Samuel took a suckling lamb and offered it as a whole burnt
offering to the Lord. Then, as the people had requested, he cried out to the
Lord on behalf of Israel.
The sacrifice of the lamb was still taking place as the
Philistines drew near, but as the armies approached, the written account tells
us that the Lord thundered loudly against the Philistines. This may have been a
literal thunder as we hear during a rainstorm, or it may have been some other
great shout. Whatever the sound, it was so mighty and so unusual that it threw
the Philistines into such great confusion that they began to scatter and to
flee the area.
Seeing this retreat of the Philistines, the men of Israel
charged out of Mizpah and pursued the escaping soldiers, striking them down as
they pursued and overtook them.
After it was all over, Samuel took a stone and set it up
between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer,
saying, “Thus far the LORD has helped us.”
Ebenezer
Ebenezer. “Thus far the LORD has helped us.”
Last week I left you with the question of whether or not the
Lord has abandoned our own country of the United States. Our situation is
different than ancient Israel, of course. We are not facing an invading army
into our land—but then again, in a sense we are.
Our invasion is not from an army of Philistines, but it is a
hidden army of a virus. It has invaded our land, killed many people, and has
ravaged great parts of our economy. Many businesses have been severely set
back, and it is likely that many will not be able to survive.
I raised the possibility that the cause for the tumors of
Philistia in Samuel’s day was from a coronavirus. This is speculation of
course, and I put it forth only as a possibility, perhaps even a remote possibility.
But the fact that the tumors were the result of disrespecting a Holy Article of
God is presented to us as a certainty.
How Does this Relate to the 21st
Century?
Now we fast-forward more than three millennia to our own times
and situation—the Philistines in Samuel’s day may not have had the tools to see
the microscopic cause of their ailment, but it is a certainty that what has
invaded our land in our day is indeed a virus. It is hidden from us because we
ourselves cannot see it or sense it in any way, but because of our advanced
medical instruments we are able to determine this.
Because through these means we can see this army of
COVID-19, we think that it is entirely up to us to fight it, as the Israelites
tried to fight the Philistines. And also as the Israelites of those day, because
we still have some remnants of religion in our country, we may even do certain
things to invoke the help of God. Much like the Israelites brought the Ark of
the Covenant into the battle with them.
We may do our own “religious things.” We may say things like
“I’m praying for you” and make some outward signs of devotion to God. These are
good, but unless there is a deeper sense of confession of our own sins, these
overt and outward actions mean little. Do we not see that it takes more than an
outward demonstration of what we see as our “holiness?” This is a matter of our
hearts.
For twenty years after the ark was returned to the
Israelites, the entire house of Israel mourned their past sins and sought the
Lord. Twenty years!
It was only after all of that time that Samuel asked them if
they were actually sincere about
returning to the Lord. He wanted to determine that this was no snap decision on
the part of the Israelites. Samuel needed to be certain that this was no “foxhole
conversion” that the people hoped would get them out of their present difficulty.
The Need for Repentance
Admitting a wrong and confession of sin is an attribute that
has been largely neglected in our society. Rather than admitting fault, it has
become a common trait in our day to deny any wrongdoing when presented with
some wrongdoing, and then attack whomever we see as the opposition.
We even see it in the leadership in our country. When was
the last time you heard someone in government say, “I was wrong. I’m sorry.”
It does happen, but not often. Usually we only see
counter-attacks.
A Good Leadership Example
Later in his life, the prophet Samuel would anoint the young
lad David to be king of Judah and Israel. It is said of David that he was “a
man after God’s own heart.”[3] David is largely regarded
as Israel’s finest king, but he was by no measure a perfect man. He once
committed a horrendous sin by having a child with the wife of one of his best
soldiers, and then having the soldier killed in battle before he would find out
about David’s affair with his wife.
If you understand the times and situation in which David
lived, you will know that he could have very easily dismissed all of this. He
could have simply denied any wrong doing at all. There were no DNA tests in
those days to prove or disprove fatherhood, there was no one who would testify
to David’s directives to put the husband in the fiercest part of the battle
where he would very likely be killed, and if someone would testify, David was
the sovereign king. What he said was
law, and he had the last word in all matters.
But that is not what a man who has the heart of God does.
When confronted with his sin, David’s simple response was, “I have sinned
against the LORD.” [4]
The sovereign of the land could have claimed that he was
above any condemnation from the people of the land, but he would not do that. He
knew that his guilt went far beyond his sins against the man and his wife. In
the end, his sin was against the LORD God.
The entire 51st Psalm was written by David as his
prayer of confession. A portion of it reads:
Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your loving devotion;
According to Your great compassion, blot out my transgressions.
Wash me clean of my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me…
Cast me not away from Your presence; take not Your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of Your salvation,
(Psalm 51:1-3, 11-12 BSB)
It is the same attitude of heart that it took the Israelites of Samuel’s day twenty years to learn. Our sins are not only against our fellow men and women; our sins reach up to the heavens. Until we realize that we as a nation need to come to grips with our offenses, and confess our sins not only to those whom we have wronged, but also to God in heaven, we should not expect God’s presence to be with us.
We are alone. We are left to find mercy only in the world, and in the world, there is precious little mercy to be found.
If we want mercy, let us confess as did the people of Israel
under the leadership of Samuel, and as the great King David also confess, “We
have sinned against the LORD.”
If we seek the mercy of God, perhaps he will yet be gracious
to us. Perhaps we can have our own new beginning. Perhaps we will be able to
set a stone of remembrance. Perhaps we can have our own “Ebenezer.”
Thus far the Lord has helped us.
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