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A bit of reluctance and apology 
to the Wednesday night Bible study crew, I want to call out 
the text 1 Samuel chapter 4 and 5. We considered this on Wednesday 
night. Some of the people suggested 
that I should preach it on Sunday, and so I'm going to do that. 
So 1 Samuel chapters 4 and 5. Hopefully it'll just be repetition 
for those who were here on Wednesday night. and that we can learn 
the lessons well of what we find here in 1st Samuel, chapter 4 
and 5. It's a pretty large chunk of Scripture. We're not going 
to do a detailed exposition of it. Rather, I'll read 1st Samuel 
4 and 5, and then we'll make several observations trying to 
uncover the specific point that God the Lord is communicating 
to us in this section of Holy Scripture. 1st Samuel, chapter 
4, beginning in verse 1. And the word of Samuel came to 
all Israel. Now Israel went out to battle 
against the Philistines and encamped beside Ebenezer. The Philistines 
encamped in Aphek. And the Philistines put themselves 
in battle array against Israel. And when they joined battle, 
Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about 4,000 men of 
the army in the field. And when the people had come 
into the camp, the elders of Israel said, Why has the Lord 
defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the 
Ark of the Covenant of the Lord from Shiloh to us, that when 
it comes among us, it may save us from the hand of our enemies. 
So the people sent to Shiloh, that they might bring from there 
the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of hosts, who dwells between 
the cherubim. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni 
and Phinehas, were there with the Ark of the Covenant of God. 
And when the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord came into the camp, 
all Israel shouted so loudly that the earth shook. Now, when 
the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, What 
does the sound of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews 
mean? Then they understood that the 
Ark of the Lord had come into the camp. So the Philistines 
were afraid, for they said, God has come into the camp. And they 
said, Woe to us, for such a thing has never happened before. Woe 
to us. Who will deliver us from the 
hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck 
the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness. Be strong 
and conduct yourselves like men, you Philistines, that you do 
not become servants of the Hebrews, as they have been to you. Conduct 
yourselves like men and fight. So the Philistines fought and 
Israel was defeated. And every man fled to his tent. There was a very great slaughter, 
and there fell of Israel thirty thousand foot soldiers. Also 
the ark of God was captured, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni 
and Phinehas, died. Then a man of Benjamin ran from 
the battle line the same day, and came to Shiloh with his clothes 
torn and dirt on his head. Now when he came, there was Eli 
sitting on a seat by the wayside watching. For his heart trembled 
for the ark of God. And when the man came into the 
city and told it, all the city cried out. When Eli heard the 
noise of the outcry, he said, What does the sound of this tumult 
mean? And the man came quickly and told Eli. Eli was ninety-eight 
years old, and his eyes were so dim that he could not see. 
Then the man said to Eli, I am he who came from the battle, 
and I fled today from the battle line. And he said, What happened, 
my son? So the messenger answered and 
said, Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has 
been a great slaughter among the people. Also, your two sons, 
Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been captured. 
Then it happened, when he made mention of the ark of God, that 
Eli fell off the seat backward by the side of the gate, and 
his neck was broken, and he died, for the man was old and heavy, 
and he had judged Israel forty years. Now his daughter-in-law, 
Phineas' wife, was with child, due to be delivered. And when 
she heard the news that the ark of God was captured, and that 
her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself 
and gave birth, for her labor pains came upon her. And about 
the time of her death, the women who stood by her said to her, 
Do not fear, for you have born a son. But she did not answer, 
nor did she regard it. Then she named the child Ichabod, 
saying, The glory has departed from Israel. because the Ark 
of God had been captured, and because of her father-in-law 
and her husband. And she said, The glory has departed 
from Israel, for the Ark of God has been captured. Then the Philistines 
took the Ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. When 
the Philistines took the Ark of God, they brought it into 
the house of Dagon and set it by Dagon. And when the people 
of Ashdod arose early in the morning, there was Dagon, fallen 
on its face to the earth, before the Ark of the Lord. So they 
took Dagon and set it in its place again. And when they arose 
early the next morning, there was Dagon, fallen on its face 
to the ground before the Ark of the Lord. The head of Dagon 
and both the palms of its hands were broken off on the threshold. 
