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1 Samuel chapter 6. Remember
the specific context. Chapters 4 to 6 focus on the
Ark of the Covenant. Specifically in chapter 4, the
children of Israel lost in battle to the Philistines. As a result,
they thought if they just took the Ark of the Covenant out with
them to battle, then they would certainly win. But God brought
judgment to bear upon them. They were seeking to manipulate
the Lord almost as if it was a magical charm or a lucky charm. Let's just bring out the Ark
of the Covenant and we shall win. Of course, God brought judgment,
Eli died, the Ark had been captured and taken into the Philistine
territory. Chapter 5 takes up the exploits
of the Ark. It's a conquered, or it was captured
by the Philistines. Everyone that might have been
looking on would have said, wow, the God of Israel had been bested
by Dagon, the God of the Philistines, but we see in Ashdod and then
in Gath and in Ekron, the Lord God brought judgment to bear
upon the Philistines. specifically their land, their
lives, and their gods. So much so that as we get to
chapter 6, the Philistines are more than ready to return the
Ark to Israel. They don't want it in their possession
any longer. It has not been a pleasant experience
for them. Tumors and death and all those
sorts of things were not something that they wanted to hold on to.
So that brings us to chapter 6. I'll begin reading in verse
1. Now the Ark of the Lord was in the country of the Philistines
seven months. The Philistines called for the
priests and the diviners saying, what shall we do with the Ark
of the Lord? Tell us how we should send it to its place. So they
said, if you send away the Ark of the God of Israel, do not
send it empty. but by all means return it to
him with a trespass offering. Then you will be healed, and
it will be known to you, and it will be known to you why his
hand is not removed from you." Then they said, what is the trespass
offering which we shall return to him? They answered, five golden
tumors and five golden rats, according to the number of the
lords of the Philistines. For the same plague was on all
of you and on your lords. Therefore, you shall make images
of your tumors and images of your rats that ravage the land,
and you shall give glory to the God of Israel. Perhaps he will
lighten his hand from you, from your gods and from your land.
Why then do you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh
hardened their hearts? When he did mighty things among
them, did they not let the people go that they might depart? Now,
therefore, make a new cart. Take two milk cows which have
never been yoked and hitch the cows to the cart and take their
calves home away from them. Then take the Ark of the Lord
and set it on the cart and put the articles of gold which you
are returning to him as a trespass offering in a chest by its side.
Then send it away and let it go. and watch if it goes up the
road to its own territory to Beth Shemesh, then he has done
us this great evil. But if not, then we shall know
that it is not his hand that struck us. It happened to us
by chance. Then the men did so. They took
two milk cows and hitched them to the cart and shut up their
calves at home. And they set the Ark of the Lord
on the cart and the chest with the gold rats and the images
of their tumors. Then the cows headed straight
for the road to Beth Shemesh and went along the highway, lowing
as they went, and did not turn aside to the right hand or the
left. And the lords of the Philistines went after them to the border
of Beth Shemesh. Now the people of Beth Shemesh
were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley, and they lifted
their eyes and saw the ark and rejoiced to see it. Then the
cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh and stood there.
A large stone was there. So they split the wood of the
cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord.
The Levites took down the ark of the Lord and the chest that
was with it in which were the articles of gold and put them
on the large stone. Then the men of Beth Shemesh
offered burnt offerings and made sacrifices the same day to the
Lord. So when the five lords of the
Philistines had seen it, they returned to Ekron the same day.
These are the golden tumors which the Philistines returned as a
trespass offering to the Lord. One for Ashdod, one for Gaza,
one for Ashkelon, one for Gath, one for Ekron. and the golden
rats according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines
belonging to the five lords, both fortified cities and country
villages, even as far as the large stone of Abel on which
they set the ark of the Lord, which stone remains to this day
in the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh. Then he struck the men
of Beth Shemesh because they had looked into the ark of the
Lord. He struck 50,070 men of the people. And the people lamented
because the Lord had struck the people with a great slaughter.
And the men of Beth Shemesh said, who is able to stand before this
holy Lord God? And to whom shall it go up from
us? So they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kirjath-Jerim
saying, the Philistines have brought back the ark of the Lord.
Come down and take it up with you. And the men of Kirjath-Jerim
came and took the ark of the Lord. and brought it into the
house of Abinadab on the hill and consecrated Eleazar, his
son, to keep the ark of the Lord. Amen. So thus ends the reading
concerning the return of the Ark of the Covenant to Israel's
territory. I want to look at three things
this evening and then draw out some practical lessons or applications
from this particular chapter. The first is the plan to return
the Ark. Secondly, the Ark at Beth Shemesh.
And then thirdly, the Ark at Kirjath-Jerom. Remember that
the Ark of the Covenant was that visible representation of the
invisible God. However, he was not contained
in it. It was not as if wherever the
Ark was, there was the Lord. However, there was that sign
and signification that the Ark did represent the presence of
God Almighty. Certainly we see that it departs,
or the glory of the Lord is said to have departed in Chapter 4
when Israel was conquered and when the Ark of the Covenant
was captured. But we see the glory of the Lord
manifest in Chapter 5 through His judgment. Notice at Chapter
5 at verse 6, but the hand of the Lord was heavy on the people
of Ashdod. Remember, when Dagon fell the
second time, his head fell off and his hands fell off. And so
what we have in contrast is the hand of the Lord was heavy. Heavy
there has the same idea as glory. So God's glory is manifested
in his heavy hand of judgment. upon the people of the Philistines. And that is interesting, that
when these priests and diviners give counsel, they say very specifically,
or they speak specifically to this, in verse 5 of chapter 6,
perhaps He will lighten His hand from you, from your gods, and
from your land. So they were conscious of the
fact that they were under the judgment of God, though there
was some that obviously thought that it could have been chance,
which we'll see as we move along. the Ark of the Lord is going
to be returned to Israel. We see this plan, we see first
his severity or his judgment. Verse 1 tells us the Ark of the
Lord was in the country of the Philistines seven months. Again,
it wasn't just sitting there as a decorative item or as something
in comparison to Dagon, but rather it brought judgment to bear upon
Dagon in his own temple and then it brings judgment upon those
cities that we've seen in chapter 5. So certainly we understand
why the Philistines want a part with the Ark of the Covenant.
