1 Samuel 5 verse 1 to 7 verse 7 ‘Arkeology’

 

Introduction

When I was younger I had a teacher who referred to me as ‘The man with twenty questions’. He identified me as the one in the class who wasn’t satisfied with the standard answer, the one who wanted to probe further and better understand.

Not much has changed in the intervening years. I still love to ask questions.

God’s Word today calls us to ask questions and probe deeper. In fact, our passage asks us three questions in particular:

How does God deal with those who defy Him?

How can sinful people escape God’s wrath?

How can God’s People abide in the presence of their Holy God?

In answering these questions we are called to behold our God as the true and living God of awesome glory and amazing holiness. Ultimately, though, pondering these questions points us to Jesus, the Cross, and the amazing grace that is found in Christ alone.

So let us go to our first question, provoked by the events of Chapter 5…

How does God deal with those who defy Him?

We live in a world that does not take God seriously. Today many, inside and outside the Church, believe you can live life on your own terms and make God fit in with your plans; they believe you can defy God.

How does God respond? Well, when we look at our world, we may be tempted to wonder if God responds at all. But that’s why we need to pay attention to what happens in 1 Samuel Chapter 5. Here we see God respond by bringing His glory to bear.

In act designed to show not just which nation had triumphed, but whose god had won, the Philistines brought the Ark into the house of Dagon- the most important of their gods. We can imagine the immense satisfaction among the Philistines. They had crushed the Israelites in battle and now their God was completely in their control.

However, overnight something happened in Dagon’s temple. We are not told what. We are simply shown what the people of Ashdod saw early the next morning; in verse 3 we read:

 ³ …there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the Lord!

Now we imagine the relish with which the narrator recalls these events. The sight of Dagon, fallen off his perch, with his face in the dirt before the ark of the LORD is deliciously ironic. And it gets better.

Very quickly the Ashdodites take Dagon and put him back in his place. The narrator expects his hearers to enjoy this! Dagon was moved from his place, but he could not get back again! His worshippers had to lift the poor fellow back to his feet. They had to put him back in his place. What kind of god is this?

The next night there was more action in Dagon’s temple. Again, we join the Ashdodites in the temple in the morning; in verse 4 we read:

⁴ …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. 

The narrator purposefully emphasises that it was ‘the Ark of the LORD’. And before the Ark was only what was left of Dagon. We sense the true and living God is at work.

However, the events in Dagon’s temple were just the beginning. The Philistines were to face more difficulties at the hand of the true and living God. In verse 6 we read that as Dagon lay in the dirt, handless, the hand of the true and living God was at work. The weight of God’s glory was going to be felt by the people who had defied Him.

In verses 6 to 8 we see how terror filled the Ashdodites. Quickly they made the connection between the tumours, the smashing of Dagon, and the presence of the Ark in their midst; in verse 7 they declared:

 ⁷ … The ark of the god of Israel must not stay here with us, because his hand is heavy on us and on Dagon our god.” 

In verse 8 a crisis meeting is called. Although sure the presence of the Ark in Ashdod is the cause of their difficulties, the Philistine leaders don’t yet want to surrender control of the Ark. They decide to move the Ark to Gath.

We should not really be surprised by what happens in verse 9: …the Lord’s hand was against that city. The people understood the Lord was against them and they trembled. This time there is no crisis meeting. The Ark is sent to Ekron and there is more terrified panic.

In verses 11 and 12 we witness complete surrender. Just as they had put Dagon back in his place, the Philistines thought it was time to return the Ark to its own place. The reason for the decision was simple: the heavy hand of God- they had felt the weight of God’s glory.

This is how it is when people defy God.

By casting down the Philistine idol and striking His enemies with His wrath, God delivered a message for His People and the world: God is a living God who cannot be manipulated or controlled. Our God is the living and true God, powerful and mighty who cannot be domesticated or defied in anyway whatsoever.

But our God also reveals Himself to be a saving God. The plague of sin that should rightly have fallen on us, instead fell upon Jesus. Jesus came into the world to save sinners; indeed, we hear in Romans 5 verse 8:

⁸ But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Now, by trusting in Christ, we are reconciled to God and called to live in faithful, fruitful obedience to Him.

Our God is the true and living God who must not be defied. Our God is the saving God; we see this as we turn to another question…

How can sinful people escape God’s wrath?

In a sense, the Philistines were very religious. They took special joy in capturing Israel’s most holy object. But when the presence of the Ark brought God’s wrath upon them the Philistines sought answers to one of the most basic religious questions. In Chapter 6 we see them wonder how they could escape God’s holy wrath.

The Philistine’s question was particularly pressing given their circumstances. In verse 1 we see they had endured God’s wrath, in the form of plagues, for seven months. The pride in capturing the Ark made them reluctant to give it up. But eventually they decided it must be sent away. The question was: ‘how?’. In verse 2 we read:

…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.”

What had happened previously created a fear of making things worse by not observing the proper protocol. And so, in verse 3 we read:

³ They answered, “If you return the ark of the god of Israel, do not send it back to him without a gift; 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.”

Here we see both insight and ignorance.

They understood they had offended a holy God and He must be appeased by an offering. But their desperate attempts appease God reveal great ignorance of God and His ways.

In the desperate Philistine ponderings we are provided with a precious insight: God is a holy God who responds to sin with divine judgement. When we defy God, He will reveal His glory with a heavy hand.

The Philistines understood that they needed a suitable sacrifice to satisfy God’s righteous anger towards sin. In verse 4 they rightly inquire:

⁴ … “What guilt offering should we send to him?”

This is the question with which the whole Bible is concerned: How can sinful people escape God’s wrath?

In verses 4 and 5 we hear the Philistine priests try to answer this question. Once again we see insight and ignorance.

