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1 Samuel
Chapter Four
1 Samuel 4
Chapter Contents
The Israelites overcome by the Philistines. (1-9) The ark
taken. (10
11) The death of Eli. (12-18) The birth of Ichabod. (19-22)
Commentary on 1 Samuel 4:1-9
(Read 1 Samuel 4:1-9)
Israel is smitten before the Philistines. Sin
the
accursed thing
was in the camp
and gave their enemies all the advantage they
could wish for. They own the hand of God in their trouble; but
instead of
submitting
they speak angrily
as not aware of any just provocation they had
given him. The foolishness of man perverts his way
and then his heart frets
against the Lord
Proverbs 19:3
and finds fault with him. They
supposed that they could oblige God to appear for them
by bringing the ark
into their camp. Those who have gone back in the life of religion
sometimes
discover great fondness for the outward observances of it
as if those would
save them; and as if the ark
God's throne
in the camp
would bring them to
heaven
though the world and the flesh are on the throne in the heart.
Commentary on 1 Samuel 4:10
11
(Read 1 Samuel 4:10
11)
The taking of the ark was a great judgment upon Israel
and a certain token of God's displeasure. Let none think to shelter themselves
from the wrath of God
under the cloak of outward profession.
Commentary on 1 Samuel 4:12-18
(Read 1 Samuel 4:12-18)
The defeat of the army was very grievous to Eli as a
judge; the tidings of the death of his two sons
to whom he had been so
indulgent
and who
as he had reason to fear
died impenitent
touched him as a
father; yet there was a greater concern on his spirit. And when the messenger
concluded his story with
"The ark of God is taken
" he is struck to
the heart
and died immediately. A man may die miserably
yet not die
eternally; may come to an untimely end
yet the end be peace.
Commentary on 1 Samuel 4:19-22
(Read 1 Samuel 4:19-22)
The wife of Phinehas seems to have been a person of
piety. Her dying regret was for the loss of the ark
and the departure of the
glory from Israel. What is any earthly joy to her that feels herself dying? No
joy but that which is spiritual and divine
will stand in any stead then; death
is too serious a thing to admit the relish of any earthly joy. What is it to
one that is lamenting the loss of the ark? What pleasure can we take in our
creature comforts and enjoyments
if we want God's word and ordinances;
especially if we want the comfort of his gracious presence
and the light of
his countenance? If God go
the glory goes
and all good goes. Woe unto us if
he depart! But though the glory is withdrawn from one sinful nation
city
or
village after another
yet it shall never depart altogether
but shines forth
in one place when eclipsed in another.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on 1 Samuel》
1 Samuel 4
Verse 1
[1] And the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel
went out against the Philistines to battle
and pitched beside Ebenezer: and
the Philistines pitched in Aphek.
The word — That is
the word of the Lord revealed to Samuel
and
by him to the people. A word of command
that all Israel should go forth to
fight with the Philistines
as the following words explain it
that they might
he first humbled and punished for their sins
and so prepared for deliverance.
Went out — To meet the Philistines
who having by this time
recruited themselves after their loss by Samson
and perceiving an eminent
prophet arising among them
by whom they were likely to be united
and
assisted
thought fit to suppress them in the beginning of their hopes.
Verse 3
[3] And when the people were come into the camp
the elders
of Israel said
Wherefore hath the LORD smitten us to day before the
Philistines? Let us fetch the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of Shiloh
unto us
that
when it cometh among us
it may save us out of the hand of our
enemies.
Wherefore
… — This was strange blindness
that
when there was so great a corruption in their worship and manners
they could
not see sufficient reason why God should suffer them to fall by their enemies.
The ark — That great pledge of God's presence and help
by whose
conduct our ancestors obtained success. Instead of humbling themselves for
and
purging themselves from their sins
for which God was displeased with them
they take an easier and cheaper course
and put their trust in their ceremonial
observances
not doubting but the very presence of the ark would give them the
victory.
Verse 4
[4] So the people sent to Shiloh
that they might bring from
thence the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts
which dwelleth between the
cherubims: and the two sons of Eli
Hophni and Phinehas
were there with the
ark of the covenant of God.
Bring the ark — This they should not have done
without asking counsel of God.
Verse 5
[5] And when the ark of the covenant of the LORD came into
the camp
all Israel shouted with a great shout
so that the earth rang again.
Shouted — From their great joy and confidence of success. So
formal Christians triumph in external privileges and performances: as if the
ark in the camp would bring them to heaven
tho' the world and the flesh reign
in the heart.
Verse 7
[7] And the Philistines were afraid
for they said
God is
come into the camp. And they said
Woe unto us! for there hath not been such a
thing heretofore.
Heretofore — Not in our times; for the fore-mentioned
removals of the ark were before it came to Shiloh.
Verse 8
[8] Woe unto us! who shall deliver us out of the hand of
these mighty Gods? these are the Gods that smote the Egyptians with all the
plagues in the wilderness.
Wo
… — They secretly confess the Lord to be greater than
their gods
and yet presume to oppose him.
Wilderness — They mention the wilderness
not
as if all the plagues of the Egyptians came upon them in the wilderness
but
because the last and sorest of all
which is therefore put for all
the
destruction of Pharaoh and all his host
happened in the wilderness
namely
in
the Red-sea
which having the wilderness on both sides of it
may well be said
to be in the wilderness. Altho' it is not strange if these Heathens did mistake
some circumstance in relation of the Israelitish affairs
especially some
hundreds of years after they were done.
Verse 10
[10] And the Philistines fought
and Israel was smitten
and
they fled every man into his tent: and there was a very great slaughter; for there
fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen.
Tent — To his habitation
called by the ancient name of his
tent.
There fell — Before
they lost but four
thousand
now in the presence of the ark
thirty thousand
to teach them that
the ark and ordinances of God
were never designed as a refuge to impenitent
sinners
but only for the comfort of those that repent.
Verse 11
[11] And the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli
Hophni and Phinehas
were slain.
The ark — Which God justly and wisely permitted
to punish the
Israelites for their profanation of it; that by taking away the pretences of
their foolish confidence
he might more deeply humble them
and bring them to
true-repentance: and that the Philistines might by this means he more
effectually convinced of God's almighty power
and of their own
and the
impotency of their gods
and so a stop put to their triumphs and rage against
the poor Israelites. Thus as God was no loser by this event
so the Philistines
were no gainers by it; and Israel
all things considered
received more good
than hurt by it. If Eli had done his duty
and put them from the priesthood
they might have lived
tho' in disgrace. But now God takes the work into his
own hands
and chases them out of the world by the sword of the Philistines.
Verse 13
[13] And when he came
lo
Eli sat upon a seat by the wayside
watching: for his heart trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came into
the city
and told it
all the city cried out.
The ark — Whereby he discovered a public and generous spirit
and a fervent zeal for God
and for his honour
which he preferred before all
his natural affections
not regarding his own children in comparison of the
ark
tho' otherwise he was a most indulgent father. And well they might
for
beside that this was a calamity to all Israel
it was a particular loss to
Shiloh; for the ark never returned thither. Their candlestick was removed out
of its place
and the city sunk and came to nothing.
Verse 18
[18] And it came to pass
when he made mention of the ark of
God
that he fell from off the seat backward by the side of the gate
and his
neck brake
and he died: for he was an old man
and heavy. And he had judged
Israel forty years.
He fell — Being so oppressed with grief and astonishment
that
he had no strength left to support him.
The gate — The gate of the city
which was most convenient for
the speedy understanding of all occurrences.
Old — Old
and therefore weak and apt to fall; heavy
and
therefore his fall more dangerous. So fell the high-priest and judge of Israel!
So fell his heavy head
when he had lived within two of an hundred years! So
fell the crown from his head
when he had judged Israel forty years: thus did
his sun set under a cloud. Thus was the wickedness of those sons of his
whom
he had indulged
his ruin. Thus does God sometimes set marks of his displeasure
on good men
that others may hear and fear. Yet we must observe
it was the
loss of the ark that was his death
and not the slaughter of his sons. He says
in effect
Let me fall with the ark! Who can live
when the ordinances of God
are removed? Farewell all in this world
even Life itself
if the ark be gone!
Verse 20
[20] And about the time of her death the women that stood by
her said unto her
Fear not; for thou hast born a son. But she answered not
neither did she regard it.
Fear not — Indeed the sorrows of her travail would have been
forgotten
for joy that a child was born into the world. But what is that joy
to one that feels herself dying? None but spiritual joy will stand us in stead
then. Death admits not the relish of any earthly joy: it is then all flat and
tasteless. What is it to one that is lamenting the loss of the ark? What can
give us pleasure
if we want God's word and ordinances? Especially if we want
the comfort of his gracious presence
and the light of his countenance?
Verse 21
[21] And she named the child Ichabod
saying
The glory is
departed from Israel: because the ark of God was taken
and because of her
father in law and her husband.
I-chabod — Where is the glory? The glory - That is
the glorious
type and assurance of God's presence
the ark
which is often called God's
glory
and which wast the great safeguard and ornament of Israel
which they
could glory in above all other nations.
Verse 22
[22] And she said
The glory is departed from Israel: for the
ark of God is taken.
The ark — This is repeated to shew
her piety
and that the
public loss lay heavier upon her spirit
than her personal or domestic
calamity.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on 1 Samuel》
04 Chapter 4
Verses 1-22
Verse 3
Wherefore hath the Lord smitten us today before the Philistines?
The advantages of defeat
This cry of amazement stands between two defeats. Defeat astounded
Israel: it fell in despite of priests and religious parade. We should study
defeats. Personal and corporate both. Army cadets at Sandhurst and Woolwich
prepare to achieve victory by the study of military failures. Good will come of
such study in spite of its sadness.
I. Defeat that
compels enquiry into our moral discipline is good.
1. Defeat comes as a surprise. We are in the hosts of the Great King.
We have been educated to expect victory. Our base
our supplies
our alliances
our history
have led to this.
2. We should be grateful to the first questioner in the Church
who
demands research into the Church’s character. “Wherefore?” is the prelude of
“Hallelujah.” So
too
in the life of the soul.
3. Enquiry will demonstrate the omission of some condition essential
to success. A little later (1 Samuel 7:8) Samuel explains the
double disaster. Our “Leader and Commander” has not promised unconditional
triumph. “The promises are made to character.” “If ye do return unto the Lord .
. . He will deliver you.”
4. Each day may be with us a day of battle.
II. It is no small
gain when we see defeat to be the fruit of past neglect.
1. Had Israel been true long before
there would have been no
Philistines now to vex and humiliate them. At the conquest of Canaan they had
their chance. But fatigue set in
and enthusiasm faded away before the conquest
could be completed. Awed and crippled remnants of heathen nations were left.
Jebusites in Mount Zion
Philistines on the southwest border. They were the
seed of future miseries and shames to Israel.
2. To every Christian there comes a time of special power and
possibility. By laying hold on God’s strength it would be easy then to slay our
native foes
our inbred sins. Conversion should bring us more than pardon. It
should bring the mastery of sin. Too often
the forgiven soul carries into the
Christian life sins which
though crippled
are by no means dead. Rightly
taught
we should seek their extermination.
III. It is an
advantage when defeat proves the worthlessness of superstition.
1. Some sacral warrior
looking on the field with its 4
000 slain
cried
“Let us fetch the Ark . . . that it may save us.” Superstition added to
sin does not improve the position. Israel called for the Ark
instead of for
the God of the Ark and of the nation.
2. High regard for the Ark was natural. Read its history. It was made
on a Divine plan; and housed in the Holy of holies; it was the resting place of
the Shekinah. By grand histories it had taken a deep place in their reverence
and love. Here lay the danger. It is easy to cling to the visible loved symbol
whilst the invisible world of truth for which it stands is “let slip.” We may
carry to life’s battlefields all our religious methods
and fail in the fight.
Faith in God would have purified their hearts (Acts 15:9) and made them heroes in the
fight. The historian Napier
speaking of our army in Spain
said
“Incalculable
is the preponderance of moral power in war.” Superstition may be described as
moral faith lowered from the living God to things. It is incapable of faith’s
valiant movements. It has no grip of God.
3. Superstition shows itself in the Christian congregation. A modern
form of it is Ecclesiolatry. The Church is unspeakably great
sacred
and dear.
And it is not difficult to set it in the soul’s faith and love as a rival to God.
IV. It is a gain
when defeat removes unworthy leaders. The peril of Israel lay as much in their
leaders’ unworthiness as in their own vices. The nation was like a drifting
ship. With men of high character at the helm she might have recovered leeway. But
of her steersmen two were drunk with iniquity
and one lacked energy to the
point of criminality. It was necessary to get rid of these helmsmen if the
ship’s company was to be saved. First
Hophni and Phinehas were slain (1 Samuel 4:11). Next
Eli fell. With
the death of these men a new era opens--the epoch of Samuel. Storms shake
rotten wood from living trees to make way for fresh and healthy development.
V. Though
defeated
we may win on the same site ere long. The battles were fought at
Ebenezer (1 Samuel 4:1). Here the armies met
again soon (1 Samuel 7:12). Then victory sat on
the banners of Israel. It was a day of praise and monument raising. We improve
our record of deeds done when we improve our character. (1 Samuel 7:2; 1 Samuel 7:4.) Let no man lose
heart. Rather let him seek victory through repentance and faith in God alone.
Defeat is not God’s design for us. “Thanks be to God which always causeth us to
triumph in Christ.” (James Dunk.)
Let us fetch the ark . . . that when it cometh among us it may
save us. (Compare with 1 Samuel 4:10
and 1 Samuel 7:3.)--
Superstition and religion
“Let us fetch the ark.” What was the ark? It was a chest made of
wood. It was overlaid with pure gold
within and without
and crowned with a
mercy seat of pure gold. What was its purpose? It was a material thing
representing a spiritual idea. It was a thing made with hands to symbolise
things not made with hands
eternal in the heavens. It was a temporality
pointing to a spirituality. That is how humanity deals with unseen presences;
it makes visible vestures for them
garments that can be touched. Here are ten
thousand men
a nation’s army
moving with one step
to one music
on one
mission. They are possessed by one sentiment
that of patriotism; they are
swayed by one idea
that of freedom. But these sentiments and ideas are
intangible
spiritual
unseen. The nation must give them visibility; they must
become enshrined in vestures that can be handled and seen. So we give our army
a flag
and a flag which cam be touched represents the unseen which cannot be
couched; it represents patriotic sentiment
national enthusiasm
the common
hope. Through that flag there gleams the idea of duty and of right. To abuse
the flag is to insult the nation. The ermine which our judges wear is the
symbol of an idea. That visible robe represents the unseen vesture of authority
with which their fellow men have clothed them. All these are visible
representatives of unseen forces and powers. Our very instinct leads us to give
these unseen presences a local and visible habitation and name. And here was
God
an unseen Power
and men hungered for some material symbol to represent
the unseen and eternal. And God said: “Make an ark of wood and gold
” and it
shall stand as the symbol of the meeting of God and man
the confluence of time
and eternity
the blending of the unseen influences of heaven with the unseen
aspirations of earth. Now the character of symbols depends upon the character
of man as men become better
symbols become enriched. As men deteriorate
symbols become degraded. Is that not so with the commonest of all symbolism
which we call language? These words which I am now addressing to you are all
symbols which I am using to represent my unseen thought. The corruption of
language follows the degradation of man. Language loses significance; it
becomes debased
and its deterioration must be traced to its essential cause in
the deterioration of man. It is the same with other symbols besides language.
