1 Samuel 5: 1-12 (Daily Bread of 19/5/2018)

THE ARK OF ETERNAL BECAME THE SOURCE OF GREAT EVIL Key verse 5: 11b The Philistines took the Lord's ark . The Lord's ark was a symbol of power and protection. However, it was no longer powerful or protective, when God's people's fait became superstitious. He did not save them. This morning's Word describes how the ark became the source of great evil for man. 1. The Philistines (1-9) The Philistines were extremely idolatrous people. Their god was Dagon. It guaranteed the fertility of the earth. They rejected the God of Israel, even though they knew He was powerful enough to punish the Egyptians. Deliberate rejecting God is a great sin. For those who reject the God of Israel, and in the New Testament era, those who reject the Lordship of Jesus, judgment will come according to the condemnation of the Law. The presence of the Lord's ark is frightening, and it can bear a frightening prejudice to those who, like the closeness between God and Dagon in this passage, do not believe in spite of the knowledge they have of God's name. Many listening to God's name reject it. Their end will be dreadful. The Asdodians, then the Gathians, then the Ekronians suffered damage. God caused diseases provoqued by hemorrhoids. They shouted for the removal of the Lord's ark of the source of all their woes. 2. God's hand weighted heavily on them (10-12) The Ekronites were afraid, for the presence of the Lord's had already caused many deaths in Gath. They wanted to refuse it. The dilemma was that as long as the ark was there, someone or some tribe had to suffer the damage anyway. Hence their strong request to return the ark. They, who were strongly idolaters, interpreted that it happened to them because of the anger of a foreign god, because they had changed the place of his dwelling without his permission, hence his discontent. They demanded the ark be returned to where it was. The God of Israel will then leave them alone.