Join us as we explore the haunting narrative of the Ark of God and its journey among the Philistines. Witness the unfolding of divine irony and justice as the captured Ark becomes a source of plagues, fear, and reverence. The episode casts a spotlight on how misusing sacred objects for personal gain can lead to disastrous outcomes, drawing parallels with timeless lessons applicable in any age.
The CEM Network is pleased to present Ronald L. Dart and Born to Win. There are very few things you might do that are worse than making people dread the worship of God.
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I know you can kill people, you can maim them, you can cut off their heads. All these things and a lot more have been done to Christians in history. But when you begin to undermine the joy of worship, when you take away the comfort that people feel in coming to appear before God and walking through the prescribed ceremonies, you take the first steps in destroying meaning from the person’s life. You destroy the relationship with God. And when you destroy that, you take away a man’s will to live. This happens in a lot of ways, and it’s happened all too often in the history of the faith. And it isn’t the outsiders who are the greatest danger. Sometimes the greatest danger can come from those who are supposed to be the custodians of the faith. Such were two men named Hophni and Phinehas. They were priests at the tabernacle of God who themselves were not even believers. That’s a little hard to get your mind around, isn’t it? That priests of the Most High God in his tabernacle at Shiloh were not even believers in God. Well, the priest’s office was hereditary and political, not necessarily a matter of faith. These two guys bullied people. They took things they didn’t have any right to, and they used the power of their office to seduce the women who came there to worship. Their father, Eli, the high priest at the time, tried to talk to them, but they simply wouldn’t listen. And Eli was too weak to do what should have been done. They should have been thrown out of the priesthood and banished at the very least. God does not take severe steps without a warning first. And so, a man of God, perhaps a prophet, was sent to tell Eli what was coming. In chapter 2 of 1 Samuel, a man of God comes to Levi and says to him, Thus saith the Lord, Did I not plainly appear to the house of your father Aaron when they were in Egypt, in Pharaoh’s house? Didn’t I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to offer on my altar, to burn incense, to wear a priestly garment before me? And did I give to the house of your father all the offerings made by fire of the children of Israel? Excuse me, God says, didn’t I give you plenty? Now why do you scorn my sacrifice and my offering, which I have commanded in my house, and honor your sons above me to make yourselves fat with the chiefest of the offerings of Israel my people? And fat was the word for Eli. He was hugely fat. And we can presume the same of his sons. So the Lord God of Israel said, I said indeed that your house, the house of your father, should walk before me forever. But now the Lord says, be it far from me. For them that honor me will I honor, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed. Now there’s a verse to memorize. Them that honor me I will honor, says God. Then comes the word to Eli. Behold, the days come. I will cut off your arm and the arm of your father’s house, and there shall not be an old man in your house. You shall see an enemy in my house, in all the wealth which God shall give Israel, and there shall not be an old man in your house forever. The man of yours whom I shall not cut off from my altar shall shall be to consume their eyes and to grieve their heart, and all the increase of your house shall die in the flower of their age. Not one person in Eli’s family was going to be allowed to grow as old as he had. They’d all die in the flower of youth. This shall be a sign to you that this is coming. Upon your two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas, In one day they shall die, both of them. And I will raise me up a faithful priest, who shall do according to that which is in my heart and in my mind, and I’ll build him a sure house, and he will walk before mine anointed forever. It shall come to pass, everyone that is left in your house shall come and crouch to him forever. for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread, and shall say, Put me, I pray, into one of the priests’ offices, so I may eat a piece of bread. It’s a severe warning given to him, a terrible curse placed upon his family. And there is not a hint that Eli responded to this warning in any way at all. And in later history, we come to understand clearly that even at this late date, if Eli had repented, God would have taken note and would have relented. If he had rent his garments, if he’d cast dust on his head, if he’d banished his two sons, God might well have removed the curse, at least for the time. In the case of Ahab the king in later years, he actually did postpone the curse, and it could have been put off indefinitely. I’ll talk about Ahab another day, but never assume that when God sends a warning like this, that it’s