They become emptied of their royal significance when men lose their royalty.
The more high-minded is the soldier
the more illustrious is his flag; the more
debased is the soldier
the more vulgar is the flag. And so symbols wait upon
character
they can become gradually impoverished in their meaning
until at
length they become as empty as those shells which are strewn in myriads along
our shores
empty houses which have lost their tenants
forsaken and lifeless
forms. But now
mark you
a strange foible and trick of human nature. When our
feelings and enthusiasms have deteriorated
and the symbols have lost their
life
we are prone to hug the empty shell
and we delude ourselves into the
belief that the empty symbol can do what only could be done by its living
guest. Thoroughly bad men wear a crucifix
an empty shell
a cross without a
Saviour. One of the most notorious criminals of our time was found with a
crucifix next to his skin. Now let us realise their position. They had lost the
purity of their character
and they tried to pervert a religious symbolism into
unreligious magic. They thought that a dead symbol would do the work of a
living devotion
and that is superstition. It would be just as reasonable for a
man who was being drawn headlong to ruin by drink to seek end save himself by
putting on a blue ribbon
a symbol of sobriety
and yet to continue to grovel
in the waste and slough of passion and lust. For bad men to send for the ark to
protect them is evidence that their religion has degraded them into the
grossest superstition. There are homes in which Bibles are kept
not to be
read
but because their presence is supposed to surround the home with a
certain sanctity and protection. But are we not prone to use these symbols and
means as the Israelites used their ark
to obtain a sort of magical protection
from physical peril
and not deliverance from the captivity of sin? And is not
the divine purpose of prayer sometimes forgotten
and is it not often employed
as a spell to save us from poverty and loss of danger
but not from sin? There
is a short paragraph in the life of one of the saintliest men of our time which
I will read to you
as it specially illustrates my argument. In one of his
letters
written in manhood
he writes: “Once I recollect I was taken up with
nine other boys at school to be punished
and I prayed to escape the shame. The
master
previous to flogging all the others
said to me
to the great
bewilderment of the whole school: ‘Little boy
I excuse you
I have particular
reasons for it.’ That incident settled my mind for a long time; only I doubt
whether it did me any good
for prayer became a charm. I knew I carried about a
talisman--which would save me from all harm. It did not make me better
it
simply gave me security.” Will you mark that last phrase? “It did not make me better;
it simply gave me security.” That was what the ark did for the Philistines; is
that all that prayer does for us--composing our fears but not affecting our
morals
giving us a sense of security
but not delivering us from our sin? If
the exercise has been thus debased
it will betray us when we need it most;
refuge will fail us when we stand at last in the presence of the pure and holy
God. (J. H. Jowett.)
A superstitious and religious use of sacred things
(1 Chronicles 13:14):--In the first
text the children of Israel say
“Let us fetch the ark of the covenant out of
Shiloh unto us.” The bringing of the ark then from Shiloh was a free and
spontaneous act on their part. They had a purpose in sending for it--to save
them out of the hand of their enemies. Remembering what had been done at Jordan
and at Jericho through the instrumentality of the ark
they were satisfied that
by having it with them they would be able to triumph over their foes.
Consequently
on its being brought into the camp there was great joy on the
part of the Israelites (1 Samuel 4:5) and great
consternation among the Philistines (1 Samuel 4:6-7). The Israelites were
disappointed in their expectations
for they
instead of being victorious
were
defeated with great slaughter (1 Samuel 4:10-11). From the second
text we learn that the ark came into the house of Obed-edom more by accident
than anything else. He did not send for it; he did not express a wish to have
it; and he had not even the expectation of its ever being brought into his
house. These incidents
when placed side by side
are very instructive. The
Israelites sent for the ark
and took it with them to battle
but for all that
they lost the day. Obed-edom did not send for the ark
but only received it
into his house
and the Lord blessed his family and all that he had. To the
Israelites
who sent for it
the ark became a savour of death unto death; but
to Obed-edom
who received it into his house
the same ark became a savour of
life unto life. In the one case the ark was a snare
and in the other a
blessing.
I. The
superstitious use of sacred things. On the part of an irreligious man there is
a tendency
when in sore straits
to betake himself
not to God
but to reading
the Bible
or to what he calls prayer
in the hope that by “sending for the
ark” his difficulties will be removed. And on the part of all there is a danger
of our looking upon things sacred as charms
and therefore of contenting
ourselves with keeping the Sabbath
reading the Bible
going to church
partaking of the sacrament
as if some special virtue was of necessity
connected with the simple discharge of these duties. They are useful and
profitable as means
but it is only in that light that they can profit anyone.
II. The religious
use of sacred things. Respecting Obed-edom very little is known
but we are
warranted in believing that he was a good man. He reverenced the ark not for
its own sake
but as the token of God’s presence
and he was therefore blessed
in his house and all that he had. His conduct suggests the profitableness of
religion at home
1. It is necessary to observe the word that is employed. It is not
said that he was enriched
that he was made a prosperous man
or that he was
raised above difficulties or trials. He was blessed.
2. He was blessed in his house
in his own person
in his family
in
his dependents.
3. He was blessed in all that he had. He may have had burdens
he may
have had trials
but he was blessed in his business
in his joy
in his sorrows.
(P. Robertson
A. M.)
The form and spirit of religion
As is man
such must his religion be. Now
man is a compound
being. To speak correctly
man is a spiritual being: he hath within him a soul
a substance far beyond the bounds of matter. But man is also made up of a body
as well as a soul. He is not pure spirit
his spirit is incarnate in flesh and
blood. Now
such is our religion. The religion of God is
as to its vitality
purely spiritual--always so; but since man is made of flesh as well as of spirit
it seemed necessary that his religion should have something of the outward
external
and material
in which to embody the spiritual
or else man would not
have been able to lay hold upon it. Our religion
then
has an outward form
even to this day; for the apostle Paul
when he spoke of professing Christians
spoke of some who had “a form of godliness
but denied the power thereof.” So
that it is still true
though I confess not to the same extent as it was in the
days of Moses
that religion must have a body
that the spiritual thing may
come out palpably before our vision
and that we may see it.
I. In the first
place then
the form of religion is to be reverently observed. This ark of the
covenant was with the Jews the most sacred instrument of their religion. And
indeed
they had great reason in the days of Samuel to reverence this ark
for
you will recollect that when Moses went to war with the Midianites
a great
slaughter of that people was occasioned by the fact that Eleazar
the high
priest
with a silver trumpet
stood in the forefront of the battle
bearing in
his hands the holy instrument of the law--that is
the ark; and it was by the
presence of this ark that the victory was achieved. It was by this ark
too
that the river Jordan was dried up. And when they had landed in the promised
country
you remember it was by this ark that the walls of Jericho fell flat to
the ground. These people
therefore
thought if they could once get the ark
it
would be all right
and they would be sure to triumph; and
while I shall have
in the second head
to insist upon it that they were wrong in superstitiously
imputing strength to the poor chest
yet the ark was to be reverently observed
for it was the outward symbol of a high spiritual truth
and it was never to be
treated with any indignity.
1. It is quite certain
in the first place
that the form of religion
must never be altered. You remember that this ark was made by Moses
according
to the pattern that God had given him in the mount. Now
the outward forms of
our religion
if they be correct
are made by God. His two great ordinances of
Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are sent for us from on high. I dare not alter
either of them.
2. And as the form must not be altered
so it must not be despised.
These Philistines despised the ark. To laugh at the Sabbath
to despise the
ordinances of God’s House
to neglect the means of grace
to call the outward
form of religion a vain thing--all this is highly offensive in the sight of God
He will have us remember that while the form is not the life
yet the form is
to be respected for the sake of the life which it contains; the body is to be
venerated for the sake of the inward soul; and
as I would have no man maim my
body
even though in maiming it he might not be able to wound my soul
so God
would have no man maim the outward parts of religion
although it is true no
man can touch the real vitality of it.
3. As the outward form is neither to be altered nor despised
so
neither is to be intruded upon by unworthy persons. The Bethshemites had no
intention whatever of dishonouring the ark They had a vain curiosity to look
within
and the sight of these marvellous tables of stone struck them with
death; for the law
when it is not covered by the mercy seat
is death to any
man
and it was death to them. Now
you will easily remember how very solemn a
penalty is attached to any man’s intruding into the outward form of religion
when he is not called to do so. Let me quote this awful passage: “He” (speaking
of the Lord’s Supper) “that eateth and drinketh unworthily eateth and drinketh
damnation to himself
not discerning the Lord’s body.”
4. And now
let me remark
that the outward things of God are to be
diligently cared for and loved.
II. Now
it is a
notorious fact
that the very men who have the least idea of what spiritual
religion is are the men who pay the most superstitious attention to outward
forms. We refer you again to this instance. These people would neither repent
nor pray
nor seek God and his prophets; yet they sought out this ark and
trusted in it with superstitious veneration. Now
in every country where there
has been any religion at all that is true
the great fact has come out very
plainly
that the people who don’t know anything about true religion
have
always been the most careful about the forms.
III. And now
in the
last place
it is mine to warn you that to trust in ceremonies is a most
deceitful thing and will end in the most terrific consequences. When these
people had got the ark into the camp
they shouted for joy
because they
thought themselves quite safe; but
alas
they met with a greater defeat than
before. Only four thousand men had been killed in the first battle
but in the
second
thirty thousand footmen of Israel fell down dead. How vain are the
hopes that men build upon their good works
and ceremonial observances! But
there is one thing I want you to notice
and that is
that this ark not only
could not give victory to Israel
but it could not preserve the lives of the
priests themselves who carried it. This is a fetal blow to all who trust in the
forms of religion. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Regard for the Ark of God
I. ‘Tis so natural
for men to claim the divine favour
in spite of their impieties; and when they
disgrace the sanctuary
to rely upon the outward advantages and immunities of
it. And ‘tis to be feared the case is too much our own
to be confident of
God’s defence when we renounce Him in our lives
and to boast of the purity of
our religion when we shelter our vices under it. Upon this calamity what
counsel do the Israelites agree upon? Is there a solemn day of humiliation
appointed by them? Do they resort to the Tabernacle of the Lord with tears and
supplications? Do they bewail their own iniquities
and those of their
forefathers? It was madness in them to presume that God would be their
champion
as long as they retained their vices.
II. We know what
mighty veneration was paid to the ark by God’s express institution; and that He
gave it to His people to distinguish them from the idolatrous world
both by a
token of His extraordinary tuition
and by reserving them to Himself as a
peculiar treasure.
III. To return then
to the Ark
and Eli’s passionate concern for it
let us consider the grounds
and reasonableness of it:
1. With reference to the dignity of the Ark; and
2. With regard to the danger of it.
For the plainer view of that assertion we may briefly consider
three things.
I shall briefly subjoin four reasons:
2. This brings me to a prospect of the Ark
namely
as it may be in danger
by the sins of those who are in possession of it: and so it actually went into
captivity
when the heart of good Eli was trembling for it.
IV. And now to
conclude with some inferences from what has been said.
1. Considering how necessary to us God’s protection is
let us secure
it as well as we can
and be careful not to unqualify ourselves for it. What
the sins are that are most obstructive to our public peace
it is the business
of the day to enquire impartially; and to dispossess them by prayer and
fasting.
2. Considering that the great felicity of a nation is to have the
true religion established in it
let us put a grateful value upon the communion
of our Church; and bless God for the inestimable advantages of it; and improve
them so well as to procure the continual preservation of them.
3. Considering how we ought to tremble in all the perils of the Ark
let us implore the Divine grace
that we may seriously lay to heart the great
dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions; and let us ask our own consciences
whether we have not deserved that God should take sway His gospel from us?
4. Let it be considered
that though we could be certain of having
the Ark of God always with us; yet we should not be nearer to Him
nor to
everlasting bliss
unless our adorations towards it were pure
and our lives
answerable thereunto. And let us thus maintain the credit of our Church
and
when the lustre of it will not be impaired by any eclipse. We think our
religion is the best in the world; and if it be so
let not those that have a
worse outstrip us in any virtue: let us strive to excel them in zeal and
integrity
in peacefulness and moderation
in probity and temperance. (Z.
Isham
D. D.)
The Ark of God in the camp
Two great lessons were taught the Israelites by God’s revelation
and dealings
viz.
the peril of irreverence
the peril of superstition.
I. Professing
Christians
when contending with their spiritual foes
are tempted like Israel
to take refuge in superstition
to put the form for the reality. For instance
1. Mistaken view of sacraments. Reception of sick and dying regarded
as a guarantee of safety.
2. Mistaken use of the Bible. Supposed virtue in the bare reading of
a chapter. Like Pharisees of our Lord’s days
or Saul of Tarsus before
conversion.
3. Mistaken view as to use of certain religious language--a
“shibboleth.” These may be all either means or signs of grace
and may be full
of blessing; but in themselves they are profitless
like the ark without God’s
presence.
II. Professing
Christians
trusting to such expedients
meet with disastrous failure.
1. What did the ark contain? The tables of the law
which only
condemned. These ungodly men only proclaimed their own condemnation. The law
cannot save.
2. What gave it its special holiness? The presence of the Sheckinah
on the mercy seat; God manifesting Himself in atonement of sin. When this was
absent
the ark could not save
any more than the temple saved Jerusalem from
her foes.
III. Professing
Christians should learn herefrom some important lessons.
1. God values the substance more than the shadow
the reality more
than the form. He will even sacrifice His own ark rather than let it conduce to
superstition.
2. God rejects superstitious worship
and requires the heart and
sincerity.
3. The presence on the mercy seat alone gives strength for conflict
or peace in trouble. (Homilist.)
The Ark of God
1. Learn that the formal is useless without the spiritual. There is
the ark
made as God dictated--a sacred thing: the law is there; the mercy seat
is there. Yet Israel falls by the arms of the Philistines
and the sacred
shrine is taken by the hands of the idolaters. The formal never can save men;
the institutional never can redeem society. This is
emphatically
the day of
bringing in arks
societies
formalities
ceremonies. You have in your house an
altar; that altar will be nothing influential in your life if you have it there
merely for the sake of formality.
