1 Samuel 6-7 vs 1-17

1 Samuel Chapter 6 Verses 1 – 4

·    This seems so backwards to me! They are acknowledging the God of Israel. That He is powerful, mightier than their gods, and unable to be overcome…! Even the image of the God of Israel, the presence of the Ark of the Covenant, is enough to subdue them as a people!

·    AND, when instructed to make images that represent themselves, they are told to make golden tumors and golden rats! Ok, here’s why this is so backwards to me! You are in the realization of a God who is far more powerful than anything you know AND you are in the realization that you are a bunch of tumors and rats…, and yet that doesn’t give you the impulse to change something!? SO entirely backwards…, and yet, I see it all the time…

·    I even fall into this myself as the condition or circumstance or relationship seemingly drives me into the flesh (in truth its always me that drives me into the flesh) and everything turns to rats and tumors… In fact, that’s what I become… And it takes me so long to repent, too long… I suppose I’m not alone. I guess I’m hanging out with the Philistines!

1 Samuel Chapter 6 Verses 5 – 9

·    They devise a way to test and see if what was happening to them was indeed the hand of the God of Israel. Two cows that had never been yoked wouldn’t know what to do. You always yoked a new cow with an experienced cow. Two new ones would just stand there or pull against each other…

·    Also, by taking their calves away from them, the natural inclination of these cows would be to return to their place, not to go towards a foreign land. So, the test is on…

1 Samuel Chapter 6 Verses 10 – 14

·    Poor cows! It even says that the cows were “lowing as they went” which means they were groaning as if they mourning. I’ve never felt so bad for a sirloin steak in my life!! HA!!

1 Samuel Chapter 6 Verses 15 – 16

·    This shows the warped state of the people of God. They rejoice to see the Ark returning because to them it was the representation of the presence of God. They call the Levites to manage the Ark. Both things are good and right in the eyes of God. But then they build an altar, a high place, not at the site of the Tabernacle which was the only place an altar of sacrifice was supposed to be and they offer cows (as opposed to bulls) which was forbidden by the Mosaic Law.

·    It’s a scene of half commitment perhaps. Half ignorance? Maybe… Nevertheless, it’s a scene that isn’t right, isn’t well pleasing to the Lord, and ultimately results in, leads to, inviting and accomplishing intense destruction of themselves!

1 Samuel Chapter 6 Verses 17 – 19

·    They opened the Ark? They looked into its contents! That is a major major issue! I’ve seen Indiana Jones!! It all started with the cows. It started with the setting up of a high place, and it eventuates in a total disregard for the reverence of God! This is how simple little slimy secret sin steers a soul! Precisely why Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:27, “Give no place to the devil.” In the ESV, “Give no opportunity to the devil.” In the NIV, “Do not give the devil a foothold.” Because he grabs the foot and works his way to the heart and then captures the mind…

·    Now just by way of information, the original Hebraic text, many conclude that the meaning of this text is seventy out of fifty thousand men died, not fifty thousand and seventy. At any rate, a loss of seventy men here for the half-obedience in the beginning to full on irreverence in the end.

1 Samuel Chapter 6 Verses 20 – 21

·    The response of the people wasn’t repentance and a return to reverence. If so then the cry of the people would have been, “We have sinned, we were wrong, let’s correct it.” Instead, they cry out against God.

·    God hasn’t revealed to Him His rightness, or correctness, or harshness, or judgement… If you want to see it that way you can, but those are all lesser thoughts, lesser revelations. God has revealed to them His holiness. But they missed it… God’s holiness, His utter set apartness, drives men to worship, drives a soul to surrender… But the judgement of God drives men to rebel. The trick is that we get to choose which we see.

·    Psalm 18:25-27, “With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful; With the blameless man You will show Yourself blameless; With the pure You will show Yourself pure; And with the devious You will show Yourself shrewd. For You will save the humble people, but will bring down the haughty looks.”

