1st Samuel 5-7

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1^st Samuel 5:1-12

“And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it from Ebenezer unto Ashdod. 2 When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon. 3 And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the LORD. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again. 4 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. 5 Therefore neither the priests of Dagon, nor any that come into Dagon’s house, tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day. 6 But the hand of the LORD was heavy upon them of Ashdod, and he destroyed them, and smote them with emerods, even Ashdod and the coasts thereof. 7 And when the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, The ark of the God of Israel shall not abide with us: for his hand is sore upon us, and upon Dagon our god. 8 They sent therefore and gathered all the lords of the Philistines unto them, and said, What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? And they answered, Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried about unto Gath. And they carried the ark of the God of Israel about thither. 9 And it was so, that, after they had carried it about, the had of the LORD was against the city with a very great destruction: and he smote the men of the city, both small and great, and they had emerods in their secret parts. 10 Therefore they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And it came to pass, as the ark of God came to Ekron, that the Ekronites cried out, saying, They have brought about the ark of the God of Israel to us, to slay us and our people. 11 So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines, and said, Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it go again to his own place, that it slay us not, and our people: for there was a deadly destruction throughout the city; the hand of God was very heavy there. 12 And the men that died not were smitten with the emerods: and the cry of the city went up to heaven.”

Introduction

[Audio version: https://resources.ccphilly.org/detail.asp?TopicID=&Teaching=WED649]

“We are still during the time of the Judges, Samson is active at this point in time, he has killed 30 Philistines and taken their garments to bring them back to the other 30 Philistines that were to be his groomsmen where he lost the bet. Chronology is, it’s difficult to be dogmatic, some feel at this point he’s already tied the flames to the tails of the foxes and burned down many acres of the Philistine country. So the fact that the Philistines now had defeated the children of Israel and taken the Ark of the Covenant into their possession gives them a grand sense of the fact that they have had victory over the Israelites. Now you have to understand in this culture, you never just had victory over the Israelites or the Israelites over the Philistines. In their mind, when they had victory over the children of Israel, it was because their god Dagon had victory over the God of Israel, Jehovah [Yahweh], and that was taken very much into the context of the whole scene. Now, God will want the Philistines to understand clearly, and they will as we move through this this evening, that yes, the Philistines defeated the children of Israel, but they didn’t defeat Israel’s God. They defeated the children of Israel because God was dealing with them because of their sin, and allowed them to be defeated as a chastening mechanism. He was not defeated by Dagon, and he will, he cares enough for the Philistines, he will make that very clear to them in the process of this study this evening. So we ended with the wife of Phinehas, the daughter-in-law of Eli, giving birth to a son and naming him Ichabod, because her father-in-law Eli the priest was dead, her husband Phinehas was dead, the Ark of the Covenant had been carried into Philistine territory, and she said that the glory had departed. Now God was still on the throne, the glory of God was still intact, but the Ark of the Covenant had been carried away.

