In this episode, witness the transformative journey of Israel under the leadership of the prophet Samuel. As the Ark moves from the grasp of the Philistines back to the cradle of Israelite spirituality, we observe God’s intricate designs in teaching his people about reverence, power, and leadership. Experience the fervent call of the Israelites as they, tired of chaotic governance by judges, demand an earthly king, risking the divine monarchical order established by God.
The CEM Network is pleased to present Ronald L. Dart and Born to Win.
SPEAKER 03 :
If you saw the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark, you will have been introduced to the idea that the Ark of God is a source of great power. Power that could be used, theoretically, as a weapon of war. Now, anyone remotely familiar with the Bible should know that while the Ark had great symbolic power, And while it was an object of great holiness, whatever power that was there was not mindless power that anyone could use. It was the power of God, and God was highly unlikely to use that power in the projects and the wars of that murdering band of thugs we call the Third Reich. Nevertheless, the scene in the movie where the ark is opened and men look into it is a riveting piece of moviemaking. And it’s not entirely without biblical foundation. There was an occasion where a whole passel of men died because they looked into the ark. If you haven’t seen that movie, it’s great entertainment and worth the price of a rental just for that last scene. Now, it was this idea of the Ark as a source of power that led the men of Israel to carry it into battle with them. And that myth was demolished when the Philistines not only whipped their army, they captured the Ark itself. Now, to the Philistines, the Ark was just another religious artifact, so they took it home and placed it in the same room with their god, Dagon. God, the real one, was not amused. When they entered the room the next morning, the statue of Dagon was face down on the floor before the ark. Well, they naturally set the thing back up. Next morning, it was down again, but this time it had fallen across the threshold of the door, and its head and its hands were broken off. Now, I’ve heard this incident and the associated events cited as an example to show that God has a sense of humor. If so, it’s a fairly grim sense of humor, and it’s pretty earthy at the same time. Because while all this was going on, the Philistines were starting to have trouble sitting down. If the King James translators got this right, God smote the Philistines with hemorrhoids in their secret parts. Now, I’ll have to confess, I think that’s funny. It’s one of the greatest practical jokes of all time, but there was nothing funny about it to the Philistines. So they held a council, and they said, what are we going to do with this thing? Now, you have to remember, Preparation H had not yet been invented. So someone said, I know, let’s take it over to Gath. I never liked those people anyhow. Well, unfortunately, the men of Gath got an unexpected bonus with the ark. You guessed it. They got hemorrhoids. So the men of Gath decided to take the thing to Ekron. But this time word has spread, and the men of Ekron, well, who knows, they may have run screaming into the desert saying, you’re not bringing that thing in here. Well, it was time for another major confab. So the lords of the Philistines gathered together to decide what to do now. As it turns out, that the hemorrhoids were not the greatest of their problems. They sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines. You’ll find this in 1 Samuel 5. They got all the lords of the Philistines together, and they said, Send away the ark of the God of Israel. Let it go again to its own place, that it slay us not and our people. For there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city. The hand of God was very heavy there. We’re not told exactly what was going on, although we do find later there was a plague of mice at the same time. Well, the men that didn’t die, and apparently a lot of people died, were smitten with hemorrhoids, and the cry went up to heaven. So the ark was in the land of the Philistines for a mere seven months. They decided, and again the story continues in chapter 6, they called all their priests and their diviners in, saying, what are we going to do about the ark of the Lord? Actually, they said the ark of Jehovah. Tell us what to do. We’ll send it to its place. Now, priests and diviners are supposed to know these things, so they offered a solution. They said, if you send away the ark of the God to Israel, don’t send it empty. In any wise, return a trespass offering. Then you’ll be healed, and it shall be known to you why his hand is not removed from you. And they said, well, what are we supposed to send in the trespass offering? The priests and the magicians all answered and said, Five golden hemorrhoids and five golden mice, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines. There were five lords. Five of them had to do this. For one plague was upon you all and on all your lords. Therefore, you shall make images of your hemorrhoids and images of your mice that mar the land, and you shall give glory to the God of Israel. Maybe he will lighten his hand off you and from off your gods and off your land. Now, don’t ask me how they made the golden images of their hemorrhoids. That’s more than we want to think about. But it still retains a sense of amusement. He said, why do you harden your hearts? These are the magicians now trying to tell them, the spiritual leaders, the priests. Why are we making the same mistake the Egyptians and Pharaoh did in hardening our hearts? When God had wrought wonderfully among them, didn’t they let the people go and they departed? Here’s what we have to do. Make a new cart. Take two milk cows on which there has never