Only Dagon's torso was left of it. Therefore, neither the priests 
of Dagon nor any who come into Dagon's house tread on the threshold 
of Dagon in Ashgod to this day. The hand of the Lord was heavy 
on the people of Ashdod, and He ravaged them and struck them 
with tumors, both Ashdod and its territory. And when the men 
of Ashdod saw how it was, they said, The ark of the God of Israel 
must not remain with us, for His hand is harsh toward us and 
Dagon our God. Therefore, they sent and gathered 
to themselves all the lords of the Philistines and said, What 
shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? Let the ark of 
the God of Israel be carried away to Gath. So they carried 
the ark of the God of Israel away. So it was, after they had 
carried it away, that the hand of the Lord was against the city 
with a very great destruction. And he struck the men of the 
city, both small and great, and tumors broke out on them. Therefore 
they sent the ark of God to Ekron. So it was, as the ark of God 
came to Ekron, that the Ekronites cried out, saying, They have 
brought the ark of the God of Israel to us, to kill us and 
our people. 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 back to its own place, so 
that it does not kill us and our people. For there was a deadly 
destruction throughout all the city. The hand of God was very 
heavy there. And the men who did not die were 
stricken with the tumors, and the cry of the city went up to 
heaven. Amen. Well, let us pray. Father, 
thank You for Your Word. Thank You for the Spirit-given 
Word. And we pray for understanding 
now. We pray for wisdom. We pray for 
grace, Father, to see in this passage very practical lessons 
affecting the Church of Jesus Christ. How we thank You for 
our Lord. How we thank You for Jesus, who 
is our great High Priest, the mediator of a better covenant, 
and the One who is the surety, the One who has paid our debt 
and who has given us life eternal. How we thank you for him and 
how we bless you for the entirety of Scripture. And we pray through 
Christ our Lord. Amen. Well, just to set the historical 
context for the book of 1st and 2nd Samuel, the events of 1st 
and 2nd Samuel take place between the years 1105 B.C., which was 
Samuel's birth and 971 B.C., which is the death of David. At this particular time in Israel's 
history, they went from a loosely knit group of tribes under judges 
to a united nation under the reign of a centralized monarchy. It's a very significant section 
of Holy Scripture in terms of Israel's history. First, Samuel 
focuses primarily on three things. The first section deals with 
the ministry of Samuel the prophet. The second deals with the reign 
of King Saul, and then the third, the reign of King David. And 
in this particular section, 1 Samuel chapter 4 and 5, the battle with 
the Philistines demonstrates a truth that the Church of Christ 
still struggles with today. God is not a lucky charm. God 
is not a holy horseshoe. God is not some item that we 
trump into battle who delivers us at our bidding. We are not 
to seek to manipulate Him. We are not to seek to control 
Him. We are not to seek to make Him 
subservient to our will. You may wonder, where do I get 
that? Precisely in this battle recorded for us in 1 Samuel 4. We're going to approach these 
two chapters with four considerations. First, the folly of Israel. Secondly, the fulfillment of 
God's word. Thirdly, the departure of the 
glory of God. And fourthly, the supremacy of 
God. Just by way of a more particular 
Context, we find the situation recorded for us in verses 1 and 
2. There's a military confrontation 
with the Philistines and the defeat of Israel, according to 
verse 2. They lose 4,000 men of the army 
in the field, according to 1 Samuel 4.2. This was a very big defeat 
in Israel's history. Now, let's pick up the folly 
of Israel, verses 3 to 11. Notice their problem. their problem. They suffered defeat. They lost 
on the battlefield. Perhaps they thought this was 
a win. Perhaps they went into this very confident that they 
would certainly have achieved victory with the Lord's help. 
But they do not. They suffer on the battlefield. 
And then notice they ask the right question. According to 
verse three, it says, And when the people had come into the 
camp, the elders of Israel said, Why has the Lord defeated us 
today before the Philistines? That's the right question. They 
understood that God was sovereign. They understood that God was 
omnipotent. They attributed their victory 
to God. And in this particular instance, they attributed their 
defeat to God. That is the way we ought to interpret 
history around us. Why has the Lord defeated us 
today before the Philistines? They didn't say the Philistines 
are a bigger army, a better army, a better equipped army. No, they 
understood the sovereignty of God, so they asked the right 
question. Well, let's look at their solution. 
