Read today’s scripture.

How do you see God’s faithfulness today?

1 Samuel 4.

Wow.

Since Samson had left only a “dent” in the Philistine armies when he died, they continued to be a thorn in the flesh of Israel along Israel’s southwestern border. Now these mighty men invaded Judah from Aphek (the north-eastern-most Philistine town) and defeated them, killing 4K Israeli soldiers.

Israel panicked and instead of turning to God, they got the “brilliant” idea to bring out the Ark of the Covenant. So those wicked sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, brought the Ark of God out of the Tabernacle at Shiloh to the battleground at Ebenezer.

A GREAT, HUGE CHEER broke out from Israel. And it scared the Philistines to death!  They knew and remembered the stories of how Israel’s God defeated the great Pharoah of Egypt and shook in their sandals.

“A god has come into the camp! Woe to us! Woe to us! Who can deliver us from these mighty gods? Take courage and be men, O Philistines, lest you become slaves to the Hebrews as they have been to you; BE MEN AND FIGHT!”  And so they fought. This time, 30K Israeli soldiers died, plus the sons of Eli.

And…the Ark of God was captured!  

When it was told to the fat, 98-year-old Eli that his sons were dead, and most importantly, that the Ark was in Philistine hands, he fell over backward, broke his neck, and died. (Just as the young Samuel had prophesied.)

“The Glory had departed from Israel! The Ark of God had been captured!”

But God wasn’t a helpless captive. He would NOT let his “throne” be desecrated.

1 Samuel 5.

The Philistines took the Ark to Ashdod, their nearest city, and put it into the temple of their god, Dagon, as a “trophy.”  But, when they went in the next morning, they saw their idol had fallen face down, in worship, before the Ark of God.

Whoa!  Looking around in fear, they set their idol back up on its pedestal.

The next morning, they found the same thing, except the idol’s head and hands were broken off and placed in the doorway.  Not only this, but the people of Ashdod began getting tumors all over them. EEK!  “Get rid of that thing!”

So the Ark of the God of Israel was taken to Gath.  The same thing happened there – tumors on the men and boys.  Those citizens also freaked out and sent God’s Throne to Ekron. Now, the third of the five Philistine cities suffered too. The hand of God was very heavy on them, and those who did not die were struck with those dreaded tumors.

All the lords of the Philistines decided they MUST send the Ark of the God of Israel … BACK to Israel. Seven months of suffering was ENOUGH!

1 Samuel 6.

The Philistine priests and diviners told them how to return the Ark.  They were to build a cart, hitch up two milk cows (with calves locked in the barn), put the Ark of the God of Israel on the cart, along with five gold items (for each of the cities – Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath and Ekron) as “guilt” offerings, and send it off.  If the cows returned home to their calves (which would be natural), they would know that the tumors, etc. were NOT from God, but a mere coincidence.  But if the cart did not return, they would KNOW, that the God of Israel was responsible.

The cows – with their calves crying in the distance – took the cart with the Ark (without turning to the right or left) STRAIGHT to the Levite town of Beth-shemesh, in Judah.  Farmers who were reaping there, stopped and rejoiced to see it. They sacrificed the cows on the wood from the cut-up cart as a burnt offering to the LORD.

When the Philistines who followed saw this, they returned to Ekron, satisfied.

However, 70 men of Beth-shemesh came to look (ogle?) at the Ark of God, a great sin of presumption. (See Numbers 4:20)  This lack of awe and respect caused God to flash out and kill all 70.  Yikes!   The people there cried out, “Who can stand before the LORD?  Where can we send the Ark?

They sent to the inhabitants of Kiriath-jearim in the heart of Judah. The men came and took the Ark of the LORD. They put it into the house of Abinadab after consecrating his son Eleazar to have charge of it. It stayed there until King David brought it to Jerusalem (See 2 Samuel 6:1-19)

Why they didn’t return it to Shiloh, we don’t know.

1 Samuel 7.

After that, Samuel – “the voice of God” – said to the people, “If you are returning to the LORD with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you and direct your heart to the LORD, and serve Him only. He will deliver you out of the hands of the Philistines.”

So the people did what Samuel said.

Then Samuel gathered all of Israel together and said, “I will pray to the LORD for you.”  They fasted and confessed their sin against God at Mizpah.

When the Philistines heard the people were gathered there, they came up to fight them.  The people – scared of the hoards – cried to Samuel to cry to the LORD to save them.  Samuel did and the LORD answered him.

The LORD thundered with a mighty sound against the Philistines, threw them into confusion, and routed them.  The men of Israel pursued them and struck them down.  And so, the Philistines were subdued and did not again enter the land of Israel all the days of Samuel, and there was peace with them.

Samuel set up a stone at Ebenezer (not the one in 4:1) and said, “Till now the LORD has helped us.” (Ebenezer means “stone of help.”

Have you heard of the old hymn, “Come, Thou Fount”? Here is the second verse:

• “Here I’ll raise my Ebenezer, hither by Thy help I’m come;
• And I hope by Thy good pleasure, safely to arrive at home.
• Jesus sought me when a stranger, wand’ring from the fold of God.
• He, to rescue me from danger, interposed His precious blood.”

Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. He went on a circuit year by year to Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah, returning to Ramah where his home was.

1 Samuel 8.

When Samuel was old, he made his sons judges over Israel; Joel (“the Lord is God”) and Abijah (“my Father is the Lord”).  But God had not chosen them, and they did not walk in the ways of their father. They “turned aside after gain” and took bribes and perverted justice.”

(How did this happen? Did the godly Samuel neglect to discipline his sons, as Eli had?  It’s so sad. But God is sovereign, and His plan must not have been for the time of judges to continue.)

The people of Israel saw Joel and Abijah and how they acted, and heartlessly said to Samuel,  “Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a KING to judge us like all the nations.”

Samuel was heartbroken. He prayed to God, and God told him to “Obey the voice of the people in all they say. For they have not rejected YOU, but they have rejected ME from being king over them. Obey their voice, only WARN THEM SOLEMNLY and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them,”

So Samuel warned them about having a king.

• He will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and soldiers.
• He will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and fifties, and some to plow his ground and reap his harvest and to make implements of war.
• He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers.
• He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants.
• He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and servants.
• He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men and your donkeys and put them to HIS work.
• He will take the tenth of your flocks and you shall be his slaves.
• And in the day you cry out because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, the LORD will not answer you.

It’s like they didn’t even hear him.  “NO, but there SHALL be a king over us, that we also may BE LIKE ALL THE NATIONS, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles!”

Samuel repeated these words to God.

And God said, “Obey their voice and make them a king.”