The Philistines Are About To Learn That The God Of Israel Is Real

And chapter 5 begins by saying “And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it from Ebenezer unto Ashdod.” (verse 1) about 35 miles into Philistine territory. The LORD also will teach them a lesson now. “And when the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon.” (verse 2) So they bring it into the temple of Dagon and they put this box, made of gold with the cherubim on top of the Mercy Seat, they put that before the image of their god, as though it is doing obeisance to this image of Dagon. Dagon, much like Poseidon, you know what a mermaid looks like, with half of a human body and half of a fish, Dagon was in the fashion of a merman, he had the head and the top torso of a man, and the rest of him, the tail and body of a fish, the Philistines being probably related to the Phoenicians in some way, a seagoing people having settled now along the coast of Israel in these five major cities. And this was their god. One author I read said he called him the god of the dunghill, we’ll see some of that name is more important than we think as we look at it here. Verse 3 says, “And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the LORD. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again.” No doubt there’s great excitement in Ashdod, the people particularly in light of Samson who had been going on now, they had the Ark of the Covenant, and placed it in the house of their god Dagon. It says early in the morning, “behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the LORD. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again.” Now very succinctly it gives you the idea Dagon has fallen down in front of the Ark of the Covenant, he’s bowing before it, it’s very much what the language is communicating here. He’s fallen down before the Ark of the LORD, and they walk in and, it’s in the middle of a worship service here, Dagon’s worshipping Jehovah, and they walk in, and it says “And they took Dagon,” their god, “and set him in his place again.” You know, that’s a strange god to worship, a god you got to put back on his pedestal, a god who falls off of his pedestal, so you got to put it back on the pedestal, you need to find another god, if that’s your god’s problem. You know, they probably set him back up again, got the glue-gun out and the screws, you know, tightened him to the ground and fastened him there. And look, God’s purpose in all this, is not just killing Philistines, he’s witnessing also, all the nations of the world were to receive a witness from the children of Israel, but they had failed. But it is important to the LORD, for the Philistines to know that Dagon has nothing to do with the victory that’s taken place. So, they stand him back up again, they get him all secured there. And it says “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.” (verse 4) I guess just the fish part is left there, and Dagon’s all busted apart at this point in time. It says in the next verse “Therefore neither the priests of Dagon, nor any that come into Dagon’s house, tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day.” (verse 5) the idea is, up until this day when the writer’s writing, he says there’s a tradition that’s started, they don’t tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day. Zephaniah chapter 1, verse 9 kind of makes mention of that, jumping across the threshold. So they come in and they look, and Dagon’s head’s gone, his hands are gone, just they say, something’s awful fishy, you know, this scene, and you know, at this point, all the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put Dagon back together again, so, the message is becoming exceedingly clear, God will hold them to recognizing what’s taking place here. Isn’t it interesting, instead of them saying ‘You know what, we’ve made a mistake, it’s obvious here something’s supernatural going on,’ instead of people turning away from the gods that have never done them any good, they create another tradition, and attach it, you know, they just create another layer. So the new tradition is, when you come into the house of Dagon, you never step on the threshold, you jump across it, because when they found Dagon his head and his hands were broken off at the threshold, so the threshold is holy because that’s where his hands and his head broke off. They probably glued all that back together as best they could. But now the new tradition that deepens all of the mystery of Dagon is, you jump across the threshold now. Now God’s going to deal with that, and we head into a very interesting passage of Scripture here. It says “But the hand of the LORD was heavy upon them of Ashdod,” and if you wrote the rest of the verse yourself you would never know where it goes, “and he destroyed them, and smote them with emerods, even Ashdod and the coasts thereof.” (verse 6) So, he was wroth with them, and he smote them with emerods. Now, to punish myself I read lots of opinions about this today, and the simplest, some try to get rid of this and say it’s bubonic plague, the Hebrew is clear, and the ancient rabbis are clear, this is talking about hemorrhoids. He smote all of Ashdod with sore, divine hemorrhoids, great demand for preparation E there in Ashdod. Look, you know, the funny thing is, we think of the LORD’s enemies, we think of what’s going on in our country, sometimes if we get frustrated we think ‘How can they do that, how can they legislate that? how can they make us do it?’ Just, you need to remember, whenever God wants to, he can deal with his enemies, and much better than you would have dealt with his enemies, he can do what he wants [which also means we don’t need to get involved in dirty politics to try to enforce our Christian agendas on the carnal world around us, that is not God’s will for us either (see https://unityinchrist.com/topical%20studies/America-ModernRomans6.htm)] Yet, look, they hadn’t learned from verses 3 and 4, they’re coming in and their god is bowing down before the Ark of the Covenant, they hadn’t got the message yet, God’s going to get the message across to them very clearly. So he “smote them with emerods, even Ashdod and the coasts thereof.” Some try to say it’s tumors and boils, ya but it gets more clear. “with emerods, even Ashdod and the coasts thereof. And when the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, The ark of the God of Israel shall not abide with us: for his hand is sore” no pun intended “upon us, and upon Dagon our god.” (verses 6b-7) ‘The God of Israel is tough on us and our god.’ This is a bad situation to be in. “They sent therefore and gathered all the lords of the Philistines unto them, and said, What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? And they answered, Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried about unto Gath. And they carried the ark of the God of Israel about thither.” (verse 8) Send it to your brothers over there in the other Philistine city. “And it was so, that, after they carried it about, the hand of the LORD was against the city with a very great destruction: and he smote the men of the city, both small and great, and they had emerods in their secret parts.” (verse 9) So, it’s becoming more clear, ah, it needs to be. And at Gath, isn’t it interesting, we know the Goliath and his brothers are there, it says he smote them at Gath, both small and great with emerods. So Goliath’s no match for these emerods, when God is dealing them out. Note, possibly to the immorality of their worship, again, possibly one author I read said that Dagon was the god of the dunghill, and boy the LORD is making it clear here that Dagon has no power at all against him, because that’s what they had thought. There’s five major Philistine cites, we’ve got two down and three to go at this point in time. It says “Therefore they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And it came to pass, as the ark of God came to Ekron, that the Ekronites cried out, saying, They have brought the ark of the God of Israel to us, to slay us and our people.” (verse 10) so they saw it coming from the wall, here comes the Ark, I mean it’s gold, you can’t miss it, it’s glistening in the sun, they’re carrying it, the Ekronites see it coming, they’re crying out ‘Aaaaah!’ because they heard about it, it’s coming now to their city, saying “They have brought the ark of the God of Israel to us, to slay us and our people.” They heard about what was going on. “So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines, and said, Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it go again to his own place, that it slay us not, and our people: for there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city; the hand of God was very heavy there.” the possibility that there are some different things going on here. “And the men that died not were smitten with emerods: and the cry of the city went up to heaven.” (verses 11-12) So things are bad when the emerods are the good news of what’s happening here in Ekron. “the men that died not,” it seems to be there’s some kind of disease relative to the plague of rodents also. “And the men that died not were smitten with emerods: and the cry of the city went up to heaven.” (verse 12) This would make a good commercial, wouldn’t it?”

1^st Samuel 6:1-21

“And the ark of the LORD was in the field of the country of the Philistines seven months. 2 And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, What shall we do to the ark of the LORD? tell us wherewith we shall send it to his place. 3 And they said, If ye send away the ark of the God of Israel, send it not empty; but in any wise return him a trespass offering: then ye shall be healed, and it shall be known to you why his hand is not removed from you. 4 Then said they, What shall be the trespass offering which we shall return to him? They answered, Five golden emerods, and five golden mice, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines: for one plague was on you all, and on your lords. 5 Wherefore ye shall make images of your emerods, and images of your mice that mar the land; and ye shall give glory unto the God of Israel: peradventure he will lighten his hand from off you, and from off your gods, and from off your land. 6 Wherefore then do ye harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? when he had wrought wonderfully among them, did they not let the people go, and they departed? 7 Now therefore make a new cart, and take two milch kine, on which there hath come no yoke, and tie the kine to the cart, and bring their calves home from them: 8 And take the ark of the LORD, and lay it upon the cart; and put the jewels of gold, which ye return him for a trespass offering, in a coffer by the side thereof; and send it away, that it may go. 9 And see, if it goeth up by the way of his own coast to Beth-shemesh, then he hath done us this great evil: but if not, then we shall know that it is not his hand that smote us; it was a chance that happened to us. 10 And the men did so; and took two milch kine, and tied them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home: 11 And they laid the ark of the LORD upon the cart, and the coffer with the mice of gold and the images of the emerods. 12 And the kine took the straight way to the way of Beth-shemesh, and went along the highway, lowing as they went, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left; and the lords of the Philistines went after them unto the border of Beth-shemesh. 13 And they of Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley: and they lifted up their eyes, and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it. 14 And the cart came into the field of Joshua, a Beth-shemite, and stood there, where there was a great stone: and they clave the wood of the cart, and offered the kine a burnt offering unto the LORD. 15 And the Levites took down the ark of the LORD, and the coffer that was with it, wherein the jewels of gold were, and put them on the great stone: and the men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices the same day unto the LORD. 16 And when the five lords of the Philistines had seen it, they returned to Ekron the same day. 17 And these are the golden emerods which the Philistines returned for a trespass offering unto the LORD; for Ashdod one, for Gaza one, for Ashkelon one, for Gath one, for Ekron one; 18 and the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, both of fenced cities, and of country villages, even unto the great stone of Abel, whereon they set down the ark of the LORD: which stone remaineth unto this day in the field of Joshua, the Bethshemite. 19 And he smote the men of Beth-shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the LORD, even he smote of the people fifty thousand and threescore and ten men: and the people lamented, because the LORD had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter. 20 And the men of Beth-shemesh said, Who is able to stand before this holy LORD God? and to whom shall he go up from us? 21 And they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kirjath-jearim, saying, The Philistines have brought again the ark of the LORD; come ye down, and fetch it up to you.”