come any yoke. Tie the cattle to the cart and take their calves home away from them. Naturally, that’s going to create a problem for the cows. They’re going to want to find those calves. And take the ark of the Lord, lay it upon the cart, and put the jewels of gold, which you returned to him for a trespass offering, in a coffer by the side thereof, and send it away that it can go. Now here’s what we’re going to know. If it goes up by the way of its own coast to Beth Shemesh, then God has done us this great evil. If he doesn’t do that, these two cows take off to where their calves are, then we’re going to know it’s not his hand that smote us, it was just chance that happened to us. Now, there’s a certain sense in this decision, good common sense, because after all, bad luck does happen without God lifting a finger. Let’s not go off half-cocked here and assume that God’s causing all this bad stuff to come down around our ears. This way, we can find out what’s happening. Well, they said, okay, let’s do that. They took two milk cows. They tied them to the cart. They shut their calves up at home. Then they came out and they laid the Ark of Jehovah upon the cart and the coffer with the mice of gold and the images of their hemorrhoids. And the cows immediately took the straight way to Beth Shemesh. They went right along the highway, lowing as they went, and they didn’t turn aside to the right or the left. They went straight down the road to an Israelite city. The lords of the Philistines followed them to the border to see what was going to happen. Well, the men of Beth Shemesh, Israelites, were out there reaping their wheat harvest in the valley, and they lifted up their eyes, and they said, Hey, look, it’s the ark. They’re sending the ark back. And they were very excited about the whole thing. It came into the field of Joshua, stood there with a great stone, and they broke up the wood of the cart. They killed those cattle and offered them as a burnt offering to the Lord, using the wood of the ark for fire right there on that stone. And the Levites took down the ark of God and the coffer with it, wherein the jewels of gold were, and they put them on the great stone. And the men of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrifices the same day to Jehovah. And when the five lords of the Philistines had stood along to one side and watched all this, they went home to Ekron the same day. And these are the golden emeralds, or hemorrhoids, with the Philistines returned for a trespass offering to the Lord. One for Ashdod, for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath, one for Ekron, one. Do you notice Gaza there? Because this is the same area as the Gaza Strip today. And the word Palestine comes from the word Philistine. These were the first Palestinians. Well, the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines, belonging to the five lords, they did all this and brought it down there. And all this was set upon this great stone of Abel. Which stone remains to this day in the field of Joshua the Bethshemite? Apparently, for a long time, you can go right out there and see that stone for yourself. But now, we have to deal with the Ark. And something rather like the movie took place here. We’ll talk about that right after this important message.
SPEAKER 02 :
What in the world is God doing? Does he have something in mind? Or is life just a grand soap opera and God a spectator? For a free introductory CD in the series titled, What is God Doing? Write to Born to Win, Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas 75791. or call toll-free 1-888-BIBLE-44 and tell us the call letters of this radio station.
SPEAKER 03 :
At this early time, I presume the Ark still contained the original two tablets of the Ten Commandments that Moses carried down off Mount Sinai. They placed them in the Ark, you know. There was also a pot of manna they placed in there, and it contained Aaron’s rod that he’d carried down into Egypt that had actually blossomed and produced almonds. All these things were placed in the Ark. Now, with that being the case… You can kind of understand the irresistible curiosity that would lead someone to take the lid off that ark and look inside of it. Big mistake. Big mistake. The ark was a tremendously holy representative of the God of Israel. He said when they originally put this thing together and placed it in the Holy of Holies, it said that he would actually appear up on top of this or above this in the Holy Place. He also said that it was not to be touched. There were rings in the side of the ark, and they had staves that they were supposed to put through these rings, and they were to carry the ark and move it about only by these staves placed through the rings, not to touch the ark itself. Well, the men of Beth Shemesh, for whatever reason, decided they had to see what was inside that ark. And they looked, and a few thousand of them, several thousand of them, died as a result. And the people lamented, because the Lord had smitten many people of the people with great slaughter. And the men of Beth Shemesh said, Who can stand before this holy Lord God? And how is he going to go away from us? So they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath-Jerim, saying, The Philistines have brought again the ark of God. Come down and get it. The men of Beth Shemesh were just as eager to see the ark leave as were the Philistines. And yet, the ark just simply needed to be treated with respect. The men of Kiriath-jearim came, and they fetched up the ark of the Lord and brought it to the house of Abinadab in the hill. And they sanctified a man named Eliezer, his son, to keep the ark of the Lord. So now, we’re going to do this properly. Now, this place, Kiriath-Jerim, is located 10 miles west of Jerusalem. The Ark was not returned to Shiloh. Archaeological data indicates that that city was