Glory Has Been Exiled

Intro

It's easy to take things for granted. You get used to something being around, and so you don't value it as much until it has been taken away. In ways we never thought we would, we have learned things that we had taken for granted. COVID forced a change that upset "normal" life. Now completely ordinary things are viewed as dangerous and unfriendly, like shaking hands with strangers when you meet them. Perhaps most of all, we took for granted the ability to do what we wanted without fear that it might lead to spreading a virus—things like gathering with family at the holidays, walking the stage at graduation, or just attending school in person.

Given our tendency to forget the lessons we have just learned very quickly, I have no doubt that we will go right back to taking these things for granted once things do get back to "normal." But it's not just because of COVID that we take things for granted. We do this in relationships as well. You grow accustomed to a spouse and the love and support they give you, that we often take them for granted. Even worse, we do this with God. For as Paul has said, "in him, we live, and move, and have our being." We especially take for granted the holiness of God—that God will not dwell amongst a sinful people.

We are not that far removed from Israel, who are now under God's judgment because of the sins of Eli's house. Today completes the story of the defeat of Israel by the Philistines, the death of Eli's two sons, and the capture of the Ark of God. You see Israel took God for granted. Specifically, they took the fact that God dwelled with them, that he caused his glory-presence to be with them, for granted. They thought they could use God for their own purposes and found instead that God had already departed. God will not tolerate sin, as much as it seems like he does. Since God will not dwell in the midst of a sinful people, we must be a people marked by repentance.

So in our text today we see that God fulfills his Word to Eli's house and in a very visible way the glory departs out of Israel. Let's turn to 1 Samuel 4:12-22, and conclude this story of the judgment on Eli's house.

1 Sam 4:12-22

Summary of Text

Last week Israel was bold enough to try to use the ark of God as a good luck charm but were soundly beaten in battle. Our text comes on the heels of that battle when all Israel scatters to their homes. A man of Benjamin runs to Shiloh, probably close to a marathon-length distance, and arrives huffing and puffing, with dirt on his head (v. 12). At the same time, Eli is waiting very anxious, not over his sons, but over the news of the Ark (v. 13) after the noise of the outcry from the news the messenger of Benjamin brought back to the city, Eli wonders what has happened. The narrator is kind enough to tell us of Eli's old age and his dim eyesight (v. 15).

The messenger makes his way to Eli to finally give him the news. Explaining that he had just returned from the battle he gives, what we called in the army a sit-rep, a situation report. He recounts what took place in battle, that Israel was soundly defeated by the Philistines, with many being killed, including Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phinehas. He leaves the worst news for last, for the Philistines had also captured the Ark of the covenant (v. 17).

That was it for Eli, at the news of the ark's capture, he fell over backward and broke his neck, for remember he was a heavy man. He had Judged Israel for forty years (v. 18). At that same moment, the wife of Phinehas, who was close to giving birth, at hearing the news goes into hard labor (v. 19). In the ancient world, childbirth was very risky, both to the mother and child. Just before dying the nurse/mid-wives try to console the new mother with the news that she has had a son (v. 20). But that's not encouraging. She names her son Ichabod saying "the glory has departed from Israel." because the ark had been captured, and the deaths of her husband and father-in-law.

We notice several important things from this episode in the ark narrative. First, God fulfills his word. And second, Glory departs Israel, but not in the way you might think.

God Fulfills His Word

The sign that God will judge Eli's house was revealed to Eli by the prophet in 1 Sam. 2:34. It must have been in the back of his mind, as Eli waits anxiously for the news concerning the ark, which his two sons had taken into battle. For what greater opportunity for two sons to die at the same time than in battle. His heart trembles because Eli knows full well that the word which the Lord has spoken will be accomplished. He confessed as much to Samuel in 3:18 saying, "it is the Lord. Let Him do what seems good to him."

Isaiah 55:11 ESV

11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

When God determines something, it comes to pass; there is no wiggling out of it, no getting around it. This is both a comfort and a terror, depending on who you are—or I should say depending on whose you are.

What is the word that God has spoken concerning sinners? In Ex. 34:7, he "will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” He also says "do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Cor. 6:9-10). And the last word spoken to rebellious sinners will be "Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels" (Mt. 25:41).

As moderns and even post-moderns, we have sought a radical redefinition of morality, such that we are now quite comfortable calling evil good and good evil. However, no such redefinition will stand at the bar of God. One day, everyone will bow the knee to Christ as Lord. The question is always will it be done now willingly or forced on that great day when he comes to speak the final word. For no one will escape judgment, it is either "well done" or "depart from me." And so God's word to sinners can be a terror, coming in the fury of his wrath.

But it can also be a word of salvation—a word spoken by a God who has freely given his only Son as payment for our sins. To us, his word is a gracious word of comfort and Hope. For it is the word of the Gospel. It began in the garden with a promise. A promise that God would one day send an offspring of the woman who would crush the head of the serpent. Then it was a covenant promise that we would be his people, and he would be our God. In fact, promise was heaped upon promise, all culminating in the sending of his Son. Who became sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. As Paul said, "For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory" (2 Cor. 1:20). And we have the comfort and hope that even though in this life we will have troubles, God is at work in the midst of them—working all things together for our good.