There is a recognition that the payment to God must be made, and it must be costly. The offering must also be appropriate- corresponding in some way to the punishment they were receiving. And so they offer golden mice and tumours- representations of what God had afflicted them with in His wrath.

There is one obvious problem with this course of action: as they sought to appease God the Philistines did not consult God’s Word. Like so many today, inside and outside the Church, they thought they could engage with God on their own terms for their own good.

But if we are to properly answer the question, ‘How can sinful people escape God’s wrath?’, then we must go to God in His Word. And in His Word God has made it clear that it is only the Lamb of God who can take away the sin of the world; in Romans 3 we read:

²³ …for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. ²⁵ God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith….

Here is the clearest teaching on how sinful people can escape God’s wrath: the sacrifice we needed was so costly that only God could provide it, and that God in His grace sent His own Son to be the sacrifice for our sins.

The Philistines were right to offer costly materials, but their estimation of the cost of forgiveness was just too low. Our sin causes infinite offence to a Holy God. We need an infinitely valuable sacrifice to be forgiven and made right with God.

God, in His infinite grace, has sent the sacrifice we need to satisfy His eternal wrath. Only by relying on the blood of Christ can we receive forgiveness. It is not something we can buy or earn. It is a gift from God’s mercy, received through faith alone.

And such an offer of grace calls us not to harden our hearts. Instead we receive it in faith and with gratitude. We surrender our pride and our agendas and make Christ our Lord and Saviour.

To refuse God’s offer of amazing grace is simple self-destruction. God has made a way for us to escape His wrath and live in His eternal delight. We must humble ourselves in faith and gratefully receive this most precious gift.

This leads us to our final question…

How can God’s People abide in the presence of their Holy God?

Despite all the Philistines had experienced in those seven months, they still wondered if the plagues had really been caused by the Lord. So, in verses 7 to 8, they devise a scheme to determine God’s ways.

Making a new cart and using cows not previously yoked was an expression of respect. But the Philistines added a twist, using cows that had recently calved. Anyone who has been around farm animals knows that mother cows and their nursing calves are practically inseparable. So, if the cows went to the nearby Jewish city on their own it was clear this was the work of God.

Such a way of discerning God’s will is a sign of weak faith and not an example we should follow. If we desire God’s revelation we simply turn to God’s Word, which God has given as a lamp to our feet and a light for our path.

Off went the cows, no one guiding them, lowing all along the way. The cart went straight to Beth-shemesh. We can imagine the relief felt by the Philistines- they were finally rid of God’s heavy hand.

Unfortunately, they had learned little in the process. They had not learned to humble themselves in trusting obedience to all God had revealed. Let us not make the same mistake when we face times of divine ordained difficulty.

So the Ark returned to Israel after seven months in Philistine hands. And, as the Ark returned to Israel, another question presents itself: ‘How can God’s People abide in the presence of their holy God?’.

Well, firstly, we learn in verse 13 that God’s People are to receive His presence with joy. God is most glorified by His People when they are most satisfied in Him.

God’s People are to rejoice in their God who is awesome in glory and amazing in grace. And so, God’s People are also to dwell with Him in reverence.

This is the clear warning of verses 14 to 19. In verse 14 a sacrifice is arranged immediately. In their hurried arrangements the people overlook God’s basic commandments about what sort of offering was acceptable- only bulls were to be offered. This was followed by a more fatal failure.

In verse 18 we see the Ark was placed on a great stone. The priests had allowed God’s holy Ark to become a tourist attraction! They should have remembered, from Numbers 4, that their first duty was to safeguard the Ark from view.

Then, in verse 19, we read:

¹⁹ …God struck down some of the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh, putting seventy of them to death because they looked into the ark of the Lord. The people mourned because of the heavy blow the Lord had dealt them.

As difficult as this verse may appear to our contemporary mind, the message is clear: these men were judged for their irreverent curiosity.

We do not show reverence to God by treating Him according to our own wisdom or feelings, but only by obeying His commands and the teaching of His Word. In our worship of God our first and lasting thought must be the glory of God. Then we will be truly blessed as God honours those who honour Him.

The people of Kiriath-jearim provide a third example of how we are to dwell in the presence of the holy God, namely, by faith. In Chapter 7 verse 1 we read:

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

In their readiness to receive and protect the Ark they show faith and loyalty to God that has not been seen in the previous chapters.

God’s true people are those who respond to Him in faith. For a generation the people of Kiriath-jearim had the privilege of housing the Ark because they trusted in God’s grace and humbly obeyed His Word. God dwelt with those who sought to honour Him and His ways.

 

Conclusion

When we think about it, all three questions we have considered today are really concerned with the question the Israelites ask when the Ark returns: ‘Who can stand in the presence of the Lord, this holy God?’.

And, if we were to carefully ponder the construction and design of the Ark in our story today, we might get some sense of the answer to this question. The Ark was a golden box containing the Ten Commandments- the Law of God that teaches us of God’s essential holiness and our utter sinfulness.

But the Ark also had another feature: a golden cover, known as the mercy seat, where the blood of sacrifices was sprinkled. Here the holy God no longer saw His broken law but the atoning blood of His sacrifice.

In the Ark we see the absolute holiness of God that burns against all sin. And we see His marvellous grace in providing a way for sinners to draw near through the blood of a sacrifice. And in this way we are pointed most wonderfully to Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the World.

At the Cross we see the answer to our question, ‘Who can stand in the presence of the Lord, this holy God?’. In Christ, and in the garments of His beautiful righteousness, we dwell in the presence of our Holy God with great joy, forevermore.

In Christ we see what God has done to save us, and we are called to respond with joyful gratitude. In Christ we to give our lives completely to the true and living God and enjoy the true life He offers in Him.