Here I raise my Ebenezer

Have you ever had a chance to look at some of the fascinating suburb names in NSW?

Like have you’re driving on some country road and you pass a sign like Wong Wong or Meemoop and you’re like? What did that say? Imagine if your car broke down and you had to tell NRMA where you are, or maybe your family members.

“Ah, yeah car broke down, yeah I am in Wong Wong somewhere, not far from Meemoop.”

I tell you, it’ll be a story to tell, and well we may find that these names are funny, but you have to remember that a group of people; a village or a town came to an agreement and said, “Yeap, that’s what we’re calling it, Wong Wong.”

To us it is strange, but obviously to the people that selected that name, there would have been a meaning and a history connected with that name that we obviously don’t know about.

For example, one particular town called “Tom Ugly”, has anyone ever been there? Do you know the history of this place? Supposedly it is said that the town was named after a resident there; Tom Huxley. However, to the aborigines it was a difficult for them to pronounce Huxley and instead said Ugly. What a legacy hey?

There is a place in NSW called Wee Waa, this small town is located in the New England shire, 40km away from Narrabri. Wee Waa wasn’t named for some famous big swing or some exciting theme park, however, its name is of Aboriginal origin and means “Fire for Roasting” from the Kamilaroi people.

Has anyone ever been to Beverly Hills? Well, if you’re looking to see the movie stars and celebrities as well as shopping, you can find it in Beverly Hills, but not the Beverly Hills in Sydney. Beverly Hills for those that don’t know where it is, is located near Hurstville. Originally, the name of the suburb was called Dumbleton after a local farm, but eventually the residents weren’t to happy with the name and partitioned to have the name changed to coincide with the East Hills railway line and hoping to have a glamorous name they chose Beverly Hills, named after Beverly Hills, CA.

What about Waitara? Do many of you know the history behind the name Waitara? Do you know the origin of the name? Is it an indigenous name? Well the name is indigenous, however, it isn’t of aboriginal origin, but Maori.

This suburb takes its name from the river Waitara in New Zealand and it means ‘hail, pure water, or wide steps.’ Now, why is this suburb named after a river in New Zealand? Well, it is where Australian troops fought as Imperial Volunteers during the New Zealand wars from 1843-1873. This was a war fought between the British and her allies and the indigenous Maori tribes.

Sadly, there is no winners in wars and as a result this suburb is named after that battle to commemorate the victory.

Now, with that information, that’s going to be on your mind when you think of Waitara from now on. Your thoughts is going to be about this battle that happened in New Zealand that you’re going to go on to Wikipedia and do some research about this conflict between the British and the Maoris.

But, I want to divert you first to a story found in the Bible, about a stone and what the place is meant to symbolise.

The story of Ebenezer

Eli’s wicked sons

The story first starts with a battle between the Israelites and the Philistines, this is during the time when Eli was the Judge for Israel and his sons Hophi and Phinehas were defiling their position as God’s priests to His people.

We find in 1 Samuel 2:12-17 we see the wickedness of these two. The Bible labels them as בְּלִיַּ֫עַל (Be-li-ya-al) which means useless, wickedness, good for nothing, corrupt, ungodly, rebels worthless.

Eli the high priest and judge of Israel

A strong label to give to these two who were meant to be next in line in representing God’s people before Him. These men had no respect for the Lord in their duties as priests. But this label doesn’t only fall on these two boys, because all children have parents and the man responsible for these two boys is Eli, the High Priest of Israel and representative of God and judge of Israel (you remember the book of judges right?)

This man was given the position to judge Israel however he was not able to judge his own house? In the same chapter of 1 Samuel 2:22-25 we see Eli scolding and rebuking his children because of the wicked things the sons did before God.

Now wouldn’t that have been enough for Eli to discipline his children? To tell them off for doing something that was unholy! But shouldn’t the question be, would that have been enough for God? Now, I am not recommending severe punishment upon your children, so I hope you don’t quote me when you’re beating your children.

“Pr Fabian told me to beat you because you’re unholy!”

Misrepresenting God

However, these boys Hophi and Phinehas, were misrepresenting God as officers of the Lord. They were misrepresenting His character before all Israel and for their father to not bring severe punishment show to all Israel that Eli condoned their actions.

Let me share to you the severity of Eli’s sins and the sins of his children.

So, Eli the high priest and judge of Israel is about to go to sleep but is disturbed by a young boy by the name of Samuel, this doesn’t happen not once, but three times. The fourth time Eli tells the boy to respond to the voice ‘Speak Lord, for your servant hears.”

1 Samuel 3:11–14 NLT

11 Then the Lord said to Samuel, “I am about to do a shocking thing in Israel. 12 I am going to carry out all my threats against Eli and his family, from beginning to end. 13 I have warned him that judgment is coming upon his family forever, because his sons are blaspheming God and he hasn’t disciplined them. 14 So I have vowed that the sins of Eli and his sons will never be forgiven by sacrifices or offerings.”

Wait a minute, didn’t Eli rebuke and discipline his children when he scolded them for their wickedness? It said that in 1 Samuel 2:22-25.

