|
First Word
This Word study is about the Hebrews losing the Ark of the Covenant to the Philistines.
It has three themes running through it.
First; Disciplining children
with the rod.
Second; Worshiping the creator
instead of the creation; and
Third; Don’t mess around with
God’s anointed.
#1 Preacher’s Kids story
- This story is ripped
right out of the scriptures about two PK’s;
Preacher’s Kids, Hophni
and Phinehas who were Priest
serving in the tabernacle under their father Eli the high Priest.
- The words that
describe them are; Sons of worthlessness, scandalous in their habits, wickedness,
impurity, bribery, tyranny and miseries, lust by force; raping the young
women who served at the entrance of the tabernacle as if they were “
- This shows that in
the best of homes, foolishness still abounds in the heart of a child.
- Although their father
Eli was angry with them, his chastisement was far too mild and gentle, as he
did not scripturally discipline them with the rod, but believed that God
would do it.
- A prophet tells Eli
that he is partially responsible, because he honored his sons more than
God. – Eli is classed with his sons as an accomplice to their sins.
- Eventually it cost all three of them their lives. – It didn’t stop
there; Eli’s tender spirited “daughter
in law” upon hearing about the loss of the Ark, the death of her father in
law and her husband; dies in childbirth naming her child “Ichabod” which means; there
is “No Glory”.
- The
Ark of the Covenant is interwoven with the story of Hophni and
Phinehas and their blasphemous wickedness; we would be well advised to discipline
our children; it could literally save their lives and perhaps ours
too.
1 Sam 2:12 -14 – Eli’s Two sons were wicked men.
12 Eli's sons were wicked men; they had no
regard for the LORD.
13 Now it was the practice of the priests with the
people that whenever anyone offered a sacrifice and while the meat was being
boiled, the servant of the priest would come with a three-pronged fork in his
hand.
14 He would plunge it into the pan or kettle or
caldron or pot, and the priest would take for himself whatever the fork brought
up. This is how they treated all the Israelites who came to Shiloh .
NIV
1 Sam 2:22 – They raped the women who served
22 Now Eli, who was very old, heard about
everything his sons were doing to all Israel
1 Sam 2:17 – They had no respect for God
17 This sin of the young men was very
great in the LORD's sight, for they were treating the LORD's offering with
contempt. NIV
Prov 22:15 – The Rod of Correction
15 Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child;
but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him. KJV
Prov 23:13-14 – Don’t
withhold the rod
13 Withhold not correction from the child:
for if you beat him with the rod, he shall not die.
14 Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and deliver
his soul from hell.
Prov 29:15 – A child left
to him self will bring shame
15 The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child
left to himself brings his mother to shame. KJV
1 Sam 2:34 – The two sons died
34 And what happens to your two sons, Hophni and
Phinehas, will be a sign to you-they will both die on the same
day. NIV
1 Sam 4:18 – Eli died
18 When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell
backward off his chair by the side of the gate. His neck was broken and he
died, NIV
The Ark
- In a nutshell, The
Ark of the Covenant was constructed to hold the “Ten Commandments” along
with Aaron’s rod that budded and a golden jar of Manna. NYOBS
16.20 Ark of the Covenant.
- The top of it was
called the mercy seat and had two angels facing each other and was said to
be where God would abide. – There above it, God would meet with Moses to
talk with him.
- No one could look inside
the
- THE
Ex 25:22 – I will meet
with you
22 There, above the cover between the two
cherubim that are over the ark of the Testimony, I will meet with you and
give you all my commands for the Israelites. NIV
Num 7:89 – Above the
atonement cover between the two angels
89 When Moses entered the Tent of Meeting to speak
with the LORD, he heard the voice speaking to him from between the two
cherubim above the atonement cover on the ark of the Testimony. And
he spoke with him. NIV
Heb 9:4 – Manna and
Aaron’s rod
4 This ark contained the gold jar of manna,
Aaron's staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant.
NIV
Deut 31:26 – Book of the
Law beside the Ark
26 "Take this Book of the Law and place it
beside the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God. There it will
remain as a witness
Num 4:5-6 –
Cover the Ark
5 When the camp is to
move, Aaron and his sons are to go take down the shielding curtain and cover
the ark of the Testimony with it.
6 Then they shall put on it a covering of badger
skins, and spread over that a cloth entirely of blue; and they shall
insert its poles.
