Sunday
Morning Bible Study
January 6, 2002
Introduction
We are in the times of the “judges”, before there was a king in Israel.
These are dark times for the nation. It was rare for people to hear from God.
Finally, God got a hold of a woman named Hannah. She was desperate because she
could not have children. She made a vow to God that if God would give her a
son, she would give the child back to the Lord. And the boy Samuel was born.
When Samuel was about three years old, Hannah took him to the Tabernacle, and
the priests raised him there. God would use this boy. God spoke to this boy.
:1-2 Philistine War
:1 And the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out against
the Philistines to battle, and pitched beside Ebenezer: and the Philistines
pitched in Aphek.
Samuel was now the person that God was using to talk to His people.
But pay attention here. We read that neither Samuel nor God was consulted
about this war on the Philistines.
Philistines – the Philistines were originally a sea-faring people
who came possibly from the island of Crete. I have even heard of speculation
that they may have been descendants of the people of “Atlantis”. There is an
island in the Mediterranean that seems to have been destroyed by volcanic
activity, and its civilization has some parallels to the Philistines. The
Philistines seem to have had two migrations into the land of Israel, one during
the time of Abraham (2000 BC), and the other around 1200 BC. They settled
mainly into five cities located on the coast of Israel – Gaza, Ashkelon, Ekron,
Gath, and Ashdod. Their chief deity was named “Dagon”, and was thought to be
half-man and half-fish with the head and torso of a man, and the tail fins of a
fish.
Aphek – a city about 20 miles west of Shiloh. It’s at the northern
edge of the Philistine territory. It’s also down on the flat coastal plain, a
preferable type of battlefield. See map
The idea is that the Philistines are the aggressors.
:3-9 Ark brought to the war
:3 Wherefore hath the LORD smitten us to day before the Philistines?
There actually was an answer to this question, but the people aren’t really
looking for an answer. They think they already know what the answer is.
Lesson
Let God answer your questions.
Some people consult dark, spiritual counsellors:
(Isa 8:19-20 NLT) So
why are you trying to find out the future by consulting mediums and psychics?
Do not listen to their whisperings and mutterings. Can the living find out the
future from the dead? Why not ask your God? {20} "Check their predictions
against my testimony," says the LORD. "If their predictions are
different from mine, it is because there is no light or truth in them.
Some people go to psychologists.
I think that counseling can be a good thing, especially if you are going to
a Christian counsellor who will counsel you according to God’s Word.
I think it’s possible that things like a chemical imbalance could cause
some of our problems. Some people can
be helped with medication.
But sometimes people are going to a secular counsellor to talk about things
that have spiritual roots.
A very common problem that many people struggle with is
guilt.
Guilt is a spiritual condition. It needs to be dealt with
in God’s way. A secular counselor will tell you to talk yourself out of feeling
guilty. They might try to help you reason your way out of feeling guilty.
But God doesn’t tell you to hide your guilt or make
excuses. God says that we need to confess our sin. We need to admit our guilt.
(Psa
32:1-5 KJV) A Psalm of David, Maschil. Blessed is he whose transgression is
forgiven, whose sin is covered. {2} Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD
imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. {3} When I kept
silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. {4} For day
and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of
summer. Selah. {5} I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I
not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou
forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.
God will forgive your sin, but you need to be open about
it, confess it to Him, and turn from it.
I think that sometimes we too are asking questions but somehow it doesn’t
occur to us that God actually has an answer to what we’re asking.
The answer to the Israelite’s defeat is that they have fallen away from
God. They need to turn back to Him and ask Him for help.
:3 Let us fetch the ark … it may save us out of the hand of our enemies.
the ark of the covenant – this is the gold covered box that held the
Ten Commandments written on stone tablets by the finger of God. It was covered
with a solid gold lid with two angelic beings on it called the “Mercy Seat”.
The box and its lid were to be kept in the Holy of Holies, the inner sanctuary
at the Tabernacle. The Ark was to be a picture of God’s throne in heaven.
it may save us – The nation is entering into a phase where the Ark
is no longer a symbol that is to remind them of God’s presence, but it is being
seen as having power in itself.
Lesson
Superstition
We can see others that fall into superstitious behavior – rabbit’s feet,
lucky four-leaf clovers, etc.
Illustration
Sy comes home after his mother’s funeral to try to put the
place in order. He goes up to the attic to look around and finds an old trunk.