How The Philistines Send The Ark Of The Covenant Back To Israel

“And the ark of the LORD was in the country of the Philistines seven months.” (verse 1) So it seems like they move it out of the city, they put it out in the field somewhere, literally it’s not “country” it’s out in the “field” there. Seven months they’re trying to get it, putting it somewhere in the suburbs, they’re trying to get it out, possibly further away from them. “And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, What shall we do to the ark of the LORD? tell us wherewith we shall send it to his place.” (verse 2) ‘Please tell us, how in the world to get rid of the Ark of the Covenant?’ I don’t think at this point in time there’s a Philistine left that doubts whether they beat Jehovah-God. I think all doubts have been removed, that they did not whup the God of the Jews, they might have whupped Israel [Israel made up of 12 tribes, not just the single tribe of Judah], but they did not whup Israel’s God, and I think that’s become very clear to all of them. “And they said,” the priests said, “If ye send away the ark of the God of Israel, send it not empty; but in any wise return him a trespass offering: then ye shall be healed, and it shall be known to you why his hand is not removed from you.” (verse 3) ‘If you’re going to send it back to the God of Israel, send a trespass offering with it.’ Isn’t it interesting, this is the Philistines realizing they have trespassed against Jehovah-God, and they’re saying ‘You can send it back to him, but don’t you send it back there without a trespass offering, then you shall be healed,’ “and it shall be known to you why his hand is not removed from you.” ‘If you do this right, and you send it back, and you’re doing this, and you honour the God of Israel, you send back a trespass offering, and you’re healed, then you’ll have an idea what the whole deal was, what was going on.’ So, it says “Then said they, What shall be the trespass offering which we shall return to him? They answered, Five golden emerods and five golden mice, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines: for one plague was on you all, and on your lords.” (verse 4) now I’ve seen some ugly jewelry in my life, but golden hemorrhoids, this has gotta be a waste of gold, that’s why I don’t think it was bubonic plague, this seems to be a very specific thing they’re doing here, more specific than I like to think about. “and five golden mice” they have to be much cuter than the emerods, the golden mice there, “for one plague was on you all, and on your lords.” Now of course, the Jews alone understood that blood makes atonement, not gold. But these are heathen, they are idolators, they are completely superstitious, so they’re going to send back the Ark to the children of Israel, with golden emerods and golden mice. [And God honoured the Philistine trespass offering, because God was honouring their attitude of repentance and acknowledgement of who he is, beyond any laws which they did not understand, about how to go about a trespass offering to the God of Israel. God always honours the heart above literal actions which may not be carried out properly.] “Wherefore ye shall make images of your emerods, and images of your mice that mar the land; and ye shall give glory unto the God of Israel: peradventure he will lighten his hand from off you, and from off your gods, and from off your land. Wherefore then do ye harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? when he had wrought wonderfully among them, did they not let the people go, and they departed?” (verses 5-6) That was 500 years before this, and it is still been news amongst the heathen that would stand juxtaposition to the God of Israel in defining him. ‘Don’t harden your hearts like Pharaoh hardened their hearts, when he had wrought wonderfully’ that’s Jehovah, ‘did they not let the people go, and they departed?’ “Now therefore make a new cart, and take two milch kine, on which there hath come no yoke, and tie the kine to the cart, and bring their calves home from them: and take the ark of the LORD, and lay it upon the cart; and put the jewels of gold, which ye return him for a trespass offering, in a coffer by the side thereof; and send it away, that it may go.” (verses 7-8) [Notice, they did not open the Ark up and put the golden emerods and mice into it, they were very respectful of the Ark and the God it represented, as we’ll see, much more respectful than the Israelites who received the Ark back.] “And see, if it goeth up by the way of his own coast to Beth-shemesh, then he hath done us this great evil: but if not, then we shall know that it is not his hand that smote us; it was a chance that happened to us.” (verse 9) ‘But if it doesn’t go up the coast to Beth-shemesh, it was just a coincidence that everywhere the ark went we all got smote with emerods and run over by mice, just a coincidence.’ This is what they say, take this Ark, put it on a cart, take two milk cows that have never been used as an animal of labour, take their calves away from them, hook them up to the cart, and then let them go. If they head straight for, Philistine cows don’t go to Beth-shemesh, you understand, if they head right to Beth-shemesh, leaving their calves in the city, then we know that the God of Israel was involved in this thing, and his hand is on it. If they turn back and they don’t do this, then ya, it was just a coincidence, we all got emerods. I guarantee you the Philistines wanted these cows to go to Beth-shemesh. “And the men did so; and took two milch kine, and tied them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home: and they laid the ark of the LORD upon the cart, and the coffer with the mice of gold and the images of their emerods. And the cows took the straight way to the way of Beth-shemesh, and went along the highway, lowing as they went, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left; and the lords of the Philistines went after them unto the border of Beth-shemesh.” (verses 10-12) they went, lowing, crying for their calves, but not turning back to them, heading to Beth-shemesh, which was a city of the Levites, “lowing as they went, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left;” to graze or to eat, or do anything, “and the lords of the Philistines went after them unto the border of Beth-shemesh.” so depending on the route here between 10 and 15 miles, they just go on a road they’ve never been on before, they don’t stop to graze in the field, they’re being driven by the hand of the LORD, God is able to bring himself back. Israel’s all mourning because the Ark of the Covenant has been gone for seven months, and God’s out there, smites the whole Philistine country with emerods and whatever else he did, he’s able get himself moved back right to the middle of Israel without any help from anybody else, and as he’s able to get himself moved back into the center of our national life anytime he wants to do that, certainly maybe we should pray. And we should be instructed by the Scripture relative to our leaders and nation. But remember, God is able to do what he so desires at his own behest. So it says here, they then head back. Look, there’s a miracle here, first of all, these cows had never been yoked before, and they put the yoke on them, no problem. Second, they left their own calves behind to move forward, against nature. They’re unfamiliar with Beth-shemesh, but they have no trouble going straight there. They didn’t stop to eat or to graze. Interesting, these cows have more reverence for Jehovah [Yahweh] than Eli’s sons did, Hophni and Phinehas, who are dead at this point in time. So, interesting to watch this process. They didn’t turn to the right or to the left. No doubt, God is still speaking to the heart of the Philistines, you know, Rahab had come to the faith, who was a Canaanite. Think of Ruth, she was a Moabite. There were those of these tribes that came to genuine faith, and what a testimony it was to these people, they watched this cart go right up to Beth-shemesh, right into the place these cows had never gone before, against all of nature, against all, any argument, it becomes evidently clear that God is involved in this.