2. Learn that religion is not to be a mere convenience. The ark is
not to be used as a magical spell. Holy things are not to be run to in
extremity
and set up in order that men who are in peril may be saved. “That it
may save us.” That sounds like a modern expression! To be personally saved
to
be delivered out of a pressing emergency or strait--that seems to be the one
object which many people have in view when identifying themselves with
religious institutions
Christian observances and fellowships. We must not play
with our religion. We might guarantee that every place of worship would be
filled at five o’clock in the morning and at twelve o’clock at night under
given circumstances. Let there be a plague in the city--let men’s hearts fail
them with fear--and they will instantly flock to churches and chapels. That
will not do! God is not to be moved by incantations
by decent formalities
and
external reverence. He will answer the continuous cry of the life.
3. We learn that the Philistines took the ark of the covenant. But
though they had captured the ark
that sacred shrine made itself terribly felt.
(J. Parker
D. D.)
The Ark of God of no avail
It seemed a brilliant idea. Whichever of the elders first
suggested it
it caught at once
and was promptly acted on. There were two
great objections to it
but if they were so much as entertained they certainly
had no effect given them. The first was
that the elders had no legitimate
control over the ark. The custody of it belonged to the priests and the
Levites
and Eli was the high priest. There is no reason to suppose that any
means were taken to find out whether its removal to the camp was in accordance
with the will of God; and as to the minds of the priests
Eli was probably
passed over as too old and too blind to be consulted
and Hophni and Phinehas
would be restrained by no scruples from an act which every one seemed to
approve. The second great objection to the step was that it was a superstitious
and irreverent use of the symbol of God’s presence. Evidently the people
ascribed to the symbol the glorious properties that belonged only to the reality.
And doubtless there had been occasions when the symbol and the reality went
together. In the wilderness
in the days of Moses
“It came to pass
when the
ark set forward
that Moses said
Rise up
Lord
and let Thine enemies be
scattered
and let them that hate Thee flee before Thee” (Numbers 10:35). But these were occasions
determined by the cloud rising and going before the host
an unmistakable
indication of the will of God. (Numbers 9:15-22). Yet even superstitious
men believe in a supernatural power. And they believe in the possibility of
enlisting that power on their side. And the method they take is to ascribe the
virtue of a charm to certain external objects with which that power is
associated. The elders of Israel ascribed this virtue to the ark. They never
inquired whether the enterprise was agreeable to the mind and will of God. They
never asked whether in this case there was any ground for believing that the
symbol and the reality would go together. They simply ascribed to the symbol
the power of a talisman
and felt secure of victory under its shadow. Would
that we could think of this spirit as extinct even in Christian communities? (W.
G. Blaikie
D. D.)
Sin the reason of defeat
“The elders” hold a kind of council. Where were Eli the judge and
Samuel the prophet? Neither had part in this war. The question of the elders
was right
inasmuch as it recognised that the Lord bad smitten them
but wrong
inasmuch as it betrayed that they had not the faintest notion that the reason
was their own moral and religious apostasy. They had not learned the A B C of
their history
and of the conditions of national prosperity. They stand
precisely on the pagan level
believing in a national God
who ought to help
his votaries
but from some inexplicable caprice does not; or who
perhaps
is
angry at the omission of some ritual observance. What an answer they would have
got if Samuel had been there! There ought to have been no need for the
question
or
rather
there was need for it; but the answer ought to have been
clear to them; their sin was the all-sufficient reason for their defeat. There
are plenty of Christians
like these elders
who
when they find themselves
beaten by the world and the Devil
puzzle their brains to invent all sorts of
reasons for God smiting
except the true one--their own departure from Him. (A.
Maclaren
D. D.)
Reliance on religious symbols
If this hypocrisy
this resting in outward performances
was so
odious to God under the law
a religion full of shadows and ceremonies
certainly it will be much more odious under the gospel
a religion of much more
simplicity
and exacting so much the more sincerity of heart
even because it
disburdens the outward man of the performances of legal rights and observances.
And therefore
if we now
under the gospel
shall think to delude God Almighty
as Michal did Saul
with an idol handsomely dressed instead of the true David
we shall one day find that we have not mocked God
but ourselves; and that our
portion among hypocrites shall be greater than theirs. (William
Chillingworth.)
God only for a crisis
Once an old Scotch woman was on board a steamship crossing the
Atlantic. She was terribly afraid of storm and wreck. One day the wind and
storm began to rise. Immediately she besieged the captain of the steamer with
anxious questionings as to danger. At last the captain solemnly said
“Well
madam
I think we shall have to trust in the Lord.” “Oh
” cried the old lady
“has it come to that?” Such is a by no means uncommon tendency--to push away
recognition of dependence upon God to the time of some great and squeezing
crisis
and to refuse to remember that in the common calm of every day we are
as much and as really dependent upon God. That is not true faith that grasps at
God only in a crisis.
Verse 4
So the people sent to Shiloh.
Shiloh and its lessons
This subject forms an impressive chapter in the history of Israel.
Eli was now the theocratic judge of the Hebrew commonwealth
and its
administration centered round Shiloh
where he dwelt and the ark was kept
and
its statutes observed. Let us glance at the steps which led to disaster.
1. Family discipline neglected. It is often the case
as true today
as then
that men are so busy with money making or important trusts
as to be
almost strangers to their own households and ignorant of the habits of their
children.
2. Disobedient children. They were careless of religion
but careful
of tithes. They helped themselves to as much of the sacrifices as they wanted
whether the offerer would or no; and as a result men abhorred the offerings of
the Lord. Family discipline is too great when children are full grown and their
habits strong.
3. Religion slighted. A nation suffers more from the sins of its
rulers and priests than from the sins of an equal number of private men who are
simply hewers of wood and carriers of water. The sins of the former are
fashionable; those of the latter are vulgar and contemptible.
4. Vain confidence. And “all Israel shouted with a great shout
so
that the earth rang again.” But courage is not of the sword and spear and
shibboleth
of bow and banner and boasting
neither of the giant frame and
muscle; it is of the heart and spirit. It is the unconquerable will
and the
heart conscious of right
prodigal of life for its defence
that makes one man
able to chase a thousand
and two to put ten thousand to flight.
5. National calamity. It is not religiosity that saves
but
spirituality.
6. Providence. Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity. God will take
care of His ark as well as of His people. (Homiletic Review.)
Verse 7
And the Philistines were afraid
for they said
God is come into
the camp.
Is God in the camp?
I. Consider the
great mistake which both Israelites and the Philistines made. The Israelites
instead of seeking to God himself
went to Shiloh to fetch the ark of the
covenant. Before they had won any victory
the sight of the ark made them
boastful and confident. The Philistines fell into an error of a different kind
for they were frightened without any real cause. They said
“God is come into
the camp; “whereas God had not come at all. It was only the ark with the
cherubim upon it; God was not there.
1. The mistake they made was just this they mistook the visible for
the invisible. It has pleased God
even in our holy faith
to give us some
external symbols--water
and bread
and wine. They are so simple
that it does
seem at first sight
as if men could never have made them objects of worship
or used them as instruments of a kind of witchcraft. One would have thought
that these symbols would only have been like windows of agate and gates of
carbuncle
through which men would behold the Saviour and draw near to Him.
Instead thereof
some have neither looked through the windows nor passed
through the gates
but they have ascribed to the gates and the windows that
which is only to be found in Him who is behind them both. It is sad
indeed
when the symbol takes the place of the Saviour.
2. These Israelites fell into another mistake
which is also often
made today: they preferred office to character. In their distress
instead of
calling upon God
they sent for Hophni and Phinehas. “If the blind lead the
blind
both shall fall into the ditch.” The blind man may wear a band on his
arm to show that he is a certificated guide; but will you be saved from the
ditch simply because he belongs to the order of guides
and has his certificate
with him? Be not led away by any such vain notion.
3. But these people who faced the Philistines made another mistake:
they confounded enthusiasm with faith. When they saw the ark they shouted so
that the earth rang again. “These are the kind of people I like
” says one
“people that can shout.” If that is all you want
why do you not go among the bulls
of Bashan
and make your home in the midst of them? They can make more noise
than any mortal man can make. These Israelites shouted
but there was nothing
in their noise
any more than there is in their modern imitators. If the
ejaculation comes from your heart
I would not ask you to restrain it. God
forbid that we should judge any man’s worship! But do not be so foolish as to
suppose that because there is loud noise there must also be faith. Faith is a
still water
it floweth deep. True faith in God may express itself with leaping
and with shouting; and it is a happy thing when it does: but it can also sit
still before the Lord
and that perhaps is a happier thing still. Praise can
sit silent on the lip
and yet be heard in heaven. There is a passion of the
heart too deep for words.
4. Another mistake these people made that day was this: they valued
novelty above Scriptural order. “The Philistines were afraid
for they said
God is come into the camp. And they said
Woe unto us l for there hath not been
such a thing heretofore.” The Israelites probably made the same mistake
fixing
their hope on this new method of fighting the Philistines
which they hoped
would bring them victory. We are all so apt to think that the new plan of going
to work will be much more effective than those that have become familiar; but
it is not so. It is generally a mistake to exchange old lamps for new. “There
hath not been such a thing heretofore.” There is a glamour about the novelty
which misleads us
and we are liable to think the newer is the truer. If there
has not been such a thing heretofore
some people will take to it at once for
that very reason. “Oh
” says the man who is given to change
“that is the thing
for me!” But it is probably not the thing for a true-hearted and intelligent
Christian
for if “there hath not been such a thing heretofore
” it is
difficult to explain
if the thing be a good one
why the Holy Ghost
who has
been with the people of God since Pentecost
and who came to lead us into all
truth
has not led the Church of God to this before. If your new discovery is
the mind of God
where has Holy Scripture been all these centuries? The mistake
made on that battlefield is a mistake which nowadays is frequently imitated. It
assumes many forms.
5. We fall into their error when we confound ritual and spirituality.
6. We fall into the same blunder that the Israelites and Philistines
made if we consider orthodoxy to be salvation. We have secured much that is
worth keeping when we have
intellectually and intelligently
laid hold on that
divinely-revealed truth
“the gospel of the grace of God” but we have not
obtained everything even then. Remember it was a beautiful tomb in which the
dead Christ was laid; but he left it
and there was nothing there but grave clothes
after He had gone; and
in like manner
the best-constructed system of
theology
if it has not Christ in it
and if he who holds it be not himself
spiritually alive
is nothing more than a tomb in which are trappings for the
dead. It is nothing better than a gilded ark
without the presence of God; and
although you may shout
and say
“God is come into the camp
” it will not be
so.
7. We fall into the same error if we regard routine as security
and
think that
because we have often done a thing
and have not suffered for it
therefore it will be always well with us. We are all such creatures of habit
that
at length
our repeated actions seem to be natural and right. Because
sentence against their evil works is not executed speedily
therefore the heart
of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. But though Pompeii may
slumber long at the foot of Vesuvius
at length it is overwhelmed. It behoves
every one of us to try our ways
and specially to call in question things which
have become a sort of second nature to us.
II. Having
considered the great mistake these people made
I will draw your attention
in
the second place
to the great truth of which their mistake was a caricature.
God does come to the camp of His people
and His presence is the great power of
His church. I will briefly sketch the scene that takes place when God comes
into the camp.
1. Then
the truth of the gospel becomes vital.
2. When God comes into the camp
new life is put into prayer.
3. By the presence of God in the camp fresh energy is thrown into
service.
4. When God comes into the camp
His presence convinces unbelievers.
5. The presence of God
moreover
comforts mourners.
6. When God is in the camp
His presence infuses daring into faith.
Feeble men begin to grow vigorous
young men dream dreams
and old men see
visions. Many begin to plot and plan something for Jesus which
in their timid
days
they would never have thought of attempting. Others reach a height of
consecration that seems to verge on imprudence.
7. The fact of God being in the camp cannot be hidden
for in a
delightful way it distils joy into worship.
III. Let us try to
learn the great lessons which this incident teaches us.
1. The first lesson is that which I have been insisting upon all
through: the necessity of the Divine presence.
2. Learn
next
that we should do all we can to obtain the presence
of God in the camp.
3. When God does come to us
we should seek by all means to retain
his presence. How can this boon be secured? (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Verses 10-22
And the Philistines fought and Israel was smitten.
The Harvest of Sin
This story tells of a harvest that had long been predicted
and
that at length was reaped. “They have sown the wind
and they shall reap the
whirlwind.” See
now
the various harvests that were reaped that day.
1. Israel reaped a great harvest. How did this come about? Not surely
because Israel had not enough men with whom to fight! For Gideon
with a much
smaller body of men
had once defeated a much larger army than the Philistines
had that day. Nor was it because God was not able to maintain the dignity of
His own ark. For soon after this
without any army at all
He forced the
Philistines to send back the ark--and so plagued them that they were only too
thankful to get rid of it. No; Israel reaped defeat that day because for years
they had sown disobedience.
2. Hophni and Phinehas reaped a great harvest that day. Rapacious
licentious
blasphemous; they had profaned holy things
and that for many years
current
so that at last they probably thought that God would not act
even if
they forgot all decency
and rivalled the heathen in their sins. Because
sentence against their evil work was not executed speedily
therefore their
heart was fully set in them to do evil (Ecclesiastes 8:11). So far had they gone
that they in common with Israel forgot that the ark was only a symbol of the
Divine presence
and that
if they so acted as to forfeit the real presence of
God
no number of arks could save them. Such being the case
no wonder that
their fate was what it was.
3. Eli reaped a sad harvest. His fate was by no means as dark as that
of his two sons; for he was a godly man
though weak. His heart was right
after all
and he was more anxious for the welfare of the ark than for that of
his wicked sons. Still
his fate was sad. Compare his end with that of Joshua
and you will realise what a vast difference there was between the two. One went
out in a blaze of glory
while the other was darkened by an eclipse. His sowing
in the education of his sons had been very faulty
and he had been duly warned
but in vain. As a result
he too had to reap a harvest of the same kind that he
had sown. God’s laws are ever the same. Men may think that He has changed
but
He has not. Or they may think that He will make an exception in their case; but
they are mistaken. God makes no exceptions. Sow to the flesh--reap corruption.
Sow to the Spirit--reap everlasting life. This was the law then
and this is
the law today. (A. F. Schauffler
D. D.)
Verse 11
And the Ark of God was taken (compare 1 Samuel 5:7.
and 2 Samuel 6:15).
The ark taken and retaken
The whole of this history which gathers round the capture of the
ark
and its return to the land of Israel till it found a home in Jerusalem
is
of very great interest.