destroyed about 1050 B.C., perhaps after the battle at Aphek where the Ark was taken in the first place. So they couldn’t take it back to the tabernacle. Apparently, it was no longer there. So they set it up in this town. And the time was long. It was 20 years that it stayed there. And all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord. So the center of worship of Jehovah shifted from Shiloh to the house of a man named Abinadab. It’s funny, but we always think about Jerusalem. We always think Jerusalem this. Jerusalem is the center of the universe. But the Israelites didn’t even live there at this time, and they didn’t possess the city. Some people called Jebusites held that city. The center of worship, this is the thing to take away from this. The center of worship was not a place on the ground you could identify by latitude and longitude. It was where the ark was. And this will become important later in the story. And for all we know, it will become very important in the future. After so long a time, Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel and said this, If you are really returning to the Lord with all your heart, then put away the strange God and the Ashtoreth from among you, and prepare your hearts to the Lord to serve Him only. You do this, and He will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines. So the children of Israel did put away the Baals and the Ashtoreth, and they served the Lord only. You know, now we are finally getting beyond the period of the judges when Israel went through a series of cycles of forgetting God, worshiping idols, then losing wars and repenting, and finally being rescued by men like Samson and like Gideon before they went down again, and even being rescued by women like Deborah. The Ashtaroth were little images of a woman holding her breasts in her hands. You may have seen them in museums or here and there. It is a common figurine all across the Middle East. She was the fertility goddess of the Canaanites, and archaeologists have found them all over Palestine. She was the consort of Baal. But not only that, she was the consort of every other god across the Middle East. It’s really interesting that every nation seemed to have a different male god, but every one of them had the same female consort for that god, Ashtaroth or Astarte. Now, I was shocked to learn that there were places where they found shrines that were dedicated to Jehovah and his consort. And I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised because people would just assume, just like all the rest of the gods around, that God also had his female consort. What’s interesting about these is that as archaeology has made their way through the Middle East, they find that in post-exile Judea, that is, in that part of Judea where the Jews who came back from the captivity in Babylon had settled, there now, in these later times, have been found no images of this consort of the gods. So pervasive this female deity was that even some Israelites could not imagine their God without a consort. And that’s the way it was at that time. Samuel said, “‘Gather all Israel together to Mizpah, and I will pray for you unto the Lord.’ So they all gathered together. They drew water and poured it out before the Lord and fasted on that day, eating and drinking nothing.” And they said there, We have sinned against the Lord. And Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpah. And when the Philistines heard that the children of Israel were gathered together there, they’re all gathered up, the lords of the Philistines said, Now’s our chance. And they went up against Israel. When the children of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines. And they said to Samuel, Don’t cease to cry to the Lord our God for us. He’ll save us out of the hand of the Philistines. So Samuel took a sucking lamb and offered it for a burnt offering wholly to Jehovah. And he cried to the Lord for Israel, and the Lord heard him. And as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel. But the Lord thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines and frightened them, and they were smitten before Israel.” So God intervened, God fought, and that was the end of that. The men of Israel went out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines and smote them till they came under Bethkar. Then Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpah and Shin and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto has the Lord helped us. Now, there’s a final hymn, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. And one of the verses in it mentions this stone. I’ve often asked people when we sing the song, what does that word Ebenezer mean? Usually, I get blank looks. But now, you know, and you’ll be able to answer a trivia question on it. The song goes, Here I raise my Ebenezer. Hither by your help I have come, and I hope by thy good pleasure safely to arrive at home. And Ebenezer in Hebrew is, quote, a stone of help, end quote. So the Philistines were subdued, and they came no more to the coast of Israel. And the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. And the cities that the Philistines had taken away from Israel, were restored to them from Ekron to Gath, and the coast thereof did Israel deliver out of the hands of the Palestinians, if you will. And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites. We’ll come back to Samuel. Grab a pencil and a piece of paper so we can give you that address once again.
SPEAKER 02 :
I’ll be right back. For a free copy of this radio program that you can share with friends and others, write or call this week only. And request the program titled, The Book of Samuel, Number 3. Write to Born to Win, Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas 75791. Or call toll free 1-888-BIBLE44. And tell us the call letters of this radio station.