They don't want it in their presence anymore. It's interesting that
the men of Beth Shemesh respond in like manner. After God kills
many in their particular village or town, they send it off to
Kirjath-Jerah. There is this reality that God's
judgment is something we want to try and avoid and escape,
but incidentally or ironically, we can never escape it. We can't
send it away. We can't just trot it off to
another city and think that somehow we're going to be okay. The God
of heaven and earth certainly will bring his judgment to bear
upon all those who are contrary to his will and way. And you
need to see the consistency of God as well. He's not arbitrary.
He's not capricious. He doesn't just pick on a certain
people group. When the Philistines sin against
God, God brings judgment to bear upon them. When the men of Beth
Shemesh, who are part of the covenant community, sin against
God, God brings judgment to bear upon them as well. The hand of
justice, the hand of judgment is sure. God is no respecter
of persons. Those who by his grace are safely
in Christ will indeed pass into glory. But all those outside
of Christ, even if they make a profession, but they do not
possess saving faith. They will be cast aside. They
will be told by the Lord Jesus to depart from me, for I never
knew you. Depart into that place that was
prepared for the devil and his angels. So the Philistines, at
least as far as we can tell, are wise in wanting to get rid
of the ark, because as far as they're concerned, that has brought
mayhem upon their land. But certainly they cannot get
rid of the living and the true God. The hand of God was heavy
upon Dagon. The hand of God was heavy upon
Ashdod. The hand of God was heavy upon
Gath and Ekron. Davis says, this was no tame
god the Philistines had conquered. You couldn't just put him in
a temple alongside of Dagon and hope that he played well with
this idol. Davis says, the ark had fallen
into their hands, but they had fallen into Yahweh's hands. So it was an act of judgment.
And again, I think that weakness or that power through weakness
motif ought to be appreciated. It looked as if God had been
captured. It looked as if his symbol, representative
of his presence had been captured and vanquished and brought into
enemy territory. Well, it's in that position of
so-called disadvantage that he brings this kind of judgment
to bear upon the enemies of the Lord. Notice, they fetch the
religious leaders at this particular time. Verse 2, the Philistines
called for the priests and the diviners saying, what shall we
do with the Ark of the Lord? Tell us how we should send it
to its place. The lords of the Philistines
didn't have very good answers. The lords of the Philistines
in chapter 5 just said, send it to the next city. Send it
to the next city. Send it to the next city. Well,
that was not a successful maneuver. So they step it up now. They
go over the heads of the political leaders of the lords of the Philistines. They go to the religious men.
They go to the priests and the diviners. And this, Samora captures
what's going on in this situation. If you remember last week, when
we saw that the Ark was captured, or two weeks ago, that showed
the absolute conquest of a particular people group. When a people were
conquered, their gods were captured, it showed the supremacy of that
nation that had brought conquest to bear. Look at what's happening
now. They want to get rid of the Ark
of the Covenant. This evidence is not their conquest
and victory, but it's actually an admission of their defeat.
Samara says to send the Ark of Yahweh back would be to acknowledge
a religious and political defeat. You see, they want to preserve
themselves, but in so doing, they are making an admission,
an honest confession, that they lost to Israel's God. They didn't
lose to Israel on the field of battle, but they certainly could
not overtake Israel's God. This has now become a concern
for the ministers of Philistia. And such a decision would not
be made lightly, especially since there were apparently some who
did not believe the link between the Ark and the plague was proven
beyond a reasonable doubt. But now they admit defeat and
ask the priests how to go about sending the Ark back. So they
ask, what shall we do with the Ark of the Lord? Tell us how
we should send it to its place. Now, imagine if this was our
call to worship, bring a golden image of your tumor and of your
rats, and we shall present them to the living and true God."
It seems to be the case that the Philistines had some understanding
of Israel's worship. They understood something about
a trespass offering. They understood something of
seeking to appease God. It could have been as well a
cultural pagan thing. The Philistines' religious practices
in Chapter 6 were common Canaanite practices reflecting Eastern
Mediterranean religious and cultural traditions. Again, it seems bizarre
to us, but they had a purpose, they had a reason, and this is
what the priests and the diviners said. the necessity to send a
trespass offering in the hopes that the God of Israel would
stay his hand or would lighten his hand such that they would
not suffer under his judgment any longer. This is what the
diviners and these priests counsel. Notice, in verse 4 specifically,
Five golden tumors and five golden rats, according to the number
of the lords of the Philistines, for the same plague was on all
of you and on your lords. Therefore you shall make images
of your tumors and images of your rats that ravage the land."
If we take the older interpretation that this was indeed Hemorrhoids,
that would have certainly been an interesting undertaking, for
them to make images of such things. There's a whole host of stuff
written on these rats, and on these tumors, and on all that
is going on here. We're just scratching the surface,
so to speak. But the bottom line is, send
this gift of gold in an attempt to stay in the hand of God Almighty. Perhaps He will lighten His hand
from you, from your gods, and from your land. Now it seems
to be the case that not everybody in Philistia was convinced that
this was the necessary response. That's verse 6. Notice in verse
6, why then do you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh
hardened their hearts? You could hear it now. You could
hear the rumbling. Here's your instruction. Make
these tumors, make these rats, set them on this cart, grab these
milk cows, and send them off to Beth Shemesh. Certainly some
would say, well, why would we send this gold all the way to
Beth Shemesh? We are Philistines. We don't
want to give our gold away. Didn't we just win the battle?