Ex 25:12-15 – Here’s how
to transport it
12 Cast four gold rings for it and fasten
them to its four feet, with two rings on one side and two rings on the
other.
13 Then make poles of acacia wood and overlay them
with gold.
14 Insert the poles into the rings on the sides
of the chest to carry it.
15 The poles are to remain in the rings of this ark;
they are not to be removed.
#2 The Creator; not the Creation
- The movie “Raiders of the Lost Ark” pictures
the Ark of the Covenant as a
- When the Israelites
were on the move, the
- When they marched
around
- Here is where we pick
up the meat of the story. – The norm was to inquire of the Lord as to
what they should do concerning upcoming battles, but the Israelites put
their trust in the rituals and external observance of the GOD IN
THE
- One day, reasoning
that the mere presence of the
- Sin
was in the Camp and
- GOD HAD DEPARTED FROM
THEM - The physical presence of the
- I pray for our Nation
– There is sin in our Camp –
Has God departed from our
Ex 13:21 - A pillar of cloud - A pillar of fire
21 By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar
of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire
to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. NIV
Num 10:33 – The Ark went
before the Israelites
33 So they set out from the mountain of the LORD
and traveled for three days. The ark of the covenant of the LORD went
before them during those three days to find them a place to rest. NIV
Deut 10:8 – Tribe of Levi
to carry the Ark
8 At that time the LORD set apart the tribe of
Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the LORD, to stand before the LORD
to minister and to pronounce blessings in his name, as they still do today. NIV
Josh 6:6-7 – The Ark
6 Take up the ark of the covenant of the
LORD and have seven priests carry trumpets in front of it."
7 And he ordered the people, "Advance! March
around the city, with the armed guard going ahead of the ark of the LORD."
NIV
Josh 6:20 – The walls fell down
20 When the trumpets sounded, the people shouted,
and at the sound of the trumpet, when the people gave a loud shout, the wall
collapsed; so every man charged straight in, and they took the city.
Judg 20:27 – They inquired of the Lord what they should do
27 And the Israelites inquired of the LORD.
(In those days the ark of the covenant of God was there). NIV
1 Sam 4:1-11 - Hey guys,
let’s go get the Ark
1 Now the Israelites went out to fight against the
Philistines. The Israelites camped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines at Aphek.
2 The Philistines deployed their forces to meet Israel Israel
3 When the soldiers returned to camp, the elders
of Israel Shiloh , so that it may go with
us and save us from our enemies."
4 So the people sent men to Shiloh , and they brought back
the ark of the covenant of the LORD Almighty, who is enthroned between the
cherubim. And Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the
ark of the covenant of God.
10 So the Philistines fought, and the Israelites
were defeated and every man fled to his tent. The slaughter was very great;
Israel
11 The ark of God was captured, and Eli's
two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, died. NIV
1 Sam 4:18 – The High Priest Eli died
18 When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell
backward off his chair by the side of the gate. His neck was broken and he
died, NIV
#3 Don’t mess around with
God’s anointed.
- God has said not to
touch his anointed and the Ark
of the Covenant was certainly anointed.
- The
- God
laughs at the Philistines and starts messing with the god Dagon, the
statue of their national deity, by making him TWICE fall down, even
though he had been NAILED back up.
- He fell prostrate from
off his pedestal before the
- This SYMBOLISM was a
SCARY premonition of things to come for the Philistines. Their god Dagon
was now without a head;
no wisdom and without hands;
no power, he was “helpless”.
- At that point God
cuts loose a great multitude of Mice
which destroyed their fruits as well as the fruit plant itself.
- Then it gets really SERIOUS - God’s “Heavy Hand” sends a very
destructive disease of Emerods;
Tumors, bleeding piles, Hemorrhoids with dysentery and
acute pain and they vomited up their entrails; and many died. – It was painful and shameful - Those
that did not die still had the pain of the Hemorrhoids. No one escaped this plague – They had
- Plagues and sickness
were considered as the effects of the hand
of god. - The Hebrew word “outbreak” here is interpreted as
“groin” in the SECRET PARTS of
man - Tumors in the groins,
is a common symptom of the
bubonic plague. - Today we know that rats carry the bubonic
plague.
