Otherwise, find a quiet space. Sit down and take a few breaths. Today's session should take about an hour.
Ready? Let's begin to look at the insecurity of idolatry.
Section one. YHWH-Tzva'ot-Enthroned-Upon-The-Cherubim.
Let's begin by reading 1 Samuel 4:1-4, then click back here.
In this section, I want to begin with verse 4 and work our way backwards. In verse 4 we get this fuller descriptive name for God and what people typically refer to as "the ark of the covenant": YHWH of Hosts who is enthroned upon the cherubim. "YHWH of Hosts" denotes the myriads and myriads of YHWH's armies. Let's see what Robert Alter has to say in his commentary on 1 and 2 Samuel: "This extravagantly full title is a kind of epic flourish reflecting the power that the elders of Israel attribute to the Ark. "Hosts," bearing its older English sense of "armies," underscores the LORD's martial nature. The cherubim are fierce winged beasts imagined as God's celestial steeds, and so the carved cherubim on the Ark are conceived as the earthly "throne" of the invisible deity."
The actual ark, just as it is first described in the book of Exodus 25:10-22, would have been a large hollow case or trunk made from acacia wood overlaid with gold, with carved cherubim on its top with their wings meeting to cover the mercy seat/throne of God. Inside it held the stone tablets of the Law given to Moses at Sinai. You get a good look at a model of the ark of the covenant from this picture from the classic movie 'Raiders of the Lost Ark':
The problem that Israelites will face in the next section: they treat the ark like a lucky charm; they treat God like an idol or impersonal power to be used and manipulated for their interests alone.
This is the primary issue, the primary idea, obscured throughout our human history: God is not our genie in the bottle granting wishes to us. God is King...He reigns. Let's read Don Williams, Vineyard pastor and theologian, breath-taking description of God as King:
"God is King. He reigns enthroned in glory with a sea of flaming angels bowing low before him and rising to shout his praises. From his throne he speaks and the galaxies are hurled into space. From his throne he orders the molten, gaseous stars, and directs the planets circling them. From his throne he place our earth into its orbit and rules the ages of our geological and historical life. From his throne he upholds all things and judges all things. Moreover, on the awesome final day each of us will stand before his throne and give an account of our lives to him. Beyond our current chaos, the razor edge of nuclear night upon which we stand, beyond Northern Ireland, the Gaza Strip, Ethiopia, Haiti, Nicaragua, Afghanistan, and a hundred other wounds which seep nightly from out TV screens, and beyond our personal anxieties, our deep loneliness when the lights go out at night, beyond all of this stands the eternal, supernatural, divine kingdom, pulsating with power, revealing God's glory. This kingdom is not merely some otherworldly hope, Marx's opiate for the masses, or a spiritual "high" reached by mystical moments of mindless chanting. The shattering, life-changing news of the Bible is that the King who rules this kingdom both sustains our world from heaven and decisively and irrevocably invades it in the incarnation of his Son who bears his dynamic Spirit."
This is the first time in 1 Samuel that the Philistines come to our attention, so let's get to know them a little better because they will be important to the story in 1 Samuel. The Philistines are a people who have fought the Israelites over and over (in Genesis, Exodus and especially Judges) and will be a primary enemy, and a surprising ally, in our text. Again, the surprising upside down consequences of the Reign of God, the Kingdom of God: bitter enemies become loyal friends. But let's not get too far ahead of ourselves, because at this point the Philistines represent enemy number one.
We need to know a little about them, but I'll try not to overwhelm you. In the interests of full-disclosure, my advisor and main professor at the Baltimore Hebrew University was Dr. Barry Gittlen, who served as Field Archaeologist and Archaeological Coordinator for the Tel Miqne/Ekron Excavations in Israel (1982-1996). Ekron is one of the "5 cities of the Philistines". He was an amazing teacher, especially when we were going through this material back when I was his student. Truly, he is a leading scholar and educator with expertise in Philistine material culture.
So, a little about the Philistines: click on this entry from a bible dictionary for a decent overview. Read it and then click back here.
In our passage of scripture, the Israelites and the Philistines battle each other once again. The Philistines rout their enemy, but then the Israelite elders and warriors send for the "ark of the covenant" also referred to as the "ark of God". But there is a problem. Let's move on to the next section and dig into what we find out as the problem at-hand.
Section two. The False Security of Idolatry.
OK, let's read 1 Samuel 4:5-22, then return here.
Now let's see how Indiana Jones describes the Ark:
Did you notice how the description that Indiana Jones' friend Brody gives to the ark? That's exactly the issue. The Israelites in our text think exactly the same thing. They have made the "ark of God" into an idol, or like a lucky charm or a genie's lamp. What do they expect? maybe something like this:
The Israelites treat the ark of God like a lucky charm and they are devastated and thrown into serious uncertainty, both by the utter defeat and loss of the ark to the Philistines, but probably much more by what all of that means. Has God abandoned them? Or possibly, as Eli's daughter-in-law exclaims: "The glory of God has been exiled". God has left the building folks...or has He? That's what they struggle with, has their God abadoned them or, in fact, had they abandoned their God? Scripture witnesses again and again (from Genesis and Exodus to Amos and Jeremiah), God hates being treated like an idol.