The weak discipline of Eli and outcome

The word disciplined here, or in other translation; rebuked, doesn’t necessarily mean that in Hebrew. The word כָּהָה (Ki-hah) is found 10 times in the Bible and means either:

Faded; like “…the sore has faded”,

Dimly; like “…a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish”,

Relief; like “…There is no relief for your breakdown, your wound in incurable”,

Blind; like “…His arm will be totally withered and his right eye will be blind.”

It gives a sense that the discipline and the rebukes made by Eli were weak and lack thereof, and because Eli allowed his sons to continue to be in the office of the priesthood they continually defiled God’s sanctuary and as a result of their blaspheming their sins will never be forgiven by sacrifices or offerings. They have quenched the Holy Spirit; they have committed the unpardonable sin.

Eli accepts his fate

Now, this should bother Eli, why? Because God is no longer on speaking terms with Eli the high priest and judge of Israel not to mention he should be perturbed knowing his and his children’s sins will not be pardoned. Yet, his response is:

1 Samuel 3:18 NKJV

18 Then Samuel told him everything, and hid nothing from him. And he said, “It is the Lord. Let Him do what seems good to Him.”

Eli knows he can’t argue with God, Eli knows the consequences in disobeying God, and I hope for all of us we don’t fail in listening to God as well. I am not talking about disciplining your children but I am talking about listening to His still small voice, you will know when the Lord has spoken to you and when you do, listen and follow.

So Eli decreased and Samuel increased, in 1 Samuel 3:19-21

1 Samuel 3:19–21 NKJV

19 So Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. 20 And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel had been established as a prophet of the Lord. 21 Then the Lord appeared again in Shiloh. For the Lord revealed Himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the Lord.

Samuel was becoming and was being shaped to be God’s new spokesperson for all Israel. However, would Israel heed the counsels of the prophet Samuel?

Israel loses the Ark of God

In 1 Samuel 4 we see the Israelites mounting a battle against the Philistines and they encamped beside Ebenezer while the Philistines encamped in Aphek. When the Philistines fought against Israel, Israel was defeated.

Now, in situations like this, the Israelites should have inquired of the Lord and asked why they were defeated by the Philistines. They should have fasted and prayed before God asking for forgiveness and made themselves right with God.

They should have consulted with the newly established prophet Samuel and waited for a response from God.

What was their solution? “Oh, let’s bypass Samuel and go straight to Eli and bring God to our problems maybe He can fix it!”

Eli the high priest and judge of Israel should have directed them to Samuel the prophet of God. But what was his and his sons response? “Yeah, go ahead and take the ark no worries. Just make sure you bring it back in one piece OK?”

They had assumed that God was with them and that God was for them. I am not only talking about Israel here, I am talking about the assumption of Eli and his sons. Eli should have known better!

But where was Samuel in all this? Samuel would have been furious because the ark of the Lord was taken and that they had not consulted him. I mean Samuel was in Shiloh with Eli? Why didn’t he say anything? Could it be that God made him to hold his peace and allow what was to come to the Israelites?

The death of Eli and his sons

So, the sons of Eli; Hophi and Phinehas bring the ark to battle and all of Israel cheer and shout, believing God was with them. The Philistines heard about this and they feared and trembled because they believed that they would be destroyed by the plagues that fell on the Egyptians would fall on them, and yet in their great fear they went out boldly and in strength to fight the Israelites and they defeated them resulting in a great slaughter.

Hophi and Phinehas died and with them the ark was taken and the morality of Israel fell dramatically as they realise God is no longer with them.

How would you feel if God is no longer with you? How would you feel if you lost that connection with God?

In the 17/1800s a king or queen would give a particular regiment a special flag that would represent them in battle. To have such a flag is considered the highest honour and encouraged the regiment to fight in the king or queens honour. However, if they were to lose the flag in battle to the enemy the regiment will experience the greatest disgrace to their king/queen and to their nation.

And when Eli heard the news, he fell over and died and Phinehas’ wife died giving birth as she head the news (she even named her son Ichabod meaning “The glory has departed from Israel”) and the zeal of Israel died as they face disgrace and great sadness at the loss of their national icon.

The ark returns

Eventually, the ark is returned to Israel after the Philistines suffer greatly from God’s wrath, the Philistines believed they could tame the Creator of heaven and earth with their gods but instead of worshiping the Creator with humility, they rejected Him and sent Him away to continue in their worship of rocks and wood.

The Israelites, for 20+ years would appear to be in mourning because in 1 Samuel 7:2 they felt that the Lord had abandoned them. But, this is far from the truth, for it wasn’t God who abandoned them, they abandoned God because of their rebellion and disobedience.

You want to know how I know they abandoned God, because in 1 Samuel 7:3

1 Samuel 7:3 NLT

3 Then Samuel said to all the people of Israel, “If you want to return to the Lord with all your hearts, get rid of your foreign gods and your images of Ashtoreth. Turn your hearts to the Lord and obey him alone; then he will rescue you from the Philistines.”

It is because they left Him, and in order to return to Him they had to get rid of the foreign gods and images of Ashtoreth. They had to turn their hearts to the Lord and obey Him alone and God will rescue them from the Philistines.