- The Philistines did
not want to relinquish such a prize as the Hebrew’s
- NOTE: Josephus says the
- The Philistines determined
that this entire calamity was brought about by the sinister force of the Hebrew’s
Ark that they had brought into their city; so they sent it to Gath, a city
of GIANTS, but the plagues followed the Ark affecting those GREAT and
small.
- In all, the
1 Chron 16:22 – Don’t touch my anointed
22 Touch not mine anointed, and do my
prophets no harm.
Ps 105:15 – Touch not
15 Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do
my prophets no harm.
Ps 2:2-5 – God just laughs
at the Philistines
2 The kings of the earth take their stand and the
rulers gather together against the LORD and against his Anointed One.
3 "Let us break their chains," they say,
"and throw off their fetters."
4 The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the
Lord scoffs at them.
5 Then he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies
them in his wrath.
1 Sam 5:1-4 – They put the
Ark temple of Dagon
1 After the Philistines had captured the ark of
God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod
2 Then they carried the ark into Dagon's temple
and set it beside Dagon.
3 When the people of Ashdod
4 But the following morning when they rose, 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. NIV
Isa 41:7 – They NAILED
down the idol so it will not fall over
7 The craftsman encourages the goldsmith, and he
who smoothes with the hammer spurs on him who strikes the anvil. He says of the
welding, "It is good. "He nails down the idol so it will not
topple.
NIV
Josephus 6:1.3 –
Hemorrhoids and Mice
3 At length God sent a very destructive disease
upon the city and country of Ashdod, for they died of the dysentery or flux,
a very sore distemper, that brought death upon them very
suddenly; for before the could, as usual in easy deaths, be loosed from the
body, they brought up their entrails, and vomited up what they
had eaten, and what was entirely corrupted by the disease. And as to the fruits of their country; a
great multitude of mice arose out of the earth and hurt them, and spared
neither the plants nor the fruits.
1 Sam 5:9 –
Hemorrhoids in their SECRET PARTS
9 And it was so, that, after they had carried it
about, the hand of the LORD was against the city with a very great destruction:
and he smote the men of the city, both small and great, and they had emerods
in their secret parts. KJV
1 Sam 6:17 – The Five Philistine Cities
17 These are the gold tumors the Philistines sent
as a guilt offering to the LORD-one each for Ashdod Gaza Ashkelon , Gath
NIV
1 Sam 5:6-7 – The Ark Ashdod
6 The LORD's hand was heavy upon the people of Ashdod
7 When the men of Ashdod Israel
NIV
1 Sam 5:8 – Sent the Ark Gath
8 "What shall we do with the ark of the god
of Israel Israel Gath
NIV
1 Sam 5:9-10 – Sent the Ark
9 He afflicted the people of the city, both
young and old, with an outbreak of tumors.
10 So they sent the ark of God to Ekron.
NIV
1 Sam 5:10 -11 – Sent the Ark Israel
10 "They have brought the ark of the god of Israel
11 So they called together all the rulers of the
Philistines and said, "Send the ark of the god of Israel
GOD IS NOT OUR ENEMY; BUT THE ENEMY OF OUR SIN
Send a Peace Offering
- So send that puppy
away with a Guilt/Peace Offering
to their God with models of the Five Golden Rats and Five Golden
Hemorrhoids representing the Lords of the five cities. Maybe He will relent. – In pagan religious
protocol you could not approach your god empty handed.
- TEST - Make a new cart
and hitch up two cows that have never been yoked. - Two Untrained cows,
wanton and vagrant that would pursue no certain or
regular path – Take them to a road with “three forks in the road” with
the middle one leading to
- By the
way.
– Get two cows that have just had calves and have the desire to go to
their baying calves and not to the Hebrews… that should make it even more
interesting.
- So here’s
what we have;
Cows that want to go to their new born calves; that have never been
trained with a yoke to pull a cart and are to be led to unfamiliar territory
to a road with three forks with only one of them going to the Hebrews. –
Yeah, that should do it.
1 Sam 6:3-5 – Hey, lets
make some Gold Rats and Hemorrhoids.
3 If you return the ark of the god of Israel
4 The Philistines asked, "What guilt offering
should we send to him?"
They replied, "Five gold tumors and five
gold rats, according to the number of the Philistine rulers, because the
same plague has struck both you and your rulers.
5 Make models of the tumors and of the rats
that are destroying the country, and pay honor to Israel
1 Sam 6:7-9 – Make a TEST
with a new CART and some cows
7 "Now then, get a new cart ready,
with two cows that have calved and have never been yoked. Hitch
the cows to the cart, but take their calves away and pen them up.