pointless to repent. It is never pointless to repent. Now what follows on this after Eli’s failure to respond is one of the most remarkable instances in the entire Bible. We have a child priest ministering to the Lord under the tutelage of Eli. He was a little fellow and then made him a little ephod like those worn by adult priests. And he must have cut quite an amusing figure following Eli around the tabernacle. God, however, was not amused with the situation and had something else entirely in mind. In 1 Samuel 3, we’re told that the child Samuel ministered to the Lord before Eli, and the word of the Lord was precious in those days. There was no open vision. Now, we take these things so much for granted. They had the written law and little else to go on in those days. In fact, even though they had the written law, Very few people actually possessed it, a copy of it. They had to go to hear it read. There was no leather-bound Bible on the shelf to which they could refer as they wanted to talk about the Bible. So when it says the word of the Lord was precious in those days, it means God wasn’t talking to them at all. Well, it came to pass at that time when Eli had laid down in his place, his eyes began to wax dim, he could not see. And before the lamp of God went out in the temple of the Lord where the ark was, and Samuel had laid himself down to sleep, that the Lord called Samuel. And Samuel said, I’m here. And he jumped up and he ran to Eli and said, I’m here. You called me. And Eli said, I didn’t call you. Lie down again. He went back and lay down. And by the time he got laid down and become quiet, the Lord called yet again, Samuel. And Samuel jumped up again and went to Eli and said, Here I am, you did call me. And he answered, I called not my son, go lie down. Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, neither was the word of the Lord yet revealed to him. The third time the Lord called Samuel. He jumped up and went to Eli and said, I’m here. You really did call me. And Eli, by this time, perceived that the Lord had called the child. So Eli said to Samuel, Go lie down again, and if it shall be that he calls you again, just say, Speak, Lord, for your servant hears. So Samuel went and lay down in his place. And the Lord came and stood and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak, for your servant hears. Now, for the first time, God speaks to Samuel. And he said, Behold, I’m going to do a thing in Israel at which both the ears of everyone that hears it shall tingle. In that day I will perform against Eli all the things I have spoken concerning his house. When I begin, I will also make an end. Now, that’s a sobering thing that God says here, because I take it that whenever warnings are given, when cautions are given by God, chastisement comes from God, that we have spaces, we have times, we have opportunities in which we can repent, we can turn it around, we can call it off, as it were. But then he makes this statement, when I begin, I will also make an end, which says to me, there comes a point in time where God begins the process, and from that time on, your options are gone. For I have told him, God said, that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knows, because his sons made themselves vile, and he didn’t stop them. Therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering forever. I doubt that Samuel slept any more that night, but he lay there until the morning, and he opened the doors of the house of the Lord, and he was afraid to tell Eli what he’d heard. Finally Eli called Samuel and said, Samuel, my son. He answered, I’m here. He said, what is the thing that the Lord has said to you? I pray you hide it not from me. God do it to you and more also if you hide anything from me of all the things that he said to you. So Samuel told him every wit and hid nothing from him. And Eli said, it is the Lord. Let him do what seems to him good. He just simply accepted what was coming. Well, Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground. This is an interesting expression. Apparently, every time Samuel said anything that turned out to be true came to pass. And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel, this boy, was established to be a prophet of the Lord. And the Lord appeared again in Shiloh, for he revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the Lord. And the word of Samuel came to all of Israel. What a striking thing. The Lord revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the Lord. And that calls to mind the first chapter of John. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word of God came to Samuel. Now, one additional word on this chapter. Don’t ever imagine that children are unimportant. Nearly every prophet of God was called into service at a very young age. I’ve thought that may be because faith comes easiest to a man when he is very, very young. And of course, the side benefit, they could serve as a prophet for a very long time. Listen to this short message, and when I come back, we’ll talk about how this vision of God played out.
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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 Two. 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.