The Ark Of The Covenant Comes Into Beth-Shemesh, Surprising The Inhabitants

“And they of Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley: and they lifted up their eyes, and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it.” (verse 13) there were Levites that lived there. They were reaping their wheat harvest, so this tells us it’s May/June, “in the valley, and they lifted up their eyes, and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it.” these are Levites, they’re out there working in the field, they look up, here comes these two cows, lowing, ‘Moooo, moooo,’ they look, here they come dragging this cart with the Ark of the Covenant just sitting on the back of it, nobody steering them, nobody driving them, and these Levites, they haven’t seen the Ark for seven months, their mouths must be hanging open, here comes the Ark of the Covenant, and they begin to rejoice. “And the cart came into the field of Joshua, a Bethshemite, and stood there, where there was a great stone: and they clave the wood of the cart, and offered the kine a burnt offering unto the LORD.” (verse 14) the cows when they got there stood still. They come and they park right next to the altar where they’re going to be sacrificed. “and they clave the wood of the cart,” they broke the cart apart, “and offered the kine a burnt offering unto the LORD.” on this great rock there, they’re Levites. “And the Levites took down the ark of the LORD, and the coffer that was with it, wherein the jewels of gold were, and put them on the great stone: and the men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices the same day unto the LORD.” (verse 15) so, the flames going up from this great rock there in Beth-shemesh as they’re offering, and it seems they burnt the gold mice and emerods there in the burnt offering. “And when the five lords of the Philistines had seen it, they returned to Ekron the same day.” (verse 16) Now just imagine what they had seen, they come back to their own people, after all of this, the cows, being smitten with the diseases, Dagon falling down and broken in pieces in front of the Ark of the Covenant, what a testimony had come to them. “And these are the golden emerods which the Philistines returned for a trespass offering unto the LORD; for Ashdod one, for Gaza one, for Ashkelon one, for Gath one, for Ekron one; and the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, both of fenced cities, and of country villages, even unto the great stone of Abel, whereon they set down the ark of the LORD: which stone remaineth unto this day in the field of Joshua, the Bethshemite.” (verses 17-18) So what an interesting picture now, after seven months of the Ark of the Covenant coming back, God smiting the Philistines, being able to turn the whole circumstance in his direction.

They Removed The Mercy Seat-Lid Off The Ark And Came Face To Face With The Law--It Killed Them

