Reading: 1 Samuel 4-8, Psalm 79
Yesterday we saw that the book of Samuel will be about the search for a messiah. We know the history of the judges and how that went. The house of the priest Eli has failed to be faithful. We’ve been introduced to Samuel: a gift to a barren woman, dedicated to the service of God, and obedient. Could he be the promised one?
Before we can find out, there are some characters who need to be removed. Eli’s sons are leading Israel. Eli is still alive, but he is old and blind. A crisis comes upon Israel with the invasion of the Philistines, which reads like a book of Judges story. The people are wicked, the priests and Levites have failed to keep them in line, and now the priests aren’t even keeping themselves in line. God brings judgment through foreign invaders. Eli’s sons rally the people to war, but they are defeated. They then decided to bring the ark of God out of the tabernacle to the battle.
What are they doing here? In the ancient world, gods were represented by images, which were often used to rally the people before battle. But this is more than a pep rally like we might have before a big sporting event. Ancient people really believed the favor or disfavor of their gods mattered on the field of battle. The response of the Philistines indicates that they at least believed this- they are terrified of the ark, but they see no alternative but to fight. And they win, capturing the ark and killing Eli’s sons. The closing scenes of this battle are the news being brought to Eli, who collapses and breaks his neck at the news, and the birth of the last child of the house of Eli, who was predicted in yesterday as one who would weep and mourn. His mother dies right after the child is born, but has time to name him Ichabod, the glory has departed. What a great name to grow up with.
So things are really bad for Israel. In the book of Judges we would expect to hear next about how God raises up a deliverer. But Samuel doesn’t follow the formula. Instead, we follow the adventures of the ark. An adventure in which no Israelites are involved, and during which the Philistines show more respect for the God of Israel than any Israelite has for a very long time.
At first, the Philistines stick the ark in the temple of their god, Dagon. Dagon is an interesting character that I won’t go into here. Suffice to say they were ready to add the God of Israel to their pantheon, worshiping him right alongside their other conquered gods. But the God of Israel throws their chief god onto his face. Twice. Then the people of Ashdod begin to be sick and afraid. The Philistines decide to move the ark. Remember the story of Balak and Balaam in Numbers 23? He moved around trying to find an area where the God of Israel did not have sway. I think the Philistines are doing something similar. The God of Israel is too powerful in Ashdod, lets send him to Gath. That doesn’t work out, let’s try Ekrom. The Philistines are by this point pretty desperate, because everywhere they send the ark they are plagued by tumors and disease. What to do? They consult their own wise men, and end up returning the ark to the land of Israel along with some rather expensive gifts signifying their guilt. It is certainly nothing out of the books of Moses, but the Philistines get the fact that they have offended God, and are doing what they know how to do to repent of it.
The return of the ark is a fun scene where the Philistines load the ark on a wagon pulled by milk cows who are not broken to pull a cart, and who have young calves. Which is nonsense if you know anything about cattle. Then they set them towards Israelite territory and step back to see what happens, and the cows take the ark right back to the territory of Israel. One must imagine at this point the Philistines breathe a huge sigh of relief.
Israel has got the ark back! They can put it back in the tabernacle and obey the covenant again. Or maybe they could look inside it. Seventy men decide that is the better idea, and God strikes them dead for their boneheadedness. Okay, that didn’t work, now should we send it back to Shiloh and put it where it belongs? We could do that, or we could send it the home of some guy named Abinadab and make his son responsible for it. Yeah, lets do that.
The story of the ark’s sojourn among the Philistines is framed by a combination of disobedience and confusion in Israel. God smites the Philistines when they have the ark, totally apart from the actions of any Israelite. Then he returns the ark to them without the action of any Israelite. Once the Israelites get the ark back, they don’t know what to do. They are still subject to the Philistines for the next twenty years.
Enter Samuel. The people of Israel have been in mourning, apparently for years, without doing anything to return to the proper worship of the God of Israel. Finally Samuel says to them, “How about getting rid of your foreign gods and worship the God who made you a people?” Brilliant! The people listen to him. They gather in repentance and Samuel offers a sacrifice. A rather strange sacrifice. A lamb and some poured out water. There is nothing in the covenant laws quite like this. It is not offered in the tabernacle by a priest. It doesn’t fit. But God honors it anyway. Israel goes out and smites the Philistines, retaking their lost territory and throwing off the Philistine oppression, at least for the moment.
Perhaps this Samuel fellow is going to get things going in the right direction. During his life things seem to go well, despite the proper worship of the God of Israel being neglected (the ark is still hanging out at Abinadab’s house.) But what about his sons? Eli was told off pretty hard by God for not disciplining his sons, so one might think this was a high priority for Samuel. And perhaps it was, we aren’t told. What we are told it they are not so great. Like the sons of Eli, they are corrupt. The people see this, and tell Samuel they want a king, like all the nations around them have, to fight their battles for them.
Okay. Here is what we’ve learned so far today. The God of Israel can take care of himself. He doesn’t need anyone to fight his battle for him. He cannot be manipulated into fighting anyone else’s battles for them if he doesn’t want to. He is willing to forgive and restore his people when they are repentant, even when they don’t do it quite right. He is quite capable of raising up a deliverer for them. Now the people of Israel are asking for a king to fight their battles for them. What do they want? Not the king of Deuteronomy 17, a teacher of the laws of God. Not the anointed one promised by God through Hannah. They want a king like the nations around them. They are rejecting the very thing God has just done for them, trusting in the power of a man over that of God. God has Samuel warn them what that this won’t go the way they want it to, then says fine, give them what they want. Give them a king after their own hearts.