Previously in 1 Samuel, we saw the Lord reveal Himself to Samuel in a unique and special way. The Lord came and stood by him, calling him in the middle of the night, and gave him a message to give to Eli concerning him and his sons. This was at one of the darkest points in Israel’s history that the Lord intervened, for he would use Samuel to steer the nation back to Himself. If the Lord sovereignly intervened in the history of the nation of Israel, then He can intervene in our nation’s history as well. It only takes us as believers to say, “Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.”
This is to have a listening ear and an obedient heart.
The chapter begins by stating that the word of Samuel (or rather the word of the Lord through Samuel) went out to all Israel. This verse is probably more accurately placed in the end of the 3rd chapter, as it describes Samuel’s ministry as a prophet to the nation. The chapter breaks were placed there by man later to aid us in finding specific passages, so they are not really part of the Divine text. The change in topic occurs when the Israelites went out to battle against the Philistines. Now, the Philistines were an immigrant people, probably from Crete, who were in the land of Canaan during the time of Abraham, but they had migrated there in larger numbers after Israel conquered the land. This is contrary to what is said sometimes today, that the Philistines are the ancient ancestors of the Palestinians, who are actually Arabs rather than of Greek descent. The Philistines were the first people in Canaan to process iron, so they had more advanced military equipment than the other people in the area. They were organized into five city states on the sea coast of the Mediterranean, so the fact they were in Aphek, a city 12 miles or so Northwest of the coastal city of Joppa, suggests they were seeking to expand their territory into Canaan and had initiated this battle.
When Israel had joined the battle, they were defeated by the Philistines, and they lost 4,000 men. When they returned to their camp, the elders of Israel asked why the Lord had defeated them before the Philistines? They then said that they should bring the ark of the covenant into the camp so that it would save them from the hand of their enemies. Interesting, for rather than confessing their sins and turning to the God of the ark, they put their trust in a thing that merely represented the presence of God. the religion of the nation had been reduced to a wooden box, something that was, to them, a religious trinket or good luck charm. They were willing to participate in religious ritual, but they were unwilling to bend their knees and hearts to the Lord. I see this today in our nation and even in parts of the Church: We want to fix our problems in every way except through humbling ourselves before the Lord through prayer and repentance. If we continue on this path, our efforts will be as futile as theirs. So, they sent for the ark, which was in Shiloh with Hophni and Phinehas.
When the ark arrived at the camp, the men of Israel shouted so loudly that the ground shook. There was a lot of hype and a lot of emotion, but it meant nothing. There are a lot of ministries today in which there is the same hype and emotion, but if they are not grounded on Jesus Christ and in the word of God, they are meaningless. Spurgeon stated, “Now, beloved, when you are worshipping God, shout if you are filled with holy gladness. If the shout comes from your heart, I would not ask you to restrain it. God forbid that we should judge any man’s worship! But do not be so foolish as to suppose that because there is loud noise there must also be faith. Faith is a still water, it flows deep. True faith in God may express itself with leaping and with shouting; and it is a happy thing when it does: but it can also sit still before the Lord, and that perhaps is a happier thing still.” When the Philistines heard this great noise, they asked each other what this shout in the Hebrew camp meant? When they understood that the ark of the Lord was there, they were afraid, and said, “God has come into the camp!” “Woe to us! For such a thing has never happened before. Woe to us! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness. Be strong and conduct yourselves like men, you Philistines, that you do not become servants of the Hebrews, as they have been to you. Conduct yourselves like men, and fight!” It is also interesting how they knew about the Lord’s deliverance of the children of Israel some 400 years earlier. Rather than submitting themselves to Him, they mustered up their courage and went to battle again. However, this was of the Lord in order that they would execute His judgment on Israel and upon the house of Eli.
So, the Philistines fought against the Israelites, and defeated them. Every man fled back to his tent, and the Philistines slaughtered 30 thousand Israeli soldiers. The ark was also taken, and the sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died. The sign that judgment would fall on the house of Eli had come to pass. After this, a man of the tribe of Benjamin ran from the battle back to Shiloh with his clothes torn and dirt on his head to tell what had happened. Eli was sitting on a seat by the side of the road watching, and it says that his heart trembled for the ark of God. He probably knew this was a bad idea, and wondered if this would turn out to be a disaster. The Lord had spoken concerning his house twice, and this could be where His judgment would begin. He heard the commotion when the man told the news to the city, and asked what all the noise meant. We are told he was 98 at this point, and he was unable to see anymore. The man ran over to Eli to tell him what had happened, and when Eli found out that the ark of God had been captured, he fell off his seat backwards and his neck broke. Eli’s daughter-in-law, Phinehas’s wife, was pregnant, and when she heard that her husband and father-in-law were dead and that the ark was taken, she went into labor. She named the child Ichabod, stating that the glory (ark)had departed from Israel. She too, died after she had given birth.
There is an important lesson to learn from this passage and the one to follow, and that is when God says His judgment is coming, it is coming. However, it begins at the house of God first. Israel is an example to us of how God relates to His people. They are God’s chosen people, but we have been grafted in by faith as a wild olive branch into the cultivated olive tree. If the Gospel is to go forth into the world with power, then the Church needs to be on fire for the Lord. We need to be passionately serving Jesus Christ, full of the Holy Spirit, and walking in holiness as directed by the word of God. It is when we begin to grow cold or even lukewarm that the Lord will allow trials or discipline to get us back on track. He loves us too much to allow us to go on in sin and carnality.
I also cannot help but wonder if this has some application for us as a nation? We have been uniquely blessed by God, and have even likened ourselves to ancient Israel throughout our history. In a previous series of posts, I wrote of what appears to have been God’s warning for our nation, but rather than heeding His warning, we have continued on as before, further descending into spiritual and moral bankruptcy. Let us not trust in our political leaders, our military, or even our religious rituals to save us. Again, it’s time for us as believers to wake up and begin prayerfully seeking the Lord for revival through humility and repentance. In the next chapter we will see how God deals with the Philistines who had captured the ark. Some like to argue that God does not deal with nonbelievers, stating they do not know better, but as we will see, this was not the case with the Philistines.
The tendency in our human nature is to forget or even outright dismiss it, especially if it takes longer than we anticipated. Peter wrote about this in his epistle: “knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, 4 and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.’ For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:3-9) God’s judgment is coming on this Christ rejecting sinful world, and the main reason it has not come already is that the Lord is patient, not willing that any should perish. There’s a saying by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small; Though with patience He stands waiting, with exactness grinds He all.” The lord allowed several hundred years to pass after the death of Moses before He brought judgment on the priesthood, but when it came, it was exact and complete. Almost two thousand years have passed since the birth of the Church, but after the rapture takes place, the whole world will experience this type of judgment. Peter goes on to write, “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? (2 Peter 3:10-12) If you are reading this today and are not a Christian, you will experience God’s wrath if you do not accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Don’t be like the children of Israel who trusted in their religious rituals or superstitions to save them. Place your faith in Him today, and repent from your sins. If you are a Christian and are not walking in obedience to the word of God, why do you want to get into Heaven by the skin of your teeth? Repent from your sins, begin walking in obedience to the Scriptures, and be a recipient of heavenly rewards. In the next chapter we will see what God does to the Philistines who captured the ark. Judgment must begin at the house of God first, but it also will come upon the world.
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