Interesting entry now, it says “And he” that’s Jehovah [Yahweh] “smote the men of Beth-shemesh, because they looked into the ark of the LORD, even he smote of the people fifty thousand and threescore and ten men: and the people lamented, because the LORD had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter.” (verse 19) that’s 50,070 men. Now the verse presents some problems, if it is studied out, in the sense of the number of men slain, that the LORD had smitten 50,070, the Hebrew is written out, the LORD had smitten 70, and then the 50,000, and it would never be written that way in Hebrew. Besides the fact, if you’re talking about, it seems to be talking about 50,000 men, that would have to put the population of Beth-shemesh, with women and children, probably over 200,000, which was no way that was possible. So there’s an argument between scholars whether there was a gloss here, that caused confusion. Many of the ancient rabbis I think, Josephus says, that it was 70 men that were slaughtered, it was the 70 that were slaughtered, and there was a gloss relative to the 50,000. Either way, the point is, just like the emerods, were they boils, emerods or tumors? there’s no difference if you got ‘em. Here is the same thing, the impression on these Levites at Beth-shemesh, they understand clearly that they opened the lid, they opened the lid to the Ark of the Covenant to look in. Now we’re not told why. [I think it’s obvious, even though Pastor Joe goes into denial here] I know you all have Indiana Jones in your mind…why did they look in there, were they looking as Levites to see, and they knew what was in there, the Tablets were in there, the Stone Tablets, the Law of God, the Torah, written with the hand of God, the rod of Aaron was in there, and the golden pot of manna was in there, they knew they had no right to look in there. Were they looking in there to see if it was stolen? Did they justify their curiosity, saying ‘I wonder if the Philistines stole the most sacred things out of the Ark?’ We’re not told, but they sinned against Light. We have no evidence that the Philistines opened it. In fact, they didn’t put the coffer with the golden jewels, they didn’t put it into the Ark, they put it alongside of the Ark. But here, these Levites, it says they looked into the ark, and it seems then that 70 of these Levites are slaughtered here, smitten by God, in front of the rest of the witnesses, and there was a great then lamentation that went up because many were smitten with a great slaughter. And this is the point: “And the men of Beth-shemesh said, Who is able to stand before this holy LORD God? and to whom shall he go up from us?” (verse 20) who is able to stand before this holy Jehovah-God? and these were Levites. Look, the picture is abundantly clear, when these men removed the Mercy Seat, that was the lid for the Ark of the Covenant, the two cherubim were there, and it was a flat golden plate where once a year the blood on the Day of Atonement, of a goat was poured out on the Mercy Seat, to make atonement for the nation [cf. Leviticus 16:3-34]. When you removed that lid, you were face to face with the Law of God, that no human being could ever keep. They put themselves, they removed the blood of the Lamb from between them and the Law--and it killed them. [see and read http://www.unityinchrist.com/romans/Romans%203-24-25.htm]. And it’s a picture for every religious person you know, and it’s a reminder to you and I, we will never be righteous by the Law [i.e. by our puny efforts to keep the Law—but does that mean we’re not supposed to try to live by God’s Holy Law? No way, but we can’t live by God’s Law on our own, it takes the indwelling of God’s Holy Spirit helping us, and living that law within us, guiding, living, giving us the ability for an obedience far beyond that of the world around us (see https://unityinchrist.com/whatisgrace/whatisgraceintro.htm and https://unityinchrist.com/galatians/Galatians5-1-26.htm). As clearly seen in New Testament Scripture, Salvation by grace is a free gift of God. But after that gift has been received, we’re supposed to grow in grace and the knowledge of God, which is a growth in obedience to the ways of God, and many of those ways are explained in the Law of God. But even our imperfect obedience without the Holy Spirit, it’s just not possible. This subject leads us into a study of Law & Grace, where there is as much disagreement as there are Christian denominations out there.] We will never be righteous by keeping the Law. Does that mean we should live however we want to live? No, it never means that, that’s just immaturity. God’s grace [the free gift of Salvation] is never a license to our flesh. But the truth of the blood of Jesus Christ that was poured out for us, to make propitiation, that’s literally the place where God’s wrath is satisfied, that blood has made peace between us and God. Understand, again, if you just take a baseline, just a baseline, all that’s below that in regards to God’s wrath, God’s justice, his judgment, what needs to be his righteous judgment, that needs to be meted out on sin, all of that when Christ said ‘Tutelisti, it is finished,’ all of that was paid for. Above that baseline, certainly is our service for Christ, and we are to serve him, and we’ll be rewarded at the Bemis seat of Christ in regards to our service [which includes our puny efforts of obedience to God’s Law with the help and enabling of the Holy Spirit, so our obedience and service to Christ ends up in the rewards category, not the death-penalty for disobedience category nonbelievers fall into]. Are we serving him? And that service for Christ, is relative to faithfulness. You know, don’t think ‘Well Pastor Joe, he’s up there,’ or Billy Graham or this person or that person, because, again, relative to faithfulness there may be some of you here, Grandma’s, Grandpa’s, moms, dads, that are more faithful in what he's called you to do than I am in what he’s called me to do. And rewards in that day are relative to faithfulness, not to the observing of results in the minds of people, ‘Boy, look how big the church is, look at Joel Rosenberg, look at Billy Graham in front of those thousands and thousands,’ it’s not judged that way. God knows those who are faithful, ‘Well done, thou good and faithful servant.’ Have you been faithful in the things he's given you to do? That will be the basis of your rewards. The basis of your salvation is his completed work, the blood of the Lamb stands between you and the just recompense of God relative to his wrath and his judgment upon sin. The problem here is, they removed the Mercy Seat, and they were face to face with the holy Law of God that no man could ever keep. What a great picture it is for us, look, again you’re here tonight, you’re religious, you’re not saved, you don’t know Jesus, tonight is the night you need to turn from trying to be religious and try to keep the Law [without God’s Holy Spirit], you need to turn to God’s grace and say ‘Here I am, I’m a sinner, I’m worthless, on my own I am mud [and that’s the point, once saved, we’re not on our own, our obedience to God’s Laws, God’s ways is never “on our own.”] But tonight I’m going to trust you, Lord Jesus, to be my forgiver, to be my righteousness.’ Because Jesus said if you just lust after a woman, or a man, you’ve already committed adultery in your heart, if you just think ‘I’d just like to slug this guy,’ I’ve never thought that [he’s saying tong-in-cheek], I hear people talk about that…but if you’ve ever just thought that, you’re already guilty of murder. But the heart of the problem is a problem of the heart, and Paul said that. He said I lived, I kept the Law, until I saw the Law say ‘Thou shalt not covet,’ and I realized that the Law was an issue of the heart, I hadn’t committed adultery, but I had coveted, I hadn’t stolen, but I had coveted, he said I realized, the Law rose up and it slew me, because I realized it was spiritual. You and I cannot keep the Law, the wonderful thing is, Jesus Christ paid the price of the lawbreaker, though he had never broken it, so that purchased the value, he paid the price on the cross for you and I. It’s just a remarkable picture of that. They said “Who is able to stand before this holy LORD God? and to whom shall he go up from us?” ‘you know, how can he remove from here?’ “And they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kirjath-jearim, saying, The Philistines have brought again the ark of the LORD; come ye down, and fetch it up to you.” (verses 20b-21) They’re kind of like the Philistines aren’t they, ‘we’ve got good news,’ there’s everybody laying dead here, ‘the Ark is here, why don’t you guys come and take it and be blessed with it.’ Not back to Shiloh, to Kirjath-jearim, we have every evidence that Shiloh had been destroyed, because the Philistines had victory, no doubt, they moved from there, the battlefield, to where the Tabernacle was pitched, and the Ark never goes back to Shiloh. [And we don’t know whether the Levites hurriedly took down the Tabernacle, with the Menorah, Table of Showbread, Table of Incense, the whole deal, and fled, safely taking it somewhere else to be put in storage, or not, we just don’t know.]

