Then Samuel
said to all the people of Israel, “If you are really serious about wanting to
return to the LORD, get rid of your foreign gods and your images of
Ashtoreth. Determine to obey only the
LORD, then he will rescue from the Philistines.” (7:3).
I
love the title for the devotional in the iworship Bible – Are You Serious? Have
you been in this predicament, where you keep trying to do something, but it
just won’t work out? You keep returning
to the same job, or you keep doing the same task, or the same habit, only to
become annoyed all day at work, or the task you’re working on just won’t work
out, or you keep trying to lose weight, but your method just won’t work.
These
chapters really hit home for me because I’ve been living on “repeat” for a
while now and I think I understand why.
In
these chapters we see that Israel is not serving God alone - with a whole
heart. The Israelites keep wondering how
God could allow them to suffer at the hands of the Philistines, and they
conclude that it’s because they did not take the Ark of God with them into
battle. Like the Ark is some sort of
good luck charm. Instead, it leads to an
even greater defeat for the Israelites.
Their irreverence and disobedience regarding the Ark results in divine
judgment on them.
The
Ark is captured and taken back to Ashdod in Philistine territory. It looks as though God is being held hostage
by the Philistines and is being placed before Dagon in some symbolically
subordinate position. What a shock it
must have been to see their god lying prostate in the dirt before the Ark of
God. And then the hands of men prop
Dagon back up. What do these Philistines
think? The Ark of God is a symbol of God’s
presence among His people. It plays an
important role in Israel’s worship, but it is not an idol! And yet these Philistine priests do not
humble themselves and confess that the God of Israel is the only true God. They do not give up worshipping a piece of
wood. God shows the Philistines that
their idol is powerless in His hands. I
mean, the hands of Dagon have fallen off, by the “hands of God”!
I’m
not sure exactly what the plague was that was sent to the Philistines, but whatever
it was, the Philistines were eager to get rid of it. They realize that the hand of God is heavy on
them and the only way to rid the plague is to get rid of the Ark. As the Ark gets passed around to different
cities, the plague seems to follow. No
one seems to want God in their town.
That reminds me of the time when Jesus crosses the Sea of Galilee and
casts the demons from Legion in Mark 5.
The people were terrified of what Jesus had done and asked Him to leave
town. No one wants the One who is most
holy in their midst.
For
seven months the Ark seems to be held in captivity and the Philistines are
plagued under the heavy hand of God. The
only solution is to return the Ark to Israel so they come up with a plan to not
send the Ark away empty. Let me remind
you that according to the Law of Moses, a guilt offering was a blood sacrifice –
there is no blood in the Philistines golden tumors and rats. The reason for a guilt offering is the sin of
the one offering the sacrifice. There is
no acknowledgement of sin by the Philistines, but rather idolization. The Philistines do not realize that their
offering is an offense to the God of Israel and not an offering. It is by God’s grace alone that results in
the end of the plagues.
It
must have been a fun for the Jew’s in ancient times to retell the story that it
took the Philistines 7 slow months to realize that these plagues were the heavy
hand of God. But hold on – the Israelites
begin dying in great numbers - why?
Essentially for the same reason:
irreverence for the holy things of God and disobedience to the commands
which specifically forbid what they were doing (such as looking at or into the
Ark). It seems the Israelites had no
appreciation for the holiness of God and these sacred objects. Both the Philistines and the Israelites
seemed to look upon the Ark as an idol.
Both were seeking to control God, rather than to trust in Him and obey
His commands.
There’s no magical way we can manipulate God and bring Him under our control, so we can satisfy our lusts and indulge in our sinful desires. We cannot take a symbol of God’s presence along with us, expecting that the symbol guarantees us success in life.
Samuel
is right – you are serious?!? Are you
truly wanting to return to the Lord?
What would it mean for you to get serious about your relationship with
God? What idol do you need to
remove? Or what do you need to “do”? Or what attitude to you need to change?
Our
iworship Bible suggest this: For one
day, take an inventory of your attitudes and actions. Look for ways you may have fallen into
flippant or casual attitudes toward your relationship with God. Then list one or two ways you might get more
serious about your faith.
