How not to eliminate the Wrath of God, 1 Sam. 6

Introduction

I think it necessary for us to read Romans 1:18-32 in order for us to get a proper understanding of what is going on in the minds of the Philistines and their attempt at finding escape from divine judgment.

It is the same escape we all want to find but it is elusive until we find it in Jesus Christ.

As I said I entitled this the way I did because this is an example of unbelievers trying to find peace with God in the wrong way. Remember, these are spiritually dark and dead people. They cannot understand the mind of God nor know what pleases God on their own. They have to find it from someone else: Faith Comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. As we will see they are grasping at straws.

I. The wrath of God against the Philistines, 1-9

A. Here is the situation.

The Ark of God is still in Philistia and has been tearing up the Philistines for 7 months. They have had enough misery and death and they want to get rid of it.

We know that Jesus came to abolish death and take away the fear of death, Heb. 2:15

They don’t.

Death has been stalking them intently for 7 months. What is interesting is that it has taken them 7 months of death and misery to finally decide they have had enough.

But that is the resiliency of sin. We hang on to sin as though it is our lifeline, but in reality it is our path to death. People are so tied to their sin that even when it is killing them they do not want to let go. And that is what is happened here. They have been dying in droves for seven months and they just now are consulting the priests and diviners to figure out how to get rid of the ark, which they think is the source of their death.

But sin is like that isn’t it.

A drug addict still goes back for the meth or crack even though they know it is killing them.

The death warnings are put on the outside of packs of cigarettes but people still buy them and smoke.

Alcohol destroys and kills people yet a drunk still goes back for more though he or she knows it is destroying them.

It is the human heart, Romans 1, 3 give us a glimpse of the heart of man.

It is not what is on the outside of man that is the issue, but the inside of a man. Matt. 15:19 Jesus explains that to us.

So what is happening here is that for seven months the Philistines did not want to let go of their prized possession. It was the sole mark of their pseudo superiority over Israel and even the nations around them. They are the only ones at the time who could boast that they defeated the God of Israel. Their proof was possession of the Ark. They weren’t about to let that treasure go even though it was killing them every day.

And by the way God was being gracious to them. He killed others for mishandling the ark on the spot, as in Uzzah, or later on the 50,700 citizens of Beth-Shemesh just for looking in the ark. God could have simply wiped all the nation of Philistia out for their affront to God. But He doesn’t. This was God being longsuffering to them. This was God giving them seven months of grace to get things right.

The same thing could be said about any one of us. God has been gracious to us. We deserve death, but through faith in Jesus Christ we instead get life eternal.

What do you do when you finally come to the end of your rope and you have had enough of the misery.

Some people take their lives thinking that they will escape the pain, but they only enter into eternal pain.

Some people try to drown it in drugs or alcohol or sex or dangerous thrill seeking.

Some try religion but that just puts them in deeper bondage.

God offers another way. That way is Jesus. His way is the way to freedom. The weight you have been carrying around all your, called a yoke of bondage is heavy and unbearable. Jesus yoke is easy and light.

The Philistines try to get this unbearable yoke off of them this text is their last ditch attempt.

How do you escape the wrath of God?

B. Consult counselors who are in spiritual darkness themselves, 2

priests/cohen - of Dagon, consulting the writings of the gods to determine choices.

diviners-those who practice divination, Balaam was a diviner, Num. 22:7: 23:23; Josh. 13:22

The woman at Endor was a diviner, 1 Sam. 28:8

  The major prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel and the minor prophets Micah and Zechariah all mention qāsam in a derogatory sense. In Isa 3:2 the “diviner” is grouped with the honorable professions of soldier, judge, prophet, and elder as well as enchanter (v. 3). But the “diviners” receive God’s curse in Isa 44:25.

Jeremiah’s two uses are in 27:9 and 29:8, where he compares his own prophecy with those who would rather offer god omens.

Ezekiel uses qāsam in 13:9; 21:21, 23, 29; and 22:28. The references in chap. 21 are to Nebuchadnezzar’s “divination” with arrows. Apparently he chose the route of attack by flinging down a handful of arrows. This is the only passage to hint at the actual process involved in qasani.

