Word for Today: Tuesday, February 19, 2013

1 Samuel 5:1-12 Vengeance of God upon the Philistines

Memory Verse 1 Samuel 5:4(KJV)

“And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold; only the stump of Dagon was left to him”.

Yesterday’s passage was really tragic; we saw the death of Eli, his sons, the defeat of Israel and worse of all the ark of God was captured.

When I read this passage and saw how God dealt with the Philistines, I said was “That serves them right” How can they do such a stupid thing as putting the ark of God in the same place as their Dagon? lol

Yesterday, when the Israelites took the ark into battle, God withheld his powers and they were defeated but when the Philistines placed the ark in Dagon’s temple, God displayed his powers by toppling Dagon. Why these opposite reaction?

God was trying to convey message to Israel as well as to the philistines. God wanted to punish the Israelite who failed to realise that God resides in their hearts that they have unfortunately turned to idols and on the other hand God wanted to punish the Philistines because they though the ark of God was one of their conquest, they even had the audacity to put him in the same place as their man-made god Dagon

God made sure that the Philistines would not attribute their victory to their god Dagon being more powerful than God. Dagon not only fell in homage to God but his hands and head were broken.

Dagon was not the only one to suffer; the philistines were struck with a plague. Initially they didn’t acknowledge that it was God and they started moving the ark form city to city. Eventually they were forced to admit that it was the ark that brought doom on them and decided to send it back to Israel.

God has different ways of dealing with different people, and the punishment always suits the crime. Never in our lives should we try to take God’s glory or attribute it to someone or something. God is God and will not share his glory with any man. God bless you.