God’s Great Power
1 Samuel 6:1-21
Turn in your Bibles to 1 Samuel 6, as we continue the story of the battle between the Israelites and the Philistines, where the Philistines had captured the ark of God. And yet the Lord was bringing great tragedy to them because of the presence of the ark in their land. The Philistine people were experiencing tumours and an abundance of mice.
“Now the ark of Yahweh had been in the fields of the Philistines seven months.”
1 Sam 6:1 (LSB)
Why does it matter that the ark was among the Philistines for seven months? Well, you know me by now that I would be careful not to look for some kind of mystical meaning in the number seven when the Bible does not give us that. So, why would it say that the ark has been in the land of the Philistines for seven months? Because that is how long it had been there, as this is a true story with real facts. Now God, through the work of the Holy Spirit, thought it important that we know it was seven months. That here the people of Israel have been living knowing that their pagan enemies have had the ark, their treasured possession, for seven months. That is a long time to live with this spiritual defeat. A time when they have likely lost confidence in God. This is not about a dry spiritual day or a dry spiritual week, but this is a spiritually dry duration of seven months.
We may experience that at times, when life brings us some struggle or heartache and we go through a time when we feel so spiritually dry. That somehow God does not exist or has abandoned me. I believe we see this in one of the prophets, the person of Jonah who was running from God at one point in his life. It was almost like, Lord, leave me alone, let me do my own thing, for this ministry pull is not truly where my heart is. That’s why we can sometimes choose to keep a little distant from church. Sure, we may attend, but we also don’t want to get too close, just in case spiritual conviction starts to get too much a hold of us, easy to keep a distance. I was reading that at one time there was a saying that was meant to motivate Christians to get going … to get active during such a time. It went like this, “He [God] has no other hands than our hands; He has no other feet than our feet.” A phrase to help motivate Christians to get active and do something, which insinuated that if God was going to do something, He needed us to do it. A statement that we will evaluate at the end of this sermon.
So, let’s look at this story and then we can share some thoughts together. The Philistines first determine that they need to send the ark away, but conclude that they need to include with it some sort of guilt offering. So, they decide to make gold tumours representing the tumours they had received, and gold mice representing the mice that had come as part of the plague. And so, they make these items and place them and the ark on a new cart. And hitch it up to two dairy cows who have calves that they have been feeding and yoke them together, though they have never been yoked before. And they face them towards Beth-shemesh in Israel, and the Philistines conclude:
“See, if it goes up by the way of its own territory to Beth-shemesh, then He has done us this great evil. But if not, then we will know that it was not His hand that smote us; it happened to us by chance.”
1 Sam 6:9 (LSB)
And of course, the cows walk straight toward Beth-shemesh and the men of Israel there see the cows and the ark. These Israelites use the cart and the cows to make a sacrifice to God, but they somehow improperly look into the ark and a great plague turns upon the people, and they conclude (vs 20) “Who is able to stand before Yahweh, this holy God?” Great story! Let’s make some simple observations.
- A Great Problem (vs 1-2)
For Israel, because they had lost the ark. And in the ark of God there was the Ten Commandments. And the first command was “I am the Lord Your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt.” And the possession of that great statement is now symbolically gone from Israel. And for the Philistines, they had already determined to get rid of it. But it was a problem for them too as they didn’t how to get rid of it, without it causing them more death and defeat. It was like a problem amongst them that their leaders had no answer for. I remember when we traveled once to Chicago. And when you come into Chicago from Southern Ontario you drive in from the south. And the south end of Chicago is just miles and miles of poverty and slums. And I remember saying to Anne, I am so glad I am not the mayor of Chicago, as I would have no idea of what to do to solve these massive problems. Where would you even begin?
Now the Philistines seemed to know that destroying the ark was not a good idea. And they had learned that sending it from place to place in their country only brought more problems. So, yes, both the Philistines and Israel had a great problem with no knowledge of what to do, so they just want to get rid of it. I thought that this is also true with our problem of sin. That there is no real answer from the world of what to do with it. True, we can try to govern ourselves, but sin always rears its ugly head. Sometimes more, sometimes less, but always present. As it is a problem that will not go away with any generation, though we may try to push it away, this is a great problem. Secondly, I see in this story:
- A Degree of Conscience (vs 3-5)
It is interesting here that these pagan people seem to understand that the Hebrew God needed to be appeased somehow. Not sure why? But there was something in them that felt it was necessary. We teach here a doctrine called the total depravity of man. Now this doctrine can be twisted so that some would say that man is always as bad as he could be. But this is not true. Joe Rigney gives a proper view of total depravity:
“We as human beings have been marred in every aspect of our being. Mind and heart, reason and imagination, understanding and will—every part of us is tainted by sin, and our rebellion against God is total. But while the image of God has been marred, it has not been obliterated. Human beings are capable of much natural virtue in relation to other human beings, even if this natural virtue avails nothing with God since it does not rely on His strength or aim at His glory.”