The word of God will be fulfilled; nothing can thwart his plans or throw him off course. Some of you act like somehow the election of Biden has upset the fabric of our world. But nothing could be farther from the truth. God was not surprised at the outcome of our elections. But like it or not, Joe Biden is our president, and as such, is worthy of our honor and respect. For trust me, Biden has not yet reached the depravity of a Nero, whose own Mother feared Him, and whose persecution of the Christians included burning them alive as candles at his garden parties. It is his authority that Paul commands the saints to respect, and whom Peter commands to honor.

If God has spoken the good word over you in baptism, marking you with his triune name, then what can ever separate you from the promises of God? Or what can keep his word from being fulfilled for you which says, "well done good and faithful servant...enter into the joy of your master."

Glory is Exiled

The word that God fulfilled to the house of Eli had devastating consequences also for all of Israel. I don't know about you, but I certainly would not like to have the name, Ichabod. You would go down as a walking reminder that the glory had departed from Israel. We saw last week that rather than be used by Israel for their own purposes, God allowed the ark of the covenant to be captured by the philistines. This news caused Eli to fall to his death and his daughter-in-law to give birth in anguish. But it begs the question, was she right? Did the glory depart when the ark was taken?

What she said was true. The glory had departed, but had it departed because the ark was captured? Or was the capture of the ark the result of God having already departed from Israel? You see, our sinful tendency is to take the things that God has given us to draw closer to him, and he to us, and use them as handles to grab hold of God and get him to do our will instead of the other way around.

The ark was a symbol of the glory-presence of God. David describes it as the footstool of God, as does Isaiah. There above the Cherubim God caused his glory to dwell in the holy of holies, within the tabernacle, which was in the midst of all Israel. But as is clear from the witness of scripture and history, soon the thing signified, God's glory-presence, is to closely identified with the sign, such that they become one. Israel thought they had contained God in a box, and therefore they could get God to do their will, by taking the Ark into battle.

But as is clear from the story thus far, Israel until Samuel lacked the presence of God, because they lacked faithful priests and prophets who would mediate between God and man. Ichabod could have been writ large over all of Israel in the dark period before God raises up a faithful prophet, priest, and soon king. Israel's defeat before the philistines and the capture of the ark was only proof that God had already departed, and was no longer dwelling with them. For as it says in Ps. 5:4. "you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you." And as 1 John 1:5 says, "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all." The great Scottish Pastor of the 19th century said this:

"By terrible things in righteousness the Israelites were once and again made to learn this salutary lesson, when, rather than appear their patron and guardian in sin, the Lord showed that He would, in a manner, leave His throne empty, and surrender His glory into the enemy’s hands. The cloud of glory was still but a symbol, which must disappear when the glorious Being who resided in it could no longer righteously manifest His goodness, and the ark itself, and the tabernacle that contained it, became as a common thing. Nor is it otherwise now, whenever men come to hold the truth of God in unrighteousness. The partial extent to which they exercise belief in the truth utterly fails to secure for them any real tokens of His regard. Even while they handle the symbols of His presence, He is to them an absent God; and when the hour of trial comes, they find themselves forsaken and desolate" (Fairbairn, Typology, 2.335).

The whole purpose of our redemption, including our on-going sanctification, is to make us fit for the presence of God. For "when he appears we shall be like him because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure" (1 Jn. 3:2-3). Remember when we speak of Israel, we are talking about the church in the old covenant. And that means that Ichabod, the glory has departed, is said of the covenant people of God, not some pagan nation. But because of their sin, God no longer dwells in their midst—God is not with them—but as we shall see, God is still for them. For even God's absence has a purpose.

The confession in its chapter on providence says, "

"The most wise, righteous, and gracious God doth oftentimes leave, for a season, His own children to manifold temptations, and the corruption of their own hearts, to chastise them for their former sins, or to discover unto them the hidden strength of corruption and deceitfulness of their hearts, that they may be humbled; and, to raise them to a more close and constant dependence for their support upon Himself, and to make them more watchful against all future occasions of sin, and for sundry other just and holy ends" (WCF, CH 5, Sec. 5).

You see, God sometimes withdraws himself from his Children, but notice what the confession says, that it is all for their good. Perhaps you are going through such a time yourself. You find God to be distant, silent, and seemingly unaware of your cries for help. I daresay that God is there even in the silence and is wooing you off of the self, towards greater dependence on him. Perhaps you have sin that you have nourished and kept alive. Sin you should have killed long ago persists long after its expiration date, and now it is rotten away at you. So much so that your sins have caused a separation between you and God. Let me encourage you that it is not too late.

Conclusion

Spoiler alert, the ark comes back, and when it does, Samuel said this:

1 Samuel 7:3–4 ESV

3 And Samuel said to all the house of Israel, “If you are returning to the Lord with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you and direct your heart to the Lord and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.” 4 So the people of Israel put away the Baals and the Ashtaroth, and they served the Lord only.

So I say with him put away the idols of your heart, and direct your heart to the Lord and serve him only. The exile that the ark faced in the house of the philistines is a picture of the exile our Lord Jesus faced in his death. But what looked like a defeat was actually Jesus binding the strong man so that he could plunder his house. Jesus endured the alienation of death so that you don't have to. To the disciples that dark night at Gethsemane looked as bleak as the story here today, of the capture of the ark. But death is not the end. And I daresay the darkness of a hard providence, such as the death of a loved one, or the pain of sickness, or the abuse from broken relationships, is not the end either. Those light momentary afflictions are preparing for you an eternal weight of Glory—the reality of which cannot be compared to anything in this life. So do not grieve as those who have no Hope—but look on the horizon for glory's return. Amen.