Though they may have asked the right question, their answer 
to the problem was the wrong one. Notice verse three. Let us bring the ark of the covenant 
of the Lord from Shiloh to us that when it comes among us, 
it may save us from the hand of our enemies instead of repentance. Instead of a commitment to obedience, 
instead of a genuine wrestling with the question, why has the 
Lord brought this defeat upon us? They immediately take matters 
into their own hands. During the time of Judges and 
Joshua, Shiloh was the place of worship. Shiloh was the old 
Jerusalem, if you will, that place of centrality for worship. So they say, trump the card of 
God in here, bring the Ark of the Covenant, march it into battle, 
and we will certainly gain victory. They treat the Ark of the Covenant 
as if its very presence will assure them victory from on high. They are manipulating the situation. They are attempting to control 
the situation. They are reducing the Ark of 
the Covenant to a particular thing that would just vindicate 
their cause. One man says the Ark symbolized 
the presence and power of the Lord. Yet Israel treated it like 
a good luck charm. They ask the question. They don't 
wrestle with it. They don't seek the answer. He 
said, why is the Lord brought this defeat upon us? Go get the 
Ark of the Covenant from Shiloh, bring it into the camp, and certainly 
we will achieve victory. This is not reverence before 
God. This is not humbling ourselves 
before God. It is treating the very Ark of 
the Covenant as if its presence alone is going to ensure victory 
on our behalf. Yet Israel treated it like a 
good luck charm which would ensure them victory over the Philistines. Knowing that victory or defeat 
depended upon the Lord's presence, they confused the symbol of his 
presence with his actual presence. The Ark of the Covenant symbolized 
at least three things. It symbolized God's rule. It 
symbolized God's reconciliation plan, and it symbolized God's 
Revelation, which, interestingly enough, those three categories 
correspond to the offices of Christ. He's prophet. He reveals 
the Word. He's priest. He reconciles sinners 
unto his Father. And he is king. He rules over 
his enemies and over his friends. But this art symbolized God's 
presence. It could not confine God. Remember the Lord's statement 
in Isaiah 66, when he is when he is approving the people, he 
says, heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool. Where 
is the house that you will build that can contain me? God is glorious 
and majestic and all powerful. It's not confined in the space 
of a small box, but that's how Israel is treating the Ark of 
the Covenant. They want victory. They don't 
want repentance. They want to win. They don't 
want obedience. They want to trump the enemies 
that are affecting them adversely. They don't want right relationship 
with the living and the true God. They were seeking to use 
God to get what they wanted. They were manipulating God in 
order to obtain victory. It's plain as day in this particular 
passage. Later on, the Philistines respond 
in like manner. When they see the Ark of the 
Covenant come into the camp, what do the Philistines do? They 
get excited. They get freaked out. They're 
not happy about this. Israel is thinking just like 
pagan Philistines. Ralph Davis says, when we operate 
this way, our concern is not to seek God, but to control him, 
not to submit to God, but to use him. So we prefer religious 
magic to spiritual holiness. We are interested in success, 
not repentance. The other night, on our Wednesday 
night Bible study, we thought about this. And this kind of 
thing goes on today. Certainly, we don't bring the 
Ark of the Covenant into our particular battlements and invoke 
its presence and power to win our enemies, but we oftentimes 
live the Christian life dependent on technique, dependent on system, 
dependent on program, dependent on a ledger and accounting system. 
If I do this for God, then he'll repay me with this. If I serve 
God here, well, then he'll bless me over here. We are seeking 
to manipulate and control the circumstances and get God to 
do what we want him to do. We can, at times, take very good 
things and yet taking the guts out of them, reduce them to a 
simple symbol and seek, by the use of that symbol, to get what 
we want. This isn't simply a problem in 
Israel in the 1100 B.C. Notice their judgment. Notice 
their judgment. Verse four. So the people sent 
to Shiloh that they might bring from there the ark of the covenant 
of the Lord of hosts, who dwells between the chair of them. And 
the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the 
ark of the covenant of God. You need to remember these two 
characters. If you've been reading 1 Samuel, 
say, hey, there's those two men again. There's those two guys. We remember them from chapter 
two. More on them in just a moment. See, they're more largely involved 
in this story than meets the eye initially. Notice the response 
of the Philistines. I've already alluded to this. 
The ark is brought into the place, and we see the ark of the covenant 
of the Lord came into the camp, verse 5. All Israel shouted so 
loudly that the earth shut. You can understand that. It's 
how victory was there. Imagine, you've just lost 4,000 
troops. You've lost 4,000 friends and 
brethren. You've seen them slaughtered 
right before your eyes. Now you've called for the Calvary. 
You've called for the bombers. You've called for reinforcements. And perhaps you see them coming 
over the hill in all of their glory and majesty and power, 
armed to the teeth, ready to destroy your enemies. Of course 
you're going to be excited. Of course you're going to rejoice. 
Of course you're going to be happy. That's the response here. 
All Israel shouted so loudly that the earth shook. They thought 
victory was in the bag. See, this is what happens to 
us. We try to manipulate the situation. We try to control 
the circumstances. We get so strong in our own flesh 
and so confident in our own ability that we automatically assume 
that blessing must come from the Lord. Isn't that what's going 
on here? I know it's late. I know it's 
hot. I know that you're sweating. But follow this passage. And 
don't just say, well, look at these messed up Israelites of 
yesteryear. Look at yourself in this passage. 
What happens when you need help from on high? Do you manipulate? Do you control? Do you use technique? Or do you humble yourself under 
the mighty hand of God? You search the scriptures. Do 
you pray? Do you seek him who says, ask 
and seek and you will find. Knock and the door shall be opened 
to you. Don't just try to fix everything 
right now in your own strength and in your own wisdom. Israel 
thought victory was in the bag at this particular time. The 
Philistines thought the same. Verse 6, Now when the Philistines 
heard the noise of the shout, they said, What is the sound 
of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews mean? Then they 
understood that the ark of the Lord had come into the camp. 
