Superstition vs. Submission: How Do We Approach God? 1 Samuel 6:1-21

Introduction

The Philistines had just endured the longest 7 months of their lives when they had captured the Ark of God and paraded it through their cities. They were tormented by nimrods and they moved the ark from city to city believing that it was just coincidence that this was happening. They had learned one thing, the God of Israel was superior to their gods as he humiliated the gods of the Philistines.

This morning we are going to see the Philistines plan to return the ark, and the results of not taking the Holiness of the Lord seriously.

The Plan vs. 1-18

Between the battle in which the Ark was captured to the beginning of chapter 6 was seven months

In the seven months the ark had gone to at least three cities that we find recorded in chapter 6

It started in Ashdod with the principle god of the Philistines, Dagon. They put the ark in with Dagon and the next morning when they came to worship Dagon they found him laying face down, they set him back up and the next morning they came back and Dagon was face down again, but its head and hands were at the threshold of the shrine. God wasn’t going to be mocked by their worship of a false God. While the ark was in Ashdod the hand of the Lord was heavy against the philistines, they ended up with emerods and sent the ark to Gath

While in Gath, the Lords hand was heavy against that city as well, there was great destruction, the men of the city were smote with emerods, so they decided to send the ark to Ekron.

The Ekronites were not happy about the ark coming to their city as they had heard about what had happened in both Ashdod and Gath. While in Ekron their was deadly destruction against them, the bible says the hand of the Lord was “very heavy there” Every man that didn’t die was smote by emerods and the cry of that city went up to heaven.

Every city that recieved the ark wanted to send it back to Israel because of the great pain it had caused them. God showed them that He was indeed the true and the living God, who can defeat any little god.

In verse 2 we see the leaders of the Philistines meeting with their priest and diviners to see what they need to do to send the Ark back

A diviner is “One who professes divination; one who pretends to predict events, or to reveal occult things, by the aid of superior beings, or of supernatural means.”

The Philistines plan vs. 3-9

The priest and diviners tell them when they send the ark back, not to send it back empty but with a trespass offering so they could be healed and then they would know his hand was revealed from them

In Leviticus we read about the trespass offering that was offered to God and the purpose was atonement for sin against God or others, it was given by the Israelites and a ram without blemish was the offering and if restitution was required there would be a 20% add on to whatever was required. This offering was clearly commanded by God in Leviticus 5-7.

Here in 1 Samuel 6 we find a trespass offering mentioned but it was for a different purpose than the one designed by God. The reason the Philistines were sending a trespass offering was they were seeking relief from divine judgement, and instead of a ram we will see that they offered golden statues instead which was prescribed by God, but rather by the Philistines priests.

The Philistines asked their priests what they should send as the trespass offering and look what they told them to send.vs. 4b-5

They were to make 5 golden images of the emerods or boils that they had been plagued with and then 5 images of the mice that plagued their land as well.

The reason it was 5 of each is because there were 5 lords of the Philistines, apparently the plague was on all the people of the land.

They were told to give glory to God and peradventure or maybe the Lord would lighten his hand off them, their gods, and their land

Their trespass offering was a superstition to lighten the hand of the lord from off them.

In verse 6 their priests warn them to not harden their hearts against God and reminds them of The Israelites time in Egypt

The water turned to blood

The frogs

The lice

The flies

The cows dying

the boils

the hail storm

locust

darkness

death of the firstborn

Pharoah continued to harden his heart against God until he finally had to let Gods people go

In verse 7-9 they come up with a way to see if it was God who sent the plague or if it was all chance what had happened to them

They still weren’t convinced that what had happened was God punishing them, so they came up with a plan that would finally prove whether or not it was God who had plague their people.

They would make a new car and they would attach to that cart two milch kine or milk cows that had never had a yoke on them, in other words they had never carried anything, because that wasn’t their purpose. When they tied the two milch kine to the cart they would take their calves away from them.

Next they would put the ark of the covenant on the cart, they would put jewels on the cart and they would return the trespass offering.

The deciding factor would be where the cows went, if they went up by the way of their own coast to Beth-Shemesh then they would know it was God who had judged them, but if the cows didn’t go to Beth-Shemesh than it was just chance that this happened to us .

When you consider that the cows were nursing their calves and lowing for them, and that the cows had never drawn a cart before, the odds were that they wouldn’t go down the road that led from Ekron to Beth-Shemesh. The five lords and their wise men had it all figured out.

In verse 10-12 we see the Philistines plan in action

They seperated the cows from their calves, hooked up the cart with the ark on top and took the cows to the way that led them to Beth-Shememsh. To the Philistines suprise the cows didn’t turn back for their calves, but went towards Beth-Shemesh and they followed them all the way.

In verses 13-15 we see the Ark returned to Israel

As they are working in the fields they look off in the distance and see the ark returning and they rejoiced to see it.

When the ark returned they made burnt offerings for it and offered the kine as the offering

Weirsbe said this “Grateful that the throne of God had been restored to His people, the Levites offered the cows as burnt offerings to the Lord, and in their joy ignored the fact that only male animals could legally be offered (Lev. 1:3). Other men from the city brought additional sacrifices. They also put the golden gifts on the rock and offered them to the Lord. Since Shiloh had been destroyed and there was no sanctuary available for worship, they used the large rock as an altar, and the Lord accepted their offerings. What the Lord is looking for is a broken and contrite heart, not a slavish obedience to the letter of the law (Ps. 51:15–17).”

In verse 16-18 we see the Philistines return and the trespass offering the philistines sent offered.

They didn’t have a temple to worship so they used a stone instead

The Holy wrath at God vs. 19-21

The Men of Beth-Shemesh should have covered the ark as it was only supposed to be seen of the high priest, and this mistake cost over 50,000 people their lives

One commentator wrote this “The awesome event described here certainly warns us against religious curiosity and lack of reverence for the Lord. “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb. 10:31). In today’s Western society, with its informality and lack of respect for the sacred, it’s easy even for believers to get so “chummy” with the Lord that they forget He is “high and lifted up.”

In verse 20 they ask the all important question “who is able to stand before this holy Lord God?”

Maybe they had learned their lesson that God is Holy and we must approach Him with reverence.

I’m thankful this morning that we can approach God through the mediator Jesus Christ who is continually making intercession for us. None of us are worthy or holy enough to approach God, but when we accept Jesus Christ as our personal saviour, by believing that Jesus Christ died for our sins, was buried and 3 days later he rose from the dead we have access to the throne through Jesus Christ.

Conclusion

Maybe you’re here this morning and your’e a christian, but you don’t treat God with the reverence and respect he is worthy of. Ask God this morning to help you with this.

Maybe your’e here this morning and you have never trusted Christ as your personal saviour, going to church won’t save you, getting baptized doesn’t save you, only trust in Christ for your salvation will save you. Come this morning and we can show you from God’s word how you can be saved.