The Life of Samuel Series - Study #3

“Samuel, the Intercessor”

1 Samuel 7:3-17

Study #3 in The Life of Samuel Series 

INTRODUCTION:

Today is our third look into the fascinating biography of one of the giants of Scripture. Samuel was a man who played a very strategic role in the history of Israel, because he bridged the gap between the period of the judges and the beginning of the monarchy. He was the last in the line of the Judges of Israel, and the first in the long line of prophets that God used as His mouthpiece to speak not only to the kings, but to all the people of Israel. 

First, we looked at Samuel’s remarkable birth. Every child is a unique gift from God, but Samuel even more so. His birth was a direct answer to prayer, and his mother, Hannah, gave him to God right from the beginning. Her promise to God was that Samuel would serve the Lord all the days of his life. 

Then in our last study we read the story of how God first spoke to Samuel when he was about 12 years old and used him to deliver a message of judgment to Eli, the High Priest, concerning the impending death of his two evil sons, Hophni and Phinehas. 

Today we want to look at another vignette from Samuel’s life. But by now, twenty plus years have passed in the narrative. Samuel is married, with children, living back in Ramah, the village of his birth. But what transpired during those 20 years? It is a fascinating story, and one of my favorites because it reveals that God has a sense of humor. Yes, you heard me correctly—I believe God has a sense of humor because we enjoy humor, and we were made in His likeness and image. And the Bible has some very funny stories. For example, the story of David and Saul in the Cave of Engedi is hilarious (cf. 1 Sam. 24:3-4). Another is the story in 1 Kings 18:27-29 about the contest between Elijah and the 450 prophets of Baal (+ 400 prophets of the Asherah, vs. 19). But neither of those stories is as funny as what God did to the Philistines who stole the Ark of the Covenant.     

TRANSITION:

1 Samuel 4 records how God carried out the sentence of death on Hophni and Phinehas. Let’s revisit the high points of that story:

·       Israel was at war with Philistia, and they lost a big battle to their enemies.

·       Somebody came up with the bright idea of taking the Ark of the Covenant out of the Tabernacle and carrying it into battle with them, basically like a good luck charm. Hophni and Phinehas were in on the plan (4:4) and backed it 100%.

·       The Philistines won the battle, killed a bunch of Israelites, including Hophni and Phinehas, and captured the Ark of God as well (4:11).

·       A messenger was dispatched to Shiloh to carry word of what had occurred (4:17). When the soldier told Eli what had happened the old man fell backward off his chair and broke his neck and died on the spot (4:18). He was obesely fat, which undoubtedly contributed to his death.

·       The Philistines took the Ark of the Covenant to Ashdod, one of their 5 major cities, and put it in their temple next to their god, Dagon, an ugly ½ fish [the body], ½ man [the head and hands] idol. However, the next day they came and found Dagon tipped over on his face before the Ark with his head and hands snapped off (5:4). [N.B., Check out Isaiah 40:18-26 to see what God thinks about idols. He doesn’t mince words.]

·       Then God struck the people of Ashdod and surrounding territory with two plagues: a plague of mice, which ravaged their fields, destroyed their crops, and spread disease; and a plague of hemorrhoids, which ravaged their bodies and caused them great pain and shame (5:1, 9, 12). The KJV translates the Hebrew word, טְחוֹרִים (tekhorim) as “emerods.” But if you look this word up in a Hebrew lexicon you will find: טְחֹר (tekhore) from a root meaning “to burn; a boil or ulcer (from the inflammation), but especially a tumor in the anus or pudenda (i.e., “piles, hemorrhoids”). Now I don’t know about you, but I find that hysterically funny. Of all the punishments God could have chosen to afflict them with, why did He choose this one? You’ll never convince me that God doesn’t have a sense of humor.

·       For 7 months the Philistines passed the Ark around from city to city, first to Gath and then to Ekron, but the problems followed the Ark wherever it went so nobody wanted it in their town. Finally, the leaders asked their priests about what to do and they suggested making 5 golden mice and 5 golden haemorrhoids according to the number of the lords of the Philistines as a sin offering to placate the God of Israel (6:4-5). Here is some more humor. Can you imagine making golden copies or your hemorrhoids? Maybe I have a twisted sense of humor, but I find that to be an absolute hoot, and the more you think about it the more questions it raises, but we won’t go there.