Joe Rigney, Lewis on the Christian Life 130
This understanding has a bearing on our understanding of free will. Paul spoke about us outside of Christ, our human condition in Ephesians 2:
“And you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all also formerly conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.”
Eph 2:1-3 (LSB)
We all lived according to the course of this world. What does Paul mean by that? In other words, how does the non-Christian live? Well, a person would tell us that they do what they want, that they have free will. That he determines everything by his own free will. But Paul would place such a condition on that statement and say, no, no, you walked according to the course of this world. In other words, your free will only was free within a certain sphere, the course of this world. And Paul will add (Rom 6:20) that you were a slave of sin prior to salvation, in other words, your free will, if we want to call it that, worked within a parameter of slavery. Until God, by His mighty power freed you of that slavery and gave you life. Yet the Apostle Paul does teach that a man has both a conscience and has the law of God written on his heart. This is something that preacher Martyn Lloyd-Jones spoke about all the time when addressing unbelievers, as he would appeal to their conscience. John MacArthur agreed saying in preaching, “You have an ally in the unregenerate heart in the conscience and that the law of God is written in their hearts.”
Interesting here that because of the total depravity of man they can never believe without the moving of God in their lives, but their God-conscience is something that the Lord may use to bring them to a place of belief. And we might say today that man does not have a conscience, but wait a minute, he does. And man tries to ease his conscience all the time. You check out at the grocery store and the clerk asks, would you like to donate $2 to such-and-such a charity. And so, to ease his conscience he may give. Or the unbeliever may play the lottery to win a million dollars, but to ease his conscience he can think well some of the money goes to a good cause. Though admittedly, I am always thinking when they ask for the $2, do you not realize the amount of money that Christians give every week! Yet there is a conscience in the heart of people when the layers are peeled back, though the Bible does warn that over time, that conscience may become hardened.
I do notice when I see issues on the news, maybe something like abortion. Through all the arguments about women’s rights, there is a fear to plainly ask the question, is it right to kill a baby in the womb? That never comes up as arguments usually circle around it. And I would suggest it is because for many that point-blank question will bother or prick the human conscience. Or the acceptance of pornography in our culture. It is talked about, it is laughed about, it is assumed, and it is accepted for no one seems too upset about it. But rarely would a news reporter just simply ask, is it right for women to expose their bodies before men? Would we say that this is a good thing for society? Amazing how those simple questions never get asked. I would suggest those questions must be ignored, for there is a degree of conscience.
- A Religious Understanding (vs 6-12)
John Woodhouse notices four surprising statements used by of these leaders. One, (vs 2) “send away.” This is similar to Pharaoh saying to send away the people of Israel. Two, “do not send it empty” just as the people of Israel were not to leave empty. Three, “you shall return to Him a guilt offering.” They realized that some kind of sacrifice was needed. Finally, they acknowledged (vs 9) that if this all worked out, then they would know that it was related to the ark. I thought how does the world pay a debt to a God that they do not know? Is there something within man that tells him that he has been given life? And therefore, he owes a Maker something. And then he understands that he has done wrong. What does a man do with that? This is the kind of thinking that many men and women come to, brilliant men like Jordan Peterson, who seem to understand that they sin and are accountable for that sin. And though this may have brought someone like Peterson close to God, it has not brought him to forgiveness and salvation.
So, these Philistines send back with the ark gold replicas of the tumours and of mice. And the use of gold certainly does remind us of the plundering of the Egyptians by Israel. And they had hoped that by doing all this that God may “perhaps would ease His hand from them.” In chapter 5 we are given more just the facts and the events, whereas now (ch 6), we are given more insight of the thinking of the people and what they were fearing in their hearts. We are used to only getting the facts or so-called facts from the world, but rarely will they begin to tell you what they feel and fear. But people do fear deep spiritual thought and they fear death. This is why so much effort and thought goes into extending life, yet so little thought and effort goes into really thinking about death. This is why in funerals today we tend to celebrate a life and but never openly state that truth that someone is dead.
