The Hand of God, Five Gold Tumors & Five Gold Rats, and a Stone Named Ebenezer, Part 2
Notes
Transcript
Last Sunday we started through these three chapters—1 Samuel 5-7—following the ark around the Philistine countryside and back to Israel. It’s quite a story; a story of the power and holiness of the Lord. The Lord God is more powerful than, more holy than anyone can begin to imagine.
The Philistines can’t handle Yahweh, the covenant God of Israel. Yahweh’s power is unmatched. His holiness is not to be missed. The god of the Philistines is shown to be what it is: weak and lifeless; powerless and puny.
With the ark of the Lord in their presence, the enemies of the Lord’s people are struck with tumors (possibly hemorrhoids) and many of them die. Then there are 70 among the Lord’s people who die because they forget His holiness and gaze at the uncovered ark like a bunch of dummies.
These chapters teach us that
The Lord is more powerful, more holy, and more merciful than anyone can begin to imagine.
The Lord is more powerful, more holy, and more merciful than anyone can begin to imagine.
We see His mercy on full display in our text for today. We see His power and His holiness for sure, but overwhelmingly apparent in the last chapter of our text is the Lord’s great mercy.
Struck with the power and the holiness of God, the people of Beth Shemesh long to be rid of the ark (just like the Philistines). This is a shame—an unspeakable shame. Just like the Philistines, the residents of Beth Shemesh pass the ark off to another Israelite town.
1 Samuel 6:21–7:2 (NIV)
21 Then they sent messengers to the people of Kiriath Jearim, saying, “The Philistines have returned the ark of the Lord. Come down and take it up to your town.”
1 So the men of Kiriath Jearim came and took up the ark of the Lord. They brought it to Abinadab’s house on the hill and consecrated Eleazar his son to guard the ark of the Lord. 2 The ark remained at Kiriath Jearim a long time—twenty years in all.
The LORD is Patiently Merciful
The LORD is Patiently Merciful
The sheer fact that the people of God wish to be rid of the ark should tip us off to the mercy of God. It could have been a lot more than 70 people of Beth Shemesh that died, if not for the mercy of God.
Not only is the Lord merciful—more merciful than we can imagine—but He’s awful patient in His mercy. The ark remained at Kiriath Jearim a long time—twenty years in all.
Can you think back 20 years? Think about all that has happened in your life over the last two decades.
20 years ago, I had just started college. An entire saga, a whole soap opera has taken place in those 20 years. It’s crazy to me now as I look back.
For 20 years, the ark of the covenant was in Kiriath Jearim—a safe 10-miles away from the people of Beth Shemesh.
For 20 years, the people of Israel were content with this. They did some things right; they consecrated Eleazer to guard the ark. They made Abinadab’s son a priest to look after the ark, apparently the way the Lord would have it looked after.
They did some things right, but like the cycle of sin in the book of Judges the people ostensibly did whatever they wanted for these 20 years. Here is a cycle of sin and downward spiral. Samuel being the last of the judges/leaders of Israel would be the God-provided judge to bring the Lord’s deliverance.
But, man. 20 years. Two whole decades. A long time. It was a long time in which the people of God weren’t behaving like the people of God.
Samuel is going to refer to the peoples’ worship of foreign gods in the next few verses. It seems, then, what the Israelites are doing in these 20 years is living in full-out disobedience to the One True God.
20 years. For 20 years the Lord is patiently merciful with His people. A merciless god would have become fed-up with this people and wiped them all out and it wouldn’t have taken 20 years to do so. A merciless god would have been done with us, a sinful, stiff-necked people, long, long ago.
But Our God, the One True and Only God, is merciful. Patiently merciful.
Paul asks in his letter to the churches in Rome: Romans 2:4 “Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?”
The Lord God is merciful, patient, and kind. His kindness, His mercy, is meant to lead us to repentance. That’s the idea. And it works.
2 The ark remained at Kiriath Jearim a long time—twenty years in all.
Then all the people of Israel turned back to the Lord. 3 So Samuel said to all the Israelites, “If you are returning to the Lord with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the Lord and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.” 4 So the Israelites put away their Baals and Ashtoreths, and served the Lord only.
5 Then Samuel said, “Assemble all Israel at Mizpah, and I will intercede with the Lord for you.” 6 When they had assembled at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out before the Lord. On that day they fasted and there they confessed, “We have sinned against the Lord.” Now Samuel was serving as leader of Israel at Mizpah.
The LORD’s Mercy Leads to Repentance
The LORD’s Mercy Leads to Repentance
70 Israelite men, apart from the mercy of God, would have been an entire nation. But for the mercy of God, there should have been another flood. Wipe ‘em all out. The whole lot of them should’ve bit it for the way in which they treated the Lord Yahweh.
The ark remained at Kiriath Jearim a long time—twenty years in all. THEN...