SPEAKER 03 :
Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. And he went down from year to year in circuit to Bethel and Gilgal and Mizpah. And he judged Israel in all those places. You know, being a judge in those times meant you sat down and you heard cases. You had decisions you had to make. His return was to Ramah because that’s where his house was, and he judged Israel. And there he also built an altar to the Lord. It sounds like Samuel was the first circuit preacher. It’s of interest that in the old days in West Texas, there were circuit preachers who made regular visits to the communities out there. Some of them talked about carrying a Bible in one saddlebag and a pistol in the other because sometimes they were in great danger. In those days, they used to say there was no law west of the Brazos and no God west of the Pecos. It was wild out there. The preachers in those days spoke mostly from the Old Testament because the circumstances of life were far more like those of the Old Testament out there in West Texas than they were like those in the New. They believed, for example, they should drive the heathen out, just like Joshua and the Israelites drove out the heathen. And they did, for the most part, drive the Comanche out of Texas. And, of course, the truth is, turning to the New Testament, turning the other cheek to a Comanche, could not be considered effective evangelism in that time. Now, at this point in Samuel, for chapter 8, the plot begins to thicken. It came to pass when Samuel was old that he made his sons judges over Israel. It’s an understandable thing. He knows the boys. At the same time, he’s getting old, and it’s a little bit of trouble to make all those routes. The name of his firstborn was Joel. The name of the second, Abiah. And they were judges in Beersheba. Problem. His sons did not walk in his ways. They turned aside after money. They took bribes, and they perverted and corrupted judgment. And I guess, after their experience with the two rotten sons of Eli, this was just more than the people were prepared to handle. So all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and they came to Samuel in Ramah, and they said to him, Look, you’re old, and your sons are just not walking in your ways. And of course Samuel knew it. Now they said, Make us a king to judge us like all the nations around us. Well, the thing displeased Samuel when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And he prayed to the Lord about it. And the Lord said to Samuel, Go ahead and listen to the voice of the people and all they say to you. For they have not rejected you. They have rejected me that I should not reign over them. This is a stunning response, and it’s also very revealing at the same time. In all those years of the judges, they had one king, and that king was God. And when they were mindful of him… When they ordered life and community around his word and his law, their life worked just fine. When they corrupted their worship while fooling around with other gods, their lives came unstuck. These gods didn’t have inconvenient laws, and these gods countenanced sexual practices that were designed to destroy love and families. And the result of it was the loss of community ties, the loss of strength that they had as a result of those ties, and it became prey to their enemies in ways they would not have done. Now, the leaders of Israel decide they need a king they can see. They have rejected me, said God, that I should not reign over them. According to all the works they’ve done since the day I brought them out of Egypt, all the way to today, wherein they have forsaken me and served other gods. Now, Samuel, they’re doing the same thing to you. So listen to their voice. Let’s go ahead and do what they want. But I want you to do this one thing. I want you to protest solemnly unto them and show them the manner of the king that shall reign over them. Now, we want to understand something here. When he says, I want you to show them the manner of the king, it was not because he was going to give them a bad man. It was the inevitable result of putting any man in that position of power. Okay, we’ll give them what they want, but I want you to tell them now what it’s going to mean in years to come. So Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who asked of him a king, and he said, This will be the kind of a man that will reign over you. He’ll take your sons and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen, and some shall ride before his chariots. Your new king, folks, is going to institute a draft. It’s not just for the army. He’s going to appoint captains over thousands and captains over fifties and set them to ear his ground and reap his harvest and to make his instruments of war and instruments of his chariots. He will take your daughters to be confectionaries and cooks and bakers. He’ll take your fields, your vineyards, your olive yards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. He’ll take the tenth of your seed and of your vineyards and give to his officers and his servants. And he will take your men servants, your maid servants, your goodliest young men and your asses and put them to his work. And he’ll take the tenth of your sheep and And you’re going to end up being his servants.
SPEAKER 02 :
Ronald Dard will be right back. If you would like more information, or if you have any questions, write to Born to Win, Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas 75791. In the U.S. and Canada, call toll-free 1-888-BIBLE44. That’s 1-888-242-5344.
SPEAKER 03 :
We’ll have to come back to that in the next program because we’re out of time today, but it’s really uncanny when you look back over the generations to what was said back then, and then you look around you in the world today and see how close the fit is to the kind of society we have created for ourselves and the incredible burden that that our government places on us. I hope you’ll give us a call or drop us a line and request this program. We’re always evaluating our radio stations and we need to hear from you to know that you’re listening. Just give us a call, drop us a line, give us the call letters of this radio station, and that’s how we’ll know to evaluate this station. Some of the stations have ratings, most don’t on the weekends, and that’s when we really need to know. Responses from people like you give us an infallible indicator of the worth of the station to us. So protect your station. Give us a call or drop us a line. And I hope that you’ll request one of our free offers. Our phone number is 1-888-BIBLE-44. That’s 1-888-242-5344. Our mailing address, Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas, 757-91. And I’m Ronald Dart.
SPEAKER 01 :
Christian Educational Ministries is happy to announce a new full-color Born to Win monthly newsletter with articles and free offers from Ronald L. Dart. Call us today at 1-888-BIBLE44 to sign up or visit us at borntowin.net.