That’s all they had to do to return to Him.

So, under Samuel leadership they all met in Mizpah and there worshiped the Lord through prayer and fasting confessing their sins and making themselves right with God.

The Philistines heard that the Israelites were gathered together, and hoping for a quick way to rid themselves of these pesky Israelites they mobilised an army and advanced towards the Israelites.

Little did the Philistines realise, God was on their side, not because of the impending doom that was to fall upon them, but because they humbled themselves and made themselves right with Him and God protected them and saved them from their enemies and it is written in 1 Samuel 7:11

1 Samuel 7:11 NLT

11 The men of Israel chased them from Mizpah to a place below Beth-car, slaughtering them all along the way.

It’s not because the ark was in Israel, but because God was with them, because they had set themselves right with Him, they had humbled themselves before the God Almighty.

The Israelites had realised where they had messed up, where they had failed, and sought the Lord and God used Samuel to make themselves right with Him.

The Ebenezer stone (The stone of help)

To reiterate and to engrave this victory in the minds of future generations, Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpah and Shen and called its name Ebenezer, saying “Thus far the Lord has helped us”.

In Hebrew, אֶבֶן הָעֵזֶר (Eben Ha-ezer) stone of the help.

Now, you might be wandering where I am getting at with this message, I just summerised 4 chapters into a few minutes, so let me share to you what the Lord has inspired me to share to you today from this story.

The monuments of victories

What’s in a name? What’s in the meaning of a name? Earlier we talked about names of suburbs and we saw some interesting names, we can determine that the names of places have a meaning, they have a history.

Like Sydney, named after a Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney, how many of you ever heard of this man or even researched his name? But Arthur Phillip thought it was a good idea to name this colony after him.

Now, people don’t think about Thomas Townshend when they think of Sydney, they think of the Opera House, Harbour bridge and Sydney Cove, and maybe even Waitara SDA Church?

But, Ebenezer, the stone of the help. This isn’t the first time stones were made as monuments, these monuments or altars were set up to remind future generations on what the Lord had done for an individual or for a nation. To show the history, the journey and the story of their victories and success set in stone.

Monuments of history and not just about success and victories but the journey it took to get there.

But, monuments mean nothing if you don’t respect it, take for example, Eli the high priest and judge of Israel, in all his life how often do you think he went before God to intercede on behalf of Israel? Yearly right? In front of the ark there as he intercedes before the Mercy Seat which is above the ark. In the end, did he respect it? Did he respect God?

Even for Eli’s children, what did the whole sacrificial system mean to them? Did they know of the journey and history of the sacred sanctuary? For them, it was a play thing to take advantage of the people and to use their faith for their advantage.

The Israelites, saw the ark as something a box with power, thinking they can bring God to their problems.

These monuments and icons are there to show how God interacted with us and how we interacted with Him, the journey they made together; the journey we made together. It’s not only about the victories that He has given us, but how He became personal with us and spent time with us, how God bonded with His people. How the God and Creator of heaven and earth loves us and gave His life for us.

It’s easy to think God will save us in times of trouble (and He will when we call to Him). But, why would He? It’s because He formed you, He remembers you, He was with us every step the way, He knows the number of hair that is on our heads. Our God is intimate with us, and as such are we intimate with Him?

And so, when we see our God, do we only look at Him through the victories He’s given us? Through the blessings as well? Through the prayers He’s answered?

As soon as we misrepresent or disrespect these monuments or icons that symbolise God’s interaction in our lives then we disrespect the real reason why He is personal with us. Why He loves you and the journey we spent with Him.

The Stone the builders rejected

We have a monument that has been set up centuries ago. One that reminds us of the cost of what God has done for His love for you and me.

1 Peter 2:3–8 NLT

3 now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness. 4 You are coming to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple. He was rejected by people, but he was chosen by God for great honor. 5 And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God. 6 As the Scriptures say, “I am placing a cornerstone in Jerusalem, chosen for great honor, and anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.” 7 Yes, you who trust him recognize the honor God has given him. But for those who reject him, “The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.” 8 And, “He is the stone that makes people stumble, the rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they do not obey God’s word, and so they meet the fate that was planned for them.

Friends, as Peter has said, we are that living stone, the living stones not to proclaim just the victories in life but for what God has done and why He has done it. We are a living testimony of the journey we are having with our God and Saviour.

We are monuments to a personal and loving God, to our Redeemer, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Let us raise Him, our Ebenezer, our ‘Stone of the help’ and tell of His love and of His goodness. Let us look to Him our author and finisher of our faith and declare His good works through the good and the bad in our life.

Our High Calling May

Let us look to the monumental pillars, reminders of what the Lord has done to comfort us and to save us from the hand of the destroyer. Let us keep fresh in our memory all the tender mercies that God has shown us—the tears He has wiped away, the pains He has soothed, the anxieties removed, the fears dispelled, the wants supplied, the blessings bestowed—thus strengthening ourselves for all that is before us through the remainder of our pilgrimage.

Going back to the topic of names, when people think or say your name, what story do people link you with?

What would people see? I pray and hope that they would see the wonderful works of salvation God has made in your life.