Micah 3:6f. and Zech 10:2 also speak disparagingly of the “diviners” comparing them with the false prophets and dreamers.1

1 Alden, R. (1999). 2044 קָסַם. R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 805). Chicago: Moody Press.

These are spiritually darkened men, whom the Lord detests, Dt. 18:9-19.

Thus, these diviners are officials who look to various implements to determine the future or to give guidance. They consult spirits, visions, uses arrows, liver, or teraphim for direction as well as dreams.

In other words, they go to the wise men in their culture whom they think will give them the correct instructions in how to deal with the Ark as to how to send it back to its place.

C. Offer gifts that cannot atone for sin v.3-9

The advice is to not send it away empty.

the word empty, to be empty handed, or to have nothing, without an offering. Used in Ex. 3:21 with reference to the exodus, as well as in Ex. 23:15 where they are warned not to appear before the Lord empty handed. Again the use of the word appears to be an allusion to the exodus experience. Implying the Philistines have some knowledge of what took place and possibly some knowledge of the worship requirements of Israel.

They knew sending the ark back to God, which is what is really meant when they talk about sending it back to its place, required an offering of some sort. I think that would probably be the protocol for action toward their own god. They would not think of going before Dagon without some offering of appeasement to him. And so common sense in religion would imply that knowledge even to Jehovah.

Yet they knew they needed to pay honor to the Lord.

The gift implies cost and therefore sacrifice on the part of the giver. it implies giving what the God requires. In their minds God is angry and that is why He is killing them. So they have to do something to assuage His wrath.

(But we know that we can bring nothing to God to turn His wrath away from us. Only Jesus can do that because He took God’s wrath in our place.)

They deduce a guilt offering is to be sent.

guilt offering had to be sent.

The guilt offering/asham- guilt or trespass, refers to compensation or restitution for some offense. Normally it was a ram, along with the restitution of 1/5 of its value.

Lev. 5:15, 16 ; Lv 5, 6:10; 7, 14, 19:21, 22 Nu 6:12; 18:9 (P), & Ez 40:39; 42:13; 44:29; 46:20, cf. Ezr 10:191

1 Brown, F., Driver, S. R., & Briggs, C. A. (1977). Enhanced Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (p. 79). Oxford: Clarendon Press.

The Messianic servant offers himself as an אשׁם in compensation for the sins of the people, interposing for them as their substitute Is 53:101

1 Brown, F., Driver, S. R., & Briggs, C. A. (1977). Enhanced Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (p. 80). Oxford: Clarendon Press.

The guilt offering implies the guilt of the offerer of offending God in this case. It acknowledges that God is the superior and it is to be intended to compensate for the offense and thus make atonement and grant forgiveness for the sin.

They knew then that they had offended God in some fashion.

After all the law of God is written on the heart. Romans 2:15

15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them

the last half of the verse promises healing. How would they know they would be healed?

Their thinking was that if their guilt is compensated for by their guilt offering then

healed-rapha-they will be healed-to be stitched together, or to restore to health as in repaired, In Dt. 28:27 The LORD will strike you with the boils of Egypt, and with tumors and scabs and itch, of which you cannot be healed.

But in Isaiah 53:5 ‘with his stripes we are healed.”

“In many of the occurences, it is God who causes healing or afflicts with disease or catastrophes which cannot be healed but by divine intervention.” (TWOT)

known- be able to discern or recognize come to understand

Here is the question they are seeking answers to;

Why his hand is not turned away from you/removed from you?

These two predictions you will be healed and you will know are assertions that if they get the offering right then those two things will come to pass.

This addresses two things:

-the pain and suffering they are enduring

-the question of why this happened, what did they do wrong, guilt.

This brings up the next question: v4

“What is the guilt offering they were to return to him?” In other words, what will turn away God’s wrath from them?

That is a good question. One certainly wouldn’t want to waste time on the wrong offering. In Leviticus God was very specific about what was to constitute a guilt offering. They obviously have not consulted with the Jewish priests about this. They come up with their best pagan guesstimate.

five gold tumors and five mice according to the number of Philistine kings. The kings represented their people as leaders. so that makes the number five.

why images of mice and the tumors?

because - one plague was on all and on your leaders.

v.5

So make images of the tumors and images of the mice that are destroying the land.

first thought is that the tumors represented the image of the thing that was tormenting them, the mice may indicate how they think the tumors came to them. They also were indications of the power they thought was in them.

and you shall give glory/cabod to the God of Israel.

