King James Bible Study – [And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. – Mark 8:34]
Date: Tuesday, April 09, 2024
Chapters: 1 Samuel Chapters 4-7
Message: Give God The Wheel
Hello My Friend,
Did you ever have one of those days or even weeks where your thoughts are all jumbled up and yet everything draws a blank? I have been like that for several days now. There are so many things going on that all you can say, is “God, take the wheel.” Speaking of that phrase, I read a marquee that said something in the line of, “If you want Jesus to take the wheel stop putting Him in the Co-pilot seat.” Well, maybe I made that up, but it does sound like a good phrase to follow. How often are we guilty of trying to get ahead of God? Or how often do we try to reason with Him in regards to something that we know we should or should not be doing? We are to never take advantage of the grace that gave us salvation with freely, but thankfully we who are saved have an advocate on our side when we do mess up, [1 John 2:1-3 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. 3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.]
Keeping God’s commands has nothing to do with keeping our salvation, but we do want to be obedient to His Word as that is what sets the example for others and besides, we ought to know better. As we continue in the reading of 1 Samuel, we learn that the prophecy that God had given Eli and Samuel in regards to Eli’s sons dying in one day and his entire family being eliminated for not only abusing their positions as priests, but permitting and condoning sin in the Tabernacle was coming to pass. Israel’s biggest enemy were the Philistines, they had been plotting their vengeance since Samson killed thousands of their people by bringing down their worship center. The Philistines literally encircled the Israelites and invaded their camp.
[1 Samuel 4:1-4 And the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out against the Philistines to battle, and pitched beside Ebenezer: and the Philistines pitched in Aphek. 2 And the Philistines put themselves in array against Israel: and when they joined battle, Israel was smitten before the Philistines: and they slew of the army in the field about four thousand men. 3 And when the people were come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, Wherefore hath the LORD smitten us to day before the Philistines? Let us fetch the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of Shiloh unto us, that, when it cometh among us, it may save us out of the hand of our enemies. 4 So the people sent to Shiloh, that they might bring from thence the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth between the cherubims: and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.]
[the elders of Israel said, Wherefore hath the LORD smitten us to day] They seriously needed to ask that question when they were just as guilty of having other gods before them as the Levites were of tainting the sacrifices. So, instead of seeking counsel from God, they come up with this ridiculous plan to bring the Ark of the covenant into the camp, which was basically a wooden trunk that contained the Law as well as the two tablets with the first ten commandments written upon it and few other things. They foolishly believed that God was in the trunk, and when Hophni and Phinehas brought the Ark into the camp everyone cheered, and even the Philistines got scared for a second, but that only made them fight harder.
[1 Samuel 4:6-11 And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, What meaneth the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews? And they understood that the ark of the LORD was come into the camp. 7 And the Philistines were afraid, for they said, God is come into the camp. And they said, Woe unto us! for there hath not been such a thing heretofore. 8 Woe unto us! who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty Gods? these are the Gods that smote the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness. 9 Be strong, and quit yourselves like men, O ye Philistines, that ye be not servants unto the Hebrews, as they have been to you: quit yourselves like men, and fight. 10 And the Philistines fought, and Israel was smitten, and they fled every man into his tent: and there was a very great slaughter; for there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen. 11 And the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain.]
[for there hath not been such a thing heretofore.] Foolish people! Of course, the Philistines would believe that a box covered in gold would be a god since they had their own idols, but the Israelites ought to know better than to believe that God was in the box. The Philistines did have one thing going for them, they understood that Israel’s God was the Almighty God and a powerful God at that. The world may reject God, but they know that there is only one God, He just happened to choose Israel for His people and still does, [Romans 9:6-8 Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: 7 Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. 8 That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.]
[And the ark of God was taken;] Not only were Eli’s sons killed, but the Ark was taken as well. While no one, but a Levite was able to handle the Ark God would use this as a great opportunity to show Himself to both Israel and the Philistines. However, things were not going well in Israel territory, as soon as Eli got the news that this sons were killed and the Ark was taken he dropped dead as well as his daughter-in-law who was pregnant.
[1 Samuel 4:14,17-19,21 And when Eli heard the noise of the crying, he said, What meaneth the noise of this tumult? And the man came in hastily, and told Eli. 17 And the messenger answered and said, Israel is fled before the Philistines, and there hath been also a great slaughter among the people, and thy two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God is taken. 18 And it came to pass, when he made mention of the ark of God, that he fell from off the seat backward by the side of the gate, and his neck brake, and he died: for he was an old man, and heavy. And he had judged Israel forty years. 19 And his daughter in law, Phinehas’ wife, was with child, near to be delivered: and when she heard the tidings that the ark of God was taken, and that her father in law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and travailed; for her pains came upon her. 21 And she named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel: because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father in law and her husband.]