It's a bad day for the Philistines as we read on further, right? 
Them taking possession of the Ark of the Covenant was about 
the worst possible thing they could ever, ever do. I mean, 
you just need to read chapters 5 and 6. What do we do with it 
in Ashdod? Send it to Gath. What do we do 
with it in Gath? Send it to Ekron. Get it out 
of here. All that's associated with it 
is judgment. But in this particular juncture, 
they don't know this. So the Philistines were afraid, 
for they said, God has come into the camp. Again, that's a connection 
between Israel. Israel was thinking the same 
way. We can expect pagans to look 
at the symbol and see the substance. We expect God's people, God's 
fearers, God's receiving believers to look through the symbol to 
the God of it. That's what we need to be about. 
Verse 7, So the Philistines were afraid, and they said, God has 
come into the camp. And they said, Woe to us, for 
such a thing has never happened before. Woe to us! Who will deliver 
us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who 
struck the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness. 
Now, they're ascribing this act in Egypt to the gods. They're 
still thinking like pluralists, like pagans often do. They have 
a plurality of gods. But notice this event in Egypt. 
Notice that the peoples around Egypt heard. Notice that this 
act of God was published not just for the covenant community, 
but it was published for the peoples around them. They heard 
and they feared. They knew there was something 
peculiar, something interesting, something different about Israel 
and its gods. Now, again, they're pluralists, 
but they have some right history here. They go on to urge their 
soldiers, be strong and conduct yourselves like men, you Philistines, 
that you do not become servants of the Hebrews as they have been 
to you. Conduct yourselves like men and fight. This is a good 
rally. You see the Ark of the Covenant? 
The Philistines say, you don't want to become their servants. 
Get in there and fight. Man up, take courage and go. 
Take the Hebrews down. And that brings us to the devastating 
result of verses 10 and 11. So the Philistines fought, and 
Israel was defeated, and every man fled to his tent. There was 
a very great slaughter, and there fell of Israel thirty thousand 
foot soldiers. It was devastating. They need 
to rethink their strategy. Perhaps manipulating and controlling 
and seeking technique isn't going to be the way that Israel will 
be superior among the nation. Perhaps humbling themselves under 
the mighty hand of God. Perhaps repentance. Perhaps obedience. Perhaps those things that God 
has clearly shown them ought to be subscribed to first and 
foremost. Now notice verse 11. Also, the 
ark of God was captured and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, 
died. Now let's just suppose for a 
moment you were standing on the top of the ridge and you watched 
this whole spectacle. What would you conclude? What 
would you conclude on that day? You'd say Israel suffered a great 
loss. 30,000 foot soldiers are gone. They're dead. They're destroyed. The Ark of the Covenant was taken 
from Israel by the Philistines back into enemy territory. It was a lose-lose day for Israel. Everything has gone wrong for 
them. They are destitute. They are destroyed. They are 
in bad and dire straits. The Philistines are the clear 
victor on that day. And then if you were going to 
theologize, you move from the bare reporting of the events 
to the theology behind it, what might you begin to conclude? 
Dagon was superior on the field of battle. Yahweh couldn't hold 
his own. Yahweh couldn't see himself through 
sustaining his people and bringing victory for them and destroying 
the Philistines. You see, you would have bad theology 
if you concluded that. We move, secondly, from the folly 
of Israel to the fulfillment of God's Word. God is victorious. God is accomplishing His purpose 
and His plan. God is doing what he has promised 
to do. That's what verse 11 specifies. The Ark of God was captured and 
the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died. You see, I believe 
that one of the reasons that 1 Samuel 4 is in our Bibles is 
to highlight the importance of worship. You say, well, that's 
a stretch. No, it isn't. Who are the two 
sons of Eli, Hothni and Phineas? They were priests of the Lord. 
Let's just look back and review a little bit about these two 
characters. Their main problem was theological 
in nature. Verse 12 of chapter two, the 
sons of Eli were corrupt. They did not know the Lord. They 
know, they didn't know who he was. They had a catechetical 
information about God, but they didn't have an experiential knowledge 
of God. You see, in the old covenant, 
you could be a covenant member. Some would know the Lord, some 
wouldn't know the Lord. This isn't true in the new covenant. 
In the new covenant, all shall know me from the least of them 
to the greatest of them. But in the old covenant, you 
had Samuel who knew the Lord and you had Hockney and Phineas 
who did not know the Lord. That was their root problem. 