1^st Samuel 7:1-13

“And the men of Kirjath-jearim came, and fetched up the ark of the LORD, and brought it into the house of Abinadab in the hill, and sanctified Eleazar his son to keep the ark of the LORD. 2 And it came to pass, while the ark abode in Kirjath-jearim, that the time was long; for it was twenty years: and all the house of Israel lamented after the LORD. 3 And Samuel spake unto the house of Israel, saying, If ye do return unto the LORD with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the LORD, and serve him only: and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines. 4 Then the children of Israel did put away Baalim and Ashtaroth, and served the LORD only. 5 And Samuel said, Gather all Israel to Mizpeh, and I will pray for you unto the LORD. 6 And they gathered together to Mizpeh, and drew water, and poured it out before the LORD, and fasted on that day, and said there, We have sinned against the LORD. And Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpeh. 7 And when the Philistines heard that the children of Israel were gathered together to Mizpeh, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the children of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines. 8 And the children of Israel said to Samuel, Cease not to cry unto the LORD our God for us, that he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines. 9 And Samuel took a suckling lamb, and offered it for a burnt offering wholly unto the LORD: and Samuel cried unto the LORD for Israel; and the LORD heard him. 10 And as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel: but the LORD thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and discomfited them; and they were smitten before Israel. 11 And the men of Israel went out of Mizpeh, and pursued the Philistines, and smote them, until they came under Beth-car. 12 Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the LORD helped us. 13 So the Philistines were subdued, and they came no more into the coast of Israel: and the hand of the LORD was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. 14 And the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron even unto Gath; and the coasts thereof did Israel deliver out of the hands of the Philistines. And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites. 15 And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. 16 And he went from year to year in circuit to Bethel, and Gilgal, and Mizpeh, and judged Israel in all those places. 17 And his return was to Ramah; for there was his house; and there he judged Israel; and there he built an altar unto the LORD.”

“So, it says here “And the men of Kirjath-jearim came, and fetched up the ark of the LORD, and brought it into the house of Abinadab in the hill, and sanctified Eleazar his son to keep the ark of the LORD.” (verse 1) Now that’s got to be an exciting day if you’re Abinadab, you get up in the morning like every other day, you’re minding your business, all of a sudden here comes a bunch of Levites carrying the Ark of the Covenant and say ‘We decided to store this in your house. Ah, 70 of the Levites just got slaughtered messing with it, God smote them, ah, we’re gonna park this in your living room for awhile.’ Now would you sleep? I was thinking about that today, imagine if you were an Old Testament Jew and that thing’s sitting down in your living room, you’re up in bed thinking ‘Forgive me for this, and forgive me for that LORD, forgive me for being mad at aunt Sally, and forgive me for this…’ what a remarkable thing, and then they sanctify his son Eleazar to take care of the Ark, it says, now you have tractus, it’s in this place in Kirjath-jearim for 100 years. It’s there for a hundred years, through the reign of Saul, into the reign of David, it’s 100 years from this point to 2^nd Samuel chapter 6 when it’s finally brought up to Jerusalem, in a remarkable record for us there. “And it came to pass, while the ark abode in Kirjath-jearim, that the time was long; for it was twenty years: and all the house of Israel lamented after the LORD.” (verse 2) the idea is, in and of itself, and all the house of Israel lamented, they were under Philistine oppression for twenty years after the Ark was brought there. Now between verse 2 and verse 3, we have a twenty year period. It brings us back to Samuel. Samuel’s probably about 30 to 33 years old at this point in time. The last time really we saw Samuel was there in Shiloh, ministering there, and the LORD speaking to him. ‘Samuel, Samuel,’ ‘Speak, LORD, for thy servant heareth.’ Josephus says he was 12 there, most scholars believe he was somewhere around 9 or 10, so this is 20 years later at least. We have Samuel here, somewhere around 30 years old, he’s become a man. Eli is gone, Hophni and Phinehas are gone, and Samuel now is the one that all of Israel recognizes, he is a Prophet, he came from a Levite family, but he’s a Prophet, he’s a Judge, he’s a Nazarite, he’s a remarkable man in a sense.