Looking in it, he discovers his father’s WWII uniform. Sy tries it on and it’s
a little tight on him. Before taking it off, he puts his hand in the pocket and
comes up with a ticket—a shoe repair ticket for Herman’s on West 53rd,
dated Jan. 14th, 1942, an unclaimed ticket 55 years old. Weeks
later, Sy happens to be in the area of West 53rd and wanders over to
see where the shoe repair was. He can’t believe his good luck. A shoe repair
store is still there. He wanders in and tells the story of finding the ticket
to the old man. The man says his name is Herman and has owned the shop for 60
years. “Gimme the ticket” says Herman and wanders to the back of the shop. Sy
is amazed. What good fortune! What a coincidence! Only in America! Herman comes
back..... “I’ve got your shoes. They’ll be ready tomorrow.”
“Good fortune” or “good luck” really isn’t all that
special, is it?
Actually, sometimes our “superstitions” can border on the religious side.
Some people seem to put great trust in things like statues of Mary, saints,
rosary beads, etc.
Others will put great trust in that they’ve taken communion or have been
baptized.
But these things don’t save a person. We are saved by our
trusting in Jesus.
(Rom
3:20-22 NLT) For no one can ever be made right in God's sight by doing what his
law commands. For the more we know God's law, the clearer it becomes that we
aren't obeying it. {21} But now God has shown us a different way of being right
in his sight--not by obeying the law but by the way promised in the Scriptures
long ago. {22} We are made right in God's sight when we trust in Jesus Christ
to take away our sins. And we all can be saved in this same way, no matter who
we are or what we have done.
Sometimes even people who ought to know better can fall into a trap of
thinking that God is only going to work at certain places, like Calvary Chapel
of Costa Mesa.
All of this stems from a lack of the real presence of the Lord.
When we’ve wandered away from the Lord, we can fall into thinking that
certain “things” will bring back that sense of closeness.
What we really need is simply to turn around and come back to Him.
We’ll see this demonstrated when we get to chapter seven,
(1 Sam 7:3
KJV) And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, If ye do return
unto the LORD with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and
Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the LORD, and serve him
only: and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.
Lesson
God wants you to have a relationship
with Him
Suppose I were to tell you about how fantastic my relationship is with my
wife. And you say to me, “Well, I’d
like to go out to lunch with you and your wife and get to know you better”.
So I pull a picture of my wife out of my pocket and speak to the picture,
“Honey, would you like to go out to lunch with us today?”
Wouldn’t you think I was crazy? How
do you think my wife would feel, finding out that I talk to her picture instead
of talking to her?
God wants you to know Him. Not just
His picture.
:4 So the people sent to Shiloh
Shiloh – Twenty miles north of Jerusalem. This was the current home
of the Tabernacle and the Ark. This was the “central sanctuary” where God was
worshipped by the Israelites. See map
:4 the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth between the cherubims
This is a reference to the picture that the Ark gave, as it was covered
with the Mercy Seat, which had two angelic beings facing each other with their
wings outstretched, touching wingtips. God said,
(Exo 25:22 KJV) And there I
will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat,
from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all
things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.
:4 two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas
Eli was the High Priest at the time. Hophni and Phinehas, Eli’s sons, were
the wicked men that were the main reason why there will be a judgment against
Israel. As priests, they were in charge of the Ark.
:5 so that the earth rang again.
(NIV) all Israel raised such
a great shout that the ground shook.
:7 God is come into the camp
God – ‘elohiym
– (plural) gods; (plural intensive-singular meaning) the (true) God
:8 these are the Gods that smote the Egyptians
Gods – ‘elohiym
– (plural) gods; (plural intensive-singular meaning) the (true) God
It’s hard to know what the
Philistines are thinking exactly. But they use the same plural form in both
verse 7 and in verse 8. I think that it might be better if you translate them
both the same, either both of them saying “gods” or both of them saying “God”.
The Philistines are aware of the history of Israel. They know what God had
done for Israel in delivering them from Egypt.
:9 quit yourselves like men, and fight.
quit – hayah – to be,
become. “Be men!”
The Philistines psych themselves into a frenzy before they fight the
Israelites again. They figure that they are now no longer just fighting with
the Israelite army, but also with the Israelite “god”.
Be careful that you don’t think that this is what gives the Philistines the
victory.
The Philistine victory comes simply because God has decided that Israel
needs judgment. They need a “wake-up” call.
Lesson
Act like men
We may not be Philistines, but God does want us men to act like men.
(1 Cor 16:13 KJV)
Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.
God wants men to learn to be strong. But the difference
here in Corinthians is that we aren’t just supposed to be strong, but we are to
be strong in the Lord. We are to “stand fast” in the faith.
