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by Sandy Shaw
Israel is defeated in battle by the Philistines – as the consequence of sin. They assumed God was with them. At the moment when God has brought about the birth of Samuel and has watched over his early years as he prepares for spiritual leadership the enemy of God springs into action. That has been the pattern down through the centuries.
We are reading in I Samuel Chapter 4verses 6 to 8. At first the Philistines are fearful. They knew about the God of Israel - this God who brought His people out of Egypt.
Verse 9 – Then they experienced a degree of fortitude. 30,000 die and the Ark is seized. It should never have been there in the first place. There is a slaughtering of the people of God.
Verse 11 – The priests were slain – 2verse 34,2verse 12 – sons of worthlessness. Eli was looking for what he could not see he died looking. He had become spiritually blind long before he became physically blind.
This is one defeat after another. At 98, this was terrible news to receive. Then Eli died. He was overweight and fell and broke his neck – verse 18 .
Not dealing with children’s sin is cruelty – for the parents, and for the children, and for society.
They lost God’s presence long before they lost the Ark.
Verse 19 – The wife of Phinehas is about to give birth. It is a sad tragic birth. She names her newly born son – now this is in Israel – Ichabod – with her dying breath. What a strange name to give a child – what a label to live with all your life. “Ichabod” in Hebrew is really a question – where is the glory – where is God – where is He?
Worship had been corrupted by her husband and brother-in-law. This indeed was a dark hour for Israel – for the people of God. We need to know that times have been dark before – and God can bring people back out into the light.
The Ark had been the focus of the presence of God since Sinai under Moses.
Chapter 5 – The Ark had never been captured while under the care of those ordained and appointed to guard it. Chapters 5,6 really belong together.
The Philistines boasted – and that is frequently the start of one’s downfall. “If you start a fight with God you are sure to lose.”
They thought God was with them – and some people assume that – God was not with the people of Israel in Chapter 4 – and now He is against the Philistines.
Surely God will fight for us against the powers of the world – but He does not always do that – it does not necessarily mean that He will go with us and work for us.
God departed from His people because they were morally and spiritually adrift.
They thought that if they had a religious or ecclesiastical solution – the Ark – then all would be well. But if people abandon God’s moral and spiritual law then nothing but sincere and deep repentance will produce spiritual fruit.
God let it be known, and God let it be seen, that the people who once walked with Him walked with Him no longer. The people had come to terms with being a backslider. The world even recognises that today.
Jeremiah 7 verse 11f – They are reminded of this a hundred or more years later – and did not Jesus say this when He visited the Temple?
Remember Shiloh – remember Jerusalem – as for you, do not pray for this people.
Start a fight with God and you are sure to lose – but learning the lesson is a different matter. Do right by God and do not interfere with what God may be doing.
This is how God deals with unfaithful people – He does not go with them.
God knows how to look after Himself – and His people – in His way.
1Peter 3verse 10f – There is no difference here from what we have in Samuel.
“Our loving gracious merciful God – we worship You – we know You are as faithful in judgment as you are when acting lovingly and graciously and mercifully. Lord, what a lesson. Help us to embrace it before we attempt to understand it. And help us to examine our lives so that we may stand in Your holy presence, forgiven and washed and clean, through Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord. Amen.”
Alexander 'Sandy' Shaw is pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship in Nairn, Scotland. Nairn is 17 miles east of Inverness - on the Moray Firth Coast - not far from the Loch Ness Monster!
Gifted as a Biblical teacher, Sandy is firmly committed to making sure that his teachings are firmly grounded in the Word.
Sandy has a weekly radio talk which can be heard via the Internet on Saturday at 11:40am, New Orleans time, at wsho.com.
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