·       They put the Ark of the Covenant and another wooden box containing their golden “offerings” on a brand new two-wheel cart pulled by two young milk cows and headed them off over the border in the direction of Israel (6:10). [Question: How do you let go of a tiger’s tail? It is much harder to let go than to grab on.]

·       The cart finally came to a stop in a field outside of Bethshemesh owned by a guy named Joshua. The Jews were overjoyed to see that the Ark had come back home to Israel. The Levites dismantled the cart and laid the wood on a big stone altar, and they offered up the two cows as a burnt offering sacrifice to the Lord (6:14-15).

·       However, their joy and merry making were short-lived because a bunch of the curious Jews got too close, and they even dared to lift the lid of the Ark of the Covenant, so God struck them dead on the spot (6:19). He struck then down because they disobeyed Him and treated the holy things of God with disdain and disrespect. That experience put the fear of God in everybody, so they quickly transported the Ark to Kiriath-jearim, a village just inside the borderline between Israel and Philistia. They took it to the house of a guy named Abinadab, and consecrated his son, Eleazar, to watch over it. And there it stayed in that house for the next 20 years. 

NOTES on the Text:

Now here in chapter 7 we pick up the story. Let’s look at it together. 

¹ And the men of Kiriath-jearim came and took the ark of the Lord and brought it into the house of Abinadab on the hill, and consecrated Eleazar his son to keep the ark of the Lord. ² From the day that the ark remained at Kiriath-jearim, the time was long, for it was twenty years; and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord. ³ Then Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, “If you return to the Lord with all your heart, remove the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you and direct your hearts to the Lord and serve Him alone; and He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines.” ⁴ So the sons of Israel removed the Baals and the Ashtaroth and served the Lord alone. ⁵ Then Samuel said, “Gather all Israel to Mizpah and I will pray to the Lord for you.” ⁶ They gathered to Mizpah, 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 sons of Israel at Mizpah. ⁷ Now when the Philistines heard that the sons of Israel had gathered to Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the sons of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines. ⁸ Then the sons of Israel said to Samuel, “Do not cease to cry to the Lord our God for us, that He may save us from the hand of the Philistines.” ⁹ Samuel took a suckling lamb and offered it for a whole burnt offering to the Lord; and Samuel cried to the Lord for Israel and the Lord answered him. ¹⁰ Now Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, and the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel. But the Lord thundered with a great thunder on that day against the Philistines and confused them, so that they were routed before Israel. ¹¹ The men of Israel went out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, and struck them down as far as below Beth-car. ¹² Then Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpah and Shen, and named it Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.” ¹³ So the Philistines were subdued and they did not come anymore within the border of Israel. And the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. ¹⁴ The cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron even to Gath; and Israel delivered their territory from the hand of the Philistines. So, there was peace between Israel and the Amorites. ¹⁵ Now Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. ¹⁶ He used to go annually on circuit to Bethel and Gilgal and Mizpah, and he judged Israel in all these places. ¹⁷ Then his return was to Ramah, for his house was there, and there he judged Israel; and he built there an altar to the Lord. 

CONCLUSIONS:

1. You cannot buy off God's anger by offering Him trinkets, even golden ones.
2. God is not a toy poodle that you can hold in your lap. He is not to be messed with. Even His own people cannot get away with it.
3. Revival always follows the same pattern. If we want revival we have to start at the beginning and be willing to pay the price. There is no shortcut.
4. God will not share His throne with anything or anyone. We must get rid of our idols and serve Him, and Him alone (vs. 4).
5. When sin happens, something must die to pay for it. The wages of sin is death (cf. v. 9).
6. James 5:16, “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”
7. Victory hangs upon our prayerful dependence on God, not upon our knowledge, power, skill, training, and tools (vs. 10). Israel just had to mop up the stragglers,
8. Israel’s place of greatest defeat became their place of greatest victory.
9. Samuel’s righteousness started at home and spread outward.