Give glory to the God of Israel. the idea of giving weight to God. That is ascribing power and honor to the Lord.

perhaps He will lighten -means to lower, thus to ease the pressure of the judgments in this case. to be slight, or of little account, swift, I think the idea is that potentially God will remove the judgments from upon them.

in three areas: them, their gods and their land.

These priests also knew Jewish history for they knew what had happened to the Egyptians when Israel wanted to go and they wouldn’t let them. They remembered what God did to them.

So their idea was similar, As the Egyptians had to let Israel go, so they figured to let the ark go .

Why do you harden/cabod your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharoah hardened their hearts? When He dealt severely with them did they send them away and they went? Answer, YES.

The word harden=cabod heavy, in other words they refused to give in to God’s demands and He made them suffer for it until they relented and sent them away. Ex. 8:15, 32; [Ex. 7:13; 9:7, 35; 10:1]

Again this is clear reference to the Exodus experience. This was like a second exodus symbolic of Israel leaving the place of bondage. the exodus of the Ark from the land of Philistia to the promised land is like the former exodus and points to the future exodus or entrance into the true promised land.

v.7

Make a new wagon,

take two cows that have calves, milk cows, and have never been used for work, never had a yoke on them.

bind the cows to the wagon

bring their calves home from them

The cows with calves instead of bulls would show the hand of God even more because the cow would naturally incline to return to the calves who surely would have been bawling. For them to go straight on the path would surely indicate the hand of God directing them. Also the fact that these cows had not been trained either to work together under the yoke nor to wear and pull a load is another factor that shows if they walk straight and so on that God is the one directing them.

v.8

take the ark of YHWH and put it on the wagon

put the articles of gold which you are returning for a guilt offering into the box at its side. Then send it and it will go.

v.9

And you will see if it goes up the way of its borders to Beth Shemesh-a priests city on the border of Judah and Dan, Josh. 15:10 ,

He has done to us this great evil.

And if not then we will know that it is not His hand that has struck us. An occurence it was to us.

The idea here is that if the cattle do not return to Beth Shemesh then they would conclude the plague was just a chance occurence of life. But it it does then they know it was from YHWH.

two purposes for this: 1. to get rid of the cause of their misery and 2. to determine if this deadly plague was from the YHWH.

D. Apply the wrong counsel 10-12

The men do exactly as the priests and diviners said to do.

E. The power of God shows up

in that the cows

1. go straight on the one highway that leads to Beth-Shemesh.

2. They walked bellowing, ie. for their calves yet they continued

3. they didn’t turn to the right or the left

I don’t know if you have ever seen this, but they don’t usually walk in a straight line. They wander as grazers. If they don’t want to go somewhere they will turn back whenever they can and will keep trying to do so. It is only as they are going where their mind is at that they will go straight on.

4. the power of God witnessed

The leaders are witness to the power of God.

What a marvelous picture of the grace of God in the life of an unbeliever. They would have to conclude according to their own counselors that God is the one who caused their misery and who would enable them to start healing. However, we know that the only true healing comes through faith in Jesus Christ. So they had more evidence for the power of God in their lives, but it is not enough to bring them to repentance. They will still be divinely judged years later as recorded in chapter 7. It is not enough to just see the power of God you see. The pharisees, Judas Iscariot, the leaders of Israel during the Exodus all witnessed the power of God but still didn’t believe. Neither do these. For all their effort the wrath of God may appear to be relieved but it is only delayed.

Conclusion

So when you feel the hot breath of God’s wrath on the nape of your neck and you have had enough. It will not work to try your own home remedy.

the only true solution to avoid the wrath of God is look to the cross. He took your sins and nailed them to His cross. He stood between you and God and took the wrath you deserved.

He was bruised for our iniquities and by His stripes we are healed.

You want to avoid God’s wrath?

Repent and believe in Jesus Christ