[when he made mention of the ark of God,] Eli, knew that judgment was coming to his house not only because of the wicked behavior of his sons, but by his condoning and allowing the sin to continue, but did not anticipate the Ark being taken. They really were foolish for thinking that they needed the Ark to know that God was with them, but they had never been taught correctly so all they could do was what they knew. It is pretty sad really, the world and even the religious want the power of God upon their lives, but they do not have the knowledge to do that correctly and therefore, they too will see the glory of God depart from them, [Matthew 23:13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.]
Well, God, always has a plan, even for allowing the Philistines to take the Ark in the first place. The Philistines prided themselves of talking possession of the Ark, they even went as far as to believe what Micah believed in that his idol and God meant a blessed life. Well, they actually placed the Ark in their placed it next to their god.
[1 Samuel 5:2-4,6-7 When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon. 3 And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the LORD. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again. 4 And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold; only the stump of Dagon was left to him. 6 But the hand of the LORD was heavy upon them of Ashdod, and he destroyed them, and smote them with emerods, even Ashdod and the coasts thereof. 7 And when the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, The ark of the God of Israel shall not abide with us: for his hand is sore upon us, and upon Dagon our god.]
[only the stump of Dagon was left to him.] To get a picture of this idol, Dagon, was a statue with the upper body of a human and lower body of a fish. Sound familiar? And we wonder why we have all these stories and myths about mermaids? Well, God, was not at all amused by this mockery of what they made out of the very beings that He created, and while He may not have struck them down dead just yet for even touching the Ark, He did afflict them quite badly with emerods, which are hemorrhoids.
God, will have no other gods before Him! And He will not share His time with any other god, even if the world is ignorant to that fact. They could have easily humbled themselves and gotten rid of their mermaid god, but it was more important to them then their own souls so He struck them where it hurt the most. And this is exactly why the same thing happened in every town that they sent the Ark.
[1 Samuel 5:9-12 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. 10 Therefore they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And it came to pass, as the ark of God came to Ekron, that the Ekronites cried out, saying, They have brought about the ark of the God of Israel to us, to slay us and our people. 11 So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines, and said, Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it go again to his own place, that it slay us not, and our people: for there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city; the hand of God was very heavy there. 12 And the men that died not were smitten with the emerods: and the cry of the city went up to heaven.]
[and the cry of the city went up to heaven.] They cries for salvation went all the way up to the heavens, but since they were not willing to let go of their idol they suffered in their sin. The Philistines were forced to acknowledge that in this place the almighty hand of the God of Israel was revealed. When unbelievers presume to attack the Word of God, to blaspheme and pervert the Gospel, and, refuse to bow under the chastening hand of God, they will learn the hard way that every knee shall bow to Him, [Romans 14:11-12 For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. 12 So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.]
The Philistines had no idea what to do with the Ark, for seven months they passed it from town to town and the same thing happened. Since they would not forsake their idol, they believe the best thing to do was get the Ark back over to Israel. They even came up with a plan to have the Ark sent back.
[1 Samuel 6:1-5 And the ark of the LORD was in the country of the Philistines seven months. 2 And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, What shall we do to the ark of the LORD? tell us wherewith we shall send it to his place. 3 And they said, If ye send away the ark of the God of Israel, send it not empty; but in any wise return him a trespass offering: then ye shall be healed, and it shall be known to you why his hand is not removed from you. 4 Then said they, What shall be the trespass offering which we shall return to him? They answered, Five golden emerods, and five golden mice, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines: for one plague was on you all, and on your lords. 5 Wherefore ye shall make images of your emerods, and images of your mice that mar the land; and ye shall give glory unto the God of Israel: peradventure he will lighten his hand from off you, and from off your gods, and from off your land.]
[and it shall be known to you why his hand is not removed from you.] Many will try to say that this was the cause of their diet or some virus, but they knew it was God. How sad that it never occurred to them to just get rid of the false gods and turn to Him, but then again that is the majority of the people who do believe that God exists. Well, not entirely, they often have to convince themselves that the judgment was not from God, but just happened by chance so that they can feel good about themselves for having rejected His Word, [Romans 1:28,32 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; 32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.]
[Five golden emerods, and five golden mice] These trespass offerings, which are also laughable, I mean, golden statues of hemorrhoids and mice was their way of humbling themselves to God. Even though they were still skeptical, their plan worked for them, but not so much for the Israelites.
