(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
1 Samuel 4:1–9, “And the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out against the Philistines to battle, and pitched beside Ebenezer: and the Philistines pitched in Aphek. And the Philistines put themselves in array against Israel: and when they joined battle, Israel was smitten before the Philistines: and they slew of the army in the field about four thousand men. And when the people were come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, Wherefore hath the LORD smitten us to day before the Philistines? Let us fetch the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of Shiloh unto us, that, when it cometh among us, it may save us out of the hand of our enemies. So the people sent to Shiloh, that they might bring from thence the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth between the cherubims: and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God. And when the ark of the covenant of the LORD came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth rang again. And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, What meaneth the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews? And they understood that the ark of the LORD was come into the camp. And the Philistines were afraid, for they said, God is come into the camp. And they said, Woe unto us! for there hath not been such a thing heretofore. Woe unto us! who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty Gods? these are the Gods that smote the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness. Be strong, and quit yourselves like men, O ye Philistines, that ye be not servants unto the Hebrews, as they have been to you: quit yourselves like men, and fight.”
Israel understood that the Lord had called Samuel and spoke through Him. However, Samuel wasn’t yet old enough to have place of power or even to be in a position to advice those in power. While all this was happening, the Philistines, who were Israel’s sworn enemies and their most fearsome foes, decided to come and attack Israel. Perhaps they realised that Israel was in disarray because their spiritual leaders were morally corrupt and spiritually bankrupt. They brought their armies and set them in battle array and Israel set their armies opposite to defend the nation. The battle began and Israel was defeated. They had ignored the Lord and the Lord invoked the penalty clauses of the contract so that Israel could be brought to their knees in repentance. However, Israel wasn’t ready to do and they chose to ignore the second commandment and set the ark of the covenant up as though it was their God rather than bowing before their true and repenting of their sins. The Philistines, who were used to worshipping idols of stone and wood assumed that Israel had brought their God to the battle field. However, they set themselves resolutely to fight a battle and they encouraged each other to fight with courage.
No comments:
Post a Comment