1 So the men of Kiriath Jearim came and took up the ark of the LORD. They took it to Abinadab’s house on the hill and consecrated Eleazar his son to guard the ark of the LORD.

Samuel Subdues the Philistines at Mizpah

2 It was a long time, twenty years in all, that the ark remained at Kiriath Jearim, and all the people of Israel mourned and sought after the LORD. 3 And Samuel said to the whole house of Israel, “If you are returning to the LORD with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the LORD and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.” 4 So the Israelites put away their Baals and Ashtoreths, and served the LORD only.

5 Then Samuel said, “Assemble all Israel at Mizpah and I will intercede with the LORD for you.” 6 When they had assembled at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out before the LORD. On that day they fasted and there they confessed, “We have sinned against the LORD.” And Samuel was leader ^[a] of Israel at Mizpah.

7 When the Philistines heard that Israel had assembled at Mizpah, the rulers of the Philistines came up to attack them. And when the Israelites heard of it, they were afraid because of the Philistines. 8 They said to Samuel, “Do not stop crying out to the LORD our God for us, that he may rescue us from the hand of the Philistines.” 9
Then Samuel took a suckling lamb and offered it up as a whole burnt offering to the LORD. He cried out to the LORD on Israel’s behalf, and the LORD answered him.

10 While Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to engage Israel in battle. But that day the LORD thundered with loud thunder against the Philistines and threw them into such a panic that they were routed before the Israelites. 11 The men of Israel rushed out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, slaughtering them along the way to a point below Beth Car.

12 Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, ^[b] saying, “Thus far has the LORD helped us.” 13 So the Philistines were subdued and did not invade Israelite territory again.

Throughout Samuel’s lifetime, the hand of the LORD was against the Philistines. 14 The towns from Ekron to Gath that the Philistines had captured from Israel were restored to her, and Israel delivered the neighboring territory from the power of the Philistines. And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites.

15 Samuel continued as judge over Israel all the days of his life. 16 From year to year he went on a circuit from Bethel to Gilgal to Mizpah, judging Israel in all those places. 17 But he always went back to Ramah, where his home was, and there he also judged Israel. And he built an altar there to the LORD.

There’s just something about this passage that sounds like the way God intented it to be for Israel. God appoints leadership through natural authority, rather than through positional authority, or through any human politics. Samuel is the judge over Israel because God tells him what to do and he does it. I know this is mostly jumping the gun a bit, because the “Israel wants a King” stuff is in the next chapter, but this really demonstrates the way that the Kingdom of God works. There’s definitely a King, but he’s not going to need a succession plan.

At the same time as exciting me, as a leader who has something of a “postition”, the nasty little voice in my head puts in the thought that there’s something in that which is quite scary. Trusting in having inherent authority, not through anything solid that I can stand on, takes away the safety net. If God doesn’t put it in me, then I’m no longer a leader. So I’ve got two choices, I can be the control freak that my insecurity and pride (it doesn’t make sense but it’s true) desperately want me to be, and get my identity from leading people. Or I can take my identity from who I am in Christ, and take leadership as something that is not who I am, but what I am doing – leadership as a task rather than a badge. And that’s gotta be the idea.

I know that I’ve skipped around most of the passage and taken just an inkling and run with it, but I guess that’s what God was saying to me, which is really why I’m doing this, so I suppose you’ll just have to live without hearing deep, (made-up) insights on what exactly God was doing with the “slaughtering all the way to Beth Car”. As always, I’d be overjoyed to hear alternate insights; either on the passage or my virtually unrelated rant.

The Ark Returned to Israel

1 When the ark of the LORD had been in Philistine territory seven months, 2 the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the LORD ? Tell us how we should send it back to its place.”

3 They answered, “If you return the ark of the god of Israel, do not send it away empty, but by all means send a guilt offering to him. Then you will be healed, and you will know why his hand has not been lifted from you.”

4 The Philistines asked, “What guilt offering should we send to him?” They replied, “Five gold tumors and five gold rats, according to the number of the Philistine rulers, because the same plague has struck both you
and your rulers. 5 Make models of the tumors and of the rats that are destroying the country, and pay honor to Israel’s god. Perhaps he will lift his hand from you and your gods and your land. 6 Why do you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh did? When he ^[a] treated them harshly, did they not send the Israelites out so they could go on their way?

