Glory and Judgment
1 Sam 5:1 And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it from Ebenezer unto Ashdod.
The glory of God had left Israel with the ark. Israel had lost a great battle, but, has God lost? God never looses nor is he subject to man or devil.
There are scriptures that indicate that the Philistines went on to destroy Shiloh.
Jer 7:12 But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.
Jer 26:9 Why hast thou prophesied in the name of the LORD, saying, This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate without an inhabitant?...
1 Sam 5:2 When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon.
The Philistine God Dagon, was half man and half fish. Supposedly the father of Baal. They placed the ark before Dagon as a spoil of battle. They thought Dagon was greater then the God of Israel, because they had won the battle.
1 Sam 5:3 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.
Was God defeated? No, he caused the god dagon to bow before Him. Dagon had no power before God. No evil thing can stand in he presence of God, His presence was with the ark.
1 Sam 5:4 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.
Two times dagon falls, this time the head and hands were cut off. Should the priests not have bowed to the God of Israel? People will choose to not believe, even when there is overwhelming evidence. The head was the wisdom, the hands the works, all were cut off. Dagon had no wisdom and works. God had glorified himself.
Prov 14:19 The evil bow before the good; and the wicked at the gates of the righteous.
Isa 45:23 I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.
1 Sam 5:5 Therefore neither the priests of Dagon, nor any that come into Dagon's house, tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day.
No more dagon worship. But, had they turned their worship to the God of Israel? No, they had other gods.
1 Sam 5:6 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.
God's power from the ark destroyed some of the sinful people of Ashdod and some were given tumors. What had they taken with the ark? They had taken the Holy presence of God. He is absolutely Holy and just, the Spirit of truth. But, the Philistines had no faith or desire to serve the God of Israel.
Rom 1:17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
Rom 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
1 Sam 5:7 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.
They feared the God of Israel, the ark must be taken elsewhere. For the hand of judgment was on them and on their god, dagon. No unclean thing may come unto the presence of God.
1 Sam 5:8 They sent therefore and gathered all the lords of the Philistines unto them, and said, What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? And they answered, Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried about unto Gath. And they carried the ark of the God of Israel about thither.
There were five lords or rulers of the Philistines. The had a meeting to consider what should be done with the arc. The popular opinion was to keep the arc somewhere in there possession. They decided on Gath. They knew there was great power with the ark, if only they could use it to their benefit. Perhaps it could be compared with a hydrogen bomb, the greatest power, but the power was a danger, we would consider a desert place, maybe New Mexico? They decided on Gath, in the land of the Philistines.
Do we play with the power of God like this? Do we seek what we can get by our own will and means, and ask God to bring us a victory? God is not our servant, we are to serve him. Jesus showed us what God requires. Humble service, love and mercy. Angry at God? You better not make him angry, but he is long suffering and he is Holy.
1 Sam 5:9 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.
More punishment, both noble and beggar men were stricken. They will learn to fear the God of Israel, those who survive. They were suffering without remedy. What if they had humbly bowed to God in repentance? Perhaps it would be a different story as was the case of the people of Ninevah, who repented.
Jonah 3:5 So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.
Jonah 3:10 And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.
1 Sam 5:10 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.
The ark had become a hot potato. Ekron was ten miles from Gath. This was where the lord of the flies, Baalzebub was worshipped, as spoken of in 2Kings.
2 Ki 1:3 But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say unto them, Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that ye go to inquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron?
They have brought about the ark of the God of Israel to us, to slay us and our people.
1 Sam 5:11 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.
1 Sam 5:12 And the men that died not were smitten with the emerods: and the cry of the city went up to heaven.
To be in the presence of God and be in sin, is a dangerous thing. In our Church services when we want the power of God to come down, do we have secret sins? God will purge sin from his midst.
More heavy judgment. Even harsher then in the other cities. The lords were altogether agreeing that the ark must go back to Israel.
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