Didn't we just conquer their god? Didn't we just house them
alongside of Dagon? Perhaps it was a gust of wind.
that happened twice for Dagon. We can't necessarily conclude
that this is the God of Israel bringing judgment to bear upon
us. There was a reluctance on the part of some, and this is
why the priests and the diviners remind them of the event that
happened to Egypt. Very interesting. The nations
around Israel understood what was going on. In fact, this was
in the Song of Moses in Exodus 15. After the Exodus, Moses composes
a song that rehearses the glory of God in the salvation of his
people and bringing them out from the land of Egypt. In Exodus
15, 14, it says specifically, the people will hear and be afraid. Sorrow will take hold of the
inhabitants of Philistia. You see, the priests and the
diviners understand the score. They are trying to rally the
entirety of Philistia to say, we need to send these tumors,
we need to send these rats, we need to stay the hand of God
Almighty. Because if we don't, we're going
to continue to bleed, we're going to continue to die, we're going
to continue to see our gods held in contempt. They didn't just
have Dagon. Notice specifically in verse
5 they had a plurality of gods. The longer that Yahweh trotted
around Philistia, as far as they were concerned, the longer he
would do damage and mayhem and wreck everything that the Philistines
held near and dear. So the priests and the diviners
here are giving good counsel. They say specifically in verse
6, why then do you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh
hardened their hearts when he did mighty things among them?
Did they not let the people go that they might depart? You need
to learn from historical precedence. You need to see the judgment
of God Almighty. you need to understand and realize
that if we do not let this ark go back to Israel with this offering,
then we will suffer the same fate that they themselves suffer. Now notice the method of transport. Again, there seems to be a little
bit of hesitancy among some in Philistia. How do we know it's
really God? How do we know we haven't just
fallen into some bad luck? Well, that's what 7 to 9 is given
to deal with. Notice verse 7, now therefore
make a new cart take two milk cows which have never been yoked
and hitch the cows to the cart and take their calves home away
from them then take the ark of the Lord and set it on the cart
and put the articles of gold which you are returning to him
as a trespass offering in a chest by its side. Then send it away
and let it go. And watch, if it goes up the
road to its own territory, to Beth Shemesh, then he has done
us this great evil. But if not, then we shall know
that it is not his hand that struck us, it happened to us
by chance." You see, they're trying to determine whether this
is of Yahweh or whether this is a chance or fortuitous event,
a stroke of bad luck. and they stack the deck against
the God of Israel. You understand that? Take two
milk cows which have never been yelled. They had no training
whatsoever in this whole scheme. Milk cows want to do what? They
want to give suck to their calves. That's what milk cows want to
do. If you take your hand off of
a milk cow and its calf is nearby, it will go to the calf so that
it can feed the calf. It's quite similar to humans,
right? A mother who has a baby who nurses,
nurses the baby. They are stacking the deck in
such a way to make sure that if indeed these cows trot off
to Beth Shemesh, they will in fact conclude that this is the
hand of the God of Israel. Notice, make a new cart, take
two milk cows which have never been yoked, hitch the cows to
the cart, and take their calves home away from them. The natural tendency of a milk
cow is to satisfy her young, not to pull a cart, which she
has never done before, loaded with golden tumors and rats about
a 15-mile trek up the road. You see what I mean? They're
stacking the deck. They're not making this easy.
If, in fact, these two cows trot their way to Beth Shemesh, then
even, you know, hard-hearted, hard-headed, Dagon-worshipping
Philistines will conclude that this was Yahweh of Israel. Now,
the fact that God Almighty does this is an indicator of his kindness,
his mercy, his grace, and his desire to reveal his glory to
the sons of men, even if they are Philistines. The purpose
behind this plan was to see if Yahweh or chance had struck them. Davis describes the scene this
way. Hence, in their view, they have
provided the opportunity for God to write his signature across
their circumstances, and they made it as difficult as possible
for him to do so. Even city boys should know that
any cows in their right maternal minds would naturally go back
to their sucking calves that had been penned up at home. One
certainly wouldn't expect them, contrary to nature, to go walking
off toward Israel as if in the grip of an invisible hand. If
the cows did what no normal cows would do, then the Philistines
would know unmistakably that Yahweh had in fact struck Philistia. See, again, what appears to us
to be an odd request by the priests and the diviners was a means
employed by Philistia to determine whether this was of God or whether
this was of chance. So God, of course, evidences. He preaches to them, not through
prophets in this instance, but through the lowing of the cattle
who wandered their way over to Beth Shemesh, that in fact God
the Lord's hand had been heavy upon the Philistines, and that
the tumors that they had suffered, the bleeding that they had undergone,
the death that they had witnessed, the fall of Dagon, the headlessness
of Dagon, the handlessness of Dagon. All of this was, in fact,
to be ascribed to the God of heaven and earth. It was a very
powerful message that these two milk cows were able to preach
under the sovereignty of our great and our glorious God. So
that brings us to the cows, or the ark, rather, at Beth Shemesh. Notice in verses 10 to 19. Verse 10. Then the men did so. They took
milk cows, hitched them to the cart, and shut up their calves
at home. They set the Ark of the Lord
on the cart and the chest with the gold rats and the images
of their tumors. Then the cows headed straight
for the road to Beth-shemesh." This is like glorious. God's
preaching to Philistines. Not in the manner that we're
doing it here, but the message was as loud and clear. This just
wouldn't happen naturally. It would not be the case that
milk cows would go the opposite direction from their calves,
and they would just make that trek for 15 miles, and they'd
end up in Beth Shemesh to demonstrate, to manifest, and to evidence
that the God of Israel is the true and the living God. They
set the ark of the Lord on the cart, the chest with the gold
rats and the images of their tumors. Then the cows headed
straight for the road to Beth Shemesh and went along the highway,
lowing as they went, and did not turn aside to the right hand
or the left, they faithfully executed the very commandment
of God Most High. John Gill describes it this way.