I. Let us first
then
look at this connection between declension and defeat. At the root of the
calamity which befell the nation and the dishonour to the cause of God
there
was a deep moral apostasy. The spiritual condition of the people had never sunk
lower
from their abasement in Egypt to their captivity in Babylon
than at
this time. The character of the priesthood had become thoroughly corrupt
and
this is one of the most ominous signs that can appear in any society. The
priests have the heaviest responsibility
no doubt
but sins of priests and
people generally go hand-in-hand. Then
if there is to be recovery at all
convulsion is not far away. Churches and ministers with a very decent exterior
may be standing in the same relative position as the people and priesthood in
this olden time. We may be as far beneath the Sermon on the Mount as they were beneath
the commandments of Sinai. We must never forget that the great test of all
religion is its moral results. Is it making men lead higher
purer
more
self-denying lives? Is our Christianity presenting itself in the spirit of
Christ? Are ministers following the example of the apostle who could truly say
“I seek not yours
but you”? To have Church and land safe
is not enough to be
free from the profanations which led to the capture of the ark; we must be in
some conformity with the Christian standard. There was another feature of the
declension of the people of Israel connected with this. They had changed their
religion into a formal superstition. After their first defeat by the
Philistines they began to think of higher help. But it was not of God they thought
the living God
but only of His ark. “Let us fetch the ark of the covenant
that it may save us out of the hand of our enemies.” And like all men when
reality begins to fail
they are great in lofty phrases--“The ark of the
covenant of the Lord of hosts which dwelleth between the cherubim.” When
religion comes to this it sinks into a hideous idol
and the petrified shell
must be broken in pieces if the spirit is to be saved. It is the natural result
of the corruption of the word of life. So it was with the Pharisees in the time
of our Lord. They made broad phylacteries with texts on them
and washed cups
and plates
and made much of tithing little things
and then religion ascended
a cross and hid itself in a grave. How deep it is in human nature to put the
letter for the life! And when we take the Bible into our hand and call
ourselves evangelical Christians we are not safe from this same danger. It is
quite possible to possess an orthodox creed and put it in place of a true
unselfish life
to hold fast by our Bibles
and make the having them and
reading them a charm
as truly as the Israelites
with the ark of Shiloh. There
comes to the Church of Christ an evangelical revival. But in time it loses its
efficacy. The same truth is preached
the very same words are used
but they
have passed into a formula which glides over the tongue of the speaker
and
falls on the ears of the hearers without any movement of the heart
or perhaps
any distinct significance to the mind. The revival of Christian doctrine will
ere long lose its power
unless it lead to a corresponding revival of Christian
life. Now
there is a further stage in the ark’s history before it reaches its
lowest fall. It has been dissociated from the living God
and has become not
merely a common but a desecrated thing. To redeem the Israelites from their
error
they must learn that the ark is powerless if God forsakes them
and that
the symbol cannot save without the living presence. “The Philistines fought
and Israel was smitten
and the ark of God was taken.” Natural human courage
proved itself stronger than corrupted religion
and hypocrisy was broken and
scattered. No doubt the Philistines imagined they had vanquished Israel’s God
and some of his sincere but short-sighted friends thought the cause of religion
lost
but the victory was for God and truth. “The corruption of the best thing
becomes the worst
” and life
in some lower form
rises and overthrows what has
lost its spirit
though it may still bear a higher name. We may think that catastrophes
like these are very far from our own country
and from the churches of God
among us
but there may be a slow decay which brings about the same end. Unless
we can raise our Christian life in some measure up to our profession
and make
it higher than the natural virtues which are found outside the Church
we shall
suffer defeat in point after point
which shall bring on us serious detriment.
If
for example
dishonesty and faithlessness to engagements be permitted
amongst us
which would not be suffered in the common walks of life
we cannot
maintain our place as the guardians of righteousness. If men of science show an
unwearied love in the study of nature
an enthusiasm in gathering stores of
knowledge from earth and sea and sky
and a skilfulness in applying them to
practical use while we are indifferent and inert in the pursuit of spiritual
truths. Careless about the hidden treasures of wisdom which cast light on the
ways of God and meet the wants of souls
we shall not inspire confidence in our
sincerity
or give men much interest in the contents of God’s Word and the work
of Christ’s Church. The world is ready to judge a cause by the spirit it
creates and thy fruit it produces
and if we do not surround the ark of God
with all the things that have virtue and praise of which the apostle speaks
man will not believe in us
and may come to treat it with contempt.
II. We come to the
other side of the subject
God’s victory. The Philistines carry the captive ark
in triumph to Ashdod
their capital
and set it up as a trophy in the house of
Dagon
their god. But the ark
which could not be defended by great armies
and
round which thirty thousand men fell in vain
showed the power of the God of
Israel when it was left alone and in exile. Dagon fell prostrate before it and
when the priests set up their idol again it brought on it a heavier ruin.
Disease spread through their coasts
and they began to feel that they were in
conflict with a mysterious power
though they were slow to admit their
weakness. What to do with God is the world’s great trial
as what to do with
Jesus was the difficulty of Pilate. For the world cannot make God to its mind
and in the end the world cannot do without Him. It carries His ark hither and
thither
seeks to bring Him to the level of its own conceptions
to subject Him
to its own idols
but finds in all its efforts no true rest till it suffers Him
to take His own way to His throne
from which in His own time He shall make
good His word by still higher victories--“Over Philistia will I triumph.” We
are still in the midst of this history
but we have reached a wider phase of
it. We see it now more frequently
not in the attempt to put Dagon above the
God of heaven
but to put man above Him. This brings us to the last remark
that
if the ark of God is to find its true place it must be committed to the hands
of men who love it. Men who have no real faith in it may be made instruments in
God’s Providence of showing its powers
even by their extorted acknowledgments;
but if it is to reach its throne it must be set within the border of its own
land
and be borne from house to house and village to village till it gains
Jerusalem. Even the God of the ark will not carry it to its end without human
agency. That cross is our ark of the covenant
and in the joy that welcomed it
to Jerusalem
when “David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the
Lord with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet
” we seem to catch far off
the anticipation of that time when “the temple of God shall be opened in
heaven
and there is seen in it the ark of His testament: and there were great
voices in heaven
saying
The Kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of
our Lord
and of His Christ; and He shall reign forever and ever “(Revelation 11:1-19). And so let us
in
closing
gather up the spirit of the history as it applies to ourselves. We
need never despair of the cause of God; it has had its defeats where all seemed
lost
but every defeat has been the herald of a new victory and of a higher
rise. From Shiloh to the house of Dagon; but thence to Jerusalem to put on more
spiritual beauty
and to be surrounded with those songs which go deep into
Christian hearts. Let us not faint at its many vicissitudes. (J. Ker
D. D.)
The Ark of God taken
I. The text
exhibits the terrible consequences to which ungodliness in the church and the
weak or sympathetic toleration of it will lead. No one can fail to perceive
that this was a most crushing catastrophe. “The ark of God was taken.” Looked
at merely as a military reverse it presents a very gloomy aspect. Overwhelming
must be the defeat inflicted when it reaches even to the capture of the
general’s tent or the pavilion over which fleets the royal standard; and this
was what happened. On some of the sculptured tablets which adorn the walls of
the British Museum you may see representations of triumphal processions
in
which the gods of the congregated people are being carried into captivity.
Something like this happened
I suppose
after this battle of Aphek. With
jubilant
and it may be mocking shouts
a procession was formed
and the sacred
prize was borne to the temple of their chief idol. To Dagon they owe their
success
and Jehovah is now the prisoner of Dagon
and must own the superior
Deity. And in this way
of course
their own spiritual nature was injured. The
inevitable and irresistible tendency of sin
wherever it exists
is to bring
calamity upon the individual
upon the family
upon the nation; but when
wickedness lifts up its head in the Church there is
if I may use the
expression
a cancer of the heart; the very centre of life and vigour is
stricken. “Ye are the salt of the earth
but if the salt have lost its savour
wherewith shall it be salted?” If the light that is in the world be darkness
how great is that darkness! And the end of it will be that God’s name will be
discredited
souls injured most desperately
the Lord’s own people plunged in
gloom
and the cause of truth and righteousness smitten with a staggering blow
if not covered with disgrace. Hence the folly and guilt of an easy toleration
of open sin anywhere
but especially in the Church. The command to leave the
Sates never means that I am to let alone those who are manifestly thorns and
weeds and poisonous herbs. No
no. Persecution
of course
we must not allow
but discipline we dare not neglect.
II. The text
exhibits the outrageous folly of attempting to compensate for the absence of
godliness by superficial excitement and superstitious attention to religious
forms.
1. It indicates that they had not consulted the Lord before they
commenced the campaign. You remember the time when the earlier generations of
those redeemed out of Egypt came to the borders of Canaan
and the command was
given to go up and possess the land? Spies were sent to explore the country
and they brought back an evil report. The people lost heart and began to murmur
bitterly. The Lord in His righteous anger said
“These people shall not go in
at all; their children shall go in
but as for them
they shall die in the
wilderness.” Then their murmuring changed into penitential mourning
and they
said
“We will go.” Moses retorted
“It is now too late
the Lord will not be
with you.” Nevertheless they presumed to advance
“but the ark of the covenant
of the Lord and Moses moved not out of the camp.” It was a superficial
undisciplined
unconsecrated impulse
and it met with defeat. They anticipated
Providence. They precipitated an immature crisis and produced abortion.
2. They showed very shallow conceptions in regard to the principles
of the kingdom to which they belonged
and the first conditions of success.
“Why had the Lord smitten them!” Surely there was little need to ask that. Was
not gross iniquity tolerated in high places? Were not the services of the
sanctuary steeped in defilement?
3. Their language shows that they were utterly blinded in regard to
the true nature of religion
and had no glimmer of that faith in the power of
which their fathers had conquered
and which is evermore “the victory that
overcometh the world.” They said
“Let us take unto us the ark
” as if the ark
were everything. The grand old war cry
“Arise
O Lord
Thou and the ark of Thy
strength
” had become dwarfed and dried up into confidence in what was nothing
better than a wooden chest
as if
having that
they had all they needed
or
could at least compel God to go with them. There is a tendency of the soul in
all ages which may be thus expressed--little religion
much religiousness;
little purity
much ritual; indifferent morals
the most polished manners. When
people neglect the “weightier matters of the law
” all the more devoutly do
they “tithe mint and anise and cumin.” Herod cannot atone for Herodianism
by building
a splendid temple. You cannot atone for doing a wicked deed
or cherishing a
wicked thought
by ejaculating in a parenthesis
“The Lord forgive me.” You
cannot make up for betraying the cross by bowing to the crucifix. You cannot
make up for living sour skim milk
or putrid water
by serving it up in a
silver cream jug. You cannot hide the ghastliness of death by beautifying its
shroud
or stay the corruption of Hades by adorning its sepulchre. You cannot
cover hypocrisy or avert the consequences of formalism by running to the ark
for shelter.
III. The text shows
us how God in defeat and disaster sows the seed of ultimate deliverance and
victory
“The ark of God was taken.” Yes; “but the ark was taken and Hophni and
Phinehas were slain”; that is
the material prop upon which they were weakly
and vainly leaning was removed
and the main causes of their national
deterioration were destroyed. There are some successes which are worse than any
defeats. If a builder is raising a house upon a rotten or weak foundation
the
higher he is enabled to raise it without a check
the more overwhelming is the
collapse which he is preparing in the long run. A student who is relying on
luck and succeeding by a cram
has met with a misfortune which might well make
him tremble. There are victories which
confirming a false principle and
strengthening a vain self-confidence
do but lure the triumphant conqueror
forward into the heart of a more tangled mass of difficulties
and land him in
a more utter overthrow. God can afford to let His ark be taken; for
although
the ark of God be captured
the God of the ark is never outwitted nor
overreached. (R. H. Roberts
B. A.)
The two sons of Eli
Hophni and Phinehas
were slain.
Clerical warriors
It ill becomes the minister of peace to mix in the clang of arms.
It was an evil day for Hophni and Phinehas when they took the ark of the
covenant from Shiloh
and sought to work on the fanaticism of the people by
unveiling the Holiest of all. Unprepared to die
and guilty of profaning holy
things
they provoked the judgment which shed their blood. It was an evil day
for Zuingle when he left his chaplain’s post to wear a helmet
a sword
and a
battle axe covered with wounds
insulted
killed
he lay under a tree at
Cappel--not yet forty-eight years of age
his body cut and burned
and his
ashes driven to the winds. “He had wielded an arm that God had forbidden
” says
the historian; “the helmet had covered his head
and he had grasped the
halberd. His more devoted friends were themselves astonished
and exclaimed
‘We knew not what to say--a bishop in arms!’ The bolt had furrowed the cloud
the blow had reached the reformer
and his body was no more than a handful of
dust in the palm of a soldier!” It was an evil day for Walker--that noble-hearted
clergyman
who in the memorable siege of Derry attained such eminence
and did
such service to his country by his patriotic and Christian discourses
for
which he received the thanks of Parliament
the mitre of a bishop
and a
monument in the city where his words and example kept up the courage of his
famished fellow citizens for many weary days--it was an evil day for Walker
when he rushed unbidden and unnecessarily to the battle of the Boyne. “He ought
to have remembered that the peculiar circumstances which had justified him in
becoming a combatant had ceased to exist
and that in a disciplined army
led
by generals of long experience and great fame
a fighting divine was likely to
give less help than scandal. The bishop-elect was determined to be wherever
danger was
and the way in which he exposed himself excited the extreme disgust
of the royal patron
who hated a meddler almost as much as a coward. A soldier
who ran away from a battle
and a townsman who pushed himself into a battle
were the two objects which most excited William’s spleen . . . While exhorting
the colonists of Ulster to play the man
Walker was shot dead . . . William
thought him a busybody who had been properly punished for running into danger
without any call of duty
and expressed that feeling with characteristic
bluntness on the field of battle. ‘Sire
’ said an attendant
‘the Bishop of
Derry has been killed by a shot at the ford.’ ‘What took him there?’ growled
the king.” Godly men may make mistakes
enter suspicious circles
and endanger
their sacred calling and their influence for good; but when the wicked rush
into sin
and die under the chastisement of God
the calamity involves the ruin
of their immortal souls--Ichabod is then written upon their eternity. (R.
Steel.)
Eli’s death
I. The utter
destruction of the grossly wicked. “And the two sons of Eli
Hophni
and
Phinehas
were slain.” The greed and lust and irreverence of the sons of Eli
met with swift punishment. It was no accident which sent them together to their
bloody death. So sometimes sudden destruction comes upon the enemies of God. We
may not tell when or how
but its coming is sure. Here or beyond
there shall
be a day of righteous retribution. But we do not come to half the evil of the
lives of these wicked priests if we only look at their deaths as the outcome.
