Worthy of Worship

1 Samuel 5:1-6; 6:11-16

Context: 1 Samuel 4:1–7:17

Memory Verse: 1 Samuel 6:20

Main Idea: Only God is worthy of worship and praise.

FIRST THOUGHTS

        People can get very angry when they see a symbol that is dear to them desecrated. If a patriotic American sees the Stars and Stripes pulled down and burned, his or her blood will boil. Christians grieve when they see churches or Bibles burned or crosses trampled underfoot. And well they should; symbols are not meaningless. People have deep emotional ties to symbols that they believe in, and an attack on those symbols can provoke the deepest rage.

        What symbols are used to define your community? Your church? How do those symbols represent you?

        At the same time, symbols are not everything. Christians need to be especially careful about this point. When we see an insult to a Christian symbol, our anger may be no different from the anger of any other partisan group. It may be an anger that arises from the flesh. After all, we can also get very angry if someone defiles the symbol of our favorite sports team!

        We need to ask ourselves if we truly grieve over dishonor to the name of Christ, and if we respond to the reproach in the manner that Christ Himself did. We also need to consider what is the right way to think about the symbols of Christianity, being aware of the difference between proper respect for a symbol and having a superstitious attitude about it. The account of the Ark of the Covenant will enable us to shed some light on these difficult issues.

I. UNDERSTAND THE CONTEXT

1 Samuel 4:1–7:17

        Prior to the building of the Jerusalem temple, Israel’s primary sanctuary was the tent of meeting (traditionally called the tabernacle), a structure built under Moses according to guidelines given by God (Ex. 25–31; 36–40). The Bible does not give us a complete history of the tent. Although it sometimes moved about, apparently it became something of a permanent fixture at Shiloh soon after the conquest under Joshua.

        The tent housed several sacred items, including a lampstand, a table on which was set the daily offering of bread, and a small altar for burning incense. Most importantly, it housed the Ark of the Covenant. This was a small chest that contained tablets of the Ten Commandments and a jar of manna (Ex. 16:33; 25:16). It served as a symbolic throne of God and thus implied that God was present in the sanctuary. This was important because the tabernacle did not contain the one thing that ancient people would have considered essential for a sanctuary: an idol representing the resident god. The ark was also necessary for carrying out the annual Day of Atonement ritual, since on that day the priest made atonement for the sins of Israel by sprinkling blood on the ark’s surface (Lev. 16:15).

        First Samuel 4 tells how Israel lost the ark to the Philistines. After losing an initial skirmish, the Israelites carried the ark with them to battle, thinking that it would insure victory. The Philistines were frightened but rallied, and they inflicted a major defeat on Israel. Hophni and Phineas, the two sons of Eli the high priest, had gone with the ark to the battle and were slain. The Philistines took away the ark as a battle trophy.

        In the same calamity, the tent sanctuary at Shiloh was destroyed (Jer. 26:6 alludes to this event). After this, Israel had at least two other tent sanctuaries, one at Nob (1 Sam. 21–22) and the other at Gibeon (1 Kings 3:4; 2 Chron. 1:3). But neither tent possessed the ark. The ark, after being taken to and fro, finally settled at Kiriath-jearim (also called Jaar), where it was almost forgotten (1 Sam. 7:1; Ps. 132:6). David finally brought the ark to Jerusalem (2 Sam. 6:12-17), and Solomon reunited all the elements of the tent of meeting prior to building the temple (1 Kings 8:1-4).

        The name Ebenezer marks the beginning and ending of this part of the story in 1 Samuel. In 4:1, we learn that the Israelites were encamped at Ebenezer prior to their disastrous battle with the Philistines. But in 7:12, after the Israelites routed the Philistines, Samuel set up a stone and called it Ebenezer, which means “the stone of (God’s) help.” At first, the Israelites wrongly thought that God would help them simply because they had the Ark of the Covenant. But then, after they listened to Samuel, God really did help them.