Interesting the thought pattern of these people in how to stop the wrath of a god? As they have rightly connected the plague here with God, but their minds go to making gold tumours and mice. This represents the silliness and the shallow thinking in regards to death and judgment, especially in our culture. For we have been conditioned to laugh it off or try to relieve both the physical and mental pain of death. In other words, do everything we can so that we do not need to face death or possibly the problem of sin. Notice the word “perhaps” (vs 5), in other words, they were not certain this would all work.
“Why then do you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When He had abused them, did they not allow the people to go, and they went?”
1 Sam 6:6 (LSB)
They certainly have some understanding of the exodus. Why do you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? The Philistines were hardening their hearts as the Egyptians had. And now the Philistines as the tumours and mice come upon them their only thought is how to solve this problem. While the thought of renouncing all their own gods, or the thought of worshipping the true God does not seem to be on their radar. Though it is suggested by some of the leadership (vs 5) that they should give glory to God. This would not be unlike giving some lip-service to God. Perhaps coming to church or claiming some form of belief, but never allowing that truth to convict your heart of true repentance and change. Their only thought is to solve the problem so that life can go on, not unlike praying for healing of a disease so that life can go on without any real movement toward God.
Many of our prayers may be this way in relation to jobs, houses, family, health, or marriage. Lord, would You work here? So that this problem would go away. So that my life could continue the same as it is. And they choose cows that were not yet yoked and cows that were feeding young calves so they would not naturally go away from their young. In other words, they stacked the odds against them so that they would be certain that if these cows walked toward Israel in a straight line. And they conclude that they must have figured this whole thing out correctly.
- A Response to God’s Presence (vs 13-21)
Can you imagine the surprise of the men of Israel when the cows show up with the ark? You would certainly do a “double-take!” And it came to a large stone and stopped (vs 14). And the men killed the cows and offered a sacrifice, and the initial events seem to be all joyful.
“Then He struck down some of the men of Beth-shemesh because they had looked into the ark of Yahweh. He struck down of all the people, 50,070 men, and the people mourned because Yahweh had struck the people with a great slaughter.”
1 Sam 6:19 (LSB)
Now it would have been nice if the story had ended prior to this plague on Israel. I am not sure if you caught that when I read (vs 19) that 50,070 were struck down. It says 70 men in the ESV and NIV; and 50,070 men in the KJV, NASB, and or the Legacy Standard Bible which I use. This is one of those rare times when there is some uncertainty of what was originally recorded as most older manuscripts discovered say 50,070, yet some say 70. The greater number 50,070 certainly fits better with the term (vs 19) “great slaughter,” in comparison to the 30,000 that had died earlier in chapter 4. Though Josephus, a writer in New Testament times understood it to be 70. I want to say there that some, who do not accept the Bible will make a claim that the Bible has mistakes all the way through it. This is not true! As our Bibles are amazingly accurate and these kinds of issues are rare and do not change the core story. And all we know in this story is that somehow some men looked into the ark in an improper way and God’s wrath was unleashed. And the Philistines had asked, “What shall we do with the ark of Yahweh?” (vs 2). Now Israel was asking, “Who is able to stand before Yahweh, this holy God?” (vs 20). So, Israel is no more comfortable with the ark then the Philistines were.
We were talking at our last men’s study of the truth that God has written a story, a story that involves billions of people. But it also involves Satan and his angels as well as the elect angels of God. We might say that the story began at creation but it was before that, as the Bible often will say that the story was determined before the foundation of the world, for the story was already in the mind of God, in other words, He is the Author. And throughout this story there is the event of Israel going into Egypt and being delivered by God, it also includes this story where the ark is taken by the Philistines and brought back by God. Later Israel would be exiled into Babylon which would be followed by a return from exile. This goes along with what Hannah already told us that:
“Yahweh puts to death and makes alive;
He brings down to Sheol and raises up.
Yahweh makes poor and rich;
He brings low; He also exalts.