7 “Now then, get a new cart ready, with two cows that have calved and have never been yoked. Hitch the cows to the cart, but take their calves away and pen them up. 8 Take the ark of the LORD and put it on the cart, and in a chest beside it put the gold objects you are sending back to him as a guilt offering. Send it on its way, 9
but keep watching it. If it goes up to its own territory, toward Beth Shemesh, then the LORD has brought this great disaster on us. But if it does not, then we will know that it was not his hand that struck us and that it happened to us by chance.”

10 So they did this. They took two such cows and hitched them to the cart and penned up their calves. 11 They placed the ark of the LORD on the cart and along with it the chest containing the gold rats and the models of the tumors. 12 Then the cows went straight up toward Beth Shemesh, keeping on the road and lowing all the way; they did not turn to the right or to the left. The rulers of the Philistines followed them as far as the border of Beth Shemesh.

13 Now the people of Beth Shemesh were harvesting their wheat in the valley, and when they looked up and saw the ark, they rejoiced at the sight. 14 The cart came to the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh, and there it
stopped beside a large rock. The people chopped up the wood of the cart and sacrificed the cows as a burnt offering to the LORD. 15 The Levites took down the ark of the LORD, together with the chest containing the gold objects, and placed them on the large rock. On that day the people of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings and made sacrifices to the LORD. 16 The five rulers of the Philistines saw all this and then returned that same day to Ekron.

17 These are the gold tumors the Philistines sent as a guilt offering to the LORD -one each for Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath and Ekron. 18 And the number of the gold rats was according to the number of Philistine towns belonging to the five rulers—the fortified towns with their country villages. The large rock, on which ^[b] they set the ark of the LORD, is a witness to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh.

19 But God struck down some of the men of Beth Shemesh, putting seventy ^[c] of them to death because they had looked into the ark of the LORD. The people mourned because of the heavy blow the LORD had dealt them, 20 and the men of Beth Shemesh asked, “Who can stand in the presence of the LORD, this holy God? To whom will the ark go up from here?”

21 Then they sent messengers to the people of Kiriath Jearim, saying, “The Philistines have returned the ark of the LORD. Come down and take it up to your place.”

It’s pretty hard to reconcile these stories with my experience of who God is. These are stories of a God who is big in a pretty scary kind of way, and who jealously guards his own holiness. “Who can stand in the presence of the LORD, this holy God?”. That’s perhaps the point here, that we serve a God who is mind-blowingly beyond our comprehension, and it illustrates how much of a sacrifice and example of humility it was to put that holiness into the incarnation of a man (yep, I can use big words like incarnation). And it just goes to show how pathetic the Israelites attempt to use the Ark as a good luck charm was. The disrespect of that action just really becomes obvious when you see the power of God as demonstrated in these passages.

To be honest I realise that I’m stretching to find applications from this stuff into daily life, but I guess that’s half of the fun. Insights from others are very welcome

The Ark in Ashdod and Ekron

1 After the Philistines had captured the ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. 2 Then they carried the ark into Dagon’s temple and set it beside Dagon. 3 When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the LORD! They took Dagon and put him back in his place. 4 But the following morning when they rose, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the LORD! His head and hands had been broken off and were lying on the threshold; only his body remained. 5 That is why to this day neither the priests of Dagon nor any others who enter Dagon’s temple at Ashdod step on the threshold.

6 The LORD’s hand was heavy upon the people of Ashdod and its vicinity; he brought devastation upon them and afflicted them with tumors. ^[a] 7 When the men of Ashdod saw what was happening, they said, “The ark of
the god of Israel must not stay here with us, because his hand is heavy upon us and upon Dagon our god.” 8
So they called together all the rulers of the Philistines and asked them, “What shall we do with the ark of the god of Israel?” They answered, “Have the ark of the god of Israel moved to Gath.” So they moved the ark of the God of Israel.

9 But after they had moved it, the LORD’s hand was against that city, throwing it into a great panic. He afflicted the people of the city, both young and old, with an outbreak of tumors. ^[b] 10 So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. As the ark of God was entering Ekron, the people of Ekron cried out, “They have brought the ark of the god of Israel around to us to kill us and our people.” 11 So they called together all the rulers of the Philistines and said, “Send the ark of the god of Israel away; let it go back to its own place, or it ^[c] will kill us and our people.” For death had filled the city with panic; God’s hand was very heavy upon it. 12 Those who did not die were afflicted with tumors, and the outcry of the city went up to heaven.

I really don’t know what to do with this passage. It’s big and it’s nasty. Maybe there’s something in here that relates to there being an innate fear of God in everyday people (“The ark of the god of Israel must not stay here with us, because his hand is heavy upon us and upon Dagon our god”) or on God’s clear and undeniable power over idols, but I’m not sure that I’ve got anything. So if there’s anyone who has more insight into what God might be saying in this passage – I’m very keen to have your help.