We wrestle with idolatry today, and I'm not just talking about whether to watch 'American Idol'. I like what the North London Vineyard says about idolatry, because the slow creep of idolatry can sneak up on any of us.
When I was in the Vineyard Leadership Institute, Don Williams was teaching the "Latter Prophets" and shared the six characteristics of idolatry which he had learned from N.T. Wright, the Bishop of Durham:
- idols are a perversion of the good - in fact, "good things" - like 'family' or 'politics' or 'church' - are easily made into idols. Anything that de-centers Jesus/God is an idol.
- idols make you feel ten feet tall - idols make you feel larger-than-life, beyond anything; those who have struggled with drug additions as idols can witness to this fact.
- idols demand sacrifice - whether its time or relationships with other people, whether your health or lifespan, idols demand that you sacrifice to them.
- idols receive ideological justification - again, here recovering addicts can help us understand this: they justify the use or interaction with an idol
- idols steal your humanity - idols isolate you from others; they make you grow cold to those around you, even while you may be thinking you are being more 'spiritual'.
- idols kill you - given all the rest of these, we can see the downward spiral that leads to death.
Let's pause for a moment and consider this: What are the idols (life-dominating sins or addictions) of your heart and in what ways do you see the characteristics of idolatry at work in you?
OK, read 1 Samuel 5:1-12, the return here.
God breaks down the idols of the nations and afflicts them with tumors. It is somewhat unclear what kind of plague God visits upon the Philistines. Some translations say "hemmorhoids", while because of the mention of mice, others point to the bubonic plague. The Jewish historian Josephus delicately concludes that the plague was dysentery.
"Thier cry was so great that it went up to heaven" is an interesting phrase. The closest parallel in scripture occurs in Exodus 2:23 and Exodus 3:7-9, relating to the oppression before the plagues of Egypt. Either way, the Philistines panic and try to get other Philistine cities to take this ark and its afflcition away from them. Eventually, the Philistines have had enough of God and His Ark, and they seek to send it back to the Israelites.
Let's finish the return of the Ark by the Philistines. Read 1 Samuel 6:1-21, the return here.
Just a short comment at this point, because some biblical translations don't give you all the sacrificial nuance of reading this in the Hebrew. There is a lot of sacrificial imagery and instance happening here. First, the Philistines relaize they can't just send the ark back, they have to include some sort of compensation or payment of tribute (the golden tumors). Also the "milk-cows" who pull the cart are sacrificial animals, who are indeed sacrificed as a whole burnt offering. Biblical commentator and scholar P. Kyle McCarter notes in his commentary: "The account is filled with similarities to biblical purgative rites. The prescription of a compensatory offering ('asam), the notion of the ransom for the afflicted, and even the specific detail of the provision of unyoked cattle are all referable to known Israelite ritual...It is not impossible, moreover, that the report reflects the details of certain Philistine practices [that resemble common eastern Mediterranean practices of the Hitties]. The point seems clear: the Philistines are trying to appease God with sacrifice and offerings."
Section three. The Cycle of Deliverance and Intercession.
Read 1 Samuel 7:1-4, then return here.
So the ending of the Ark narrative is wtinessed with the return of the Ark to the Israelites, the ordination of a priest to care for the Ark, and the turning of the Israelites back to God.
"...and the Israelites...served YHWH alone." So, post-Ark crisis, Samuel re-enters the picture (after being mysteriously absent during the entire "Ark narrative") and turns the people's hearts and devotion back to YHWH. I think we are meant to recall the cycle that has just taken place over these few chapters: it is the cycle so often seen in the book of Judges: Apostasy-Oppression-Repentance-Deliverance, etc., etc.
Let's finish chapter 7: Read 1 Samuel 7:5-17, then return here.
We see here that the people implore Samuel to intercede with God for them, and he does. Besides a few other episodes (particularly Abraham in Genesis 18:20-33), we see intercession here as the act of one person praying to God or advocating with God for or on behalf of another. I like the thought of prayer as advocacy. What do you think?
Thus, the Philistines attack Israel when they see them gathered at Mizpah (assuming that they are going to go to war with them imminently). This time, due to the prayers of Samuel and the actions of the people, God is with the Israelites, and the Philistines are routed. It is said that God thundered with a great thunder against the Philistines and with the memory of tumorous afflcitions fresh in their memory, they surely have wtinessed the power of God, thus it probably didn't take much to put fear into them. God carries the day and the Israelites defeat the Philistines. Samuel erects a stone monument and calls it 'ebenezer' since 'God helped the people.'
One last look from Raiders of the Lost Ark:
ah, the problems you get into with idols...
Section four. Assignments.
- If you have some time to listen to Rob Bell talking about sacrifice and idolatry in his series called: The Gods Aren't Angry #1, The Gods Aren't Angry #2, The Gods Aren't Angry #3; The Gods Aren't Angry #4; The Gods Aren't Angry #5; The Gods Aren't Angry #6;
- Go to what we call the new testament, and read Colossians 3:1-10. Did you catch that? In verse 5, what does this first century Jew and follower of Jesus, Paul call idolatry? Interesting, huh? When we covet, we may not be bowing down to some image, but there is something else at work. Reflect on this and journal your thoughts on idolatry and covetness this week, and see if God brings anything to your mind and thoughts.
- Check out this classic sermon from the great preacher C.H. Spurgeon on Samuel and Intercession.
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