How not to host the ark of the covenant
HOR Book 9 Studies • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Scripture reading
When the Philistines captured the ark of God, they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it into the house of Dagon and set it up beside Dagon.
This evening, I’d like to share a message with the title, “How not to host the ark of the covenant.”
The ark of the covenant, or the ark for short, is a big thing throughout 1 and 2 Samuel. It was the presence of God. It was a box that contained three items. The two stone tablets of the Ten Commandments, a jar of manna, and Aaron’s budded rod.
Why should we care? We should care because we are the temple of the Holy Spirit.
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
The ark dwells within you and me, and within the walls of our church. So unless we host the ark properly, according to God’s way and God’s Word, the glory of the Lord that departed from Israel will also depart from us. That’s how 1 Sam. 4 ends. Eli’s daughter-in-law makes this confession.
And she said, “The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured.”
So that’s the end of 1 Samuel chapter 4.
And what we see in the following chapters of 1 and 2 Samuel is the ark in the hands of five different groups of people: The Philistines, the men of Beth-shemesh, the men of Kiriath-jearim, King David, and the house of Obed-edom.
*SHOW SLIDE*
So here’s a quick timeline of the ark’s journey away from Israel, and it’s eventual arrival at Jerusalem. It was gone for a total length of 100 years and 4 months.
Philistines: 7 months
Abinadab: 20 years, and Samuel’s reign of 32 years, plus Saul’s reign of 40 years. That’s a total of 92 years.
7 years and 6 months of David’s reign in Hebron.
3 months at house of Obed-edom.
So the ark took 100 years and 4 months from the time it was lost to it’s arrival in Jerusalem.
And tonight we’re going to ask the question: “How did these people host the ark of the covenant?” And we’ll ask, “How can we be more hospitable and welcoming to the presence of the Lord?” So today’s message is about hospitality. Hospitality toward God.
The Philistines host the ark
The Philistines host the ark
It was common practice back then to see military battles as divine battles between the gods of the people. And the victors would capture the gods of the defeated enemy, and put them in the temples of their own gods.
Why? Some scholars think it’s to show gratitude to their deity. Others think it’s to bring the gods of the enemy onto their side.
Can we read responsively from 1 Sam. 5:1-12? I’ll read one verse, and you read the next.
When the Philistines captured the ark of God, they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it into the house of Dagon and set it up beside Dagon.
And when the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and put him back in his place.
But when they rose early on the next morning, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the Lord, and the head of Dagon and both his hands were lying cut off on the threshold. Only the trunk of Dagon was left to him.
This is why the priests of Dagon and all who enter the house of Dagon do not tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day.
The hand of the Lord was heavy against the people of Ashdod, and he terrified and afflicted them with tumors, both Ashdod and its territory.
And when the men of Ashdod saw how things were, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for his hand is hard against us and against Dagon our god.”
So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?” They answered, “Let the ark of the God of Israel be brought around to Gath.” So they brought the ark of the God of Israel there.
But after they had brought it around, the hand of the Lord was against the city, causing a very great panic, and he afflicted the men of the city, both young and old, so that tumors broke out on them.
So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. But as soon as the ark of God came to Ekron, the people of Ekron cried out, “They have brought around to us the ark of the God of Israel to kill us and our people.”
They sent therefore and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines and said, “Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it return to its own place, that it may not kill us and our people.” For there was a deathly panic throughout the whole city. The hand of God was very heavy there.
The men who did not die were struck with tumors, and the cry of the city went up to heaven.
So now there’s a deadly plague of tumors going around, so they sent the ark from Ashdod to Gath, and then from Gath to Ekron. And the plague spread to all these cities.
So how did the Philistines host the ark? They treated the ark of God as one god amongst the others. They gave God some honor, but not the highest honor. Some priority, but not the biggest priority. Some importance, but never of most importance.
In other words, they had a faith that was non-committal. They put the ark there, waiting to see if this God would bless them or not. And when it didn’t work, they got rid of it.
*SHOW SLIDE*
Can we just take a second to reflect on this. What if God is real? And what if He really does love you? What if He’s really bringing you into an eternity of joy in heaven?
What does that mean for our Mondays? Or our work or exams? Or the quest for romantic relationships? Will we place the ark beside these things?
Let us learn from the mistake of the Philistines. Let us learn that God will strike our idols down until we learn that He alone is worthy of the highest place.
Isaiah 42:8 (ESV)
I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.
The Gospel is either 100% true, or 100% false. Do you agree?
*SHOW SLIDE*
And if Jesus is God, that means is that Jesus is either the most important thing, or the absolute least important thing. There is no in-between.
So finally, after seven months, the Philistines decide to send the ark away.
The people of Besh-shemesh host the ark
The people of Besh-shemesh host the ark
Let us read responsively from 1 Sam. 6:10-15.