1 Samuel Chapter 7 Verses 1 – 2

·    In a sense, their lamentation was self-imposed. Why not take the Ark back to where it belonged? Perhaps because they had been done wrong by the priesthood. I get it, even today there is church hurt. People that get hurt in church and that is a different hurt than anywhere else… Because church is different…

·    We are far more than a religious institution. A church is a community and it is a family. Even moreover, it’s a family that is supposed to be holy, graceful, merciful, self-less, humble and harmless. Inviting, forgiving, nourishing and caring. Even in the midst of all that, it’s comprised of imperfect people and at some point, everyone gets harmed… I wish it wasn’t that way but I’ve yet to see anyone live a perfect minute in this life… People make mistakes. People get into the flesh. People self-protect. People sin…, all of us…

·    Some church hurt is a mistake of ignorance. Some hurt in church is an opportunity for righteousness. And some church hurt itself is righteous…, when one is called to repentance. But when the priests are using the people and the high priest won’t do anything about it… I get it… time to go. But for Israel, Eli and his sons are no more… And yet they don’t return to the tabernacle where God has commanded to meet with His people… So, they lament…

1 Samuel Chapter 7 Verses 3 – 4

·    So much more was going on than we were previously told. If I am willing to deny God in one thing, how is it that it isn’t just the more routine for me to deny Him in another… The people forsook the Tabernacle of Meeting and the prescribed sacrifices and service unto God… And low and behold, idolatry was rampant… Not so shocking at all…

·    Samuel calls for a revival. Revival is not when the Holy Spirit pours out a new on a crowd. That’s a blessing and shouldn’t be thought of as so uncommon. He is desiring to do that constantly. Revival is when you turn your whole heart unto God. Re-life happens. Jesus promised it…, He said that He came to bring life and life abundant!

·    Samuel calls for the hardest work possible. Not for behavior modification or for someone to stop doing what is wrong and start doing what is right. He called for them to discover why they did wrong and address their hearts. Rather than repent over what they had done, repent inwardly as to why they had done it in the first place. He calls and says, “If you return to the Lord with all your hearts…, and prepare your hearts for the Lord…”

1 Samuel Chapter 7 Verses 5 – 6

·    Why Mizpah? Mizpah was the recognized place for repentance. It was a recognized place of change. Repentance without change is just empty sorrow. It’s worse than not being remorseful because it sows a special evil into the hearts of those hurt by the sin of others. It sows false hope….

·    In a time of great national sin, even civil war as the people of Israel rose up against its own, the tribe of Benjamin, they gathered according to Judges Chapter 20 in Mizpah to handle their own internal sin. It was at Mizpah that Jacob and Laban parted ways, major change… So, it was Mizpah that Samuel instructed the children of Israel to go to in order to return to the Lord… And that is what true repentance really is…

1 Samuel Chapter 7 Verses 7 – 9

·    Why did God honor this sacrifice? The Bible doesn’t say…, but we can make some observations. The lamb was an acceptable sacrifice per the law. Young, without blemish, innocent, pure… It is possible that Samuel inquired of the Lord before offering this lamb… Ultimately, we do not know, but the Lord had anointed Samuel and accepts this sacrifice and answers…

·    One other thing here and this is a two percent risk… God had called Samuel to be a prophet and a judge unto the nation. At this time, there were none other called… Samuel could minister to the Lord in a manner that no one else was able to… He was called. He was anointed. And that could spark envy or cries of unfair from the people and yet it simply is what it is… God selected Samuel and Samuel was able and enabled to do what others could not…

1 Samuel Chapter 7 Verses 10 – 12

·    I like that! Samuel commemorates the moment for the nation in a physical way to set a stone in their remembrance of them trusting the Lord, calling out to the Lord, turning completely to the Lord, and boom…, God shows Himself faithful! “Ebenezer” means “stone of help.”

1 Samuel Chapter 7 Verses 13 – 17

·    Samuel was a Levite. He was of the priestly line. And yet God didn’t call him to serve only in this capacity or really in this capacity. He was called to be a judge and a prophet to the people. And yet, by blood he was priest, judge and prophet, spokesperson for God. There was one thing that he wasn’t… He wasn’t king.

·    So, we have a nation without a high priest, and without a king…, and any person without those two things starts looking for one… And that’s what’s up next…