Year 1, Week 29, Day 4 Bible Reading Observations

Year 1, Week 29, Day 4

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of 1 Samuel 6-8.

Today’s reading marks the reemergence of Samuel, who plays several key roles at key times in Israel’s history. 1 Samuel 6 completes the record of what became of the Ark of the Covenant in the aftermath of the Philistine’s capture of it. The Philistines no longer want the Ark as the LORD is displaying His power through it. The Philistines have it sent back to the Israelites. 1 Samuel 7 describes Samuel’s rebuke of the Israelites. As the Israelites repent they are attacked by the Philistines, but Israel sees the LORD deliver them. 1 Samuel 8 notes Israel’s demand of a king, “like all the nations” (1 Samuel 8:5). The LORD directs Samuel to warn them of what they asked, but to grant them their wish.

One of the things that struck me from today’s reading is the danger of the LORD’s presence: “Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place? (Psalm 24:3). After having the Ark for seven months, the Philistines are ready to send it away: “What shall we do with the ark of the LORD? Tell us with what we shall send it to its place” (1 Samuel 6:2). The LORD had inflicted great harm upon the Philistines as a consequence of their capture of the Ark. They may have captured the Ark, but they could not control what the LORD would do through the presence of the Ark. It was not safe for them to have the Ark in their midst any longer. So with parting gifts, which they assumed might appease the LORD, they sent the Ark away on the back of a cart pulled by two cows. The cows head straight back to Israel: “And the cows went straight in the direction of Beth-shemesh along one highway, lowing as they went. They turned neither to the right nor to the left, and the lords of the Philistines went after them as far as the border of Beth-shemesh” (1 Samuel 6:12). But when some of the men of Beth-shemesh looked inside the Ark, the LORD, “struck seventy men of them, and the people mourned because the LORD had struck the people with a great blow” (1 Samuel 6:19). As the people of Beth-shemesh send the Ark to Kiriath-jearim, they ask: “Who is able to stand before the LORD, this holy God? And to whom shall he go up away from us?” (1 Samuel 6:20).

The Ark would stay at Kiriath-jearim for about twenty years. It is as the Ark has been brought to Kiriath-jearim that Samuel calls the Israelites to repentance: “If you are returning to the LORD with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you and direct your heart to the LORD and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines” (1 Samuel 7:3). And Israel repented: “So the people of Israel put away the Baals and the Ashtaroth, and they served the LORD only” (1 Samuel 7:4). As this occurred, the Philistines attacked Israel. The Israelites ask for Samuel to intercede for them: “Do not cease to cry out to the LORD our God for us, that he may save us from the hand of the Philistines” (1 Samuel 7:8). The LORD gave Israel a great victory in battle: “But the LORD thundered with a mighty sound that day against the Philistines and threw them into confusion, and they were defeated before Israel. And the men of Israel went out from Mizpah and pursued the Philistines and struck them, as far as below Beth-car” (1 Samuel 7:10b-11). The earlier defeat and capture of the Ark seemed from Israel’s false assumptions about the Ark; but now, as they truly turned to the LORD, the LORD delivered them. Samuel, as he called Israel to turn to the LORD, was a great judge over Israel: “So the Philistines were subdued and did not again enter the territory of Israel. And the hand of the LORD was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel” (1 Samuel 7:13).

But Israel seemed unsure of having the LORD as their defender: “No…there shall be a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles” (1 Samuel 8:19b-20). Samuel felt rejected, but the LORD declared who Israel has really rejected: “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them” (1 Samuel 8:7). In asking for a king “like all the nations, Israel would receive what they requested, but also what they deserved: “According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them” (1 Samuel 8:8). The LORD had made provision for Israel to have a king one day. But Israel’s king was not to be like the kings of the other nations; he was to be a king who sought the LORD and served the people. So, the LORD has Samuel warn Israel that the kings of the nations only take (see 1 Samuel 8:10-18). While the LORD’s provision of a king was to be a servant who obeyed the LORD (see Deuteronomy 17:14-20). Perhaps the Israelites wanted a king like all the other nations because they wanted to act like the people from all the other nations. Perhaps they were not comfortable being so near the power and purity of the LORD’s presence. After Jesus cast the demon out of a man, many in the crowds, “began to beg Jesus to depart from their region” (Mark 5:17).

What struck you in today’s reading? What questions were prompted from today’s reading?

Pastor Joe