 

 

II. EXPLORE THE TEXT

The holy God (1 Sam. 5:1-5)

        ¹ When the Philistines captured the ark of God, they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. ² Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it into the house of Dagon and set it up beside Dagon. ³ And when the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and put him back in his place. ⁴ But when they rose early on the next morning, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the Lord, and the head of Dagon and both his hands were lying cut off on the threshold. Only the trunk of Dagon was left to him.
⁵ This is why the priests of Dagon and all who enter the house of Dagon do not tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day.

Verses 1-5

        The Philistines came into Canaan from the north, probably from somewhere in the area of the Aegean Sea. They were closely related to the Greeks. The Greeks always set up trophies after their military victories, and it seems that the Philistines had a similar practice. For them, the Ark of the Covenant was a trophy to commemorate their triumph over Israel and Israel’s God.

        Setting the ark of God in the house of Dagon implied that their god had overcome and captured Yahweh of Israel. Very little is known of the god Dagon. He may have been associated with the grain harvest and with storms, but he was thought of as a very high god. The Philistines would have immediately grasped the significance of seeing the image of Dagon broken and prostrate before the Ark of the Covenant. It implied that although they had beaten the Israelite army, the Israelite God was still superior to their god. Even so, the Philistines remained confused and superstitious. They should have recognized that Yahweh was of such awesome holiness that even their god bowed to him. They should have bowed to Yahweh themselves, and they ought to have sought His favor. Instead of drawing the right conclusion, they instituted a new superstition. Since Dagon’s head and hands had broken off at the threshold of the temple, they decided that the threshold was now especially holy, and that they should jump over it when going in or out.

        How should we think about the holiness of the Ark of the Covenant? As Christians, we may have little experience with consecrated items such as holy water or sacred vestments, and we rightly suspect that such ideas can quickly degenerate into superstition. On the other hand, the ark was a genuinely holy object; it was made at the express command of God (Ex. 25:1-22).

        The fact that the ark was truly sacred did not mean that it had magical powers. When the Israelites took the ark into battle, thinking it would guarantee a victory over their enemy, they were displaying superstition and not genuine faith. God, in effect, rebuked Israelite superstition by giving the Philistines a great victory and allowing the ark to fall into enemy hands. Even so, the ark was special. The Philistines blasphemed God when they treated it as a war trophy, and in response God first made a mockery of their god Dagon and then afflicted the people with disease.

        For us, the elements of the Lord’s Supper are a good analogy to the special status of the Ark of the Covenant. We do not believe that the bread and juice literally become the physical body and blood of Jesus when a preacher pronounces the words, “This is my body.” We do not ascribe a mystical strength to the elements, as though they contained within them the power to remove sin or heal the body and soul. This does not mean, however, that we regard the communion bread and cup as ordinary, or that we can treat the Lord’s Supper as though it were like any other meal. Paul reports that some Christians in Corinth did just that: they acted as though communion was a party, and they had no regard for this sacred time of worshiping Christ. Paul’s judgment was direct (see 1 Cor. 11:27,30).

        Only God is truly holy, and only He has the power to save. Neither the Ark of the Covenant nor a piece of bread used in communion has ever had supernatural power. But if God has designated something as special and therefore “holy” in the sense that it is set apart for special use, it should not be subjected to abuse. We blaspheme God when we show such an object no respect. By extension, we should have respect for physical copies of the Bible, for church buildings, and for ordained ministers, but we should not let this become superstitious awe. In the final analysis, the sin of the Philistines was not that they blasphemed the ark but that they blasphemed God.

        Explain what the Lord’s Supper is. How can its significance be exaggerated or understated? Should people regard the church building or a physical copy of the Bible as sacred? How might such ideas become dangerously exaggerated?

A. Judgment Experienced (1 Sam. 5:6)

        ⁶ The hand of the Lord was heavy against the people of Ashdod, and he terrified and afflicted them with tumors, both Ashdod and its territory.

