1 Samuel 4 and 5
1 Samuel Chapter 4 Verses 1 – 2
· The Philistines we read of in the scriptures are not the same as what is called today the Palestinians. According to Amos 9:7, the Philistines were Cretan immigrants (from the modern-day island of Crete), and so they were actually Greeks, or decedents of Greece. Modern-day Palestinians are Arabs descending from those who remained in the country (or were displaced) after the 1948 war.
· Palestine actually refers to Israel under the control of Arabs. Lebanon and Jordan are also associated with Palestine. The word Palestine comes from (or derives from) the word Philistia but the people are not Philistines. So, when you hear Palestinian, what is being said is that the land is not Israel, it is Palestine…
· The Philistines were a formidable opponent for the nation of Israel during this time. They were the first people in the land of Canan to process iron and taking from their Grecian roots, they had armor, shields, swords, spears… Perhaps the most popular of all Philistines as Goliath who carried a spear with an iron tip that weighed over 30 pounds!
1 Samuel Chapter 4 Verse 3
· There was a different and more reality-based understanding of God in the culture of the people at this time in Samuel’s day, (and frankly, in some ways), you experience this still in Israel today. God and His importance and hand upon daily life is not a belief per se in Israel, it is more like a given. Daily culture just simply includes thought such as this… They were defeated and their after-action review wasn’t their armaments, strategy, formations or foes…, it was God-based.
· Now there are all kinds of issues here… They went into battle without seeking the Lord. They went in their own strength without the presence of the Lord. And then when they encountered defeat, they sought to bring God to where they were, bring Him into their plan, rather than seek Him for His plan… Its not going to work out for them…
1 Samuel Chapter 4 Verses 4 – 7
· The presence of God incites a shout of praise and victory in the camp of the people of God! And I LOVE THAT! This is one thing that I think of often and a major difference between the church and heaven…., the gathering of the people of God here on earth and the gathering of the people of God in heaven. Let me put it this way, in heaven I definitely do not expect a bunch of low-key and placid worship!
· The charismaniac movements and churches have somewhat ruined this for the earthly church. We ought to shout praise! We ought to clap our hands and express victory in worship! And there are groups that have tried that and have gone so far into the flesh with running and screaming and trembling and gyrating that they’ve ruined it for us, in a way. We stand stoically as we sing of Jesus’ victory… It should not be so… The demonic realm snickers at our restraint (just my opinion)…
· The ark comes into the camp and the praises of the people of God defeat the enemies surrounding them… Even just for a moment (as we will see that the victory of Israel is short-lived), and that’s in a way what worship should be…
1 Samuel Chapter 4 Verses 8 – 11
· Check this out. Four thousand men fall without the presence of God. Thirty thousand men fall WITH the presence of God. Doesn’t make sense! Or does it…? It is not if God is with you that makes a difference in your battles and times of great testing. It is if YOU are with God…
1 Samuel Chapter 4 Verses 12 – 18
· Notice that Eli wasn’t struck by the news of his evil sons. It was the news of the Ark of God that caused him to panic. All of this is on Eli. He could never face this and even to his death he refused to see this… But it was his own failure to weaken/restrain his sons that caused them to go full-on into darkness as men…
· And check this out…, because of Eli’s OWN failure, he ended up despising his own sons. Why? Because they were evil? Sure. BUT first, they were evil because of Eli. Eli’s own sin caused his sons to die and further caused him to not care when it happened… Oh the exceedingly sinfulness of sin!!!!!!!!!!!
1 Samuel Chapter 4 Verses 19 – 22
· In truth, the glory of God departed from that place with the sin of the high priest. Similar to that, the glory of God has returned upon the people of God through the perfection of our High Priest, Jesus Christ!!
