And when these things begin to come to pass,
then look up, and lift up your heads;
for your redemption draweth nigh.
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March 20, 2008:Traditions | Just a few more weary days and then... I'll fly away... And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh. |
| December 29, 2007:New Year's 2008 | ||
| November 3, 2007:How To Be Successful in Christian Ministry | ||
| October 23, 2007:Salmon |
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| Samuel's Prayer and the Ark of the Covenant William H. Haller |
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This week moves toward the end of the period of the judges of Israel. We will look at one instance in the life of Samuel, before moving on to the period of the kings next week. This was another dark period for the people. They were being repressed by the Philistines at this point in time, and things seemed bleak.
The Israelites, in the first chapters of 1 Samuel, have again turned away from God. Hannah, an Israelite woman who was one of the wives of Elkanah, was barren, although the other wife, Peninnah had children. She promised God that if He gave her a son, she would raise him as a Nazarite. Samuel is born, and she gives him to the priests to raise. Because of her faithfulness in carrying through with her promise, God blesses her with other sons and daughters (1 Sam. 2:21).
Eli, the high priest, had served in that position for almost 40 years when Samuel was brought to him. His sons, Phinehas and Hophni, are listed as being sons of Belial who didn't know the Lord. They took of the offerings to God, were adulterous with women who were at the door of the tabernacle, and didn't obey truth or quit sinning when found out. Eli spoke to his sons, but they did not repent of their evil ways.
In chapter 3 of 1 Samuel, Samuel becomes the next named prophet after Joshua. The first part of 1 Samuel 3 says that "The word of the Lord was precious in those days; there was no open vision." God chose Samuel at this time to be a conduit between Him and the people to speak to them and begin to guide them out of their apostasy. During this period, Samuel is instructed to speak against Eli and his house. Samuel was afraid to tell Eli what God had said to him, but Eli orders him to say it. He accepts God's judgment against him and his house because he didn't correct his children who he knew were doing vile things in God's sight. God declares that offerings alone will not be enough to cover his iniquity (v. 3:14).
The Israelites are then attacked by the Philistines. After the first 4,000 are slain, the Israelites on the battlefield make a mistake and call for the ark of the covenant to be brought out. Eli's sons accompany the ark to the battle. The Israelites shout for joy when the ark arrives, and the Philistines are afraid since they have heard what the God of the Israelites did to the Egyptians. The battle continues. The ark is captured by the Philistines and taken away as Israel is defeated at Ebenezer, with the loss of an additional 30,000 men. Eli's sons are slain on the battlefield. A messenger comes to tell Eli the news, and he falls from his seat and breaks his neck and dies, having been priest and judge of Israel for 40 years total.
The ark of the covenant is an interesting aside in the battle. The Philistines, who were an idolatrous people, put faith in the symbol of God that the Israelites brought forth and were terrified. They knew what the God of the Israelites was capable of. They challenged each other to be strong, in spite of the ark being brought in to help the Israelites, and ended up trouncing the army of Israel.
The Israelites called for the ark, putting their faith in a religious icon rather than God. In this, it is clear that they had become so involved with the false religions of their surrounding nations, that they had forgotten that their God was of flesh and blood, living and reigning in heaven. They were putting their faith in things, rather than in Him. The felt that if they brought all the trappings of religion to where they were doing battle, that God would naturally follow and they would have victory.
The quarterly writer asks if we put our faith in things rather than in God and what are the results of this? Any opinions? It is true that many times the church and church members today do make use of bank accounts, doctors, insurance, and other trappings of the world to operate. I truly don't think that there is anything wrong with any of these things. God gives us work and expects us to support His work with what He has given us in any form (financial, talent, time, prayer, et cetera). When the need is something that we cannot meet, then I believe we are right to step in and pray for help from God to meet the need that we cannot handle. I would suggest that many times we could do more as Christians if we stepped up and asked God to help with smaller situations. We might have more funds left over to do more for God with if we let Him handle the little things as well. It would also help our faith if we let Him handle the little things along with the big things, as I have mentioned before. But I don't believe that there is anything bad in making use of what He has provided us with - whether doctors, vaccinations, food, or money to meet our needs.
There is a serious distinction that cannot be forgotten here, having to do with the ark of the covenant. When it comes to spiritual things, there is no substitute for God and His hand in a situation. God gave specific instructions for the construction of the tabernacle, and the things that it contained. The ark of the covenant was one of these items. It is clear from the description of how they were to be treated, that they were not to be considered common. In fact, there were several death penalty situations that God could enforce surrounding improper use of the objects He had made. Nevertheless, they were objects. They had no power on their own. It wasn't the ark of the covenant being carried into the Jordan river that stopped up its waters and dried its bed, it was God Himself that did that when the priests stepped out in faith (Josh. 3:16).