It seems that Samuel probably wasn’t just sitting around playing Bridge or shuffle-board for these 20 years. I think these 20 years looked for Samuel like what he did the rest of his time:
15 Samuel continued as Israel’s leader all the days of his life. 16 From year to year he went on a circuit from Bethel to Gilgal to Mizpah, judging Israel in all those places. 17 But he always went back to Ramah, where his home was, and there he also held court for Israel. And he built an altar there to the Lord.
Samuel was most likely preaching all over Israel during the 20 years the ark was in Kiriath Jearim. Verse 3 condenses his activity to this one moment at the end of the 20-year period. Pleading for repentance was his message.
The mercy of God—the patient mercy of Yahweh—has accompanied Samuel’s preaching and God’s mercy has brought the people to repentance. Then all the people of Israel turned back to the Lord.
Repentance: they turned back to the Lord. This is the picture. Turning from sin, from the path you’re on, and turning back to the Lord. This is what repentance looks like for every single person. Led by the mercy of God, they turn around, flee from sin, and run to the Lord.
It was, from Samuel’s perspective, a wholehearted return: if you are returning to the Lord with all your hearts...
It’s not a merely emotional response. It’s not just tears and sorrow, though I’m sure that’s part of it. It’s the whole of who they are. Samuel tells them a whole-hearted return to the Lord will look a certain way.
It’s tangible. Repentance is more than tears and sorrow; it’s action. It’s forsaking the sin and the idolatry that has replaced or removed worship to the Lord alone. Rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths.
Idolatry was a problem then and it’s a problem now. And understandably. Idolatry is appealing.
“One of the appeals of idolatry is that with it, creating our own version of god means we can tame it. A created thing can only do what we allow it to do unlike the true God who isn’t manageable. He can’t be put on a shelf or told to hush. We want to worship what we can control.” -Jackie Hill Perry
Genuine repentance always leads to concrete action. It’s tangible. Jacob demanded this kind of repentance (Genesis 35), and so did Joshua (Joshua 24). In this case, and in most cases where repentance is necessary, the demand is simply the repetition of the 1st of the 10 Commandments:
3 “You shall have no other gods before me.
It’s the same demand Jesus placed on those who would follow Him:
37 “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
Paul would (Romans 12:1), in view of God’s mercy—the mercy that leads us to repentance in the first place—urge [us], brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer [our] bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is [our] true and proper worship.
For the Israelites to put away the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths was quite difficult. Worship of these false gods involved a lot of pleasurable activity. In practicing the Caananite religion you got to visit the “chapel” and the brothel both (sometimes simultaneously) and call it “worship.”
To peel people from a cult that encouraged such behavior couldn’t just happen. It would take a supernatural power and drawing away. It’s the Lord, in His mercy, that calls people to a repentance—a break and turning from what has stolen your affection and allegiance.
Only the Lord brings about that kind of repentance.
True repentance is exclusive. Commit yourselves to the Lord and serve Him ONLY.
Dale Ralph Davis calls this “a strange repentance. Only Yahweh lays this either-or, all-or-nothing demand on His people. The other gods and goddesses of the ancient Near East were not so picky and intolerant. A pagan devotee was welcome to address multiple gods and goddesses in prayer simultaneously. It is only in Israel that we meet this jealous God (which means He loves His people too much to tolerate their cuddling up with rivals).”
Samuel calls the people to make sure they serve the Lord only. And so it is. So the Israelites put away their Baals and Ashtoreths, and served the Lord only.
True repentance, mercy-motivated repentance, is confessional.
The people drew water and poured it out before the Lord…they fasted and there they confessed, “We have sinned against the Lord.”
We’re not sure what the pouring of water means exactly; we don’t see this elsewhere in the Bible. Along with fasting it would seem to signify sorrow and a desire to seek God.
Their confession is clear: “We have sinned against the Lord.”
This is repentance: admitting wrongdoing. Instead of enjoying the sin, the idolatry, the adulterous behavior of worshipping other gods and idols; instead of persisting in sin, they confess it. They realize they have sinned against the Lord and they choose to turn from sin and turn toward the Lord.
This is, without question, one of the clearest examples of mercy-motivated repentance in the Bible. This is evidence of true repentance.
7 When the Philistines heard that Israel had assembled at Mizpah, the rulers of the Philistines came up to attack them. When the Israelites heard of it, they were afraid because of the Philistines. 8 They said to Samuel, “Do not stop crying out to the Lord our God for us, that he may rescue us from the hand of the Philistines.” 9 Then Samuel took a suckling lamb and sacrificed it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. He cried out to the Lord on Israel’s behalf, and the Lord answered him.
10 While Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to engage Israel in battle. But that day the Lord thundered with loud thunder against the Philistines and threw them into such a panic that they were routed before the Israelites. 11 The men of Israel rushed out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, slaughtering them along the way to a point below Beth Kar.