The Four Keys To Repentance And Revival

And Deliverance From Your Enemies

“And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, If ye do return unto the LORD with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the LORD, and serve him only: and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.” (verse 3) Samuel kind of gives the nation four components, at least, of revival. He says to the nation, if you’ll do these things, listen, Samuel here, Samson now has done the things he has done, by the time these 20 years have gone by, Samson has brought down the house of Dagon, and taken more Philistines in his death than in his life. The Philistines have been dealt that blow again, and are very no doubt concerned about the children of Israel, whether they’re going to rally, no doubt they’re quite paranoid. And Samuel now says to the nation, look, again, he doesn’t write like Isaiah writes, he doesn’t give us prophetic things relative to the future, he’s not calling down fire from heaven like Elijah will do, he’s not doing the miracles of Elisha. Samuel is this godly, saintly character, this man of incredible purity who stands before God, and when he prays, things happen. And he changes the course of an entire nation, without all of the supernatural stuff, without all of that. Samuel says to the house of Israel, and kind of puts four components in front of them. Listen to what they are here, he says #1, ‘If you really want something to happen here, and you really want victory over your enemies, number One, return to the LORD,’ and he says, ‘but with all of your heart, return to the LORD with all of your heart.’ I wonder how many of us that applies to here this evening? Believe me, I can examine my own life in light of that. I serve the Lord, I love the Lord, but there are days I can look at my own life, and say ‘Lord, you don’t have all of it, and forgive me for that.’ ‘Return to the LORD, just return, number One, with all of your heart, with all of it, Number One.’ Just a great challenge for us, something to pray about. #2, “Return unto the LORD with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you,” now that looks like something, if you return to the LORD with all of your heart, there’s going to be some change. Do you have things in your life that need to change? Are you playing fast and loose with certain sins, are you allowing a certain level of compromise in your life, saying ‘Well nobody else knows it, nobody else sees it, it’s just me, I’m struggling with this.’ Look, this is what he says, “If ye do return to the LORD with all your hearts,” what that looks like, the second thing is, to “then put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you,” that means, if you turn to him with all of your heart, then none of these other things have any of your heart, and whatever those things are that we bow to, give time to. And he says specifically Ashtaroth, which was worshipped in a most immoral way, and the image and Ashtaroth poles and, it is a perfect picture of pornography today and how it plagues God’s people. And it is a challenge to anyone here this evening, whose allowing themselves to get caught up in it. Do you want victory? Return to the LORD with all of your heart, put away the things that rise up against his throne, and his being the Lord of your life. Put those things away. #3, “and prepare your hearts unto the LORD, and serve him only:” get everything ready in his direction, it means to right your heart again, to bring it into the position that it should be in, the third thing, prepare your hearts, not just your mind unto the LORD, “and serve him only:” That really simplifies everything, serve him only. He says ‘Why call me Lord, Lord, and do not the things that I say.’ Again, he’s our Saviour, and he’s our Lord, he’s not just fire-insurance, he’s our Saviour and he’s our Lord. What a great picture to put in front of us, these things so clearly. And he says those four things, return with all of your heart, put away the other things that rise themselves up in your heart, prepare your heart in that sense, and serve him only, “and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.” (verse 3) Listen, “Then the children of Israel did put away Baalim and Ashtaroth, and served the LORD only.” (verse 4) They put away Baalim, which is the male counterpart of Ashtaroth, and Ashtaroth, and they served the LORD only. This is the greatest period of repentance since Moses was alive in the history of the nation. This is the greatest, remember the children of Israel, Moses leading them through the Wilderness, how many times they griped, they complained, and then they would get into some huge crisis, and Moses would challenge them, and then they would repent. This is the greatest scene where the whole nation is gathered now around Samuel, where you have the whole nation, because you went through the whole era of the Judges, where every man was doing what was right in his own eyes, no king in Israel, it says it was evil in the eyes of the LORD. Now all of a sudden you have the whole nation repenting and putting away all of the Canaanite gods and so forth, this is no doubt the greatest repentance and picture since Moses, with his relationship with the children of Israel, where they put away Baal, they put away all of these other gods. Then “And Samuel said, Gather all Israel to Mizpeh, and I will pray for you unto the LORD.” (verse 5) now Mizpeh is the place, it means “watchtower,” no doubt it was a very high hill, “and I will pray for you unto the LORD” that’s what he’s offering to them, ‘gather the whole nation to Mizpeh, and I will pray for you.’ “And they gathered together in Mizpeh, and drew water, and poured it out before the LORD, and fasted on that day, and said there, We have sinned against the LORD. And Samuel judged the children of Israel at Mizpeh.” (verse 6) and notice what they did there, they drew water, and they poured it out before the LORD, and they fasted on that day, Psalm 62, verse 8, Lamentations 2:19, tells us a picture of pouring out water is a picture of pouring out our whole soul. Because when you pour out water on the ground, it’s basically an irreversible process. You pour out cool water on the dry ground, it is gone, it’s irreversible, you’re not gonna retrieve it. And it is a picture of them offering their hearts, they came, and they poured this water out on the ground, and it says they fasted that day. Now you know you’re serious about the LORD if you go a day without eating. They poured it out before the LORD and they fasted on that day, and they said there “We have sinned against the LORD.” How the heart of the LORD must have been so pleased after these hundreds of years, “We have sinned against the LORD. And Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpeh.” he called them to account, he dealt with them there, he spoke on the behalf of the LORD there in Mizpeh.

If You Want To Draw Close To The LORD In Prayer, The Enemy Is Going To Attack

And notice what it says “And when the Philistines heard that the children of Israel were gathered together at Mizpeh, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the children of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines.” (verse 7) Israel had come to repent, Israel had brought broken hearts, they hadn’t brought any swords, hadn’t brought any weapons, they had come there to worship. The Philistines hear the whole nation is gathered to Mizpeh, and they think certainly after you know, Samson is defeated, the temple came down, and 3,000 of the lords and so forth had been killed, they’re rallying themselves. So they come and they surround the children of Israel, no doubt with everything that’s left of the Philistine nation, and the children of Israel are terrified. They look, and here are all the Philistines, with their weapons, and no doubt the children of Israel had heard what Samson had done also. And it says they’re afraid. “And the children of Israel said to Samuel, Cease not to cry unto the LORD for us, that he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines.” (verse 8) ‘Quick, get the Ark, and take it in front of us,’ no, they’re all done with that, it’s no more god-in-a-box. Look what they say, “the children of Israel said to Samuel, Cease not to cry unto the LORD for us, that he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines.” Are they saying ‘Emerods, LORD, emerods, remember, emerods.’ Isn’t it interesting, they had heard how God dealt with the Philistines, they had heard how the men of Beth-shemesh died. They realized at this point, ‘Samuel, pray for us, we’re surrounded by the enemy, cry out to God and don’t cease, that he will save us from the hand of the Philistines.’ “And Samuel took a suckling lamb, and offered it for a burnt offering wholly unto the LORD: and Samuel cried unto the LORD for Israel; and the LORD heard him.” (verse 9) Just, I would loved to have met this man, and I will. ‘Samuel took a sucking lamb, and he offered it for a burnt offering, wholly unto the LORD. And Samuel cried unto the LORD for Israel, and the LORD heard him.’ literally “the LORD answered him.” Look what it says here. You know, Israel is trembling, Samuel is praying, and the LORD is listening. And as he takes this lamb, and he cuts its throat, and he begins to offer it, and look, you can be sure, you look at this whole scene, if you say to yourself tonight ‘I’m going to return to God with all of my heart, I’m going to put away the strange gods, I’m just going to get my heart right, I’m going to serve no one but him, Lord, I’ve sinned.’ If you want to draw close to the Lord in prayer, the enemy’s going to be there, he’s going to attack, you’re going to get resistance. The enemy would rather see you do a million things but pray and bring your heart before God. “And as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel:” (verse 10a) Look at Samuel, this guy is a cool, one cool character. The Philistines are drawing closer, they’re on Mizpeh, so he’s up at the top of the hill, he’s got a fire going up there, so all the Philistines are going to see it. And the children of Israel are going ‘aaaah,’ and Samuel’s up there cutting a lamb apart, he’s not even paying attention. He’s praying, he knows the LORD has heard, he’s offering up the burnt offering for the children of Israel as the Philistines are gathering closer and closer into this scene. And it says ‘they drew near to battle against Israel,’ and this is the word we’ve been waiting for, “but the LORD thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and discomfited them; and they were smitten before Israel.” (verse 10b) “thundered” now it’s interesting, because that’s one of the elements of Baal, lightning and thunder. “discomfited them.” I’m never exactly sure what that word means, but I always like to hear it happen to the enemies, they were “discomfited” and they were smitten before Israel.” while Samuel was worshipping, God is working. Interesting, Josephus says that as Samuel was offering, the thunder was so violent that it shook the mountain and crevasses opened up and fire came up out of the ground and began to consume the Philistines. Now we don’t know, that’s just a Jewish historian’s comment. But supernaturally, God discomfited them, and it says, look in verse 11, “And the men of Israel went out of Mizpeh, and pursued the Philistines, and smote them, until they came under Beth-car.” notice their courage is back now. It’s the way it should have been from the beginning. It told us in the beginning of Judges, if you remember, that the LORD didn’t clear all of the enemy out of the land when he brought the children of Israel into possession of it, he left a certain remnant of them there to teach the children of Israel, the next generation, how to do battle. Now that doesn’t mean swordsmanship and martial arts, it means he wanted to teach them how Joshua saw victory. Every victory, physical victory that manifests in our lives is secondary. The first victory was the heart being right with God, falling on the knees in prayer. That’s where the battles were won and lost in the Book of Joshua. Every other victory was secondary. And what he wanted the next generation to know was that they could come to him, that they could fall on their knees, they could cry out to him, that he is the same yesterday, today and forever, he doesn’t change. And here there is this new generation awakening here, learning that they could cry out to God. Listen, they had gone through terrible times, I wonder in our nation, if our economy’s going to tank, I wonder if there’s a young generation of teenagers and kids that are going to learn to do with much less than you and I lived with, they’re going to learn to pray, and get on their knees before God, I wonder if we’re going to see a new generation awakened in a Revival before God? I don’t know [see https://unityinchrist.com/prophets/Zephaniah/REVIVAL.html and https://unityinchrist.com/prophets/Zephaniah/RestorationAndRevival.htm]. The LORD thundered against them, he shook them, they were discomfited, and the children of Israel then go out and begin to pursue the Philistines, “and smote them, until they came under Beth-car.” which is “the house of the Lamb,” Beth-car, interesting.