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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. 3 When the soldiers returned to camp, the elders of Israel asked, “Why did the LORD bring defeat upon us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the LORD’s covenant from Shiloh, so that it ^[a] may go with us and save us from the hand of our enemies.”4 So the people sent men to Shiloh, and they brought back the ark of the covenant of the LORD Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim. And Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.

5 When the ark of the LORD’s covenant came into the camp, all Israel raised such a great shout that the ground shook. 6 Hearing the uproar, the Philistines asked, “What’s all this shouting in the Hebrew camp?”
When they learned that the ark of the LORD had come into the camp, 7 the Philistines were afraid. “A god has come into the camp,” they said. “We’re in trouble! Nothing like this has happened before. 8 Woe to us! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? They are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the desert. 9 Be strong, Philistines! Be men, or you will be subject to the Hebrews, as they have been to you. Be men, and fight!”

10 So the Philistines fought, and the Israelites were defeated and every man fled to his tent. The slaughter was very great; Israel lost thirty thousand foot soldiers. 11 The ark of God was captured, and Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, died.

Death of Eli

12 That same day a Benjamite ran from the battle line and went to Shiloh, his clothes torn and dust on his head. 13 When he arrived, there was Eli sitting on his chair by the side of the road, watching, because his heart feared for the ark of God. When the man entered the town and told what had happened, the whole town sent up a cry.14 Eli heard the outcry and asked, “What is the meaning of this uproar?”
The man hurried over to Eli, 15 who was ninety-eight years old and whose eyes were set so that he could not see. 16 He told Eli, “I have just come from the battle line; I fled from it this very day.”
Eli asked, “What happened, my son?”

17 The man who brought the news replied, “Israel fled before the Philistines, and the army has suffered heavy losses. Also your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been captured.”

18 When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell backward off his chair by the side of the gate. His neck was broken and he died, for he was an old man and heavy. He had led ^[b] Israel forty years.

19 His daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant and near the time of delivery. When she heard the news that the ark of God had been captured and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she went into labor and gave birth, but was overcome by her labor pains. 20 As she was dying, the women attending her said, “Don’t despair; you have given birth to a son.” But she did not respond or pay any attention.

21 She named the boy Ichabod, ^[c] saying, “The glory has departed from Israel”-because of the capture of the ark of God and the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband. 22 She said, “The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured.”

I’m going to have a crack at getting meaning out of this, without knowing Ancient Hebrew or having a really solid understanding of the theological repercussions of the Ark of the Covenant, and if there is someone with a much better comprehension of these, then I hereby give you permission to get all theological on my butt.

Here’s my thinking. The Israelites are looking for a quick-fix, good luck charm of a God. They get nailed in a fight, so they look to God (or more specifically just to the Ark) to be a silver bullet (or should that be arrow) in their war against the Philistines. There’s no communication with God. The Israelites are seeking to use God to reach their own ends, not seeking to hear from God, or even pleading with God. In actual fact, it seems like the Philistines are treating the Ark with more respect than we see from the Israelites.

And you know what – I reckon I’ve seriously done that before. You go into something, and just hold onto the thought that you’ve got the Christian label, or that “You’re doing it for God” so it’s got to work, and you don’t actually consult with him on it. And the repercussions are pretty serious – you could fall backwards on a chair and break your spine because you’re an old man and heavy. But seriously – they lost the physical representation of the prescence of God. As far as they were concerned, God was no longer with them. It’s stories like this that make you take seriously the notion of fearing God, and that maybe it’s time I stopped treating God as a good luck charm and treated our relationship more like a relationship.

Wow, who’d have thought that Samuel wasn’t just all nice stories?

The LORD Calls Samuel

1 The boy Samuel ministered before the LORD under Eli. In those days the word of the LORD was rare; there were not many visions.

2 One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. 3 The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple ^[a] of the LORD, where the ark of God was. 4 Then the LORD called Samuel.
Samuel answered, “Here I am.” 5 And he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”
But Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down.

6 Again the LORD called, “Samuel!” And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”
“My son,” Eli said, “I did not call; go back and lie down.”

7 Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD : The word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him.