Lowing as they went on account of their calves, which showed
their sense of them and their natural affection for them, and
yet went on, did not attempt to go back to them, by which
it was plain they were under a supernatural influence. How
do you explain this? The men of Philistia got it at
this point. They concluded, with those cows
trotting off to Beth Shemesh, we have not been struck by bad
luck. He goes on to say, and turn not
aside to the right or to the left, when other ways presented,
on the right hand or on the left, They kept going straight on in
the road that led to the place they were destined for, all which
can be reckoned nothing less than a miracle. You see, the
same way that God employs the great fish or the whale to swallow
Jonah and cough him up on the, or to vomit him up on the seashore,
the same way that God uses ravens to feed Elijah, the same way
that God is in sovereign control over the entirety of the universe,
this is how he displays himself to these hard-headed, hard-hearted
Philistines. They thankfully got the message. They understood at this point
that it was indeed the God of Israel. Now, what happened to
them after, the account doesn't tell us. Do they return to Dagon? Do they just say, wow, I'm glad
that's over? This business is normal for them
from that day on? More than likely that is the
case. Men can witness miraculous displays of God Most High. Men
can see glorious things and they can be impressed and then all
the while say, well, I better go back to my shoe repair business. Remember in Matthew 11, 20 to
24, Jesus upbraids the cities of his day. He says, woe to you,
Chorazin. Woe to you, Bethsaida. Why? Because
they saw the mighty miracles of Jesus and they did not repent. We need to understand this reality,
brethren. We can't prove to man that they
should believe. We give them the information.
We prayerfully ask the Spirit to open their hearts and enable
them to receive the truth. We don't have the ability to
reason men into the kingdom. Men are dead in their trespasses
and sins. Men have total depravity and
total inability. We do not have the power or the
ability to change the heart. Men must be born again. We cannot
show them miraculous things and make them become Christians. There must be the new birth.
Men must be born again by the power of the Spirit. from on
high." So what happened to these Philistines? They probably did
go right back to Dagon, they probably did go right back to
their other gods, they probably bowed in their presence and confessed
them as Lord, having seen these milk cows preaching to them the
sovereignty of the God of heaven and earth. It truly is an amazing
display of God's kindness in revealing himself to even these
pagans, but it shows us the hardness of men's heart that they may
witness the glorious works of God most high and continually
refuse. Remember when the Lord Jesus
talked to his disciples, he said, it's easier. for a camel to go
through the eye of a needle than for a man to enter into the kingdom
of heaven. And what did the disciples say?
They say, who then can be saved? And Jesus says, with men it is
impossible, but with God all things are possible. Brethren,
when you go to evangelize, or you go to witness, or you talk
to your friends, or your neighbors, or your relatives, or your children,
we give the information, and we give it convincingly, and
we give it passionately, and we reason from the scriptures.
Apollos was a man who was mighty in the scriptures. He was eloquent.
Acts 14, it tells us that the apostles so spake that a great
multitude believed. We need to be faithful. We need
to be earnest, but we need to realize that we don't have the
power to change a man's heart. We present the information, we
pray to God Most High, who not only has the power, but he's
full of grace and compassion and love and kindness and a willingness
to save sinners. More so than we. We don't always
display that kind of compassion. Remember that instance when Zacchaeus
runs up the sycamore tree and Jesus comes along and says, hurry
down because I'm going to eat at your house tonight. What was
the response of the fellow sinners to Zacchaeus? They grumbled,
they murmured, they complained, they didn't like the fact Or
they didn't like the thought that this tax collector was going
to have dinner with Jesus. Well, Jesus underscores this
entire lesson. He says, the Son of Man came
to seek and to save that which was lost. In other words, God
is a compassionate God. God is merciful. God has purposed
the salvation of a great multitude that no man can number. Our task
is to be faithful in presenting the truth of the Scripture. Our
task is to be faithful in preaching the truth of the Gospel. It is
God's task, and His alone, to save to the uttermost all who
draw nigh unto God through the Lord Jesus Christ. So we don't
know what happened to these Philistines. Probably, judging by human nature,
they probably went right back to their gods. Now notice, we
find the lords of the Philistines at the end of verse 12 went after
them to the border of Beth Shemesh just to make sure that the ark
arrived and that it stayed there and then the lords hightailed
it back to Philistia. We are Done with that, as far
as they were concerned. Now notice its reception in Beth
Shemesh. There is joy in Beth Shemesh. Verse 13, why would there be
joy? Because the Ark of the Covenant
had been captured by pagans. The Ark of the Covenant had been
placed into the Temple of Dagon. The Ark of the Covenant had fallen
into enemy hands. When the men of Beth Shemesh
saw the Ark of the Covenant being escorted by the lords of the
Philistines, it didn't take a military strategist to figure out something.
