Word for Today: Wednesday, February 20, 2013

1 Samuel 6:1-7:1 Joy and Sorrow

Memory Verse 1 Samuel 6:20(KJV)

 “And the men of Bethshemesh said, Who is able to stand before this holy LORD God? And to whom shall he go up from us?”

Yesterday, we saw how God severely punished the Philistines and destroyed their god Dagon. Initially, the Philistines thought it was a good idea to capture the ark of God but decided to return the ark after keeping it for seven months.

In desperation to return the ark of God, the Philistines consulted their Priest and diviners on how to return the ark. The priest advised them to return the ark with gifts of golden tumours and rats symbolising the plague and diseases on the Philistines Verses 4 and 5.

From verse 6, it is apparent that the Philistines heard about the Egyptians plague and how they perished in the Red sea because they refused to allow the Children of Israel go to the promised Land, one would think that this would have made the Philistines more afraid of the Israelites but instead at every slight opportunity they had they used it to wage war against the Israelites.

With the glaring signs, the priests were still not totally convinced that it was God causing their plague; they might have thought it was just pure coincidence. So they hitched the cart which would carry the ark to untrained cows that had just calved. Should these cows dessert their calves despite their motherly instincts and carry the ark directly to Israel, even though they have never pulled a cart, this would be irrefutable proof verses 8-9.

 This was exactly what happened; the ark of God arrived at Beth Shemesh, a town just inside Israel’s border. Initially, there was a great rejoicing and sacrificing to God but unfortunately tragedy struck. Seventy Beth Shemesh men died because they looked into the ark Verse 19. Some people may think God was too hard on these men, after all they were happy the ark was back, they even made sacrifices but if you read Numbers 4:20, God gave strict orders about the ark, only the Levites should handle the ark and looking at the sacred things will result to death. God is a God of justice.

Really who can stand in the presence of the Lord? Let us thank God for his son Jesus who is constantly interceding on our behalf and for his grace and mercy that has been given to us freely. God bless you.