Sometimes the thing we need to be strong in is to say “no” to sin.
Illustration
When sin is let in as a beggar, it remains in as a tyrant.
The Arabs have a fable of a miller who one day was startled by a camel’s
nose thrust in the window of the room where he was sleeping. “It is very cold
outside,” said the camel, “I only want to get my nose in.”
The nose was let in, then the neck, and finally the whole body. Presently
the miller began to be extremely inconvenienced at the ungainly companion he
had obtained in a room certainly not big enough for both.
“If you are inconvenienced, you may leave,” said the camel. “As for myself,
I shall stay where I am.”
There are many such camels knocking at the human heart. A single worldly
custom becomes the nose of the camel, and it is not long before the entire body
follows. The Christian then finds his heart occupied by a vice which a little
while before peeped in so meekly.
-- Charles Haddon Spurgeon, The Quotable Spurgeon,
(Wheaton: Harold Shaw Publishers, Inc, 1990)
Be a man.
Not just for the sake of being “macho” or being the “knight in shining
armor” – but be a real man, one who trusts in the Lord. One who does what he must do.
Jonathan and his armor bearer
Frodo and the ring –
He said, “I wish I was never given this ring”. Gandalf replies, “You cannot do much about
what you’ve been given. What’s
important is what you do with it once you have it.”
Peter in Rome
Church history has it that Peter had been visiting in Rome
when he heard that there was a warrant out for his arrest. The believers in the church persuaded Peter
to leave the city and flee. Tradition
has it that Jesus met Peter outside the city and said "Quo Vadis?",
which is Latin for "Where are you going?". Peter turned around and went back into the city, and was
arrested. When he was crucified, Peter
did not feel himself worthy of being crucified in the same way that his Master
was, and was asked to be crucified upside down.
:10-11 The ark is lost
:10 there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen
The Israelites thought that they had a secret weapon. They thought that the
ark would be like a magic charm to give them victory. They were trusting in the
ark and not in the Lord.
Instead of having victory with their “lucky charm”, they have an even worse
defeat.
:11 And the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and
Phinehas, were slain.
God had earlier warned Eli through a prophet that judgment was coming on
his house because of the sins of his sons and because of Eli’s refusal to deal
seriously with the problem:
(1 Sam 2:34 KJV) And this
shall be a sign unto thee, that shall come upon thy two sons, on Hophni and
Phinehas; in one day they shall die both of them.
The prophecy comes true.
Lesson
God’s Word is true
When God speaks, it will happen.
Joshua wrote,
(Josh 21:45 KJV) There
failed not ought of any good thing which the LORD had spoken unto the house of
Israel; all came to pass.
If you want to find out what’s ahead for you and your life, immerse
yourself in God’s Word.
Lesson
Read the Word.
I heard Jon Courson give a message on the radio this week that really
encouraged me to keep reading the Word.
The sword and the dirt
Ehud was one of the men God used during the time of the
Judges. Eglon was the very fat king of
the Canaanites, who had been ruling over Israel during one of their times of
being away from the Lord. God used Ehud
to free the Israelites from the dominion of the Canaanites.
(Judg
3:20-22 KJV) And Ehud came unto him;
and he was sitting in a summer parlour, which he had for himself alone. And
Ehud said, I have a message from God unto thee. And he arose out of his seat.
{21} And Ehud put forth his left hand, and took the dagger from his right
thigh, and thrust it into his belly: {22} And the haft also went in after the
blade; and the fat closed upon the blade, so that he could not draw the dagger
out of his belly; and the dirt came out.
The sword went in and the dirt came out.
Do you want to be free of the Eglons of life? Do you feel like there’s “dirt” in you? Then put in the sword. Put in the Word.
Dry? Do you feel that God’s Word is
“dry”?
Dig the ditches.
Jehoshaphat was facing a battle with the Moabites. They were out in the desert. They ran out of water. The prophet Elisha had a word from God,
(2 Ki
3:16-17 KJV) And he said, Thus saith
the LORD, Make this valley full of ditches. {17} For thus saith the LORD, Ye
shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain; yet that valley shall be filled
with water, that ye may drink, both ye, and your cattle, and your beasts.
They dug ditches and the next day the ditches were full of
water.
If you feel that God’s Word is too dry, then just keep
digging. Keep digging in God’s
Word. God will bring the water.
I often look at the passage I’m supposed to teach on and
at first glance I say to myself, “What in the world is worthwhile in this
passage!” But as I keep digging, God
opens up the Word and brings out the treasures.