The church cannot treat God's practices and objects as common things. Communion should be taken with a serious heart, remembering what Christ has done for us, each time. It is easy for common things that are repeated to lose their special place in our hearts and minds. On the other hand, there is great danger in some branches of Christianity in almost worshiping religious objects that have absolutely no power, in and of themselves. There can also be problems in prayer, invoking the names of dead saints to help through particular situations. I have no knowledge of whether the saints hear our prayers and go to talk to God about our situation or not. We are certainly called to be intercessors in prayers on the behalf of those who are in need. Perhaps that does continue for the saints in heaven. But the Bible does call us to pray to God in the name of Jesus for answered prayer (Matthew 6:6, John 16:23-26). It is very specific in who to pray to and in whose name to pray, and the saints aren't listed. We need to always put our focus on God
Just because the ark had no power of its own, God wasn't about to let his ark be treated as common by the Philistines. As we continue in 1 Samuel 5, the ark is taken to Ashdod. They put it in one of their temples and when they came in the next day, their idol was in the dirt before the ark. They set it back up, and the next day it was headless and without hands, and lying in the dirt before the ark. Then God smote the people of the area with tumors. The lords of the Philistines then consulted with each other and took the ark to Gath. God rose up against that city and caused them to have tumors as well. The ark was then sent to Ekron, and God's hand was against that city with many dying and having tumors. Finally, after seven months, the Philistines decide that they want to get rid of the ark and they send it back to Israel. They send it back with an offering. When it comes back to Israel, the people of Bethshemesh welcome the ark back and look inside it at the offering of the Philistines. For looking into the ark, 50,070 Israelites are killed by God. They send word to the rest of Israel to come and take the ark back away from them. It then resides at Kirjathjearim at the house of Abinadab for twenty years, leading to the story of today.
At this point, Samuel re-enters the picture. There is another war with the Philistines that is imminent. He calls the people to Mizpeh, and has a prayer meeting. This was probably no more what these people wanted to hear, than the message of Christ was to the Israelites under Roman occupation. As a prophet, he is blunt with the people. He tells them in verse 7:4 that if they want God's help, they must put away the foreign gods from amongst them. They must get rid of their Baalim and Asharoth, and serve only the Lord. This is a familiar theme that runs through time when it comes to the Israelites. The other side always looks better, and they end up getting hung up in idolatry and forgetting about God. We may not be idolatrous, but we have other hang ups that separate us from God.
Read the story of the banjo player and the professor of divinity school from the student quarterly - p 51/52. That strength of character is rare to find today. We rarely want to give up what we are good at just because we get a calling from God. After all, that may be what is supporting the family.
The people implore Samuel to intercede with God for them, and he does so. The Philistines attack Israel when they see them gathered at Mizpah (assuming that they are going to go to war with them imminently). This time, due to the prayers of Samuel and the actions of the people, God is with the Israelites, and the Philistines are routed. It is said that God thundered with a great thunder against the Philistines and they were discomfited. After their experience with the ark of the covenant, it probably didn't take much to put fear into them. God carries the day and the Israelites smite the Philistines. Samuel erects a stone monument and calls it Ebenezer since God helped the people. God is with the people all the days of Samuel and His hand remains against the Philistines.
One thing to note in this story is that even when the people are rebelling against God, God is carrying out His own work preparing for the Philistines defeat. God may well have never wanted the ark of the covenant to be taken out of the camp at Shiloh, but He certainly did want the sons of Eli taken care of. Bringing the ark out and causing it to be lost to the Philistines achieved the necessary purpose of dealing with Eli's sons. While the ark was lost to Israel, God used it to raise a healthy respect for the God of Israel in the hearts of the leaders and people of the Philistines. They had only heard stories of what God had done to the Egyptians. Now they were experiencing the had of God against both them and their gods first hand. They had no fear of the Israelites when God was not with them, and poised to attack them again under the assumption that nothing had changed. They may well not have even planned an attack if they knew that the people had returned to God. However, they didn't know this until God thundered from heaven. After their direct experience with God, this was enough to rout them.
The enemy feels free to move against God's church today, because in many cases, the power of the living God is not with us. In many cases, sinners have more respect for the religious icons that are part of our history and lives than they do for the Christians themselves, because we have turned away from God and His mighty power and relied on our own traditions and devices rather than Jesus. In many denominations, tradition is everything. Traditions can be a comfort. We feel better when we are surrounded by familiar things. But when we put our faith and belief in things rather than God we find ourselves on the same slippery slope that destroyed the Israelites.
In many churches around the world, the power of God is returning to the people and being welcomed in. He would like to pour out His Spirit and fill His church with the power that was present in the times of the apostles. All it takes is a willingness of the people to turn fully to Him. That will come as a shock to the world and will lead to persecution, just as it did in the days of the apostles. But that power and persecution birthed a church that has lasted for 2,000 years. A new outpouring of the Spirit and power to witness will lead to the same increase in the kingdom. Let us be about our Father's business once again in the church and turn to holiness that God can bless. We have tried for too many years to rely on ourselves and go our own way, rejecting the Bible and what it declares as good and evil. Take a stand once again for the Word and for God, both in church and in the community. Take heart and be a person that God can stand with instead of against.
We especially need to get back to being a praying people. It is not up to the Samuel's of the world to do the praying for us. He was a great intercessor, and when called to be intercessors, it is my hope that we can be just as good. But when we are a praying people we are closer to God and Satan hates that. Let us make time each day to pray for ourselves, for our families, for our jobs, for our schools, for our military, for our government, and for our churches. God has something He wants to do in each case. Prayer and silent times with God are the best times to hear just what He wants us to do in each case. Sometimes we need that thundering from heaven to get the attention of the enemy and do the discomfiting that the church by itself will never provide.