They figured out that something happened in Philistia that these
Philistines wanted to get rid of the Ark. Would be more than
happy to receive it back from their hands. So it's the time
of wheat harvest in the valley. They lift their eyes, they see
the Ark, they rejoice to see it. Now these two cows, who had
faithfully executed their colleague, continued to faithfully execute
their colleague by becoming a sacrifice unto Yahweh. That's how the men
of Beth Shemesh treated those milk cows. So they preached the
Word of God concerning the mighty God of Israel to the Philistines,
and then they served as the sacrifice for the God of Israel when it
comes back to Beth Shemesh. So if you're an animal rights
lover and you feel bad for these cows realized that the Lord God
had employed them for his purposes. And now they were being continually
employed for his purposes. So the ark comes to the field
of Joshua. They split the wood of the cart and offered the cows
as a burnt offering to the Lord. The Levites took down the ark
of the Lord and the chest that was in it, or with it, in which
were the articles of gold, and put them on the large stone.
Then the men of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings and made
sacrifices the same day to the Lord. So when the five lords
of the Philistines had seen it, they returned to Ekron the same
day. So as far as everything is concerned,
things are right. The lords of the Philistines
are happy. They've gotten rid of the Ark of the Covenant of
the God of Israel. It is back safely in Beth Shemesh.
This is Israelite territory. They can go back. They can bow
to Dagon. They can do whatever it is they want to do. The Beth
Shemeshians, I don't know if that's correct, but they're happy
because the Ark of the Covenant is now recovered. It's back in
home country. It's where it ought to be. They've
offered up sacrifices. This was a day of great rejoicing.
It's time of wheat harvest. They're receiving from God and
they're praising and blessing God. Verses 17 and 18 summarize
what has gone on before. These are the golden tumors which
the Philistines returned as a trespass offering. to the Lord. It rehearses
the golden tumors and it tells us about these rats. It seems
like there were more rats than there were tumors because it
indicates it was for all the cities of the Philistines. Again,
there's some textual difficulties in some of this. Now notice what
happens in verse 19. We go from joy in Beth Shemesh,
sacrifice in Beth Shemesh, the return of the pagans from Beth
Shemesh to a summary statement, to a statement concerning the
slaughter of men in Beth Shemesh in verse 19. Notice, then he,
God, struck the men of Beth Shemesh because they had looked into
the ark of the Lord. Does that mean they lifted the
top to examine the contents to see if indeed the Philistines
had removed anything? That might be it, or it might
just be that it wasn't covered with the veil and they looked
upon it. When that ark was taken on journeys,
it was to be covered. It was not to be viewed outside
the way it was inside. And so the men of Beth Shemesh
violate the law of God. God had commanded, very specifically
in Numbers 4, verses 1 to 20, there was a group called the
sons of the Kohathites. And these men were tasked with transporting the Ark of the Covenant.
But even these men, these Kohathites, Numbers 4, verse 5, when the
camp prepares to journey, Aaron and his sons shall come, and
they shall take down the covering veil and cover the ark of the
testimony with it. As best I can tell, Aaron and
his sons, a specific class of Levites, were tasked with covering
the ark. The Kohathites, then, were the
ones who transported the ark. They picked up the poles. You
know how it was to be carried? But they were not looking at
the ark. They were not seeing the ark uncovered. The Kohathites
as well, according to verse 15, they shall not touch any holy
thing lest they die. You see, there were specific
rules. When we get to verse 19, we ought
not to go, wow, that's severe. We understand why God would destroy
people in Gath and in Ekron and why he would destroy people in
Ashdod, but these are the covenant people. The covenant people are
held to a higher standard, first and foremost. The covenant people
have the written, revealed will of God. The covenant people have
detailed legislation on how they are and are not to treat the
Ark of the Covenant. The fact that there are Levites
in Beth Shemesh indicates that these Levites ought to know their
job. They ought to know their jobs
and they ought to function in a capacity that is consistent
with the Holy Word of God. What verse 19 underscores for
us is that God is not to be trifled with. God is not to be played
with. God is not Dagon. We don't prop
him up. We don't put our hands all over
him. We don't manipulate him. We don't massage him. We don't
do with him as the Philistines do with Dagon. The God of Israel
is a holy God. The God of Israel is a terrifying
God. The God of Israel is a consuming
fire. So the Kohathites were not to
see it uncovered. The Kohathites were not to touch
any holy thing lest they die. Numbers 4.20 summarizes the entirety. They shall not go in to watch
while the holy things are being covered lest they die. So the
Kohathites were sort of like beacons or some moving company. Holy movers, godly movers, sacred
movers, but there were rules. There was a protocol. While one
class of Levites were in preparing the ark for transport, the Kohathites
weren't supposed to go in and say, how much longer are you
going to be? The Kohathites were not supposed to go in and give
them any help or assistance. The Kohathites weren't supposed
to say, here's some duct tape, make sure you seal that portion.
There were a class of Levites charged to cover the ark. When
the ark exited the holy place, that's when the Kohathites went
to work. This is akin to what we find later in Samuel, 2 Samuel
chapter 6, verses 6 and 7. Remember that fellow Uzzah. The
Ark is being transported and the oxen start to shift and the
Ark of the Covenant looks like it's about to fall onto the ground.