Jesus the LORD Is Our Ebenezer, Our Stone of Help

“Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the LORD helped us.” (verse 12) look at verse 13, “So the Philistines were subdued, and they came no more into the coast of Israel: and the hand of the LORD was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.” Ebenezer, that’s where they had been defeated in the first place, back in chapter 4 it said “And the word of Samuel came unto all of Israel. Now Israel went out against the Philistines to battle, and they pitched beside Ebenezer, and the Philistines pitched at Aphek…” that’s where their defeat had taken place long before this, and now this is the place, very place, where God grants victory to them, this is the place where the pillar, the stone is set up, the name is given to the place, actually in this chapter. Ebenezer is “the stone of help.” The stone that was set up was not the stone of help, it was a memorial to the fact that their God was their Rock, their Stone of Help, and we know that, because the important phrase here is ‘Hitherto hath the LORD helped us,’ that was the memorial that was set up. You know, Jacob had set up a stone, he had set up a pillar in Gilgal, in fact you remember in the New Testament it was there that John the Baptist was baptizing by Bethbara, which is “the house of the passengers,” or “the house of passage,” traditionally where the children of Israel crossed the Jordan River, and it says there that John the Baptist said to the Pharisees ‘Think not to say within yourselves ‘We’re the children of Abraham,’ God is able of these stones,’ the pillars were still there evidently in the days of Jesus, ‘to raise up children unto Abraham.’ Memorials, they’re not bad in our lives, I hope you, I have several, not a lot, not a huge collection, but there are several junctures in my life, where through difficult circumstances of one kind or another, God has allowed me to put up a pillar of remembrance. There are things that become fixed in our hearts of his faithfulness. That’s what it says here, look, “Hitherto hath the LORD helped us.” Hitherto, isn’t that a great word? We don’t talk like that anymore, it’s a great word. “Hitherto,” it means “up until now,” “up until this point,” it means “as far as we have come,” look what it’s saying here ‘Hitherto, up until this point, as far as we have come, the LORD has helped us.’ It means they’re standing there realizing, ‘Wait a minute, he’s the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, he’s the God that brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, guided them through the Wilderness with a pilar of fire and a pilar of cloud, he’s the God that brought us in, miraculously into the Canaan land, he’s the God that gave us victory when the sun stood still and the moon in the valley of Aijalon, God hath helped us hitherto, this far in the journey, up until now.’ Every one of us tonight should be able to say, as we take inventory, you know, I’ve griped and I’ve complained along the way, the Lord has had to drag me a few times, but I can say this, as far as I’ve come, he’s been faithful to me, to this point, he has been what he has always been, and this memorial is important because it reminds me tomorrow and next week he will still be what he has always been. He said in Malachi, ‘I am the LORD, and I change not, therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.’ ‘Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever.’ It was one of those junctures where you’re left with a memory, something is set up, Ebenezer, Jesus Christ our Stone of Help, our Rock of Help. God has been faithful to us all this time, up to this point. Hasn’t he? And those of you this evening that are wondering, ‘I’m in a painful situation, Joe, I’m really struggling, I feel abandoned,’ you need to stop long enough at Ebenezer, and you need to take inventory, you need to be able to say, ‘You know what, he can’t change, he’s not going to let me down, he’s kept me all of these years “up to this point, as far as I’ve come,” he’s been everything he said he would be, and even though this moment is very painful, and I don’t understand exactly what he’s doing in my life, I know he never changes, and I know there’s a pillar to be erected, Ebenezer, he’s the Rock of my help, and I know I’ll stand on the other side of this valley and remember he is still what he has always been, and he will always be, he is the Rock in my life, the Rock of my Help.’ Well, we’re not going to get past verse 13 tonight, that’s a good place to pick up the next time we’re together, so if you would read from verse 13 through the next few chapters, that’s where we’ll jump back in here…[transcript of an expository sermon on 1^st Samuel chapters 5 through 7:13, given by Pastor Joe Focht, Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia, 13500 Philmont Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19116]