That was their issue. That was what caused or promoted 
the types of sins they engaged in. Notice in chapter two, beginning 
in verse 13, their religious sins. The priest's custom with 
the people was that when any man offered a sacrifice, the 
priest's servant would come with a three-pronged flesh hook in 
his hand while the meat was boiling. Then he would thrust it into 
the pan, or kettle, or cauldron, or pot, and the priest would 
take for himself all that the flesh hook brought up. So they 
did in Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there. Also, before 
they burned the fat, the priest's servant would come and say to 
the man who sacrificed, give meat for roasting to the priest. 
For he will not take boiled meat from you, but raw. And if the 
man said to him, they should really burn the fat first, then 
you may take as much as your heart desires. He would then 
answer him, no, but you must give it now. And if not, I will 
take it by force. Imagine that. for your priest. A very nice priest, is he? That's 
pretty bad. You, the worshipper in Israel, 
you come to the tabernacle to present your sacrifice and you 
got these meat hungry fools stealing it from you. Drop down for just 
a moment. Verse 22. Now Eli was very old 
and he heard everything his sons did to all Israel and how they 
lay with the women who assembled at the door of the tabernacle 
of meeting. Eli heard about this and he reproved 
them verbally. He should have removed them from 
office. He should have stripped them from that particular place 
and possibly turned them over to the civil authority that they 
would be punished accordingly. But notice in verse 17. Therefore, 
the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord, for 
men abhorred the offering of the Lord." This battle with the 
Philistines was calculated to teach Israel something about 
worship. God is great. God is glorious. God is majestic. God deserves 
reverence and awe. God will not have priests making 
a mockery out of the worship service. God will not have priests 
who promote an abhorrence of the sacrificial system. God will 
send Israel into battle against the Philistines. God will suffer 
the shame of the ark being removed so that he may destroy Hophni 
and Phinehas. And so that he may dictate and 
show to his people that they are not in charge, that they 
don't manipulate the scenario, that they don't control the circumstances, 
and that they are always under the bidding of a sovereign and 
glorious God. That, my brethren, is the thrust 
and flow that we find here. Notice in chapter 2, verse 25. 
Chapter two, verse twenty five. If one man sins against another, 
God will judge him. But if a man sins against the 
Lord, who will intercede for him? Nevertheless, they did not 
heed the voice of their father because the Lord desired to kill 
them. And then over in verse thirty 
five, then I will raise up for myself a faithful priest who 
shall do according to what is in my heart. I'm sorry. Verse 
thirty four. Now this shall be assigned to you that will come 
upon your two sons on Hoffman and Phineas. In one day they 
shall die, both of them. Then I will raise up for myself 
a faithful priest who shall do according to what is in my heart 
and in my mind. I will build him a shore house 
and he shall walk before me anointed forever." You see, at the center 
of this is worship. It's not just who's the superior 
army, who deserves to die. God is showing us something about 
worship. God is showing us that he is 
going to remove Hophni and Phinehas and put in their place someone 
that he describes this way. I will raise up for myself a 
faithful priest who shall do according to what is in my heart 
and in my mind. Does that instruct us about worship? What do we do when we come to 
worship? What's in our hearts? What's in our mind? Or we go 
to the scriptures. We search the Bible. We find 
out what pleases God. Do we ask the right questions? 
How has God revealed that we approach Him? You see, Israel 
fell into this place where they tolerated wicked priests and 
they began to abhor the sacrifice of the Lord. So if you were reporting 
on this scene that day, And if you were theologically inclined, 
biblically speaking, you would have said God is in the midst 
of fulfilling his word. God is showing Israel the futility 
of their attempt to try and manipulate situations, and he is showing 
them how he is concerned with purity and worship. Hophni and 
Phinehas died. Notice thirdly, the departure 
of the glory of God, verses 12 to 22. Then a man of Benjamin 
ran from the battle line the same day, came to Shiloh with 
his clothes torn and dirt on his head. Now when he came, there 
was Eli sitting on a seat by the wayside, watching, for his 
heart trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came into 
the city and told it, all the city cried out. When Eli heard 
the noise of the outcry, he said, What is the sound of this tumult 
mean? And the man came quickly and told Eli. Eli was ninety-eight 
years old, and his eyes were so dim that he could not see. 
Then the man said to Eli, I am he who came from the battle, 
and I fled today from the battle line. And he said, What happened, 
my son? So the messenger answered and 
said, Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has 
been a great slaughter among the people. Also your two sons, 
Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been captured. Then it happened, when he made 
mention of the ark of God, that Eli fell off the seat backward 
by the side of the gate, and his neck was broken, and he died, 
for the man was old and heavy, and he had judged Israel forty 
years. As God had promised, on the same day both men would die, 
Hophni and Phinehas. Eli falls, Eli dies, and now 
we read the story of the account of God's departure. His daughter-in-law 
Phineas, Phineas' wife, was with child, due to be delivered, when 
she had heard the news that the Ark of God was captured, and 
that her father-in-law and her husband were dead. She bowed 
herself and gave birth, for her labor pains came upon her. About 
the time of her death, the women who stood by her said to her, 
Do not fear, for you have born a son. But she did not answer, 
nor did she regard it. Then she named the child Ichabod, 
saying, The glory has departed from Israel, because the Ark 
of God had been captured, and because of her father-in-law 
and her husband. And she said, the glory has departed from Israel, 
and the ark of God has been captured. The glory of God departs. That's the worst part in this 
whole scenario. One man, Ellison, comments this 
way. He says, the glory of God had indeed departed, but not 
because the ark of God had been captured. The ark of God had 
been captured because the glory had already departed. It wasn't 
as if, hey, the ark is gone, now God's gone. No, God was gone. 
