1 Samuel Chapter 5
If you’ve been following our Bible reading schedule, you would know that we have just passed the climax of a battle gone horribly wrong in 1 Samuel 4.
Four thousand soldiers dead.
Hope arrives: the idea to bring God’s ark of the covenant to the battle camp.
The Israelite army now rallied, out of superstition.
The Philistine enemies rallied, out of fear.
Then thirty thousand soldiers dead.
The Philistines, victorious.
The ark of God captured.
Eli, the high priest, dead.
The scene now changes in 1 Samuel 5. We follow the Philistines to Ashdod, where they bring the ark of God.
Here, God leaves the thwarted Israelites out of the picture. God was silent on the battlefield. He is now silent no longer.
When the Philistines leave the ark of God in the house of their idol, strange occurrences begin. God may have allowed the Philistines to defeat His people, but God is not mocked by His enemies.
The Philistines’ god, Dagon, falls face down before the ark of God twice, even breaking. The people begin to fall ill with tumours. A pandemic, perhaps?
It becomes clear to the Philistines that the ark of God belongs to a living God whom even their god Dagon cannot protect them from. They cry, “The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for His hand is harsh toward us and Dagon our god.” (1 Sam 5:7)
God’s people failed when they did not seek Him. Now God testifies of His own power without any human vessel.
The men of Ashdod move the ark of God away. Yet wherever the ark goes, destruction follows. Many die in Gath, and those who do not die are stricken with tumours.
God’s power, which the ark of God comes to represent to the Philistines, becomes so well-known in their land that it becomes a political issue. The people gather all the lords of the Philistines twice to seek help.
This is the real climax of battle: the Sovereign LORD Himself demonstrates His almighty power before His enemies.
In the weaknesses of the Israelites’ faith, they could not glorify God. But God’s power is not limited by our human follies and faithlessness. He works beyond our expectations. He works even when we are absent.
Our pride deceives us into thinking that we must be present in order for progress in God’s kingdom to occur. We may be called to God’s work, but our ministries are God’s mercy upon us, a way for us to experience His power and repay our debt of love. We who plant and water are nothing, but God who gives the increase (1 Cor 3:7).
Through the seven months that the ark of God spent in the Philistines’ land (1 Sam 6:1), I wonder what the general sentiment of the Israelites was. Did any of them think God was asleep? That He had lost His power?
The events of chapter 5 show us that God is far from dead. When God is silent, do we pin blame on God, or reflect on the state of our faith?
The chapter reminds us how insignificant we are in God’s ministry, and how important it is for our worship to come before our work.
When our ego swells our pride, when we do not see progress, or when our need for control makes us anxious that we cannot change someone’s faith or the circumstances of God’s work, remember this:
I will seek my God’s all-powerful hand, for it is by all means possible for God to work without me.