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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
The Lord's hand was heavy upon the people of Ashdod and its vicinity; He brought devastation upon them and afflicted them with tumors. When the men of Ashdod saw what was happening, they said, "The ark of the god of Israel must not stay here with us, because His hand is heavy upon us and upon Dagon our god."
So they called together all the rulers of the Philistines and asked them, "What shall we do with the ark of the god of Israel?"
They answered, "Have the ark of the god of Israel moved to Gath."
So they moved the ark of the God of Israel.
But after they had moved it, the Lord's hand was against that city, throwing it into a great panic. He afflicted the people of the city, both young and old, with an outbreak of tumors.
So they sent the ark of God to Ekron.
As the ark of God was entering Ekron, the people of Ekron cried out, "They have brought the ark of the god of Israel around to us to kill us and our people."
So they called together all the rulers of the Philistines and said, "Send the ark of the god of Israel away; let it go back to its own place, or it will kill us and our people." For death had filled the city with panic; God's hand was very heavy upon it. Those who did not die were afflicted with tumors, and the outcry of the city went up to Heaven.
1 Samuel 5:6-12
This ends our reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
After defeating the Israelites on two occasions, the latter of which also saw them capture the cherished ark of God, the Philistines were emboldened and confident but they were well aware of Israel’s God and the kind of special power He possessed, a power that had “struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness” (1 Samuel 4:8). And yet, they chose to disrespect this mighty God by placing the ark bearing His name before their false god Dagon in his temple…and we know how God had commanded that there would be no gods before Him.
Given all this, it should come as no surprise that the Philistines come under God’s punishment, suffering great affliction as we see in today’s passage. After breaking the idol of Dagon, He now would break the spirit of the Philistine people.
This began in Ashdod where “Lord's hand was heavy upon the people” in its vicinity, bringing “devastation upon them” and afflicting them with tumors. With this localized in Ashdod, the men of the city quickly figured out that the source of the problem was the ark of God which was being held there. They proclaimed:
“The ark of the god of Israel must not stay here with us, because His hand is heavy upon us and upon Dagon our god."
And so they came up with a solution after conferring with the “all the rulers of the Philistines”, deciding to move the ark of God to another Philistine city called Gath.
Well, once the ark arrived in Gath, “the Lord's hand (went) against that city, throwing it into a great panic” as “He afflicted the people of the city, both young and old, with an outbreak of tumors”. Thus Gath suffered the same fate as Ashdod and so the city quickly dispatched the ark to yet another Philistine city called Ekron.
As we see in the scriptures, the people of Ekron weren’t very thrilled to see the ark of God enter their city as they cried out:
“They have brought the ark of the god of Israel around to us to kill us and our people."
Their words showed that they were obviously aware of what had happened in Ashdod and Gath and knew a similar fate was about to come upon them and so they wanted nothing to do with the ark, just as they wanted nothing to do with Israel’s God. Still, we read where “death had filled the city with panic” and “God's hand was very heavy upon” Ekron as “those who did not die were afflicted with tumors and the outcry of the city went up to Heaven.” The depth of Ekron’s affliction was so great that they summoned all the Philistine rulers and made the following demand:
“Send the ark of the god of Israel away; let it go back to its own place, or it will kill us and our people.”
Here, we see where the Philistines clearly thought their problems would be solved by getting rid of the ark of the God of Israel and, in doing so, eliminating the curse that had come upon them. In other words, instead of simply accepting Israel’s God and choosing to follow Him, they chose to reject Him and send Him away. This was how they resolved to fix their problem.
This got me thinking that sometimes people today are just like the Philistines. They choose to turn from God in life and when they face His discipline for their sinfulness, they decide to just further distance themselves from Him even more. In other words, in instances when they should be drawing nearer to the Lord, repenting from their wrongs and receiving His pardon and loving forgiveness, they instead blame Him for all their troubles and harbor feelings of contempt for Him.
It’s sad to think that all the Philistines had to do was fall prostrate before the God of Israel, the place where their idol Dagon ended up. Had they just confessed their sin and opted to adopt the God of Israel as their own, things could have gone so much differently but they didn’t go that way and suffered the consequences of their choices.
Friends, we need to learn from the errors of the Philistine people or be faced with similar outcomes. For there is a definitive warning within this passage for all believers and non-believers:
God, the almighty and infinite Maker and Creator of all things will not accept being rejected by the people He made. He demands and deserves nothing short of full acceptance and obedience…now and forever.
To that end, my prayer today is that all people will one day heed these words of the Lord from the Book of Isaiah as He says to all:
"Turn to Me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. By Myself I have sworn, My mouth has uttered in all integrity a Word that will not be revoked: Before Me every knee will bow; by Me every tongue will swear. They will say of Me, 'In the Lord alone are righteousness and strength.'" Isaiah 45:22-24a
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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