For they were leaders of the people. No bad man is alone in his destruction. If
the final judgment is to be deferred to a one last day
which shall be the end
of probation for all
is it not in order that the results of good and evil may
be worked out to the end?
II. The implication
in evil of the weakly good. Eli stands out in the gallery of Old Testament
characters as the most conspicuous example of weak goodness. Influence is not
measured by the correctness or the intensity of the emotions
but by strength
and direction of the will. We shall be judged
not by our feelings of sympathy
or kindness
but by the deeds which express our earnest purpose. It was here
that Eli was lacking. There was just force enough in his convictions to control
his emotions; when that was done
their force was spent
and his speech was
weak and his conduct wavering. It is not only open sin
positive disobedience
violent breaking of God’s law
which comes within the scope of sure
retributions. III the safety of God’s cause. That the Lord is able to take care
of His own cause is no reason why we should be careless of it
or lightly
imperil its interests. (Monday Club Sermons.)
Verse 12
And there ran a man of Benjamin out of the army
and came to
Shiloh the same day with his clothes rent
and with earth upon his head.
The tidings bringer
I. That useless
lamentations after the event cannot compensate for weakness or misconduct
during the event. It is well to repent with bitter tears over bygone follies
errors
and sins
over opportunities lost or wasted. It is unmanly
however
to
waste the present in lamentations over the past
or to imagine that any tears
can cause those things that have been done to be undone
or those things that
have been left undone to be done.
II. That the
vengeance of God sooner or later comes upon the unworthy. Hophni and Phinehas
might for a time pursue with impunity their licentious and covetous
propensities; but headlong destruction in the end came upon them and theirs.
For ill-gotten gains
for ill-gotten power
for ill-gotten pleasures
a clay of
reckoning will assuredly come.
III. That parental
partiality is not sufficient excuse for the connivance at
or the perpetration
of
injustice.
IV. That outward
ritual
however decent and becoming in its due place
cannot compensate for
moral deficiencies.
V. That in our
words and in our actions we should have a delicate consideration for the
feelings of others. The messenger mentioned in the text did this in his
communication to Eli. To Eli’s question to the messenger
he breaks the sad
news gradually and gently to the aged priest
rising by successive steps in his
narrative from the lesser woes to the greater.
VI. That our errors
often deprive us of the power of enjoyment
but leave us the capacity for
suffering.
VII. That what the
superstitious denominate premonitions of evil
are really oftentimes only the
prickings of their own consciences. “Eli sat upon a seat by the wayside
watching
for his heart trembled for the ark of God.” (R. Young
M. A.)
Verse 13
For his heart trembled for the ark of God.
On solicitude for the prosperity of religion
I. That a good man
will always feel concerned for the safety
honour
and advancement of religion.
In the success of the Gospel
are involved the pleasure and glory of God. The
good man considers it as an august display of the Divine perfections
as dear
to the eternal mind in its design and accomplishment
and as vouchsafed to men
in great mercy and trust. As a creature
therefore
of the Most High God
he
will feel concerned for the prosperity of a work upon which
from before the
foundation of the world
his Creator hath bestowed His care
and the success of
which He earnestly desires
and hath sent His Son to promote. As a
philanthropist
therefore
he will feel interested in the safety of this ark of
mercy
before which the penitent may find forgiveness
and the sorrowful and
the dying be cheered with soothing consolations and animating hopes. As a
patriot
he considers religion essential to the stability
happiness and
prosperity of the state. He contrasts with the rude schemes of polytheism and
idolatry
which ancient legislators rendered sacred in the state
the pure
the
rational
the consoling theology of the Gospel: and his love for his country
will lead him to promote such an extension of the knowledge of Christianity
and such an attachment to its doctrines and worship
as may preserve it from
being taken away. When he considers the value of this religion to himself; that
it is the guide of his youth
the comfort of his age
his joy in prosperity
his solace in adversity
gratitude to its Author will make him a faithful
guardian of the treasure
with which he is entrusted. In short
when he
compares the objects which religion proposes
with aught else of high
estimation
and ardent pursuit
he perceives that without these a man may
possess all other things and be wretched; and that with these
the humblest of
the sons of men may be resigned and happy. But hath not the Author and head of
the Christian covenant said that “the gates of hell shall not prevail against
it?” He hath. And though
for the accomplishment of the Divine purposes
it may
be appointed to many trials
and often enveloped in apparent dangers
nothing
shall destroy it. But while man continues as he is
proud
corrupt
it cannot be
otherwise than that the religion of our Redeemer should have its adversaries
and be sometimes exposed by its friends. These considerations will beget in the
bosom of the good man a constant care for its reputation and prosperity. Not
noisy and hollow will his concern for the ark of God be
but sincere and deep
as Eli’s proved. Mark his solicitude when he inquires
“What is there done
my
son?” Sublime piety! Wonderful instance of hallowed sensibility!
II. But from
admiring the concern of Eli for the ark that was in Shiloh
let us be led to
consider in what ways we may contribute to the reputation and prosperity of the
ark of the better covenant. “The Gospel of our salvation.”
1. In the first place we should not disguise our belief in the
religion of our Lord. Too easily does pride
a dread of the ridicule of the
profane
or a coincidence with the current of the world’s opinions
deter the
disciples of the Redeemer from avowing their attachment to Him. Would we
advance the interests of our Saviour’s kingdom? Let us be seen in the ranks of
His friends
and
as an inspired Apostle exhorts
“Go forth unto Him without
the camp
bearing His reproach.”
2. We may promote both the honour and prosperity of our religion by
upholding its institutions and observing devoutly its sacred rites.
3. You may contribute to the safety and honour of the ark of God
by
instructing your offspring in its origin
its value
and its uses
and training
them up to respect and defend it.
4. We may contribute to the success of Christianity by thwarting the
course of its adversaries
and counteracting the poisons prepared against it.
There are books
the vehicles of impious sophistry
of debased wit
and of
blasphemous philosophy. From the contagion which these diffuse the good man
will endeavour to preserve his household and to suppress their reputation and
influence.
5. By his personal exertions for the advancement of those
arrangements which are necessary to give stability and respectability to the
institutions of religion in any place
every Christian may promote the honour
and influence of Christianity among men. (Bishop Dehon.)
Eli-his heart trembled for the ark of God
The key to Eli’s character is in these simple words: “His heart
trembled for the ark of God.” He was a good man
but timid; faithful
but
fearful; with much love in his heart to God and the ark of God
but with little
strength of mind or firmness and decision of purpose. His conduct at this
crisis may be contrasted with that of Moses on a similar occasion. When the
Israelites
discouraged by the report of the spies
refused to go up and take
possession of the promised land
and were condemned
in consequence
to wander
for forty years in the wilderness--stung with remorse
they resolved hastily to
repair their fatal fault: “They rose up early in the morning
and gat them up
into the top of the mountain
saying
Lo
we be here
and will go up unto the
place which the Lord hath promised: for we have sinned.” Moses strenuously
opposed their resolution. He peremptorily refused either to lead them himself
or to let the ark of God go with them: “They presumed to go up unto the hill
top: nevertheless the ark of the covenant of the Lord
and Moses
departed not
out of the camp.” The issue of the engagement was disastrous to the Israelites.
Eli is placed in circumstances not unlike those in which Moses acted so nobly.
Evidently he has misgivings as to the step about to be taken; and well he may
considering all things. A heavy cloud of judgment overhangs himself and his
household. If the ark is to accompany the army
it must be under the custody of
his sons. Are they fit keepers of it
vile as they have made themselves
and
doomed to perish miserably? Eli may well hesitate; and
when the message from
the army reaches him
it must cause him deep distress. The elders and people
are importunate. The old man does not resist
though in the very act of
yielding his mind misgives him
and his heart cannot but tremble for the ark of
God. He is a godly man
and as kind as he is godly. The brief notices of his
connection with Samuel are singularly affecting.
I. Eli’s
deficiency comes sadly out in all the relations which he has to sustain as a
ruler--in the state
in the Church
and in the family.
1. Eli was head of the State. He was a judge in Israel. As a judge
in his capacity of civil governor
Eli saw the affairs of the Jewish
commonwealth brought to the lowest ebb of fortune. It is true that little or
nothing is recorded of his administration; but in the last act of it
the war
waged with the Philistines
and in the way in which that war is conducted
we
see indications of imbecility not to be mistaken. (1 Samuel 4:1-22.) There is an
evident want of due consideration and concert. The sudden expedient
the
desperate after thought
of summoning the ark to help in retrieving the
disaster
only brings out more sadly the absence of all sound and godly counsel
in the whole affair at the first; and the conduct of Eli is throughout
that of
a habitual waverer. One thing is clear--as a ruler he left the State on the
very brink of ruin.
2. As high priest
set over the affairs of the House of God
he lets
his weakness still more shamefully get the better of him. The scandalous outrages
and excesses committed by his two sons when they were associated with him in
the priesthood! never could have taken place had “things been done decently and
in order.” This laxity Eli must have tolerated; at
least he wanted firmness to
repress it (1 Samuel 2:12-17). We are forced to
conclude that in his capacity of priest
as well as in that of judge
he was
the victim of indecision and imbecility.
3. But it is as a parent that he chiefly shows his weakness; and it
is in that character that he is especially reproved and judged. Ah! he forgets
that he is invested with parental authority--authority
in his case
backed and
seconded by all the powers of law and all the terrors of religion. Nay
it is
not so much that he forgets this as that he has not nerve to act upon the
recollection of it. It is not really parental love
according to any right view
of that pure affection
but self-love at bottom that Eli indulges
and
self-love in one of its least respectable forms. It is himself that Eli is
unwilling to mortify
not his sons. It is to himself that he is tender
not to
them. And when it is considered that his selfish feebleness and fondness show
themselves in his neglect of parental discipline even in matters in which the
Divine honour is immediately concerned
it is not too much to say that he is
preferring his children to his God. Even God’s highest honour must give place
to the indulgence of his fond and feeble dotage. And the issue is that “the
iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be purged forever.” It is an issue
as to all
the parties concerned
sufficiently disastrous. Of the utter ruin of Eli’s
household we need not speak. The priesthood passes away from his family; the
government is upon other shoulders; his seed are a beggared race And all this
in connection with one of the meekest and holiest of the saints of Gods. It is
a terrible lesson. And
in keeping with it
is the lesson taught by the
melancholy notice of his own decease. The messenger of evil delivered his
tidings; and his hearer could stand the accumulation of horrors--Israel fled
before the Philistines--a great slaughter among the people--ay
and his two
sons
Hophni and Phinehas
dead also. But when the crowning calamity burst upon
him--“the ark of God is taken”--Eli could bear up no longer. Such was the end
of so protracted a life; thus miserably died this man of God.
II. Many practical
remarks suggest themselves in connection with the painful history which we have
been considering--remarks applicable to parents and members of families
to
individual Christians
to the ungodly
and to all.
1. It is a most emphatic warning that the fate of Eli gives to
parents; and not to parents only
but to all who have influence or authority of
any sort in families.
2. Let individual Christians ponder the lesson of Eli’s character.
Much very much
there is in it to be admired and imitated. But his defects--or
let us say at once
his sins--are recorded for our especial warning.
3. Let the ungodly tremble. Let them look on
and see how God deals
with sin in His own people. Does He spare sin in them? Does He spare them in
their sins? Behold the severity of God in His treatment of the good and
gracious Eli
and tremble at the thought of what may be His treatment of you!
“If the righteous scarcely be saved
where shall the ungodly and sinners
appear?”
4. And
finally
let all lay to heart the irrevocable decree and
determination of God that sin shall not pass unpunished; let them look and see
the end of the ungodly
while they stand in awe at the chastisement of the
just. (R. S. Candlish
D. D.)
Eli trembling for the ark of God
And was there nothing else
for which the old man’s heart might
have trembled? Had he no friends of his own
no relations gone to the war? Yet
indeed
Eli had other causes for trembling. It was his own nation
the nation
over which he presided as high priest and judge
which was now engaged in
conflict with deadly enemies. Yet “his heart trembled for the ark of God
” as
though there had been nothing else to excite his solicitude. We know not
whether Eli were consulted on this perilous scheme of the removal of the ark.
Probably not; but
if he were
he could have made but a fruitless opposition.
Hophni and Phinehas were
perhaps
not indisposed to the plan; the camp may
have been more agreeable than the tabernacle
to men of their dissolute habits.
At all events they accompanied the ark. And now was Eli left desolate and
alone. Bitter must have been his reflections
and dark his forebodings. Though
his sons must die
they might first be brought to repentance for their sins.
“Oh
for a new opportunity of repairing his own fault
and entreating them to
prepare for the threatened visitation.” But they are separated from him; there
are in a scene
moreover
of danger. Oh! how his heart must have throbbed for
his children! That he fondly loved them
we may be certain. He cannot tarry in
his house; he is too restless
too anxious for that. Feeble as he is
he will
yet totter forth to the road along which the messenger must pass
and there
will he sit watching hour after hour for tidings. But we must connect our text
with the subsequent parts of the history if we would justly appreciate the
devotedness of Eli to the ark of the Lord. He sat not by the wayside in vain.