Verse 6

        Because the Philistines held the Ark of the Covenant as a trophy, God afflicted them with trauma and plague. The precise nature of their sickness is uncertain, but many believe it was bubonic plague. The tumors that the verse mentions may have been buboes, the inflammation of the lymph glands associated with bubonic plague. Also, the offering that the Philistines sent when they returned the ark included golden images of mice (6:4). Infected fleas that infest rodents often spread plague, and thus the Philistines may have associated their affliction with mice.

        Curiously, the ancient Greek translation of this verse includes the words, “And (the hand of the Lord) came against them and spread to them in the ships, and mice swarmed over the middle of the land itself.” This implies that the infected mice arrived in Ashdod on cargo ships and then carried the disease throughout Philistia. This has a parallel in the European Black Death of the 14th century. It began in 1347, when galleys containing infected men and rats landed in Sicily and then in Genoa, Pisa, and Venice. Philistine Ashdod, like those cities, was on the coast.

        Even so, we cannot be certain that bubonic plague was the disease that afflicted the Philistines. The Bible has little interest in giving us a precise diagnosis. The important point is that whenever one Philistine city would send the ark off to another one of their cities, almost immediately the new possessor of the ark would experience the disease (5:7-12). Holding the ark of God as a trophy was a visible act of blasphemy, and God punished it most severely. Things got so bad that the very sight of the ark approaching one of the Philistine cities was enough to throw the residents into panic (v. 10).

        How would you explain the balance between God’s kindness and judgment?

        It is important to notice that God, not men, punished the Philistine blasphemy. We read in Romans 12:19, “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’” If we should leave vengeance to God when we are harmed, we should also leave it to Him when He is blasphemed. A zeal for God can be a good thing, and there are times when we should rebuke other people for their lack of respect for God and Christ. Even so, it is one thing to rebuke a person, but it is another thing entirely to physically attack that person in an act of vengeance.

        A major cultural conflict has become very prominent in recent decades. Muslim activists have called for and have carried out acts of violence in retaliation for what they perceived to be insults directed toward Mohammed. Cartoonists have been murdered for drawing pictures representing Mohammed—as if drawing a picture of Mohammed were the same as making an image of God. The most famous episode was the massacre at the French periodical Charlie Hebdo in January of 2015.

        A Christian might well be insulted by caricatures of Jesus. We might publicly express disapproval or write letters of protest, but we are never allowed to respond with violence. It is far better to pray for those who insult the name of Jesus, knowing that He will repay. God will punish all acts of blasphemy. But while He is patient and allows space for repentance, we should do the same.

B. Instructions Followed (1 Sam. 6:11-12)

        ¹¹ And they put the ark of the Lord on the cart and the box with the golden mice and the images of their tumors. ¹² And the cows went straight in the direction of Beth-shemesh along one highway, lowing as they went. They turned neither to the right nor to the left, and the lords of the Philistines went after them as far as the border of Beth-shemesh.

Verses 11-12

        Having finally realized that nothing good could come of their holding on to the ark of the covenant, the Philistines decided they had to send it back. The instructions for how they should return the ark came from their own diviners (pagan priests who specialized in interpreting omens) and not from an Israelite priest or prophet, such as Samuel. Pagan religion dictated that if people had offended a god and suffered for it, they had to provide restitution, or something worse could happen to them. The gods were easily angered but could be bought off. Therefore, the Philistines believed that they had to send along gifts when they returned the ark.

        They sent the ark back on a cart being pulled by two cows that had unweaned calves. The calves were penned up separately, so that the natural tendency of the cows would be to try to get back to the calves so that they could get relief from the pain in their full udders. When the cows instead headed straight down the road to Israelite territory, this proved to the Philistines that Yahweh was indeed punishing them for their impiety toward the ark. The disease had not been a coincidence.