That's why the ark went. And then notice, fourthly, the 
supremacy of God. Chapters 5 and 6. You ought to 
read these in some detail later. It's very amazing. We'll just 
pick up the supremacy over Dagon. Dagon was the god of grain and 
vegetation. Probably the leader of the Philistine 
pantheon. He was the big cheese among all 
the gods. He had the body of a man and the lower half of a 
fish. Kind of an interesting looking 
God. We've seen something about Covenant Israel's futility in 
their approach to God. They thought they could manipulate. 
They thought they could control. They thought the symbol was everything. They didn't cast themselves before 
the substance. Rather, they put their energies 
into the symbol. Well, this text deals with pagan 
futility as well. I mean, if you read the first 
five verses and you don't chuckle a little bit, you're not reading 
it properly. Guarantee you that as the author 
penned this, it was not only to show the glory, the majesty 
and the excellency of God, it was to show the folly and the 
futility and the utter stupidity of idolatry. Then the Philistines 
took the ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. When 
the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into 
the house of Dagon and set it by Dagon. And when the people 
of Ashdod arose early in the morning, why would they arise 
early in the morning? They're going there to worship. 
They're going there to give homage. They're going there to bow to 
this God of grain and vegetation. They're going to see this idol, 
this construction, this thing that has the body of a man up 
top and the body, or the Not the body, the rest of the fish 
below. That's what they're going there 
for. They're getting up early. It wasn't just Spurgeon who wrote 
Morning and Evening for the Christians. Probably the Philistines had 
a Spurgeon who was writing Mornings and Evenings for religious devotion 
to the pantheon of Philistine, of Philistinian gods. Look at 
what happens when they get there. When the people of Ashdod arose 
early in the morning, there was Dagon fallen on its face to the 
earth before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and set it 
in its place again. What should be our response to 
this? What should be the response of God's people, believers in 
Jesus Christ? We ought not to be nasty. We 
ought not to be unkind or untoward, but we ought to be able to see 
in this the utter futility of a people having to pick their 
God up. You see, Christianity is about 
our God picking us up. Christianity is about believers 
falling more often than they like to recount, and God picking 
them up. God cleansing them, God washing 
them, God receiving them and eating with them. We don't want 
a religion where we have to prop the God up. We want the truth 
of Christianity where God reaches down and picks us up. Dagon can't 
deliver the goods. They set the Ark of the Covenant 
next to Dagon. They go in in the morning to 
do worship and they see him on the ground. So they dutifully 
pick him back up. They go out, carry on with their 
day, and then they come back to worship again. Do you see 
the futility of idolatry? If you are not a Christian here 
tonight, this is you. propping up your gods, giving 
homage and worship to that which cannot satisfy giving attention, 
giving praise, giving worship to something that cannot sustain 
itself, let alone you. You're to see in first Samuel 
five, one to five, just how bad idolatry is. Verse four. And when they arose early the 
next day, or the next morning, there was Dagon fallen on its 
face to the ground before the ark of the Lord. The head of 
Dagon and both the palms of its hands were broken off on the 
threshold. Only Dagon's torso was left of 
it. I got a bit of advice for you. 
If your God's head falls off, he's not worth anything. If your 
God's palms break off, If your God falls down and you have to 
prop Him up, you are worshiping an idol. We serve the God who 
is almighty, who is all-powerful, who is all-glorious, who props 
us up, who receives us, who delivers us, who justifies us, who washes 
us, who cleanses us, who sanctifies us, who clothes us in robes of 
righteousness. And as we live the life of sanctification, 
He tells us to cast our anxieties upon Him, for He cares for us. 
He's not this kind of a God that falls down and needs us to pick 
him back up. And instead of the people saying, 
oh, this Dagon thing, this is really not a God. This is futility 
and idolatry. They just make a new superstition 
not to cross the threshold in a particular way. They don't 
repudiate and reject Dagon worship. They make a new superstition 
to deal with this particular contingency. This is a demonstration 
of the supremacy of God. The Ark of the Covenant then 
goes from city to city with reference to the Philistines, and then 
they finally consult with the main man of Philistia, and they 
say, we need to send it back to Israel. We need to get it 
out of here. This was the worst thing we could 
have ever done. Remember, you're that reporter. 