8 Take the ark of the LORD and put it on the cart,
and in a chest beside it put the gold objects you are sending back to him as a guilt
offering. Send it on its way,
9 but keep watching it. If it goes up to its own
territory, toward Beth Shemesh, then the LORD has brought this great disaster
on us. But if it does not, then we will know that it was not his hand that
struck us and that it happened to us by chance." NIV
Josephus 6:1.3.11 – A place
where THREE ROADS met
11 Then to drive these milch kine (cows) that carried the Ark
12 That in case they went the way of the Hebrews,
and ascended to their country, they should suppose that the Ark
1 Sam 6:12 – The cows went straight to the territory of Israel
12 Then the cows went straight up toward Beth
Shemesh, keeping on the road; they did not turn to the right or to the left.
The rulers of the Philistines followed them as far as the border of Beth
Shemesh.
Let’s take a look inside
- The cows took the
- Open up
that puppy
– Remember; no one was to approach the
- The Hebrews were now afraid to be in the
presence of the Ark because of their own unworthiness, so the Ark was
taken by the Priest to Abinadab’s house; there they set apart and
sanctified Abinadab and his son Eleazar to be the ”keeper of the
place”. The
1 Sam 6:19 -20 – Seventy men looked inside – Seventy men died
19 But God struck down some of the men of Beth
Shemesh, putting seventy of them to death because they had looked
into the ark of the LORD. The people mourned because of the heavy blow the
LORD had dealt them,
20 The men of Beth Shemesh asked, "Who can
stand in the presence of the LORD, this holy God? To whom will the ark go up
from here?"
1 Sam 7:1-2 – The Ark
1 So the men of Kiriath Jearim came and took up
the ark of the LORD. They took it to Abinadab's house on the hill and consecrated
Eleazar his son to guard the ark of the LORD.
2 It was twenty years in all, that the ark
remained at Kiriath Jearim, and all the people of Israel
Summary
- Today we do not
discipline our children because our culture says it will WARP their lives,
that they should have a
- One of the problems
with us as Christians is that we do not teach the scriptures to our children,
“Generation to Generation”.
People do foolish things because they lack knowledge. Scripture says “My people perish
for lack of knowledge”. – We put our trust in objects and systems and
people who lack a spiritual compass. - We have lost our “Spiritual Compass”
and have hung our own light on the mast of our boat to follow and guide
us. (Ponder that)
- We don’t have the
reverence and awe of Almighty God because we don’t spend anytime with Him.
– When we move ahead with our plans and leave God behind, disaster
looms on the horizon. - When things go wrong we wonder why we have Hemorrhoids and mice. – Go figure.
Hos 4:6 – Lack of
Knowledge
6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: ASV
Deut 11:19 – Teach God’s precepts to your children
19 Teach them to your children, talking
about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the
road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the
doorframes of your houses.
In the multitude of counselors,
there is wisdom.
Prov 11:14
I am grateful for those that went before me providing concepts, ideas, historical information, and scripture verses. Because of them I can stand on their shoulders and see further than I otherwise ever could have.
A Commentary; Critical, Experimental and Practical
– Eedmann
All the Promises of the Bible – Herbert Lockyer
All the Women of the Bible – Edith Deen
Antiquity of the Jews – Josephus; The Jewish Historian
Baker Commentary on the Bible – Walter A. Elwell
Bible Almanac; The – Packer Tenney White
Bible Commentary – F.B Meyer
Bible Dictionary – Harper’s
Book of Bible lists – Joel Meredith
Customs and Folkways of Jewish Life – Theodor H. Gaster
Dake’s Annotated Reference Bible – Dake
Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon – J. Vernon
Encountering the Old Testament – Arnold-
Explore the Bible – LifeWay
Expositor’s Bible Commentary; The – Frank E. Gaebelein
Matthew Henry’s Commentary – Zondervan
Illustrated Bible Dictionary – Nelson’s
Illustrated Bible Dictionary – Tyndale
New International Dictionary of the Bible; The – Douglas - Tenney
Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible; Zondervan
Victor Journey through the Bible; The – V. Gilbert Beers
Who’s Who in the Bible - Gardner
Wycliffe Bible Commentary;
The – Pfeiffer & Harrison
No comments:
Post a Comment