And what does Uzzah do? Uzzah reaches out his hand to
steady the Ark of the Covenant. What happens to Uzzah? Does he,
as R.C. Sproul say, is he thinking he's
going to hear from heaven? Thank you, Uzzah, for helping
me. No, Uzzah is killed because Uzzah
violated the law of God. The idea being is that if the
ark actually falls into the mud, the mud is doing what mud does. Uzzah is a wretch. Uzzah is a
sinner and Uzzah has not been authorized to touch that piece
of holy furniture. You see, when God speaks to Israel
and specifies his mind in terms of the worship procedure, he
does not give Israel the right or the privilege or the leeway
to the innovators to be creative or to specify who will do what. Everybody towed the line the
way they were supposed to tow the line or things like this
would occur. Verse 19, he struck the men of
Beth Shemesh because they had looked into the ark of the Lord. Now there is a variant in verse
19. He struck 50,000 and 70 men of
the people. Some texts just say 70. Gil deals with all of the issues
involved. 50,000 would have been a lot
of men present in a small village like Beth Shemesh. So Gil deals
with that. Whether it was 50,000, whether
it was 50,000 and 70, or whether it was, may I dare say it, just
70, 70 is a lot of men to die because they looked into the
art of the covenant of Yahweh. This is what is going on. So
what are we learning here? Whether in pagan country or in
Israelite country, God is not to be messed with. The God of
heaven and earth is not to be treated like Dagon. The God of
heaven and earth is supreme, he is majestic, he is holy. Now notice, look at the Ark at
Kirjath-Jerim, verses 20 and following. Verse 20 is a statement that
ought to ring in all of our ears. The men of Beth Shemesh said,
who is able to stand before this holy Lord God? Now, this was
not a request for a priest. This was not a request for a
priest. Who is able to stand before this
holy Lord God? Is there a priest among us? that
will be happy to stand before this holy Lord God. Now the question
concerns the power of God. It concerns the majesty of God. It concerns the burning holiness
of God. It concerns the sanctity of God. It concerns the reality that
our God is not like us. Our God is not like the idols
of men. This is a most important question,
and one that I hope you've reckoned with at some time in your life.
Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God? I mean, isn't
that Job's question in the book of Job? Isn't that the perennial
question for anyone who's ever understood that God is holy and
we're not? When we understand that angels
stand before Him and they have to cover their faces because
He's too pure for them to look upon? When all they do day and
night is cry, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole
earth is full of His glory. When we understand something
of who God is and then we see ourselves, we see man is wicked
and we drink iniquity like water. We see that all we like sheep
have gone astray. We see that the Ten Commandments
given by God as a command to us on how to live, we have violated
and we continually violate each and every one. He was talking
to the older people today at the Cascade. You know, if one
to nine doesn't get you, if you with the rich young ruler can
say, you know, Lord, all these I have kept from my youth, the
tenth will find you out. It's interesting. It was only
the second table that the Lord Jesus used with the rich young
ruler. Nobody, nobody can actually do
those words. That rich young ruler showed
some arrogance when he said, all these I've kept from my youth.
What do you mean? You're kidding me, right? You've
always loved your neighbor as yourself. 24 hours a day, you
know, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. This is why Jesus brings
that 10th word to bear upon it. He was a young man who thought
he was righteous in and of himself. Jesus says, go, sell everything
you have, give the proceeds to the poor and follow me. Jesus
is not prescribing to this man or thinking that this man can
actually do this. Jesus is bringing that tenth
word and screwing it upon the conscience of this young man
to show him his waywardness and his sinfulness. Brethren, anyone
who's ever seen the holiness of God and the sinfulness of
men will imitate or will echo, at least inwardly, will verbalize
who is able to stand before this holy Lord God. Who among us is
there one? Again, in the context, they're
not looking for a priest. They're making a statement concerning
his power. So notice, the men of Beth Shemesh
do what the men of the Philistines did. So they sent messengers
to the inhabitants of Kirjath-Jerim saying, the Philistines have
brought back the Ark of the Lord. Come down and take it up with
you. I wonder, they said, because God just killed all these men
in Beth Shemesh, or if they were still laying there bleeding,
However it was that they were disposed. So they want to get
rid of it. They want to get rid of the Ark
of the Covenant. They've looked upon it, or 70 or 50,000 or 50,070
of their men looked upon that Ark, and God killed them right
before the others. So the Philistines, or rather
the men of Kirjath, Jerum, came and took the Ark of the Lord,
brought it into the house of Abinadab on the hill, and consecrated
Eleazar, his son, to keep the Ark of the Lord. So it's there
for 20 years, as we learn, in 7-2. Well, some lessons, and
then we conclude. First, the sovereignty of God.
We've sort of weaved these things in and throughout, but it is
good to remind ourselves. I like the way Davis refers to
chapters 4 to 6. He calls it archaeology, not
archaeology like the study of old stuff, but ARK eology. The study of the Ark teaches
us many lessons. Chapters four to six are packed
filled with information concerning our God and in some sense concerning
ourselves. The sovereignty of God is seen
in chapter four. He cannot be manipulated by Israelites. He will not be manipulated by
Israelites. He will suffer you to lose in
battle rather than to allow you to think that he can be contained
or controlled or used as a holy horseshoe on the field of battle
to bring victory to Israel. Our God is sovereign. We cannot
manipulate him. We cannot use him as a magic
charm to accomplish our means or our ends. Secondly, he cannot
be conquered by Philistines. Put him in the ark or put him
in the temple, put the ark of God in the temple with Dagon
and what happens? Dagon loses. Now remember, this
isn't really God. This is the Ark of the Covenant.
It's a visible representation of the invisible God. So it's
not as if God himself is actually in the temple with Dagon. This is something that represents
the God of heaven and earth. That something that represents
the God of heaven and earth took Dagon's head and hands off. clean
off, this thing that represents the God of heaven and earth,
killed Ashtodites, Gathites, and Ekranites in a most unseemly
way. I mean, if it was dysentery,
if it was emeralds, if it was whatever, they had issues. And
it was difficult. And the Lord God brought judgment
to bear upon them. And then as well, Davis points
this out. If you look at chapter six in
verse 19. Our Bibles say, then he struck
the men of Beth Shemesh, because they had looked into the ark
of the Lord. There's another variant reading that appears
in the Septuagint. I don't want to get too far afield
at this particular point. But this reading in the Septuagint
says, the sons of Jeconiah didn't rejoice. I'm not saying, I don't have
the skill to know what's, you know, I take what's here as what
is supposed to be there. But this variant reading is interesting.