1 Samuel Chapter 5 Verses 1 – 2
· Dagon was said to be the father of Baal, the father of the gods, and he was represented as half man, half fish. Merman! HA! I did some research on who this false god was and where he originated from but altogether, he was remarkably unremarkable…
· At any rate, the Philistines give their god credit for the victory over their enemies and in that they honor their god by bringing in the ark of the God of the Jews to the temple of Dagon. Now isn’t that interesting. God Most High says you will have no other Gods before Me…, and bringing a false god or false idol into the temple of the Most High God is definitely a terrible thing… But on the flip side, false gods love company! SO much application there!!!!!
1 Samuel Chapter 5 Verse 3
· Awe, poor Dagon. There he is fallen on his face in the presence of the Ark of the One true God! The people have to help their god out! HA! Set him back in his place!
· But I love this picture! God Most High is brought in even to the house of the false god…, there is error, there is idolatry, but the presence of God enters… In one night, God couldn’t even wait one full day, and He must cause the error to bow to Him!
· Notice, this false god is not destroyed, not yet. But immediately, it is forced to stop standing tall. And just like that, we bring our sin, our temptations, our problems, our errors, and we bring them into the presence of God and essentially, go to sleep. That’s what these people did! And God deals with it! Would to God that Christians today would be as wise as these Philistines!!
1 Samuel Chapter 5 Verses 4 – 5
· One more day and God deals completely with the false god! The head and the hands are removed which is symbolic of authority and ability! Pressing into the Lord, staying in His presence even when things are tough, this is what He does! He can’t help Himself, He’s so good that He just does good! And whatever it is that has been ordering you around and taking you places you wish you had not gone, and doing and done things to your life that are of no value and wasteful and harmful, continue to enter the presence of the God that is Most High and He will deal with them!
· How is it that we enter into the presence of the Lord? Psalm 51:7, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,” a repentant spirit…, one that is aware of its own sin and seeking freedom from it, to change! “A broken and a contrite heart, these O God, You will not despise.” A heart knowing its own need to be healed that is humble towards God!
· Psalm 95:2-3, “Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.” Psalm 95:6-7, “Oh come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. For He is our God, and we are the people of the pasture, and the sheep of His hand!”
· Here’s what the enemy wants to do working through your flesh and the world and all that exalts itself against God… He wants you to share the fate of Dagon. Because in truth, the heavens are God’s and the earth is His footstool… He is sovereign with all authority, and so to operate as Dagon even in the house of Dagon, folks today even Christians alike end up with zero authority over their own circumstance, mood, heart and lives and zero capability to do anything about it… Just like Dagon…
1 Samuel Chapter 5 Verses 6 – 8
· Or, they could recognize the power that is right there in front of them and choose to serve God rather than their idols! I mean, how dumb is this! This is the same situation that I observe over and over again, honestly and sadly! God is obviously the authority! He is obviously the All Mighty! His Word is proven and obvious…
· But rather than step into reality, folks choose to close their eyes, head in the sand, “The presence of God must not remain with us…,” He’s too powerful! It’s just a crazy scene for me, personally. Oh, not this one…., not 1 Samuel…., the scene I see over and over and over again in the lives of far too many folks…
1 Samuel Chapter 5 Verses 9 – 12
· Why tumors? Well, I mean, we don’t necessarily know, but a tumor is someone’s own body, growing and acting and capacitating where it ought not… We were designed to know God. To be in His image but not Him. To bear His image just like our children bear our image… Inherit what He has for us. Learn from Him. Be provided for from Him…
· There are countless things that could be provided to my children in this world that I do not provide them. I provide to them that which is good and that which is necessary to bring them up in safety, purpose and even comfort… Just like that, God provides for each one of us perhaps not all that we want but certainly all that we need…
· And yet so many bite the hand that has created them. Do their own thing…, just like cancer cells…, and the result is the cry of the city… When the calling of God is rejoicing! So, God strikes down the dumb and lifeless idols in our lives…, and what do we do? We set them back up again! We get warnings…, then with setting the idols back up, next up comes a greater response… the heavy hand of God…
· 2 Corinthians 2:14-16, “Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life.”