1 Sam 2:6-7 (LSB)
This continued pattern of suffering or tragedy is often followed by glory, as the story God has written has times of both humiliation and glory. And we see this even in the life of Christ. First humiliation:
“… although existing in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a slave, by being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. [then glory] Therefore, God also highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Phil 2:6-11 (LSB)
So, we have here in the life of Christ both humiliation, followed by future glory. And we have the same pattern in the lives of those who follow Christ. Paul said:
“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
Rom 8:18 (LSB)
And this overarching plan of God in the Old Testament people of Israel. His plan for His Son and His plan for us as believers must really force each of us to evaluate our goals and dreams and our current life. How does it fit in this big picture that results in glory? In other words, is it valuable in the big story that God has written? Remember we started out with the little ditty, that God “has no other hands than our hands; He has no other feet than our feet.” I would suggest it is false. When we think of this story in 1 Samuel 6, we really have men and women running around without much understanding in the story, but only trying desperately to react to what God is doing. Sort of running around with their heads cut off. Woodhouse wrote this:
“Is it possible that some of our exhaustion and despair, our frustrations and disappointments, our endless activism and busyness, our difficulty in finding contentment, our inability to relax might have something to do with our assumptions about the power of God and His pathetic dependence on our little hands and feet.”
John Woodhouse, 1 Samuel: Looking for a Leader 122
Our God is immeasurably powerful. For God has written a story where He allows suffering and then He saves and brings back. A story where Christ comes and is killed and then he is raised from the dead. A story where Jesus goes back to the Father and then someday He will return. His victories and power do not depend upon you or me, any more then it depended upon the people of Beth-shemesh. As what seems to be missing in this chapter is not busyness but worship. What is missing is not activity but devotion and commitment. What is missing is not church attendance but heart conviction. And what we learn in this story is that God who is the Initiator, the Leader, the Author, and we are to follow Him, to rejoice in Him, to obey Him, to celebrate Him, to worship Him, and it is to be our desire to follow Him all the days of our lives. And to live with Him after we die in eternity and forever praise Him.
Imagine if “These Cows Could Talk,” as it seems that the cows are the only ones in the story that have a sense of the greatness of God. They might say to the one who is unconvinced about God, “Maybe you have some money, maybe you have a good job, maybe you have a good marriage and family, maybe good looking or young, or maybe you are good at beating everyone in most sports, but you cannot beat God.” And that continues to be a nagging problem. Getting rid of God, keeping God out, for man on his own cannot answer the hard questions that remain. And then death comes, and there an even greater desire to ignore the hard questions, so, we just celebrate the life. And yet I do notice that the men of Israel ask a good question, though at this time of such spiritual dryness it is hard to even know whether there would be more than just a few believers in Israel. But they do ask this (vs 20) “Who is able to stand before Yahweh, this holy God?” This is almost the same question that David asked in Psalm 24. Turn there:
“The earth is Yahweh’s, as well as its fullness,
The world, and those who dwell in it.
For He has founded it upon the seas
And established it upon the rivers.
Who may ascend into the mountain of Yahweh?
And who may rise in His holy place?
He who has innocent hands and a pure heart,
Who has not lifted up his soul to worthlessness
And has not sworn deceitfully.
He shall lift up a blessing from Yahweh
And righteousness from the God of his salvation.
This is the generation of those who seek Him,
Who seek Your face—pay heed O Jacob.”
Psa 24:1-6 (LSB)
“Who may ascend into the mountain of Yahweh? And who may arise in His holy place?” The one with (vs 4) innocent hands and a pure heart, the one in whom there is found no deceit. Who is this? Who is the One with clean hands and a pure heart? The Apostle John said that in Christ there is no sin. The writer of Hebrews said that though Christ was tempted, yet He was without sin. Who is the One with clean hands and a pure heart? Jesus Christ, the King of glory!
“Lift up your heads, O gates,
And be lifted up, O ancient doors,
That the King of glory may come in!
Who is this King of glory?
Yahweh strong and mighty,
Yahweh mighty in battle.
Lift up your heads, O gates,
And lift yourselves up, O ancient doors,
That the King of glory may come in!
Who is He, this King of glory?
Yahweh of hosts,
He is the King of glory.”
Psa 24:7-10 (LSB)
Let’s pray. Lord, we realize this morning that without Christ, we too would have to chase You far from us, for we would die in Your presence. But we know that those who are in Christ, those who have been forgiven, will stand with Him before You. “Who is able to stand before Yahweh, this holy God?” Not gold tumours or gold mice, but the perfect spotless Lamb. “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or understand, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever.” And all God’s people said, amen.