The sons of Jeconiah didn't rejoice. They see the Ark of the Covenant,
and there was a group of people that didn't rejoice about it.
So the Lord killed them. We taught in chapter 4, we can't
manipulate God. We can't bring him out to battle
in this Ark of the Covenant and make him do our bidding. But
on the other hand, we don't minimize that visible representation of
our God. We don't discount the reality
that God has chosen to use this particular vehicle to demonstrate
his glory in and through and among his people. If it is the
case that the sons of Jeconiah were there and they did not rejoice,
God's judgment comes upon people not only for trying to manipulate
him and use him as a magic charm, but as well as judgment comes
upon those who marginalize him or discount him or don't pay
any attention to him that he is worthy of as well. We need
to understand this is God as he reveals himself. Secondly,
the judgment of God. He brings it upon the Philistines. Again, in a nasty way, their
gods, their land, their lives. He brings judgment upon Israel.
Chapter four, they want to use him. brings judgment via Philistines. Chapter 6, the men of Beth Shemesh
look upon the Ark of the Covenant and God struck 50,070 of them. And then the folly of idolatry. I know we drew this out a little
bit last week, but just look at what these men in Philistia
do. Look at the folly of idolatry,
bowing to Dagon even after Dagon has been bested. The attempt
to appease the God of heaven and earth with golden tumors
and rats. As if we could buy God off with
golden tumors and rats. The scripture is clear. Without
the shedding of blood, there is no remission. And the refusal
to repent after God confirmed it was him. Davis makes this
observation. Perhaps the majority simply sighed,
glad that's over. He says, it's so easy for us
sinners, Philistine or otherwise, to respond only to the pain and
not to the truth of the situation. Get that? To the pain and not
to the truth of the situation. We don't like the pain. Once
the pain's gone, well then we'll go back to normal. We need to
make sure we learn the lessons that the pain has brought to
us. Our immediate fears are alleviated,
but our heads are no wiser, our hearts no softer. Perhaps the
Egyptians have no corner on denseness. We need to learn from this. When
we witness the majesty of God, It ought to promote in us a holy
fear and a righteous pursuit of those things which are pleasing
in His sight. Woe to us if we like the men
of Bathshemesh, or we like the men of Philistia, or we like
the men of Chorazin and Bethsaida, who witness the power of God
Most High, and it doesn't move us to action. We don't pursue
those things which are pleasing in His sight. Those manifestations
of the glory and the majesty of God ought to move us to serve
the living and the true God. It's not raw displays of power
for its own end, but it's displays of power to silence the enemies
of God and to promote fear and obedience in the hearts of his
servants. Another lesson, we've seen the
sanctity of God, the holiness of Yahweh, who is able to stand
before this holy Lord God. No one, right? 1 Samuel 2, verse 2, what does
Hannah confess in her prayer of exaltation before the Lord? He is holy. What do people learn
in Leviticus chapter 10 after Nadab and Abihu are put to death? God tells them, I am holy. By those who come to me, I must
be regarded as holy. The scriptures are clear. We
studied Malachi the prophet several weeks ago in our evening worship. And what do we learn there? God
says, if I'm a father, if I'm a master, then where is my honor?
In Matthew chapter 10, what does Jesus tell his disciples? He
tells them not to fear those who can only kill the body, but
rather fear him who can kill body and soul and throw both
into hell. Brethren, the fear of God has
fallen on hard times. There's no fear of God before
the eyes of those who profess saving faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ. If there was a fear of God permeating
our churches, They might look a little bit differently. The
fear of God is that which indeed evidences that we have witnessed
and seen and have viewed the holiness and the majesty of God.
What was the lesson learned in the book of Acts when they were
carrying out the bodies of Ananias and Sapphira? So great fear came
upon all the church and upon all who heard these things. Great
fear. Not, wow, that's an interesting
turn of events. Wow, I'm going to tweet that.
Wow, I'm going to update my Facebook status and say I just saw Ananias
and Sapphira's dead body carried out of the house of God because
they lied to the Holy Spirit. No, it was fear. Acts 9, verse
31, the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had
peace and were edified in walking in the fear of the Lord and in
the comfort of the Holy Spirit. They were multiplied. You see,
the fear of the Lord is the logical, the necessary, the biblical response
to having viewed the holiness and the glory and the sovereignty
of the Lord. How are believers told to pursue
holiness? 2 Corinthians 7. Verse 1, therefore, having these
promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness
of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Hebrews chapter 12 highlights
the reality. We are to serve God acceptably
with reverence and godly fear. Why? For our God is a consuming
fire. These are New Testament passages.