[1 Samuel 6:11-14,19 And they laid the ark of the LORD upon the cart, and the coffer with the mice of gold and the images of their emerods. 12 And the kine took the straight way to the way of Bethshemesh, and went along the highway, lowing as they went, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left; and the lords of the Philistines went after them unto the border of Bethshemesh. 13 And they of Bethshemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley: and they lifted up their eyes, and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it. 14 And the cart came into the field of Joshua, a Bethshemite, and stood there, where there was a great stone: and they clave the wood of the cart, and offered the kine a burnt offering unto the LORD. 19 And he smote the men of Bethshemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the LORD, even he smote of the people fifty thousand and threescore and ten men: and the people lamented, because the LORD had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter.]
[And he smote the men of Bethshemesh, because they had looked into the ark] While the men had good intentions, they too were ignorant to the Law and therefore the same rule applied to them as well. What made things worse for them was that they opened the trunk to see what was inside, and that was a big mistake. Whether or not we like to believe that ignorance to God’s Word will save people, it will not, those who choose to believe the lies will be right there with the ones who chose the idols, [Revelation 21:8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.]
Well, the people of Bethshemesh finally called for help, in which a priest sanctified himself and was able to keep the Ark with him for twenty years. Something rather interesting happened during those twenty years, the people lamented for God, meaning they were mournful of not having Him near them.
[1 Samuel 7:1-5 And the men of Kirjathjearim came, and fetched up the ark of the LORD, and brought it into the house of Abinadab in the hill, and sanctified Eleazar his son to keep the ark of the LORD. 2 And it came to pass, while the ark abode in Kirjathjearim, that the time was long; for it was twenty years: and all the house of Israel lamented after the LORD. 3 And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, If ye do return unto the LORD with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the LORD, and serve him only: and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines. 4 Then the children of Israel did put away Baalim and Ashtaroth, and served the LORD only. 5 And Samuel said, Gather all Israel to Mizpeh, and I will pray for you unto the LORD.]
[and all the house of Israel lamented after the LORD.] It does no good to cry out to God if one is not willing to do it the correct way. Think about it, until we know Christ as our Saviour we might as well be speaking a foreign language because He does not hear our cries, [John 16:26-27 At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: 27 For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.]
Once Samuel told Israel what they needed to do to not only get right with God, but get the Philistines off their back they followed through. Not only did they fast and pray, they put away the false gods and gave their all to God, the proper way. Now, the test came when the Philistine heard that they were in Mizpeh.
[1 Samuel 7:7-10,13 And when the Philistines heard that the children of Israel were gathered together to Mizpeh, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the children of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines. 8 And the children of Israel said to Samuel, Cease not to cry unto the LORD our God for us, that he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines. 9 And Samuel took a sucking lamb, and offered it for a burnt offering wholly unto the LORD: and Samuel cried unto the LORD for Israel; and the LORD heard him. 10 And as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel: but the LORD thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and discomfited them; and they were smitten before Israel. 13 So the Philistines were subdued, and they came no more into the coast of Israel: and the hand of the LORD was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.]
[So the Philistines were subdued,] Let me tell you, if it were not for God honorable men and women praying for those whom have fallen, very few people will come to repentance, and even fewer will be led to Christ. There is great power in the prayers of Christ’s faithful saints, but there is even more power in the prayers of those who return to Christ, [2 Corinthians 7:9-11 Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing. 10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. 11 For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.]
Jesus Christ Revealed/Magnified: [1 Samuel 7:8-9 And the children of Israel said to Samuel, Cease not to cry unto the LORD our God for us, that he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines. 9 And Samuel took a sucking lamb, and offered it for a burnt offering wholly unto the LORD: and Samuel cried unto the LORD for Israel; and the LORD heard him.]
Today’s Prayer: God, That You for giving Your Son to save my soul. Thank You for my salvation, I can stand before You and live, not for anything that I have done, but for what Your Son has done for me. There is nothing more exciting than to see Your power come pushing through the most unbelievable things, but is also comes through the little things we do every day. It can be easy to lose sight of Your power as every day life seems to get more and more of my attention and less of Yours. Lord, give me Your power, keep me in Your Word, lift my spirit by Your living Word. Speak through me, let me be Your voice to tell the truth no matter what the cost, and do it in a way that is tactful, yet to the point. More importantly, let me lead by being a humble and Godly example so that there are no discrepancies in my own life. I ask these things in Your name, Jesus. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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