13 So the Philistines were subdued and they stopped invading Israel’s territory. Throughout Samuel’s lifetime, the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines. 14 The towns from Ekron to Gath that the Philistines had captured from Israel were restored to Israel, and Israel delivered the neighboring territory from the hands of the Philistines. And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites.
In 1 Samuel 4, the people of Israel try to use the Lord. They suffer a small loss and run to grab the ark of the covenant in an attempt to force the Lord to fight for them.
Here in 1 Samuel 7, they see their helplessness and realize their only hope is the Lord. They don’t try to force His hand; instead they turn to Him in prayer.
Repentantly, they aren’t hoping their religious magic trick works; they’re walking by faith. They believe the Lord God will rescue them from the hand of their enemies. “Their only weapon is prayer.”
It seems desperate. And it is. But desperation is never in trouble when it rests on the All-Powerful God. The people are desperate for the Lord to act. And act He does. He thunders with a loud thunder and does just as He promised to do.
Samuel’s sweet mom knew this and sang about this years ago:
1 Samuel 2:10 (NIV)
10 those who oppose the Lord will be broken. The Most High will thunder from heaven; the Lord will judge the ends of the earth.
Israel experiences the mercy of God while they are completely helpless and without resources of any kind. The only act the people have is prayer and the belief that the Lord hears them when they cry.
We must learn to walk the way of desperation—prayer. Prayer is not a cop-out; it’s our only rational activity.
Prayer isn’t magic. The Lord will do what He will without our prayers. Our prayers simply communicate our dependence upon Him. Our prayers admit our desperation for Him.
Samuel praying here for the people, interceding for them, is a picture of what Jesus does as our High Priest.
Like the Israelites in this moment, we rely on the prayers of Another. And His prayers are always effective. There’s nothing quite as awe-inspiring, nothing that comforts me more than knowing that Jesus is praying for me.
Romans 8:34 “Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.”
The mercy of God is the theme of our song. The mercy of the Lord is our help, helpless as we are.
The LORD’s Mercy is Our Help
The LORD’s Mercy is Our Help
In our helplessness, the Lord helps; He is merciful. This is what He does for His people.
Samuel sets up a monument to the Lord’s help, a stone named Ebenezer (“the stone of help”). Of Ebenezer, Samuel explains its significance:
12 Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.”
Thus far the Lord has helped us. “Up to this point, thus far, hitherto.” There are a whole chain of mercies remembered here at this stone.
The stone named ‘Ebenezer’ looks back to what the Lord has done for His people; what He did for Abraham, for Joseph and his brothers. It remembers the help the Lord gave His people in Egypt and in the Exodus and the wandering. It tells the story of the Lord helping His people defeat their enemies, which is really the Lord doing the work. For instance, Jericho fell, not because the people shouted loud enough. Jericho fell because the Lord was their help.
The people have experienced the help of God, because God is merciful to them.
The stone named Ebenezer also looks further down the road to all the help the Lord Yahweh will give in the future. He’s helped us thus far, He’ll continue to help us. He has helped, is helping, and will help.
The Lord’s help comes even in the darkness, in ways that don’t look like help to us. When some of the Israelites die, when Hophni and Phinehas die, this is the Lord Yahweh eliminating ungodliness and ungodly leadership to give His people a true shepherd.
It’s memory of the help the Lord has given that keeps us thankful and faithful.
When we’re at the bottom, when we’re exhausted and spent; when you’re pressed too far, when you’ve lost more than you have, when you can’t see any way forward, you get to push “Replay”.
You get to go back and hear again what God has done, how the Lord has helped His people. See the trouble they face, the insurmountable enemies, the despair. And see how the Lord Almighty has come to their aid.
When the blind man shouts to Jesus, “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me,” Jesus has mercy upon him and restores his sight.
When the tax collector prays, “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner” Jesus says that prayer is heard and that man goes home justified.
Push “replay” and hear the mercy and help of God.
Replay it, over and again.
Replay it each Sunday. In the songs we sing. In the bread and the cup. In the love and fellowship of our brothers and sisters. Thus far the Lord has helped us.
The Lord repeatedly supplies us with memories of His help. Dates, occasions, events, people, songs.
“Here I raise my Ebenezer
Hither by thy help I come
And I hope by thy good pleasure
Safely to arrive at home.”
The mercy of the Lord is our help. He, we know, is our only help. We have occasion every Lord’s Day as we commemorate the Lord’s Supper to remember His help to us.
Romans 8:32 “He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all—how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?”
Our God, the one from whom our helps come, is more merciful than we can begin to imagine. We’ve all experienced His mercy, whether or not you realize it.
We are alive because the Lord is merciful, patiently merciful.
If you haven’t responded to God’s mercy with repentance and you feel He’s drawing you to Himself, drawing you to repent and put your faith in Jesus, flee from your sin and run to Him today!
Pray this simple prayer after me: “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”