1st Samuel Ch 4:

Ch 3 Recap

Last week Mr. Stead taught us in chapter 3

Samuels first prophecy

and out of chapter three He touched on a few important things in our walk

(1) God hears our Prayers

(2) God Desires that we Pray

(3) God never stops working

And then How do we hear from God ?

He speaks through Dreams

He speaks through visions

He speaks through others (people)

He speaks through prophecy

He wont speak to us if we are in Sin

Eli was a perfect example of getting to a place of not hearing from the Lord because of His disobedience to the Lord

He didn’t discipline His children and the rest is History

We even see in vs 18 of ch 3 that Eli and His response to what the Lord had spoke through Samuel wasn’t really anything

Instead of getting down on his knees and repenting for His sin he basically just said “ it is what it is “

Eli was far gone , he was withering away and the House of Eli’s Judgment was coming

Chapter 4

Before we get started lets read this passage in chapter 2

Keep in Mind this is a result of the sin of Eli and His sons

1 Samuel 2:30–36 “30 Therefore the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I said indeed that your house and the house of your father would walk before Me forever.’ But now the Lord says: ‘Far be it from Me; for those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me shall be lightly esteemed. 31 Behold, the days are coming that I will cut off your arm and the arm of your father’s house, so that there will not be an old man in your house. 32 And you will see an enemy in My dwelling place, despite all the good which God does for Israel. And there shall not be an old man in your house forever. 33 But any of your men whom I do not cut off from My altar shall consume your eyes and grieve your heart. And all the descendants of your house shall die in the flower of their age. 34 Now this shall be a sign to you that will come upon your two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas: in one day they shall die, both of them. 35 Then I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest who shall do according to what is in My heart and in My mind.…”

The Lord was fed up with Eli and His sons

A random Man of God/ priest came to Eli and put Him in His place telling Him what was to come

we are going to see this in Chapter 4

So lets begin

1 Samuel 4:1 “1 And the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out to battle against the Philistines, and encamped beside Ebenezer; and the Philistines encamped in Aphek.”

1 Samuel 4:2 “2 Then the Philistines put themselves in battle array against Israel. And when they joined battle, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand men of the army in the field.”

So during this time there was no super power

but there was always conflict between Israel and the Philistines who were of Greek descent

This is one of those times when conflict arose and God used it

the Philistines wiped out four thousand men from the army of Israel

and now the army is left wondering for ways to defeat the philistines

1 Samuel 4:3 “3 And when the people had come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord from Shiloh to us, that when it comes among us it may save us from the hand of our enemies.”

Here we see again like we have talked about in previous chapters, “bad Leadership”

they didn’t point the soldiers to the Lord

These elders instead of praying to the Lord and asking to be delivered out of the hands of the philistines think its a great idea to place their faith and hope in an object “the ark of the covenant ”

they thought that if they brought it into the battlefield that God would grant them victory over the enemy

they were mistaken

God allows things in this life to fine tune us and this was something he was using to tune up the Israelites

really quick , what is the Ark of the covenant ?

Now what is the Ark of the Covenant ?

the Ark of the Covenant was a wooden chest that was overlaid with Gold that contained the Tablets of the Law

the Israelite's believed that symbolically this was Gods throne

it was also known as the Ark of God

They thought that this wooden chest Laid with Gold was more important that actually going to God himself

the Ark of the covenant was used symbolically

it didn’t have the ability to save and neither does any material object here on earth

we will get more into this later on

1 Samuel 4:4“4 So the people sent to Shiloh, that they might bring from there the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts, who dwells between the cherubim. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.”

So they send people to shiloh to get the Ark of the covenant

and once they get it the two who bring it back are Hophni and Phineas

the two most unworthy people to be carrying something that symbolized the most Holy

Remember back in chapter two that Hophni and Phineas were so far gone that they were stealing sacrifices and sleeping with women at the door of the tabernacle

these were the guys entrusted to bring the Ark of the covenant back the the army in the field

i think as we read this we start to see more and more what happens from the top down with bad leadership

everyone starts making bad decisions

1 Samuel 4:5 “5 And when the ark of the covenant of the Lord came into the camp, all Israel shouted so loudly that the earth shook.”