You've been watching the battle. You see the Ark of the Covenant 
being taken away into Philistia, and you say, wow, the Lord lost. 
No, the Lord has His purposes. The Lord is fulfilling His Word. 
The Lord is going to bring judgment and vengeance upon the enemies 
of Israel, and He's going to do it in the most powerful way. 
Chapter 6 is an amazing scenario. When they figure out how they're 
going to send this particular Ark back, they realize we need 
to send an offering with it. Remember Egypt? Something that 
keeps coming up. Remember Egypt? Remember what 
happened in Egypt? You see, this is why we're to 
publish the great works of God. We're to tell people about what 
God has done. So perhaps they will fear. Perhaps 
they will take heed. Perhaps they will recognize there 
is a supreme and majestic and sovereign being in heaven. In 
many ways, they concoct this idea that they're going to send 
these five golden tumors and these rats back with the Ark 
of the Covenant. Probably it was a bubonic plague 
of some sort. That's what the commentators 
tell us anyway. And then they make this little test that's 
just amazing. We read this, covered it briefly on Wednesday night, 
just giving you some of the bits here, the details. In 1 Samuel 
6, how do they know that it's really of the Lord? They say, 
take two milk cows. Two milk cows, attach them to 
a cart and let them walk. If they go to Bathshemesh, if 
they go up the road, we'll know this is of the Lord. If they 
don't, we'll know this was a chance happening. Kind of an interesting 
chance happening, right? Ashdod, Gath, Ekron. Same thing 
happens. Grievous destruction from the 
presence of the Lord. Now, when you look at that in 
1 Samuel chapter 6, two milk cows, that means cows that are 
in the process of giving milk. They don't just stop that. They 
don't just cease that activity. They had calves. They say, pen 
the calves up. What would be the natural instinct, 
especially with these milk cows who'd never worn a yoke? They 
had never been attached to a cart. They weren't taught. They weren't 
broken. They didn't have this know-how. What would be the natural 
tendency of a milk cow but to wander right back to its calf 
to seek glorious relief? You see, they concoct this and 
they say that if the cows take the cart and they head up the 
road, then God has spoken. And that's precisely what God 
does. The cows go, there's no wavering, there's no turning 
to the left, there's no turning to the right. They go right into 
Beth Shemesh. Philistines couldn't miss the voice of God on that 
day. The Philistines couldn't twist that theology. The Philistines 
understood all too clearly there is a God in Israel and he brought 
judgment upon us. Let's get the Ark of the Covenant 
out of here, back to its place so that we can be done with it. 
God is supreme. God is glorious. God is majestic. And then the men of Beth Shemesh 
make that That horrible mistake of looking into the Ark of the 
Covenant, and God kills a great multitude. And it says, who can 
stand before this holy Lord? It's a good lesson for us to 
learn. Well, brethren, in terms of the 
history, the removal of ungodly leadership, and the placement 
of godly leadership in terms of priesthood is going on in 
Israel. some implications. God will suffer, 
and I'm not saying that he actually does, but at least anthropomorphically, 
speaking as a man, God will suffer shame rather than allow you to 
carry on a false relationship with him. The Ark of the Covenant 
will be taken from Israel to teach you that you are not a 
manipulator, that you are not a controller, that you are not 
sovereign over your circumstances. As well, when we consider this 
particular passage, we need to remember the words of Micah the 
prophet. We looked at this on Wednesday, and I think it fits 
right alongside of it. Micah chapter 6. You may turn 
there. We're bringing this to a close. You know, very often when we 
have a problem or when we have a trial, we want God to fix it. 
Right? And that's not necessarily bad. 
But how we go about it could be bad. We want to figure out 
the best way to get God to perform. Unfortunately, sometimes in the 
churches today, prayer vigils, or revival meetings, or fasting, 
or a specific type of praying, or giving money to get blessing, 
or doing several and various techniques will certainly guarantee 
the blessing of God. That is not the way we are supposed 
to approach things. Yes, pray. Yes, engage in those 
duties God calls us to. Yes, do so in humble reliance 
upon the Lord. Engage in the use of the means 
of grace to be sure. Do not appropriate it or do not 
approach it as a formulaic plan. If I pray five hours, God will 
bless me five hours. If I give so much, God will give 
me right back. If I do this, then God will do 
that. That is not our concern. We are to seek to glorify and 
honor God and leave the blessing, the control, the circumstances 
to him. Well, this is a problem in Israel 
at Micah's time. Notice in chapter six, verse 
one, hear now what the Lord says. Arise, plead your case before 
the mountains and let the hills hear your voice. Hear, O you 
mountains, the Lord's complaint, and you strong foundations of 
the earth. For the Lord has a complaint against his people, and he will 
contend with Israel. This is what's called a covenant 
lawsuit. God, through the prophet, is suing the nation. God, through 
the prophet, is calling them to repentance. God, through the 
prophet, is calling them to consider their waywardness. He calls the 
mountains to witness. He calls upon the created order 
to take their position and to listen. Here's God's opening 
argument in verse 3. Oh, my people, what have I done 
to you and how have I wearied you? Testify against me. You've left me. You've departed 
from me. You've gone a-whoring. Why? Present 
your evidence. Tell me what I've done. Show 
me how I've erred. Show me how I've wronged you. 