Now we may believe that there were various feelings at work in Eli’s breast
producing this intense anxiety as to the ark of the Lord. As a patriot
for
example
he was deeply interested in the fate of the ark; forasmuch as if God
suffered this to fall into the hands of the Philistines
it would necessarily
indicate His being displeased with His own people
so as almost to have
determined on withdrawing from them His protection. As a parent
also
it
concerned him greatly to know what had become of the ark; for since the ark was
in the special care of his sons it could hardly be in danger
and they continue
safe. So that it might have been that his heart
trembling for the ark of God
indicated only that variety of emotion which one so circumstanced might have
been expected to feel. But the account of Eli’s death
which we have just been
considering
proves that his anxiety as to the ark wan altogether a separate
anxiety; not the combination of solicitudes from this source and that
but
purely his solicitude
as a faithful servant of God
at that being endangered
over which God had ordained him to watch. His trembling for the ark did but
show how jealous Eli was for the glory of God
how intent on promoting that
glory
how fearful of any thing which might impair it. Here
then
it becomes
us
if we would draw a practical lesson from what is narrated of Eli
to enter
a little more at length into the consideration of what it is to take the glory
of God for our end. You often read in Scripture of giving glory to God
or of
promoting God’s glory
as though the glory of the Almighty were that which
might be increased or diminished according to contributions received from His
creatures. Here
then
we shall be able to define
with sufficient precision
what it is to do anything
as St. Paul requires us to do everything
to the
glory of God. “Seeing
” says Bishop Beveridge
“that ‘the glory of God’ is
nothing else but the manifestation of Himself and His perfections in the world
hence it necessarily follows that he who doth anything for that end and
purpose
that God and His perfections may be better manifested in the world
may be truly said to do it ‘for the glory of God.’ When a man doth anything
whereby the goodness
the wisdom
the power
the mercy
or any of the
properties of the most high God is made more manifest and evident in the eyes
of men than otherwise it would be
so that they may see and admire Him
such an
one glorifies God.” Is there anything unreasonable in such a precept? Does it
exact more than we can be expected to render? Nay
surely as the creatures of
God
it may justly be required of us that we act for God; His we are
and Him
therefore
we are bound to serve. But if you cannot accuse the precept of unreasonableness
what way have you made towards weaving it into your practice? Tell us
ye
merchants
ye lawyers
ye tradesmen
in what degree do ye propose to yourselves
the “glory of God
” as the end of your respective transactions? Ye may take as
your end the so living and acting as thereby to evidence that the God whom you
serve is a glorious God
glorious in His holiness
glorious in His hatred of
evil
glorious in His love for “whatsoever things are honest and of good
report;” and this is “doing all things to the glory of God.” There is no
greater practical evil than the endeavour to put religion out of your daily
occupations. Tremble the heart may for other things; but its deep
its
thrilling apprehension must be for the ark of the living God. Is not that ark
even now in peril? Is there no battle going forward between Israel and the
Philistine? When has the battle ceased? And many a watcher sits
like Eli
“by
the wayside.” There is the greatest eagerness for tidings from the camp. But
what tremble they for? Oh! the mere politician will tremble at news of foreign
preparation for war
or domestic insurrection; and the mere merchant will
tremble at declining prices and falling stocks; and parents will tremble for
the safety of children
and children for the safety of parents. But what is the
chief anxiety
the uttermost solicitude? Is it for God and His cause
as with
Eli it was life to know the ark safe
and death to know it in the hands of the
foe? Alas! notwithstanding that there is so much profession
we can find few
companions for Eli in his faithful watching by the wayside. Now
in the last
place
there will probably still be a feeling amongst many of us
as though it
were something beyond the ordinary reach--this making the Divine glory the
chief end of out actions. And we freely confess that if it were required of us
in every particular action of our lives
that we should be thinking of and
aiming at the glory of God
our thoughts would be so continually taken up with
the end that we should not have time for the means of ejecting it; we might
fail in doing our duty through excessive intentness on the object for which it
should be done But this objection to the scriptural command
that we should “do
all things to the glory of God
” is akin to the objections to other general
commands
such as that we “pray without ceasing.” It would be impossible to
obey such a command
but by the neglect of other duties
if the prayer “without
ceasing” be literally understood
so that there should never be cessation from
specific acts of devotion. But he may justly be said to “pray without ceasing
”
whose habitual frame or temper of mind is devotional
though he is not always
engaged in distinct acts of prayer. He may be said to “do all for the glory of
God
” who makes it the main scope and business of life to promote the Divine
honour; though he may not
in each individual proceeding
take account of this
end
or place it prominently in view. Our great fear for numbers
who make a
good profession of religion is
that after all they may be living for
themselves. They have their own end; their actions centre in themselves; they
make themselves their object; they aim at themselves in all they do
their own
reputation
their own honour
their own interest. They “tremble
” but it is for
their own safety
and not for that of “the ark of the Lord.” It is not
then
an idle and a fine-drawn distinction--that between living to ourselves and
living to God. It is what we must all determine
after which we must all
strive
if we would make good our Christian profession
to attain more and more
the making of God’s glory the chief end of our actions. We shall not be losers
we must be gainers--gainers here and hereafter--by living to forget ourselves
to sink ourselves so that God may be magnified in and through us. Would
then
that with Eli
we might “sit by the wayside watching
our hearts trembling for
the ark of the Lord.” It were a noble thing that the dying Christian
worn down
with age and infirmity--and what is he but a wayside watcher
expecting a
message from the invisible world?--it were a noble thing
a mighty pledge of
his eternal glory
that his last solicitude should be for the ark of the Lord.
(H. Melvill
B. D.)
Eli trembling for the ark of God
I. Why was the ark
so endeared to the faithful in Israel? Not on account of any costliness of its
own. It was but a simple box of wood; it had not jewels and precious stones to
bespangle it; there was only on its surface a simple lid of gold
upon which
were raised two graven cherubim of the same metal; and between the wings of
these
and over above these
there was a mystic light
which told that Jehovah
was specially and manifestly present there. It could not therefore be anything
in the mere structure of the ark that made it so dear. If we open its sacred
lid we find beneath it these marvellous contents: the rod of Aaron
that
budded; the pot of manna
the angels’ food
which fed the people of God in the
wilderness; and above all
the two tables of stone
His covenant with His
people. But more than this: the golden lid which covered in these mystic
contents was itself designated the mercy seat; upon it was yearly
on the great
day of atonement
sprinkled the hallowed blood of the appointed victims; and
from that wondrous seat of His grace and glory the Most High gave His answers
to His priests
and through them to the people. It was
therefore
the mystic
meaning of the ark; the precious treasures the ark enfolded; the wondrous
purpose the ark served; the grace emblematized; the fatherly presence of God
glorious in holiness
but tender in compassion towards all that sought Him in
sincerity by the “new add living way
” which was then intimated and which
should afterwards be fully revealed;--it was these things which made the ark
the special treasure
the peculiar glory
the heart
the life
the all of
Israel.
II. Have we
then
aught that answers to the ark? Have we
then
a treasure that should be more
precious to us than was even the ark of the testimony to the faithful
Israelites? We have. The ark was the shadow; to us belongs the substance. Yea
we have
therefore
in the precious Gospel of Christ all that the ark
signified; and that no more in dimness and in gloom
but in noonday splendour.
What know we of God as “in Christ
reconciling the world unto Himself
and not
imputing their trespasses unto them?” What know we of Christ
“Emmanuel
God
with us
” “the Lamb that taketh away the sin of the world?” What know we of the
wondrous way of access to God thus thrown wide through the veil
that is to
say
His flesh? And
therefore
it is this precious Gospel that is the ark of
the Church of Christ; it is this precious Gospel in the midst of us that is the
living sign and symbol of God’s abiding presence with His faithful; and the
shechinah
which has beamed in the tabernacle
and sparkled in the temple
has
no glory
in comparison with the pure simple Gospel. If
then
the shadow
the
type
the harbinger
was so precious to Israel of old
how much more precious
to us should be the substance
the antitype
the glorious reality. This
therefore
is the ark of the Christian Church; and how dear it was to the
holiest and the best of every age. Let one speak for many. “What things were
gain to me
” said the glowing Paul
“those I counted loss for Christ; yea
doubtless
and I count all things but loss
for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord.”
III. Have we
then
ever reason to “tremble for the ark of God
” as trembled the heart of the
faithful Israelite
when it went forth to the battlefield
where the
uncircumscribed fought with Israel? We have. If the ark could be withdrawn from
any spot
and return no more
may not the Gospel be withdrawn from us
and
return no more? It has been withdrawn from many a scene
where once it reigned
in purity and in power. Look at Ephesus
and Laodicea
and Thyatira
and
Sardis: where is the bright lamp
which once filled them with beauty and
gladness? And what is there in our own favoured land that should hinder the
withdrawment of the lamp of life from our shores? There is much reason why we
should often “tremble for the ark of God.” The dearer anything is to us the
more we should tremble
lest we should lose it; the dearer the Gospel the more
we have to be taken away from us. Will any man say--“If once I have the Gospel
in my heart who shall take it from me?”
IV. But are there
then
special reasons why we should “tremble for the ark of God” among us at
the present juncture in our national history? We can conceive that there are.
It was at a special season that the venerable priest trembled for the ark: it
was when it had been carried into the field of battle; it was when he knew that
it was in imminent danger. Christian brethren
it is not the might or the
mustering of all the foes of the Gospel of Christ; it is not the strength
or
the combination of all that have ill will to his Zion; it is not that “Gebal
Ammon
Amalek
and Assur also
have holden the children of Lot
” to war against
His truth: but if we could but say
as the holy Hezekiah said
“They be more
that are with us than with them; for with them is an arm of flesh
but with us
is the Lord our God to help us
and to fight our battles
” then should we
indeed stay ourselves in these precious words
“The Lord being our light and
our san ration
whom should we fear? the Lord being the strength of our life
of whom should we be afraid?” God being for us
who could be against us? But
our apprehension arises from within
rather than from without--from ourselves
rather than from our adversaries. In the days of old
when our reformed faith
came forth in its precious freshness and beauty--when the Gospel was as dear to
the people as deliverance to the prisoner: in those days
whatever combination
of might was against the Gospel of Christ
the faithful had little or nothing
to fear. It is not from without
then
that we apprehend danger; it is far more
from within that we apprehend it. We apprehend it because there has come over
us a fearful want of a holy confession of the Gospel
and a holy protest
against the perversion of the Gospel
which so actuated our martyred
forefathers that it seemed to them but one feeling--to love the Gospel more
than life
and to hate the error
which marred
and mutilated
and destroyed
the Gospel
more than death. Nor is it only this: the laxity and the
latitudinarianism which have come over us are worse than this
for there is no
stopping on the inclined plane of error. First
men become secure
then
indifferent to the truth
then open to error; they are then gradually drawn to
choose it
and to love it
and are at last led blindfold by it
at its will. Is
there not cause
then
that we should “tremble for the ark of God?” May not God
take the vineyard away from us
and give it to other husbandmen
who shall give
Him the fruit in due season? But more than this: Is there not a cause
because
of the too light esteem
and the too feeble faith
and the too cold zeal
which
even those who know somewhat of its preciousness
and have somewhat of its
blessings in their own souls
manifest towards the ark of God? Where is the
self-denial? where is the freedom and largeness of sacrifice
for the service
of God? But if we go from men of low degree to men of high degree what meets us
there? We speak not of one administration
or of another administration; we
speak not of rulers and dignitaries
as such; we give them the deepest respect
but we speak of the general tone of moral legislature
and of moral government
in our once protestant England; and none can gainsay us in stating that all
have been unfavourable to the national maintenance of the simple Gospel. Shall
not God visit for these things
and will not His soul be avenged on a nation
like this? Suffer the word of personal and practical application. Is this ark
of the covenant
this glorious Gospel of the blessed God
dearer to us than any
thing in the whole world besides? Has God opened the eyes of our understanding
to discern its worth? (H. Stowell
M. A.)
Eli trembling for the ark
And what was this ark? In itself
it was nothing more than a chest
of wood about five feet long
and half as deep and wide; but of all the holy
things the Jews possessed it was the holiest. The names applied to it will show
us why. It is called in this chapter “the ark of the covenant of God.” It is
called also elsewhere “the ark of the testimony.” By the writings contained in
it
it testified or bore witness to the people of what the Lord required of
them. And there was another name applied to it--“the ark of God’s strength.”
“Arise
O Lord
into Thy rest
” says David
“thou and the ark of thy strength;”
and so also he says in another psalm
with a reference to this very
transaction
“He delivered his strength into captivity
and his glory into the
enemy’s hand.” And why these lofty names for a thing so mean? For this reason.
On the top of this ark stood what was called the mercy seat. Here He manifested
Himself as really present with His people. The ark was the ark of His strength
because here He abode in His strength
and was seen to do so; He discovered on
it and by it His greatness and glory. No wonder
then
that it was esteemed
sacred. While it was with them
they felt that the Lord God of their fathers
was with them
that they might fly to Him when they pleased for protection and
look to Him for blessings. And we
too
in the Christian church have our ark.
This holy thing
you perceive
corresponded almost exactly
in the purposes to
be answered by it
with Christ’s holy gospel. That gospel is a setting forth of
His covenant with His spiritual Israel; it is a faithful testimony of all the
wonderful things He has done and intends to do for them; it is an unveiling of
His presence among them
of His love towards them
and
at the same time
of
His greatness and glory.
I. The servants of
God sometimes tremble for the ark of God. If we ask how this comes to pass I
answer:--
1. From the great love they have for it. Value a thing highly
and
you will sit
as it were
by the wayside watching it; you will be anxious about
it
or be tempted to be so; you will be afraid of losing it. What makes the
tender mother fear for the infant that is out of her sight
or that seems in
danger? Simply this--she loves her infant. And the people of God love the
gospel
really
deeply; better than they love any one earthly thing. There sits
Eli outside the gate of Shiloh
watching and trembling
and for what? for the
life of his sons or the success of the army? Both these are in jeopardy
and he
knows they are in jeopardy
but he is not trembling for them; he is afraid for the
ark of God. Does this seem to any of you extravagant or unnatural? It would
not
if you were really the people of God. “Lord
make Thy gospel dearer to me
than all the world.”
2. But there is another reason why the people of God sometimes
tremble for the ark--they know something of its value to the people that
possess it. He thought of the mercies that holy thing had brought with it for
more than four hundred years to his nation. It was the safeguard of Israel
it
was the charter of her privileges
it was the token and pledge of the Lord’s
special favour towards her; and therefore
when it was in danger
he trembled.
And ask the Christian why he is so anxious for the gospel to be here or there.
He does not always say
“Because I love the gospel
and wish it to be
everywhere;” but rather
“There are many whom I love in that place
and they
all need the gospel.” The man has a feeling heart. “It is the greatest treasure
our poor bankrupt world has left
the only treasure. It is our lifeboat
our
last plank
in our dismal wreck. I know its value
and therefore I tremble for
it.”
3. A consciousness of guilt also will make the servants of God thus
fearful. We have just been looking at the Christian as a man of a benevolent
heart; we must regard him now as a man of a tender conscience. Some of you
never fear for the Gospel. You never dream of its being taken away from you
or
of any spiritual privilege being withdrawn. And we can tell at once who you
are. You are men who do not know yourselves. You do not feel how unworthy you
are of your spiritual mercies. But the real Christian is a man who carries
about with him a heart that God has wounded. He feels every day he lives that
he is a guilty sinner. “If the ark goes from us
it has been driven away from
us by my unprofitable and unholy life.” O that we could at this hour hear such
language as this from every man in our church! We blame others
and they may be
worthy of blame
but it would become us better to blame ourselves.
II. The servants of
God have sometimes reason to fear for the ark of God. Not only do they fear for
it
as we have just seen; their fear
as we have now to see
may be well
founded and right. Some of you may ask how this can be. “The great God
” you
may say
“will take care of His own glory in our world. Why should we be
anxious for it?” I answer
God will indeed take care of His glory here
and of
His ark and church also. He is able to do so
and He is pledged and determined
to do so. He will ever have a people to praise Him on the earth. But we must
remember that though the Gospel will never be removed from the world
yet it
may be removed from this or that part of the world. It is not entailed on any
congregation
or parish
or kingdom. And this also must be considered--the
Gospel has often been removed from one place to another. The ark not only may
be lost to a people
it had been lost.