Again false hope here

they were stoked the ark was there and they placed there hope in an inanimate object

shouting so loud that the earth shook

they wanted the enemy to know that they had nothing to fear anymore

Gods blessing was not automatically there just because the Ark of the covenant was

its even possible that if these men would have consulted Samuel first that none of this would have happened ! but they didn’t

1 Samuel 4:6 “6 Now when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, “What does the sound of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews mean?” Then they understood that the ark of the Lord had come into the camp.”

1 Samuel 4:7 “7 So the Philistines were afraid, for they said, “God has come into the camp!” And they said, “Woe to us! For such a thing has never happened before.”

to the Philistines they believed that there God was with them

there to protect them and help defeat the philistines

the shout worked for a time being for The Israeli army

1 Samuel 4:8 “8 Woe to us! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness.”

The philistines thought maybe that Israel worshiped more than one God , either way they understood that they were idolizing some form of God

In this case the Ark of the covenant , again an inanimate object

1 Samuel 4:9 “9 Be strong and conduct yourselves like men, you Philistines, that you do not become servants of the Hebrews, as they have been to you. Conduct yourselves like men, and fight!”

The philistines were known to worship many Gods

So to them it was more there Gods vs our Gods

This gave them the courage they needed to go back into battle with the Israeli army

they didn’t want to become servants of the hebrews

I could imagine the fear they had knowing they could possibly be the slaves to the Jews they hated

Fear of having done to them what they had done to the Jews

this gave them the ability to fight harder than before

they had great incentive to fight Hard

1 Samuel 4:10 “10 So the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and every man fled to his tent. There was a very great slaughter, and there fell of Israel thirty thousand foot soldiers.”

The philistines wipe out Israels army this time, an additional 30 thousand men

all together between the two battles 34 thousand men were killed

1 Samuel 4:11 “11 Also the ark of God was captured; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.”

the ark is now captured !!

so i started off this in chapter two where God prophecies that Elis two sons were going to die in the same day

Gods judgement on the house of Eli is coming true

both his sons dead in the heat of battle

they relied on the Ark of the covenant but Lost

I’d Like to hangout here for a second and this brings me to a point id like to Make, some application for each and everyone of us here today

I think God has a funny way of allowing things to workout

I didn’t really want to do a Christmas message because everyone does this time of year but this passage here in chapter 4 couldn’t be more perfect for Christmas

Anyways people taking notes. Placing our faith in objects / idols

we see here that even something so sacred to the Israelites “ the ark of the covenant” can be used for the wrong reason

Placing our faith in the wrong things specifically worldly things

Material things

Has no ability to save us

Only God does

1 John 2:15 “15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”

Colossians 3:2 “2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.”

were all going to be done here at church and go home and count down the time we have until we shred paper

but keep in mind like the Army here in these first 11 verses they thought that an object was going to save them or deliver them

it didn’t

I think we can all relate to this , in a world so consumed by materialism we struggle to not get caught up in idolizing things

or using them for the wrong reasons like we saw

what we get for Christmas can be seen as a blessing and its good to enjoy

but don’t allow the material things be what causes temporary Happiness/ Joy

the army was stoked and thought they had found victory all because of an object

that object only gave them strength but for a moment until they were slaughtered

Christmas is a time to remember the Birth of Jesus , not the inanimate objects we receive as gifts

I remember as a Kid receiving the first iPod touch that came out

my parents at the time had been going through financial trouble and still managed to buy me and my brother one for Christmas

i remember just about praying for one and when i got it i was stoked

but in that moment i also realized that my parents sacrificed much to give me that gift

i was excited for a few days but after a while it was like i was worshiping that thing

i could watch movies on it , download games , you name it

but then after a while that all went away all temporary excitement of finally having it was gone

it became just another thing i had has a kid

these earthly riches/ material things are nothing more than just a distraction of what truly matters and thats Jesus

Lets not forget the fact that Christmas is Christmas because of Christ

Im sure some of us are going to enjoy the gifts we get but don’t let it be your everything like this Israeli army

there is nothing eternal about gifts, accept the gift of Salvation through Jesus who was born as God in the flesh

don’t forget that

1 Samuel 4:12 “12 Then a man of Benjamin ran from the battle line the same day, and came to Shiloh with his clothes torn and dirt on his head.”