        They sent five golden mice and five images of their tumors back with the ark (see 6:4). The offerings were presumably made of solid gold, and thus would have represented a substantial financial gift. The number five represented the five cities of the Philistines: Ashdod, Gath, Gaza, Ekron, and Ashkelon.

        The five golden tumors are analogous to what we see in later Greek religion. The Greek god of healing was named Asclepius, and a shrine to this god was located near Pergamum in modern Turkey (this is the same Pergamum that received one of the seven letters; see Rev. 2:12-17). People with various diseases would go to the Asclepius shrine looking for healing. If they got better, they would dedicate to the god an image of the part of the body that was healed. Archaeologists have found many sculptures of hands, feet, and other body parts that were prominently displayed in the shrine as supposed proof of the god’s healing power. The golden tumors sent back with the ark served to acknowledge that Yahweh had afflicted them and to request that He relent and heal them.

        As mentioned above, the Philistines may have sent golden mice because there had been a plague spread by rodents. But there could be another explanation. Some Greeks worshiped a god named Apollo Smintheus. This god was associated with plagues and also with mice. If the Philistines knew of a similar god, they might have offered golden mice because they thought that this was an appropriate way to recognize the power of a deity who had sent a plague.

        For our purposes, the lesson of this passage is that God is compassionate when dealing with human ignorance. The Philistines had no clear notion of how to please Him, and so they did the best they could with the limited knowledge they had. In a primitive way, they were seeking for God to forgive their offense and to stop afflicting them with the plague. Although the text does not explicitly say so, it appears that the plague ended.

        The apostle Paul would tell the Athenians that “the times of ignorance God overlooked” when pagans worshiped gods of wood and stone and when they lived by myths and omens. God was forbearing with human ignorance and superstition, but superstition is never a good thing. God has sent salvation in the Person of Jesus, and He demands that everyone repent of their idolatry and believe in His Son (Acts 17:29-31).

        Can you think of a time when your understanding of the Bible and the Christian faith was very limited and you prayed in a way that you now know was primitive or even superstitious? How can we hold the fact that God is patient with us in our spiritual ignorance in balance with the fact that we must grow in knowledge?

C. Worship Offered (1 Sam. 6:13-16)

        ¹³ Now the people of Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley. And when they lifted up their eyes and saw the ark, they rejoiced to see it. ¹⁴ The cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh and stopped there. A great stone was there. And they split up the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. ¹⁵ And the Levites took down the ark of the Lord and the box that was beside it, in which were the golden figures, and set them upon the great stone. And the men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices on that day to the Lord. ¹⁶ And when the five lords of the Philistines saw it, they returned that day to Ekron.

Verses 13-16

        Beth-shemesh was a town in southwestern Judah located on the edge of the Philistine territory. As such, it was where the ark entered Israelite territory. The local people immediately recognized the ark for what it was. They sacrificed the cows that had drawn the cart as an offering of thanksgiving. God had taken away the reproach of Israel by restoring the ark to His people, and He had shown Himself to be more powerful than the Philistines and their gods.

        The people of Beth-shemesh had felt themselves to be crushed under the boot of the Philistine warriors. They experienced God’s salvation when they looked up and saw the Ark of the Covenant coming toward them, with humbled Philistines walking behind it. The only proper response was worship.

        After witnessing the exuberant worship of the Israelites at the return of the ark, the Philistine rulers returned that day to Ekron with the satisfaction that their task had been completed. Unbeknownst to them, God’s purpose had been accomplished in their exposure to the worship of Him. One of the testimonies that believers give to a watching world is the heartfelt and dynamic worship of their Savior, Jesus Christ. He is the God above all gods, and one day every knee will bow before Him (Phil. 2:8-10). 

KEY DOCTRINE

God

        There is one and only one living and true God.

BIBLE SKILL

Compare and contrast similar passages.

        Compare 1 Samuel 6:13-16 and Revelation 12:10-12. Consider how both passages describe the joy of worship. How are the circumstances different? Would you consider one grander than the other? Explain.