8 The LORD called Samuel a third time, and Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “Here I am; you called me.”
Then Eli realized that the LORD was calling the boy. 9 So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.’ ” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

10 The LORD came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!”
Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

11 And the LORD said to Samuel: “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle. 12 At that time I will carry out against Eli everything I spoke against his family—from beginning to end. 13 For I told him that I would judge his family forever because of the sin he knew about; his sons made themselves contemptible, ^[b] and he failed to restrain them. 14 Therefore, I swore to the house of Eli, ‘The guilt of Eli’s house will never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering.’ ”

15 Samuel lay down until morning and then opened the doors of the house of the LORD. He was afraid to tell Eli the vision, 16 but Eli called him and said, “Samuel, my son.”
Samuel answered, “Here I am.”

17 “What was it he said to you?” Eli asked. “Do not hide it from me. May God deal with you, be it ever so severely, if you hide from me anything he told you.” 18 So Samuel told him everything, hiding nothing from him. Then Eli said, “He is the LORD; let him do what is good in his eyes.”

19 The LORD was with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of his words fall to the ground. 20 And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba recognized that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the LORD. 21 The LORD continued to appear at Shiloh, and there he revealed himself to Samuel through his word.

One of the cliches when a sports player gets called up to the national team, is that they always say how they had dreamed of this moment as a kid – at which stage the news footage flicks to images of their son/daughter with sporting implement in their hand. And you can imagine that Samuel dreamed of this day, he knew he was set aside for something pretty big with God, and so the day comes and he messes it up at first, but then God gives him his very first big word that he needs to give and……… it’s bad news. Not just bad news – old bad news, about the man who has practically been like a father to him. Bummer dude.

But you’ve got to appreciate Eli’s approach. He knows he’s in trouble, but he is still desperate to know what God’s doing, what God has to say. And then even after copping a pretty harsh rebuke, his attitude is admirable: “He is the LORD; let him do what is good in his eyes.” That’s a pretty tough call when you’ve just been told you’re practically cursed for life. But he doesn’t let that stop him recognising the character of God. That’s the part that’s hitting me the most at the moment – the ability of these people to separate the character of God from their specific situations.

Prophecy Against the House of Eli

27 Now a man of God came to Eli and said to him, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Did I not clearly reveal myself to your father’s house when they were in Egypt under Pharaoh? 28 I chose your father out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, and to wear an ephod in my presence. I also gave your father’s house all the offerings made with fire by the Israelites. 29 Why do you ^[f] scorn my sacrifice and offering that I prescribed for my dwelling? Why do you honor your sons more than me by fattening yourselves on the choice parts of every offering made by my people Israel?’30 “Therefore the LORD, the God of Israel, declares: ‘I promised that your house and your father’s house would minister before me forever.’ But now the LORD declares: ‘Far be it from me! Those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me will be disdained. 31 The time is coming when I will cut short your strength and the strength of your father’s house, so that there will not be an old man in your family line 32 and you will see distress in my dwelling. Although good will be done to Israel, in your family line there will never be an old man. 33 Every one of you that I do not cut off from my altar will be spared only to blind your eyes with tears and to grieve your heart, and all your descendants will die in the prime of life.

34 ” ‘And what happens to your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, will be a sign to you—they will both die on the same day. 35 I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who will do according to what is in my heart and mind. I will firmly establish his house, and he will minister before my anointed one always. 36 Then everyone left in your family line will come and bow down before him for a piece of silver and a crust of bread and plead, “Appoint me to some priestly office so I can have food to eat.” ‘ “

It’s one of those things, that when you take on an Old Testament book, you’re always going to get some good old fashioned retribution thrown into the mix. And maybe I’ll tackle the punishment of God some other time. But I’ve been angry enough myself today, so we’ll let that part fly.

The big kick in the teeth (wow, that could almost be a bit harsh) in this passage is the part where Eli is being foced to take responsibility for the actions of his children. Just a weekend ago we heard that Eli had given the boys a bit of a tongue lashing about the whole stealing from the altar thing, but that’s clearly not enough for God. Eli had been weak. Spineless. He’d had a quiet word and left it at that. “Not my problem, I’ve had a go at them” you can hear Eli plead (yep, the voices have come back). But maybe what this passage hits hardest, is that if you’re in leadership there’s a call to stand up against the behaviour of your lead-ees. “Why do you honor your sons more than me…?” Those are hard words to hear, and hardest to hear from God. Cause there’s no doubt that as someone who is not very good at being confrontational, I let stuff fly, figuring that they know it’s wrong, so it’s their problem. Maybe that’s why it hit me so hard when I heard Pete say that stuff about being responsible for the lives of the people we lead. Ow. Certainly got me thinking.

Hopefully we’ll be able to bite off slightly larger chunks at a time, or else we could be on Samuel for the rest of the year. We’ll see how we go. Next on Following Samuel – “Samuel gets the gig!”