Now this man came from the battle beaten up, he some how survived

1 Samuel 4:13 “13 Now when he came, there was Eli, sitting on 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.”

Even Eli a man who has developed a pattern of not being the best was misplacing is faith in an object

I mean it makes sense because he had lost his way long ago

the city cried out because they had lost so many men between the two battles

it wasn’t a time of celebration

Gods Judgement had fallen upon them

1 Samuel 4:14 “14 When Eli heard the noise of the outcry, he said, “What does the sound of this tumult mean?” And the man came quickly and told Eli.”

1 Samuel 4:15 “15 Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes were so dim that he could not see.”

Eli had become blind and could not see , yes he was old but perhaps as a result of His disobedience he started to wither away

the people had been going through it

1 Samuel 4:16 “16 Then the man said to Eli, “I am he who came from the battle. And I fled today from the battle line.” And he said, “What happened, my son?””

1 Samuel 4:17 “17 So the messenger answered and said, “Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has been a great slaughter among the people. Also your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead; and the ark of God has been captured.””

1 Samuel 4:18 “18 Then it happened, when he made mention of the ark of God, that Eli fell off the seat backward by the side of the gate; and his neck was broken and he died, for the man was old and heavy. And he had judged Israel forty years.”

Again going back to The prophecy God made both Elis sons had been killed in the same day

Eli has died and the Ark was captured by the Philistines

This brings me to My second Point of this study

(Stand For what is right)

When we do not stand up for what is right when we have the power to do so we essentially partake of what is wrong

Eli is the example of that here

When he didn’t correct the corruption going on amongst not only his family but the people he was over

He might as well of been partaking in the sin with them

Some of us have the ability to stand up to friends, family and even leadership when what they are doing is wrong

what this is saying is when we have the right to do that and don’t we are basically joining in on what they are doing

it is important as christians and followers of christ that we are examples to those around us

even if that means being the bad guy to your friends

it isn’t always easy to do the right thing but that doesn’t matter

what matters is what God sees in your heart and what you do for Him .

1 Samuel 4:19 “19 Now his daughter-in-law, Phinehas’ wife, was with child, due to be delivered; and when she heard the news that the ark of God was captured, and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and gave birth, for her labor pains came upon her.”

Imagine being the wife of a man who was not faithful , a man who died because of the decisions he made

it left her in distress causing labor pains which lead to the birth of Her son

1 Samuel 4:20 “20 And about the time of her death the women who stood by her said to her, “Do not fear, for you have borne a son.” But she did not answer, nor did she regard it.”

the family is cursed and she has no Joy in the fact that she is having a baby

it didn’t even matter that she was having a son

she was literally on her death bed

1 Samuel 4:21 “21 Then she named the child Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel!” because the ark of God had been captured and because of her father-in-law and her husband.”

Ichabod means “where is the glory “

meaning that God had departed from Israel

1 Samuel 4:22 “22 And she said, “The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured.””

In this verse we see just how much these people placed their faith in the Ark of the covenant

she was right in believing that there was no point in living without God but didn’t realize that the ark of the covenant itself was not God

Again it was an object that was mis used for what it was

The picture here with the mother and the Son and her reason for naming her son Ichabod is because like prophesied, all honor and privilege left the/ departed from the family of Eli

there is no history of Elis grandson or any writings on Him , the family name from then on became nothing

Closing

Israel is guilty of Idolizing something that was not in fact God

objects don’t save us Jesus does

Eli and His sons paid the ultimate price for their disobedience to the Lord

With all that being said In this Chapter Lets turn our Bibles over to Luke Ch 2

( read )

Explain the real reason to celebrate Christmas