The men did so, and took two milk cows and yoked them to the cart and shut up their calves at home.
And they put the ark of the Lord on the cart and the box with the golden mice and the images of their tumors.
And the cows went straight in the direction of Beth-shemesh along one highway, lowing as they went. They turned neither to the right nor to the left, and the lords of the Philistines went after them as far as the border of Beth-shemesh.
Now the people of Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley. And when they lifted up their eyes and saw the ark, they rejoiced to see it.
The cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh and stopped there. A great stone was there. And they split up the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord.
And the Levites took down the ark of the Lord and the box that was beside it, in which were the golden figures, and set them upon the great stone. And the men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices on that day to the Lord.
Beth-shemesh was a city in the tribe of Judah. And when the ark came to them, they rejoiced to see it. And they placed it on a great stone and offered burnt offerings and sacrifices.
But they soon make a big mistake.
And he struck some of the men of Beth-shemesh, because they looked upon the ark of the Lord. He struck seventy men of them, and the people mourned because the Lord had struck the people with a great blow.
So these men of Beth-shemesh looked into the ark, and God strikes them dead.
Now here’s the thing. These men of Beth-shemesh were the descendants of Aaron the first high priest. They of all people should have known better.
And to the descendants of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron, the city of refuge for the manslayer, with its pasturelands, Libnah with its pasturelands, Jattir with its pasturelands, Eshtemoa with its pasturelands, Holon with its pasturelands, Debir with its pasturelands, Ain with its pasturelands, Juttah with its pasturelands, Beth-shemesh with its pasturelands—nine cities out of these two tribes;
So how did the people of Beth-shemesh host the ark?
They initially rejoiced at seeing the ark, but they treated it with a casual attitude. They cared for God’s blessings, but not for His warnings. They didn’t realize that hosting the ark was a matter of life and death. That’s what it means to take a casual, flippant attitude toward God.
And this casual attitude toward God’s ark was the result of their longtime casual attitude toward God’s Word. If they had revered the Word of God beforehand, they would have known to treat the ark with utmost respect, to never open the lid and look inside.
So their casual attitude toward the weekly worship led to a casual attitude toward God’s ark, and it resulted in their deaths.
Are we casual about our daily devotions and Bible reading? Is it a take it or leave it kind of thing? How about our regular worship services each week?
Let us learn from the painful lesson at Beth-shemesh.
*SHOW SLIDE*
If we’re casual about the little things, then how can we expect to be faithful in the big things?
“One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.
So after this incident, the men of Beth-shemesh decide that it’s too much. It’s too much to host the presence of a holy God among them.
And so they call the men of Kiriath-jearim to take it away from them.
Then the men of Beth-shemesh said, “Who is able to stand before the Lord, this holy God? And to whom shall he go up away from us?” So they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath-jearim, saying, “The Philistines have returned the ark of the Lord. Come down and take it up to you.”
The house of Abinadab hosts the ark
The house of Abinadab hosts the ark
And the men of Kiriath-jearim came and took up the ark of the Lord and brought it to the house of Abinadab on the hill. And they consecrated his son Eleazar to have charge of the ark of the Lord. From the day that the ark was lodged at Kiriath-jearim, a long time passed, some twenty years, and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord.
It says that the ark stays at the house of Abinadab for 20 years. But these 20 years don’t actually refer to how long the ark stayed at Kiriath-jearim. It’s saying that the next event took place 20 years after this. What’s the next event? Samuel’s religious reformation, and the battle of Mizpah which ended the Philistine oppression.
*SHOW SLIDE*
So the ark didn’t stay at Kiriath-jearim only for 20 years, but actually for a total of 99 years and 6 months, until David brings the ark to Jerusalem. That includes Samuel’s time as a judge, Saul’s reign as king, and David’s reign in Hebron.
So what that means is that throughout Saul’s 40 years as the king of Israel, he was more concerned with killing David rather than restoring the ark to the capital. His focus was entirely on his throne, rather than God’s throne.
David’s first attempt to bring the ark to Jerusalem
David’s first attempt to bring the ark to Jerusalem
So 79 and a half years pass by. Saul is dead and David is king in Jerusalem.
Guess what’s the first thing he does? He takes more wives for himself.
But what’s the second thing he does? He defeats the Philistines.
And then he tries to bring the ark to Jerusalem. But the problem is that he uses the Philistine method of two cows and a cart.
And when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and God struck him down there because of his error, and he died there beside the ark of God.
What went wrong? The oxen stumbled, and Uzzah tries to stop the ark from falling over, and he dies.
And David was angry because the Lord had broken out against Uzzah. And that place is called Perez-uzzah to this day. And David was afraid of the Lord that day, and he said, “How can the ark of the Lord come to me?” So David was not willing to take the ark of the Lord into the city of David. But David took it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.