This is God's complaint or his opening argument. He says, I 
brought you up from the land of Egypt. I redeemed you from 
the house of bondage, and I sent before you Moses, Aaron and Miriam. 
Oh, my people, remember now what Balaam, king of Moab, counseled 
and what Balaam, the son of Baal, answered him from Acacia Grove 
to Gilgal, that you may know the righteousness of the Lord. 
What should be? What's your problem? What's your 
issue? Don't you remember I delivered you? Don't you remember I vindicated 
you? Don't you remember I've defeated 
your foes? Now here's their response. With what shall I come before 
the Lord? Be careful. They're not being 
real here. They just want to appease the 
situation. They just want to get God off their back. They're 
not genuine. They're not sincere. With what 
shall I come before the Lord and bow myself before the high 
God? Shall I come before him with 
burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be 
pleased with thousands of rams? You hear what they're saying? How do we get him off our back? 
How do we pacify him? How do we keep him silent? How 
do we keep them out of our business? How do we avert his anger and 
his judgment? Shall we bring thousands? The 
law never stipulated these things. Will the Lord be pleased with 
thousands of rams, 10,000 rivers of oil? You see the hyperbole? Should we bring all of this to 
God? Will it make you happy, God? Notice in verse 8 or in 
verse 7b, shall I give my firstborn for my transgression? Did God 
ever demand child sacrifice? No, it was Baal and Molech who 
demanded child sacrifice and Yahweh condemned it outright, 
constantly. The gall and the insincerity 
and the wickedness of these people. You see this? Everybody with 
me? They want to manipulate the situation. They want to control God. They 
want enough to do just to keep Him off their backs. Shall I 
give my firstborn for my transgression the fruit of my body for the 
sin of my soul? What's the response? He has shown 
you, oh man. This is why it is such a horrendous 
thing. This isn't new. This isn't brand 
new doctrine. You've known from the beginning. 
You've known from the covenant document Deuteronomy. You've 
known what the Lord requires of you. He doesn't want thousands 
of animals. He doesn't want your first born 
son. He doesn't want you to do things you could never possibly 
do. He has shown you, oh man, what is good and what does the 
Lord require of you? But to do justly, to love mercy 
and to walk humbly with your God. You see, we know Micah six 
verse eight. I suppose most of you could recite 
it by heart. You need to understand it in 
its context. What is God saying? He is saying, 
in essence, the approach to God is relatively simple. The approach 
to God isn't marked with a ton of human effort on your part. 
It is to be marked with obedience to the Lord, simplicity, reverence, 
awe coming before him in the manner in which he specified. 
That's what the Lord God has shown you. That's what the Lord 
God requires from you. We need to guard against externalism 
in an attempt to control God. We need to guard against technique 
in Christianity so we can get blessing. We need to guard against 
the mindset that we're only in this insofar as the Lord blesses 
me. We can be a fair weather fan 
as Christians and it is an offense to God. God works all things 
together for good to those who are called according to his purpose. 
God works in every scenario and in every situation for the good 
of those who love him, to the called according to his purpose. 
We are not in control of God. Well, those are some lessons 
I think we learned there from this battle with Israel and the 
Philistines in 1 Samuel, chapter 4 and 5. And of course, I would 
be remiss to say that if we do not know Jesus Christ, if we 
do not know the Lord of glory, there is no hope for our souls. 
We cannot manipulate, we cannot control our destiny. It is God 
alone to whom we must come, and it is through Christ alone that 
we come. When we believe on the gospel, 
when we believe on the Lord Jesus, we will receive the forgiveness 
of sins and the imputation of Christ's righteousness. That 
is, in fact, good news. Let's stop being manipulators 
and controllers, and let's submit unto our God through the Lord 
Jesus. Well, let us pray. Father, thank 
you for your word, and we pray for your blessing upon each one 
of us. Help us to understand these lessons and help us to 
glorify and honor you in our lives. for the cause of God and 
truth throughout the earth. We pray that the gospel would 
be proclaimed. We pray that your mind, as it's 
revealed in Scripture concerning worship, we pray these things 
would be communicated and that, Father, it would be our great 
joy and our great delight to receive these things. And we 
pray now that you would watch over us, bless our time of fellowship 
together, and we pray through Christ the Lord. Amen.