III. The servants of
God have reason to tremble for the ark of God when it is either profaned or
trusted in. In this case it was both.
1. The people profaned the ark. Who bade them send to Shiloh for it
and take it from its holy secrecy there into the tumult of a camp? The Lord had
commanded Moses that it should be kept in “the secret place of his tabernacle;”
but now to answer their earthly purposes
the command of God is to be set
aside
the sacredness of the holy of holies to be violated
a battlefield to
become the dwelling place of the ark of God. If
therefore
a time should ever
come in England when our people or rulers shall care less for the Gospel than they
care for their own glory or power; let such a time come
and then there will
indeed be cause to tremble for the ark of God. It is under-valued
it is
profaned
and God will not bear this--it is in danger of being lost.
2. The Israelites also made too much of the ark; they trusted in it
and this at the very time that they under-valued and profaned it--a strange
inconsistency
but yet a common one. God was dishonoured by having His ark put
in His place
and therefore He dishonoured it and the men who so exalted it.
There lie the people of the Lord in slaughtered thousands
and there goes the
ark itself
that sacred thing which none but’ a Levite must ever touch--it is
carried by heathen hands amid heathen shouts to a heathen temple; it is lost to
the Israel of God. The inference we are to draw is plain--while we do not
undervalue our spiritual privileges
we must never trust to them to protect us;
nay
we must not expect them to protect even themselves. It is a great mistake
to say
“The church and the Gospel will defend themselves.” There is the ark in
Dagon’s temple
and if we conclude
because we have a spiritual church and a
preached Gospel that that church must stand and that Gospel still be preached
God may teach us a terrible lesson. He will deliver once more “His strength
into captivity and His glory into the enemy’s hand.” It is the church itself
that is generally the Church’s worst foe. If she falls
it will be her own
worldly-mindedness and spiritual idolatry
her confidence in herself and her forgetfulness
of God
that will bring her low. She will fall her own destroyer. (C.
Bradley
M. A.)
Eli trembling for the ark of the Lord
1. We conceive that one reason why the heart of Eli trembled for the
ark of the Lord at that moment
placed amid the din of battle and the onset of
conflicting powers
arose from his vivid recollection of the sins of himself
and his house. Sin makes cowards of the most courageous. Especially do our sins
make us fear the worst
when some object of our affection is placed in
jeopardy. On the present occasion Eli recollected his own indifference to the
cause with which the ark was associated--his not restraining his sons when they
made themselves vile.
2. Eli’s heart trembled for the ark because of the vast deliverances
it had
under God
achieved for his country. It blessed by its presence the
house of Obed-edom--it overturned the walls of Jericho--it dashed from its
strong pedestal the statue of Dagon--it opened a pathway through the Jordan’s
bosom
and smote by its presence the most powerful armies of the aliens. Has
the Protestant
Church done less for us?
3. Eli trembled for the safety of the ark from his conviction
that
it alone was the real cause of the prosperity and glory of his country. It was
the standing memorial of the presence of Jehovah.
4. We may conceive that the associations with which the ark was
connected in the mind of the aged priest made his heart most anxious about its
safety.
5. The next reason we shall specify why Eli’s heart trembled for the
ark of the Lord was the intense affection which he felt towards it.
Solicitude for religion
I. Some reasons
why the cause of religion should be very dear to us
in other words
why we
should care for the ark of God.
1. Because the cause of religion ensures the chief elements in the
welfare of men. Eli was a patriot. He felt the loss of the ark would mean
sorrow and shame to the family
the loss of glory to the village
the rushing
like sudden night
of ruin on the nation.
2. Because the cause of religion is identified with the glory of God.
As a creature in the work of the Creator
a loyal subject in the designs of his
Sovereign
a filial child in the purposes of his father
a good man is
interested in the religion God has given to man.
II. Some
considerations that should fill us with anxiety about the cause of religion in
our midst
in other words
which shall make our hearts tremble for the ark of
God. We may urgently inquire about religion in England
as Eli did about the
ark
“What is there done
my son?” The reply will tell of:
1. Antagonism. Intellectual
moral.
2. Neglect. Recent census of church-goers reveals appalling
indifferentism.
3. Disloyalty.
III. Some of the
ways in which we may promote the cause of religion
in other words
do our part
to ensure the safety and progress of the ark of God.
1. Never conceal your belief in religion. Opposition is blatant and
noisy
shall not allegiance be distinct and pronounced.
2. Uphold the institutions and observe the rites of religion.
3. Diffuse its knowledge and extend its influence by example
prayer
gifts
work. Old Eli
blind and feeble
sat by the wayside waiting for news of
the ark
who of us will be content to be found in such a posture of feebleness
and ignorance about the progress of religion? (Homilist.)
Eli-A godly man trembling for the Ark of God
I. The mixed and
motley character
the very miscellaneous composition of the army in whose hands
the ark of God seems to be placed
may well cause the heart of an Eli to
tremble.
1. In the first place
there are those whose mere bodily presence is
all that can be reckoned on--the lukewarm and indifferent--the treacherous and
false--the men who have joined the standard on compulsion
or in the crowd
or
to serve a purpose--disguised spies and traitors in the enemy’s interests
or
soldiers of fortune
fighting every one for himself. “Unto the wicked God
saith
What hast thou to do to declare My statutes
or that thou shouldest take
My covenant in thy mouth? . . . Thy people shall be willing in the day of Thy
power.” They shall be all volunteers--no pressed men among them. “Whosoever is
fearful and afraid
let him return and depart.” It is no strife this for mere
hireling mercenaries; or for reluctant recruits
enlisted in a fit of temporary
excitement. Oh
how does our heart tremble for the ark of the Lord
when we see
so many lightly taking upon them the Christian name
and making the Christian
profession with little of anything like an adequate and serious sense of what
so solemn a pledge implies. Is it any wonder
then
that the cause of God
languishes.
2. But
secondly
there are those in the camp who are not thus
insincere and false--who are
nevertheless
disabled and enfeebled by some
rankling inward wound
some corroding grief
some sad sense of insecurity
or
of a doubtful right to be themselves there
and to have the ark among them. On
the occasion before us
the Israelites had just been smitten in a previous
battle with the Philistines; and it was as defeated men that they were about to
take the field again. The ark
indeed
is with us; but in what spirit has it
been sent for
and in what spirit received? If it be right to take it down with
us into the second battle
it must have been wrong to go without it to the
first. By thus seeking to have God in the midst of us now
we confess that He
was not in the midst of us before
and that it was in our own strength that we
fought. Have we repented of our sin? If not
with all the security which the
ark of God is fitted and designed to give--ay
and that multiplied a hundredfold--can
we dare to hope for a better issue in the enterprise which we are about to
undertake tomorrow? Is there anything analogous to this state of feeling among
us?--Let us inquire with reference not only to our standing
us individual
believers
but to the congregation with which we are associated
the community
to which we belong
and the Church of Christ generally. Let
us consult first
and principally our own personal experience. We have failed
perhaps
hitherto
once
or it may be more than once
in maintaining the Lord’s cause
and
resisting the enemies of our peace. Are our consciences thus laden with the
sense of recent
backsliding? Have we to confess that we are in the position of
beaten men in Christ’s warfare
or of men who have given way? And are we
engaging in any holy service--coming
let us say
to the Lord’s table--in
something of the same spirit in which the Israelites sent for the Lord’s ark.
The unanswered question
“Wherefore did the Lord smite us before the
Philistines?” stands ominously out as a barrier against our complete
enlargement
confidence
and security. But why
let us ask again
why is it
still an unanswered question? Even now the Lord is ready to answer it. Even now
He will search and try us. Thus repenting and doing our first works
returning
anew to God
and embracing anew His promises of full and free reconciliation
by all means let us send for the ark; by all means let us come to the
sacrament; it will do us good now. No matter for our past defeat--we shall be more
than conquerors now. For who can shut his eyes to the fact
that even since the
Lord began to deal with us
and with the Church
as in these last years He has
been dealing
there has been too much of human boasting and human
confidence--too much noise and shouting?
3. Once more
in the third place
let us take yet another
and that
the most favourable view of the parties in whose hands the ark has come to be
placed. Let us suppose them to be neither hypocrites and mere formalists on the
one hand
nor backsliders and men of doubtful position on the other. Let them
be men of truest conscience and tenderest walk before God in Christ. Still
compassed about as they are with manifold infirmities
and liable to err and
stumble at every step they take--how shall they carry the precious burden safe
along the rough road. For it is a delicate and tender
as well as a costly
deposit that is committed to their charge
easily susceptible of injury--apt to
be soiled and tarnished if the dust of earth reach it
or the very wind of
heaven be suffered to visit it too roughly. The essential holiness of God--do
we rightly apprehend what it is? And have we any adequate impression of that
holiness as imparted and communicated to whatever is His? Ah! if indeed you are
a believer in Jesus
consider how much of what is God’s you carry about with
you wherever you go!--your body and your spirit
which are His
--your character
and reputation
which are His
--your talents
which are His
--your very life
which is now altogether His! Let me put myself now for an instant in the
position of an onlooker or watcher
like the aged Eli; and what might be my
thoughts
as I gaze
not on the faithless or the faltering part of the Lord’s
army
but on His true and earnest adherents? Do I see any living for themselves
alone--caring for their own souls--apparently finding food and refreshment in
ordinances
and striving to have a close walk with God--while there is yet no
sign of their taking any special interest in any department of the Lord’s work.
My heart trembles for the ark of God. Do I see any who are keepers of the
vineyards of others
and are not keeping their own. Where
then
shall this
trembling heart find rest? The composition of the army to whom the ark of God
is committed
may but too well account for the trembling of an Eli’s heart.
Let us ask if no company or army of men may be got together
to
whom Eli could see the ark of God committed without his heart trembling--at
least so very anxiously.
1. In the first place
let them all be men who come
not as fancying
that the Lord hath need of them
bug as feeling that they have need of Him.
This is our primary and capital qualification. We are to have no
self-righteous
self-confident cavaliers
who would either hire themselves to
Christ for a reward
or espouse His cause with an air of condescending
patronage
as if they were doing Him a favour. Secondly
let all who flock to
the Lord’s standard at first
or continue to rally round it
make sure and
thorough work of the settlement of their covenant with the Lord himself.
Finally
let all in this army recognise and feel their responsibility--the
peculiar sacredness of the trust committed to them
and its extreme liability
to receive damage in their hands. Then
though their infirmities may be many
and they may often feel themselves to be in straits
let
them be assured that
it is not on their account that Eli’s heart will tremble for the ark of God.
II. Besides the
composition of the army into whose hands the ark may have come
the occasions and
circumstances which seem to bring it forward in battle
and to peril it on the
issue of battle
may cause not a little trembling of heart for its safety. We
might here speak of such occasions as that on which the Israelites sustained a
miserable defeat at the hands of the Amalekites and Canaanites
when they would
have taken the ark with them in their unwarranted enterprise
had not Moses
sternly refused to let it go out of the camp (Numbers 14:40-45). There is not always at
hand a Moses to keep the ark from being involved in the hazards of a
presumptuous enterprise. It is the prayer of every true servant and soldier of
the Lord
that the din of war and controversy may speedily come to an end
and
the Church may dwell safely in a quiet habitation. The world
indeed
is apt to
judge otherwise of those who maintain the Lord’s cause
especially in troublous
times
stigmatising them as troublesome and pestilent sowers of sedition
or as
lovers of strife
seeking to turn the world upside down. “O thou sword of the
Lord
how long will it be ere thou be quiet? Put up thyself into thy scabbard;
rest and be still. How can it be quiet
seeing the Lord hath given it a charge
against Askelon
and against the seashore? There hath he appointed it” (Jeremiah 47:6-7). Quiet! Rest! how can it
be? Satan is not bound; the world still lieth in wickedness; heresies
divisions
strifes
abound; Babylon is not yet fallen. And seeing how things
most sacred are now at issue on the field of strife
and how much risk there
is
in such stirring times
of the kindling of that wrath of man which worketh
not the righteous of God
as well as the scheming of that wisdom of man which
is foolishness with God--how shall not Eli’s heart tremble for the ark of God!
Is there
then
no source of consolation in the prospect of such trials and
commotions as these? Had anyone sought to comfort
the blind old man
as he sat
upon a seat by the wayside watching
and to allay the agitation of his soul--he
might have been reminded that what his heart trembled for was the ark of God;
that God himself
therefore
might not be expected to care for it; and that for
him to be so anxious concerning it
was almost like distrusting God. (R. S.
Candlish
D. D.)
Verse 22
Ichabod
the glory is departed from Israel: for the ark of God is
taken.
Ichabod
zhere was a dark cloud over Israel’s firmament. It was a night of
gloom; but amidst the revelry and excitement of sin
few could hear the
hearings of the commonwealth
or discern the signs of the times that betokened
national disaster. At length catastrophe came. The independence of the people
was broken. The ark of God--the visible representation of Divine majesty--was
in the hands of the Philistines. The outward form
the last remaining evidence
of national religion
was lost. It indicates lamentable ignorance on the part
of the elders of Israel
when they proposed to bring the ark of God to the
field of battle--as if their God was Dot in all places
and able to help those
who called upon him in faith. We do not wonder that when Eli beheld Israel’s
sun setting in such darkness his own flickering light paled and died away.
“Precious in the sight of God is the death of His saints
” but it was a sad
scene in Israel when the ark of God was taken
and the pious priest who had
ministered so long before it
gave up the ghost under the heavy tidings. Truly
was Ichabod
the glory is departed
the appropriate name of Israel. The ark of
God was taken! And Israel
who had staked at! their remaining piety within its
mystic timbers
were left without their God. Their glory departed. It was the
ebbing of their national religion. It was the blight on their spiritual
profession. It sealed their estrangement from their God. There may have been
as we know there were
solitary instances of godliness remaining. There were
Elkanahs and Hannahs
and such as they
who lived in sequestered nooks
and who
kept alive a witness for the Lord. There was a Samuel in the deserted
Tabernacle
in whose piety the hopes of the believing lay infolded
expecting
from his growth the revival of religion and the recovery of independence. But
meanwhile oppression
sin
and impiety afflicted the land. The people seemed
for a season left to the sad fruits of their own ungodly course. This dark
episode is suggestive of several important lessons.
1. It reveals the character of believers in perilous times. They
tremble for the ark of God. When sin increases
piety degenerates
and the
judgments of God alarm
believers tremble for the ark. In times of rebuke
and
blasphemy
and sin
the genuine believer trembles for the cause of Christ. His
dearest earthly interest is there. His Saviour’s interest is there. The welfare
of the soul is there. More than any other terrestrial object does the ark of
God concern him. For its preservation does he pray and toil
and weep and
watch.