When did the church think it was OK to forget this whole idea
of the fear of God? When did we lose sight of the
holiness of God that promotes and produces that fear of God? If the angels that praise the
Lord day and night, singing, holy, holy, holy, is the Lord
of us, have to cover their faces and cover their feet, Then what
should sinners like us have to do when we come face to face
with the living and true God? If the question of Beth Shemesh
has never invaded your mind or your heart, let it do so. Let
it have its way in your heart and realize that this God is
indeed a consuming fire. What about Revelation chapter
15? Verse 3, they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God,
and the song of the Lamb, saying, great and marvelous are your
works, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways,
O King of the saints. Who shall not fear you, O Lord,
and glorify your name? That's right out of the prophet
Jeremiah. It's the same thing Jeremiah asked. Who would not
fear thee, O King of the nations? For indeed, it is your due. But in Revelation 15.4, who shall
not fear you, O Lord, and glorify your name for? You alone are
holy, for all nations shall come and worship before you, for your
judgments have been manifested." Davis again. This is a beautiful
statement, he says. God's people today no longer
have the Ark of the Covenant, but we can fall into the same
Beth Shemesh mode of thinking. We can forget that Yahweh is
holy, in a word, different, and that he does not conform to our
expectation of an easygoing God. Our culture does not help us
to smash our graven image of the casual God. Our culture proclaims
that God must be the essence of tolerance. He is chummy rather
than holy, the man upstairs rather than my father for Jesus' sake.
So long as our novelty license plates declare that God is my
co-pilot, we can be sure that we have not yet seen the King,
Yahweh of hosts. As Jonathan Edwards noted, it
is the absence of a godly fear that signifies a lack of the
knowledge of God. A.W. Pink said this, he said,
the God of this century no more resembles the sovereign of holy
writ than does the dim flickering of a candle, the glory of the
midday sun. The God who is talked about in
the average pulpit. spoken of in the ordinary Sunday
school, mentioned in much of the religious literature of the
day, and preached in most of the so-called Bible conferences,
is a figment of human imagination, an invention of maudlin sentimentality. The heathen outside the pale
of Christendom form gods of wood and stone, while millions of
heathen inside Christendom manufacture a god out of their own carnal
minds. In reality they are but atheists, For there is no other
possible alternative between an absolutely supreme God and
no God at all. A God whose will is resisted,
whose designs are frustrated, whose purpose is checkmated,
possesses no title to deity, and far from being a fit object
of worship, merits nothing but contempt. That is the reality,
brethren. The God with whom we have to
do has not gone through some sort of a cosmic car wash. It's not as if Yahweh of Israel
went through this phase, and now he's come out into the new
covenant era as a easygoing deity. No, He is a consuming fire. That's
in Hebrews. That is a New Testament book.
We are to serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear.
Revelation, the last time I checked, was a New Testament book. Who
would not fear Thee, O King of the nations? For indeed, it is
Your due. God has not changed, brethren.
It is we that have changed. We have lost sight of the holiness
of God, the supremacy of God, the sovereignty and the majesty
of God. In short, the Godhood of God. When the church loses the Godhood
of God, that affects her worship, it affects her life, it affects
everything. The issue that is necessary today
is that we recover or return to this reality that God is all
in all. I had a personal experience the
other day. I don't want to necessarily share
my personal experiences, but it's interesting because today
in the ARBCA, in the association, it is time for persons in other
churches to write their responses concerning this doctrine of impassibility. Well, we were working together
as the theology committee recently, and we were going through the
position paper, specifically the section on the systematic
theology. If you've not read that yet, I encourage you to
do so, because it sets forth the godhood of God. We're reading
through that paper, and at one point, one of the brothers, a
man I'm well familiar with, said, you know, we should just stop
and worship at this point. This isn't putting God under
the microscope and just formulating theological doctrine. This is
the means to produce and promote worship. You see, brethren, the
reason why in our church we try to preach on theology and doctrine
and scripture and all these things is because we understand this
basic truth that theology, what we know concerning God, drives
doxology, how we praise and worship our God. If we don't know who
God is, we are not going to worship Him accordingly. If we do not
know this Holy God, we are not going to respond in kind. The
last observation before we leave is we ought to see and appreciate
the mercy of God in this passage. You see, He needed to go through
no car wash, or no phase change, or no altercation, because God
is unchanging and unchanged. He's always been all that He
is. And he will continue to be for
all eternity. There's grace, there's mercy,
there's love, there's kindness. And we see evidence here. First in the two milk cows. God
revealed himself to these pagans. They didn't deserve anything.
They did not deserve any whiff whatsoever of the true knowledge
of God. But those cows, lowing their
way off to Beth Shemesh on that 15-mile walk, showed these pagans
there is a God in Israel. But secondly, we know the answer
to verse 20, don't we? Who is able to stand before this
holy Lord God? There is one, and his name is
the Lord Jesus Christ. And because of him, all those
who by God's grace believe are in union with him. He gathers
up his elect. He brings us into the presence
of God. And so to answer the question to the men of Beth Shemesh,
Jesus Christ is his name. He is the mediator of the new
covenant, of the better covenant, and all of the elect, by virtue
of his saving benefit, have life eternal in him. So praise God
for his mercy, revealed through milk cows and revealed in an
answer to a perennial question, who is able to stand before this
holy Lord God? It is Christ. It is the one who
obeyed the law, the one who died as a sacrifice, the one who rose
again. And by God's grace, those who
are in union with him shall enter in to the presence of God. Well,
let us pray. Our Father, we thank you for
your word, and we thank you for your holiness, and your majesty,
and for your glory. And God, I pray that as we witness
these things in the pages of scripture, that we would worship
you aright, and that we would live aright. God, forgive us
that we often wander. Forgive us that we often sin.
We have so much knowledge and so many benefits that you have
poured out upon us. Help us to live in a manner that
is consistent with that holy gospel, Help us to conduct ourselves
in the fear of God and to glorify and honor your great name. We
thank you for this time together. We thank you for the lessons
in 1 Samuel 4-6. We thank you that you've not
left us in this world of darkness and that you've communicated
to us through cows, but as well through prophets and apostles
and through the Lord Jesus Christ. How we praise you for your word,
for your revelation, and help us to be students of it. And
we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.
