The Ark was Taken (1 Samuel 4:11a)

4/23/2010 8:01 AM

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY

 

My Worship Time                                        Focus:  The Ark was taken

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                        Reference:  1 Samuel 4:11a

 

            Message of the verses:  “And the ark of God was taken;”

            Just a quick note to begin this SD and that is that I will be covering three sub-divisions from Dr. Wiersbe’s “Be Successful,” his commentary on 1 Samuel.

            The Ark of God was where the Lord made His presence known to the nation of Israel.  No one could even touch it or they would die and that is why it had the handles on it to transport it when it was needed to be moved while the children of Israel were in the wilderness.  This is explained in Numbers 4:5-6 “5  "When the camp sets out, Aaron and his sons shall go in and they shall take down the veil of the screen and cover the ark of the testimony with it; 6  and they shall lay a covering of porpoise skin on it, and shall spread over it a cloth of pure blue, and shall insert its poles.”

            To have the Ark of God taken to the battle field was probably not a sin in and of itself, but to treat it like something that was superstitious to them, a good luck charm, was certainly sinful.  God allowed the ark to be taken to teach both Israel and the Philistines a lesson.  The Ark of God was now in pagan hands, but that is what it had been in while the sons of Eli were ministering to the Lord.

           

Focus #2:  The two priests died                              Reference:  1 Samuel 4:11b

           

            Message of the verses:  and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.

            God had warned Eli two times that this was going to happen, once by the anonymous prophet and then by speaking to Samuel about it.  They had their chance to repent of their sins, but chose not to do so and so God’s patience ran out and they were killed.

 

Focus #3:  The high priest died                               Reference:  1 Samuel 4:12-18

 

            Message of the verses:  “12 ¶  Now a man of Benjamin ran from the battle line and came to Shiloh the same day with his clothes torn and dust on his head. 13  When he came, behold, Eli was sitting on his seat by the road eagerly watching, because his heart was trembling for the ark of God. So the man came to tell it in the city, and all the city cried out. 14  When Eli heard the noise of the outcry, he said, "What does the noise of this commotion mean?" Then the man came hurriedly and told Eli. 15  Now Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes were set so that he could not see. 16  The man said to Eli, "I am the one who came from the battle line. Indeed, I escaped from the battle line today." And he said, "How did things go, my son?" 17  Then the one who brought the news replied, "Israel has fled before the Philistines and there has also been a great slaughter among the people, and your two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been taken." 18  When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell off the seat backward beside the gate, and his neck was broken and he died, for he was old and heavy. Thus he judged Israel forty years.

            I would like to begin this section by quoting from Warren Wiersbe’s book, “Be Successful,” a note he has on the word “heavy” and how it applies to this section for this is the description of Eli when he died.  “The Hebrew word kabod shows up frequently in this account.  It means ‘heavy’ but also can mean ‘honor, glory, respectful’ (people of weight).  Eli was ‘heavy’ but he wasn’t ‘weighty’ when it came to character and godliness, what Paul called ‘weight of glory’ (2 Cor. 4:17.  “For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison.”  Verses 18 is also meaningful to me and so I will quote them also, “while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

            When I read the portion of Scripture in 1 Samuel I saw that Eli was more concerned for the Ark of God than he was for his two sons, who were very sinful.  There was a law in the OT that when someone has a child who continues to act sinfully they can have him killed, and thus purge the evil for the nation of Israel.  This is not done in the NT times, but one can be turned over to Satan as Paul describes in 1 Cor. 5, (I think its chapter 5). 

            It is possible that Eli had a heart attack, or a stroke, but he did die and his death along with the death of his two sons began how the Lord would rid Israel of all his decedents as was promised by the Lord.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I once read a book by Charles Swindoll called “Three Steps Forward, Two Steps Back,” and I think that it describes my walk with the Lord pretty well.  My goal has always been since I became a believer and found out that all believers are to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, but all believers had enemies and fall to sin too many times.  My though life at times gives me struggles, and then what is going on in our country at this time, seeing it come to receive its due from the Lord for its great sinfulness is heartbreaking to me, but the eighteenth verse in 2^nd Cor. four has again reminded me who is in control and that He will never make any mistakes, and that He is equitable, and that one day all wrongs will be made right with believers give me renewed confidence in the Lord this morning and I am thankful.  I pray that the momentary light afflictions in my life will produce an eternal weight of glory in my life.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1. “For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

 

4/23/2010 8:50 AM