2. We learn also the danger of a mere profession of religion. To have
no more than the outward form is to be as Israel were when they thought the ark
would save them from the Philistines. Over how many professors has this mournful
title been inscribed! They surrounded the ark of God
reverenced its mystic
symbols
were enrolled in the membership of the Church
partook of its
sacraments
rejoiced in its sanctuaries
and hoped for heaven; but having a
name to live while they were dead
neglecting the one thing needful--a personal
interest in Christ--they realised at last only the miserable wail
“Ichabod
”
as they sunk into a lost eternity.
3. We learn also the advantage of personal piety in perilous times.
Though Eli shared the judgment which overspread Israel and ruined his house
it
was well with that aged saint when he fell down dead at the gate of Shiloh. He
was saved
yet so as by fire. And though the wife of Phinehas shared the woe
which afflicted the land and desolated her home--though an accumulation of
sorrows and her painful solicitude at once oppressed her--it was well with her
in dying. Her piety was her blessing. We doubt not that there were even in the
army on the field a faithful few who were prepared to die
who mourned the
infatuation of their brethren
and who rested on the Lord. To such
death on a
field of battle would be their entrance into the saints’ everlasting rest.
Amidst the ungodliness and spiritual carelessness which often mark soldiers in
a camp
it is blessed to know that some have kept the faith and died in Christ.
Along with our sad memories of the winter before Sebastopol
we have
comfortable thoughts of some who
while they fought bravely and fell in their
country’s service
passed away to glory. Of one
and he did not stand alone
it
is told that after being twelve hours in the trenches
or out all night on
picket
he visited hospitals and prayed with the dying
distributed tracts and
exhorted the living. The man of prayer was a captain of courage; and amidst the
gloom of that memorable night
a sudden moonbeam revealed Hedley Vicars waving
his sword and crying
“This way 97th!” Another moment and he was lying in his
blood. But so striking had been his personal consistency
that his brave men could
testify that it was well with their captain then. (R. Steel.)
Ichabod
These histories have a permanent meaning
and an up-to-date
application. God deals with the Church today as He dealt with Israel in days
gone by. The spiritual Israel is akin to the natural and the national Israel.
Well
the Church of God
the chosen seed
is doubtless suffering defeat. I
doubt very much if the Church of God is even holding its own today: I believe
in the final triumph of Christianity
I am sure that Christ will reign from sea
to sea
and from the river to the ends of the earth; but I confess that if I
look candidly and without prejudice at the signs of the times I am bound to say
that here and there if not everywhere
Israel is getting the worst of it
and
the Church of God is being beaten slowly back. Be sure of this; the fault is
not with God. You know the advice of these elders of Israel. They decided that
the ark of the covenant of the Lord
which was resident at Shiloh
should be
brought
and that the battle should be renewed with this as the standard.
Surely victory would then result. The mischief was deeper than the elders of
Israel imagined; it was not to be cured by the presence even of the ark of the
covenant of God. That seemed only to add to the disaster
for itself was taken
prisoner
and the two licentious sons of Eli
who bore it into the battle
who
we may believe
fought bravely for its preservation
were slain hard by the
outspread wings of the golden cherubim. Wherein did the mistake of these people
consist? I think we shall find that it was a three-fold error.
I. In the first
place
they acted on human impulse
instead of on Divine command. A distinct
command is recorded
that when once Israel was settled in the land of promise
the ark
with the Tabernacle
should remain at a fixed place. It was not to be
brought to the people. The people were to be humble enough to come to it. In
this case
therefore
if they were not distinctly disobeying God’s command
they were acting without a Divine injunction
and this is always a dangerous
venture. We may he as disobedient by acting without a command as we can be by
actually running in the face of a distinct injunction. We cannot be too
precise. Let us do what God hath bidden us
and none other. Let there be no alteration
of God’s way. Add not to the ordinances
nor detract from them. Make no
addition to
or adulteration in the doctrines. Do not imagine that enthusiasm
will suffice. You Christian workers
there are a hundred plans for doing work
for God today of which we have to ask first of all
“Has God appointed this?”
If we enquire of the Lord before we go down to the battle
and before we take
any weapon in our hands
certain of those things which are most approved by men
will be found not to have the warrant of Scripture
and to be therefore mere
wooden swords
which
whereas they may inspire some enthusiasm
mainly because
they are our own manufacture
will be broken at the first onslaught of the foe.
So much for Israel’s first mistake. Let us not do likewise.
I. Secondly
and
still more seriously
they substituted the symbolical for the spiritual.
Therein they grieved the Spirit of God
therein they played the fool
exceedingly
after the fashion of the dog in the fable
who let go his goodly
joint of meat that he might grasp the shadow. Now
it must be admitted that the
ark was
by Divine institution
a symbol of God’s presence. The contents also
pointed in the same direction; but these people
elders though they were--and
who can wonder that the multitude went wrong when their leaders were
astray?--these people confused the symbol with the Presence itself. This
superstition was the natural result of the decay of religion. I venture to say
that the Israelites in this case were little better than the Philistines
themselves. The Philistines
if I mistake not
had images of their gods in the
battle by way of standards and flags
and Israel seems to have said
“We must
have a standard
too
we must cherish in our midst a symbol of our God.” They
craved for something tangible and visible. Nor are we less guilty who forget
that our religion is altogether spiritual
that our warfare and its weapons are
spiritual. We are not less guilty who mistake forms for internal power. We are
not less blameworthy who
having a form of godliness
deny the power thereof.
How careful some are of the externals. I believe in creeds
but oh
it is an
awful thing to have a creed only. A religion of the head does not cleanse the
heart
a religion that touches only externals evidently does not affect the
internals
and the heart and the soul are the things with which we have to do.
Thank God for the Sabbath
but a rigid observance of the Sabbath is not enough;
we want to be in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day.
III. But there was
another mistake
deeper than either of these. They failed to perceive that sin
was the secret of defeat
sin on the part of Eli’s two sons
sin on his own
part
and sin
if I mistake not
which was shared in by all the people
for
there is an indication in Psalms 78:1-72
which speaks of that
time
that the people were estranged from God. This it was that weakened their
arms
and prevented their success. Even Balaam could not curse God’s people
though he longed to do it. Why? Because there was no iniquity in them
because
God Himself beheld no perverseness in them. Therefore Balaam had to say
“The
Lord his God is with him
and the shout of a king is among them.” These people
shouted
but it was not the shout of a king; it was the shout of presumption
and therefore closely preceded and heralded a disastrous defeat. A worldly
Church is nigh unto cursing. A grieved God means a conquered Church. I tell you
the ark itself is valueless if there be an Achan in the camp. Do you know that
in this same place God wrought wondrously a little later. Read the story
at
your leisure
in chap. 7. It is only a chapter or two further on than this
but
oh how the scene has changed. Ichabod then gave place to Ebenezer. The days of
the Church will brighten and her power be as of yore when she comes back to
primitive practices and doctrines
and to the old-time holiness
and to zeal
for God
love for souls
and reverence for the Holy Ghost. (Thomas Spurgeon.)
The concern of the pious for religion in peril
The person by whom this mournful language was uttered
was the
wife of one who
by descent and occupation
had been associated with the
momentous office of the priesthood of ancient Israel. That people were engaged
in war with the neighbouring nation of the Philistines
their persevering and
inveterate foe.
I. First
we
propose to notice the properties of true religion
as indicated by the symbol
under which it is represented. “The glory” of Israel
of which the pious mother
spake
was “the ark of God;” so called
from the place which it occupied in the
ritual of Levitical worship
and because
on account of that place
it became
necessarily the token of the whole economy and general interests of religion.
The religion possessed by Israel was
really and truly
its “glory.”
1. Following this mode of illustration
you will observe
first
that
the ark was associated with immediate and visible displays of the Divine
presence. Above the ark were the mysterious figures of the cherubim
overshadowing it with their outstretched wings
and between the cherubim was
the Shechinah
that luminous cloud denominated “the cloud of glory” which
betokened the Divine presence
and from which
in audible voice
God uttered
His will and His promises to the priests whom He had chosen. In the economy of
the Gospel
the presence of God has been possessed
not indeed
you must
remember
by outward and visible signs and tokens
but spiritually
and with a
spiritual clearness
which
in the present state
cannot be surpassed. That
presence is vouchsafed in the work of the Son of God
the Lord Jesus Christ
and in the operations and influences of the Divine Spirit
whose office it is
to apply the work of the Lord Jesus to the minds of men. And therefore it is
that the ancient symbol is used in reference to them both.
2. Observe
secondly
the ark was identified with the Divinely
appointed mediation for the pardon of human sin. The covering or lid of the ark
was denominated “the mercy seat
” because the priest
by Divine command
sprinkled upon it the blood of the sacrifices
which had been offered in
propitiatory atonement for sin. He then
according to the same command
interceded
that for the sake of the blood so presented before God
pardon and
favour with Him might be obtained. Now this whole arrangement will be found
directly typical of the one Saviour
as revealed under the economy of the
Gospel; and the victim
and the priest and the mercy seat were all made to
terminate and concentrate in Him. The mediation in this manner set forth--a
mediation precisely adapted to the circumstances and wants of man
and
preserving its efficacy unexhausted in all successive ages--this is the supreme
and permanent glory of the Gospel. Apart from it
the glory of that Gospel
would indeed be but dim and cloudy; and when you observe the mode of its
indication
and the value of its influence
you will doubtless again recognise
how well your religion is represented by the ancient symbol
and how richly it
deserves the appellation of “the glory.”
3. Again
you will observe
that the ark was the instrument of Divine
protection
in behalf of the people who possessed and who rightly applied to
it. On various occasions in the history of Israel
we find that it was
connected with marvellous preservation
deliverance
and victory. Now
the
religion of the Gospel is directly the agent of God
in imparting protection
and deliverance to man. If the Gospel be viewed in a political aspect
we are
sure that it is to the nations now
what the ark once was to Israel of old. We
might
without any difficulty
show from multiplied evidence
that
for the
sake of His truth
God has been pleased in this manner to protect and to shield
us
in our own land; and there is abundant reason also to conclude
that just
in proportion as the nations of the earth become imbued with the vital spirit
of Christianity
they become protected against the very elements which would
naturally operate to subvert and to destroy. If the Gospel be viewed in a
spiritual aspect--in relation to the interests of the souls of men
we know
how
by its mediatorial power and grace
brought home through the agency of the
Spirit
men are guarded against the various adversaries
by whom
from time to
time
their progress in the present world is assailed--how they triumph over
“the last enemy
” and how they are exalted to the final inheritance of heaven
where they will abide in triumph
in bliss
and in glory
for over and ever.
II. Let us now
proceed to notice the danger in which the interests of religion
like the
ancient symbol
may appear to be involved. There are not a few circumstances
occurring from time to time
when the religion of the Gospel appears
according
to human judgment
in its various interests
to be in jeopardy
in danger of
dishonourable defeat and injury.
1. And you will observe
first
that apparent danger to the interests
of religion arises from the efforts of avowed and open adversaries to its
claims. From the commencement of its career
to such efforts the Gospel has
been exposed. In its earliest period
it encountered the malignant hostility of
the Jews
who
mistaking alike the nature of their own system and of the
Gospel
crucified “the Lord of Glory
” and when He had triumphantly risen from
the dead and ascended to heaven
“breathed out threatenings and slaughter
against the Church
” that they might overwhelm it.
2. We observe
that apparent danger also arises to the interests of
Christianity
from the evils which exist and are cherished
within its own internal
sphere. The danger to the ark of God as much arose from the habits and
dispositions of the Israelites themselves
as from the array and hostile
exertions of the Philistines. We very briefly notice what we fear from the
internal aspect of the Gospel
so as to constitute its existing or its
anticipated danger.
III. We now proceed
to observe the emotions which the apparent danger to the interests of religion
must properly produce.
1. The emotions of the mother of the infant
whose case is here
recorded
were those of fear and of grief
for fear and grief ended her own
life; and she perpetuated her impassioned emotion in the name which she gave to
her offspring: “she named the child Ichabod
saying
The glory is departed from
Israel;” “and she said
The glory is departed from Israel
for the ark of God
is taken.” Emotions of the same class--those of fear and grief--may well fill
the hearts of Christians
when they look upon the apparent danger to their
religion in itself
and without regard to those consoling considerations
to
which it will be our duty to allude. Recognising the value of Christianity in
all respects to every class of human character and human interests
we cannot
contemplate the probability of any injury being done to it
but in a view of
immense and almost inconceivable magnitude. Were we to have placed before us
the prospect of the downfall of religion in our own land
what a sad and
mournful catastrophe would then be before us! If our “ark” were taken
what
would then remain? Think you
that we should long retain the possession of the
riches
by which we have been adorned
and hold our high station among the
surrounding nations of the earth.
2. But
having noticed the nature of these emotions
we must now
observe the manner
in which they may be soothed. The ark of God
notwithstanding the calamity which had happened to it
had a power with it
which secured its essential preservation. You read its history and the history
of the attendant power which directed it
in the chapters which follow
until
it came back in triumph unto the nation
to whom it appertained. You are
doubtless aware also
with regard to Him
whose power is with His Church in the
Gospel
that He has announced positive intentions respecting it
that it shall
“go on conquering and to conquer
” that it shall survive and overcome all the
efforts which are made to injure and to blast it
and that it shall at last
receive an empire over the whole universe. This great intention
which forms a
part of the purpose of the Father
has been sealed by the blood of the Son
and
by the promise and the influence of the Spirit. Amidst all that appears ominous
and dark in the times which are before us
we are to rest upon these truths
with encouragement and with hope.
3. Observe
finally
the deportment to which these emotions should
prompt. While we exercise this consoling reliance upon the purpose and upon the
promise of God
we are not to forget the importance of employing those means
which are placed within our grasp
and which it is our bounden duty to use
in
order that we ourselves may be instrumental in meeting the danger
and in
attributing victory to the cause and to the empire of the Redeemer.
Despair of religion sometimes mistaken
It is certainly something that we are perfectly familiar with that
precious memorials become popular idols
and come in course of time to be bound
up of necessity with the ideas of safety and of progress and even of spiritual
liberty and truth. When the flame of the temple of Vesta went out upon the Roman
Forum
those who had known that it had been in existence for centuries said
“The glory has departed from Rome;” and when it has happened from time to time
that some central ceremony has been suspended or some special relic has been
destroyed
there have always been at once certain people to arise and to utter
some despair of the Divine Commonwealth
and to suppose that just in the
existence of a material and perishable object there lies some sort of guarantee
of the Divine favour and of the Divine help. The great days in the history of
religion are the days when God teaches us the failure and illusion of all this
that God rests nothing upon the perishable and upon the material
only on faith
in Him and obedience to His will in righteousness. (Silvester Horne
M. A.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》