How should they have carried the ark? God instructed that the sons of Kohath were to carry it upon their shoulders (Num. 3:29-31; 4:15; 7:9). But instead, David went with the Philistine method. Why? Because it worked once, it’ll work again.
And because of this failure, David gets angry at God. Does that sound strange? Why did he get angry? We get angry when our goals and expectations are not met.
David assembled 30,000 people to bring the ark back to Jerusalem. That’s a lot of time, effort and resources. It’s was a big sacrifice in order to bring the ark into the city. But God refuses to go.
See this. The presence of God can never be manufactured by manmade methods. God doesn’t come and go just because we put in a lot of time, effort, and resources. He is G-O-D, not D-O-G.
Can we bring the presence of God into our lives using worldly methods and wisdom? Can we say the worship service was a success if we measure everything using earthly metrics? 30,000 people came today. The praise team sounded good. The preacher was very eloquent and charismatic. All these things are good, but they have nothing to do with success in God’s eyes. Man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart. Man looks at the result, God looks at the process.
In doing God’s work, there's always the danger of our zeal going ahead of us. David wanted to do the best, but that was his way and not God’s way. In order for us to do our best, we need to learn God’s way.
We have to serve God according to His method, His location, and His time. Not us.
So because of this, David changes route and brings the ark to the house of Obed-edom instead.
The house of Obed-edom hosts the ark
The house of Obed-edom hosts the ark
And the ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months, and the Lord blessed Obed-edom and all his household.
And it was told King David, “The Lord has blessed the household of Obed-edom and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God.” So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom to the city of David with rejoicing.
Who is this Obed-edom? He was a Levite and a gatekeeper of the tabernacle.
So the Levites appointed Heman the son of Joel; and of his brothers Asaph the son of Berechiah; and of the sons of Merari, their brothers, Ethan the son of Kushaiah; and with them their brothers of the second order, Zechariah, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, and Mikneiah, and the gatekeepers Obed-edom and Jeiel.
So although he’s called Obed-edom the Gittite, it doesn’t mean he’s from the Philistine city of Gath. There were a couple of towns in Israel beginning with Gath, such as Gath-Rimmon or Gath-Padalla.
How did God bless Obed-edom? It says that God blessed him with many sons, and God blessed his grandsons with great ability.
And Obed-edom had sons: Shemaiah the firstborn, Jehozabad the second, Joah the third, Sachar the fourth, Nethanel the fifth, Ammiel the sixth, Issachar the seventh, Peullethai the eighth, for God blessed him. Also to his son Shemaiah were sons born who were rulers in their fathers’ houses, for they were men of great ability.
The sons of Shemaiah: Othni, Rephael, Obed and Elzabad, whose brothers were able men, Elihu and Semachiah. All these were of the sons of Obed-edom with their sons and brothers, able men qualified for the service; sixty-two of Obed-edom.
So Obed-edom had 62 sons and grandsons, and they were all able men.
Conclusion: How should we host the presence of the Lord?
Conclusion: How should we host the presence of the Lord?
So to conclude, how should we host the presence of the Lord? Like the house of Obed-edom.
They only had the ark for 3 months, but they were so so blessed. And for the blessedness of Obed-edom to reach King David’s ears after 3 months, it means that it was non-stop blessing from the get go.
*SHOW SLIDE*
So why was the ark such a blessing to Obed-edom?
The Bible does not say. But we have just seen 4 groups of people who were not blessed while the ark was with them.
The Philistines treated the ark as one god amongst others.
The men of Beth-shemesh treated the ark with a casual attitude.
The house of Abinadab in Kiriath-jearim had the ark for 99 years and 6 months. That’s 1194 months total, spanning the entirety of Saul’s reign. But Saul didn’t care about the ark, and left it there the whole time.
And furthermore, the Bible doesn’t say if the house of Abinadab were cursed or blessed. They didn’t really experience any effect from the ark. Is that normal? Is it normal to have God’s presence in your life, but to no effect?
King David, on the other hand, was eager to bring the ark to Jerusalem. But did it using his own zeal and manmade methods, and when it failed, he became angry and upset.
So it makes sense to say that everything these people did, Obed-edom did the opposite. He learned how not to host the ark of the covenant. And if we follow Obed-edom’s example, then we will be so blessed. Not three months later, but immediately. Tonight, even.
So how should we host the presence of the Lord?
Unlike the Philistines, we should tear down all our idols before God.
Unlike the men of Beth-shemesh, we should treat His presence with holy fear and reverence.
Unlike King Saul, we should be attentive to the Lord’s presence in our lives.
Unlike King David in his first attempt, we should not let our zeal go ahead of us, but only serve God according to His method and timing.
May we be a church that hosts the holy presence of God in a way that He deserves. And may He be pleased to dwell among us, and to bless us.