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1 Samuel chapter 4. Israel went out against the Philistines to battle. They pitched beside Ebenezer and the Philistines pitched in Aphek. And the Philistines put themselves in a ray against Israel. Now, why this battle was going on, we’re not told. We don’t know who caused it, who wanted to fight, and who didn’t. Well, when they joined battle, Israel was smitten before the Philistines, and they lost that day in the men about 4,000. And when the people came back into the camp, the elders of Israel said, Why did this happen? Why has the Lord smitten us this day before the Philistines? They didn’t know why. Eli might have been able to tell them. But then they said, let’s fetch the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord out of Shiloh to us, so that when it comes among us, it may save us out of the hand of our enemies. You know, it appears that somehow they must have assumed the power of this Ark of the Covenant was something that they could actually use in combat. And one really wonders where this idea came from. It’s been remarkably persistent down through time. It’s what was really at the root of the movie, The Raiders of the Lost Ark. Well, the people sent to Shiloh, and they brought the Ark of the Covenant from the house of the Lord of Hosts, the one that dwelled between the Caribbean. The two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the Ark of the Covenant of God, because, well, if the Ark was going to go, they had to be the ones that carried it in there. They probably, well, up until this time, they had stayed behind. But they were not allowed to avoid this. The people came, they had their swords in their hands, and they said, get the ark, bring it out here. And so they did. And when the ark of the covenant came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout so that the earth rang with it. And the Philistines, when they heard that, they said, what on earth is this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews? And someone said, the ark of the Lord was come into the camp. Philistines were afraid. They said, God has come into the camp. And they said, we are in a whole heap of trouble because there has never been anything like this. We’re in trouble. Who will deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods that smote the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness. Well, they decided they had to suck it up. They said, Be strong. Quit yourselves like men, you Philistines. Don’t be servants to the Hebrews like they have been to you. Stand up like men and fight. The Philistines fought. Israel was smitten. They fled every man to his tent. Great slaughter that day. There fell of Israel 30,000 footmen. Ah, and the ark of God was taken. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were killed. Well, there ran a man out of Benjamin, out of the army, and came to Shiloh the same day with his clothes torn, earth on his head. And when he came in low, Eli was sitting on a seat by the wayside watching, for his heart trembled for the ark of God. When the man came into the city and told it, the whole city started crying out. And when Eli heard the noise of the crying, he said, What is this? What’s going on? The man came in quickly and told him. Eli was 98 years old. His eyes were dim. He couldn’t see. And the man said to Eli, I am he that came out of the army. I fled today out of the army. And he said, What’s done, my son? The messenger answered and said, Israel has fled before the Philistines. There’s been a great slaughter among the people. Your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God is taken. It came to pass, when he made mention of the ark of God, that Eli fell off the seat backward by the side of the gate, and his neck broke and he died, because he was an old man and very heavy. He had judged Israel for forty years. His daughter-in-law, Phineas’ wife, was with child, near to be delivered. And when she heard the tidings that the ark of God was taken, that her father-in-law, her husband were dead, she went immediately into labor. Her pains came on her. And about the time of her death, the women that stood by and said, Don’t be afraid, you’ve born a son. She didn’t answer and didn’t regard it. She named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel, because the ark of God was taken, and because her father-in-law and her husband were dead. And she said, The glory is departed from Israel, for the ark of God is taken. It was a crushing defeat for Israel, and a black day to say the least. But there were some surprises to come, and the people who were going to be surprised were the Philistines. They took the Ark of God, and they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. This is 1 Samuel chapter 5. When they took the Ark, they brought it into the house of Dagon, their god, and set it right alongside Dagon. Well, naturally, it’s a trophy. It’s another god that they have captured. And this is where they kept their gods. Now, when they got up on the morrow, the next day it went in, Dagon was fallen on his face to the earth before the ark of the Lord. Prostrate, on the ground. They looked at it and set him up in his place again. Someone recently pointed to this incident as an example of God’s sense of humor. If that’s what we are into here, it’s going to have a rather earthy cast before it’s over. Well, they put him back up. They went to bed, got up the next morning and went in. And behold, Dagon was falling on his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord. This time, the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off on the threshold. Nothing but the stump was left to him. I sort of visualize Dagon as being an idol with his hands raised so that when he fell forward across the threshold, both hands and feet and head snapped off. Therefore, neither the priests of Dagon nor any that come into Dagon’s house tread on the threshold of Dagon and Ashdod unto this day. A little superstition that grew out of this event. But this wasn’t the end of it. The hand of the Lord was heavy upon them of Ashdod. He destroyed them and smote them with emeralds, as the King James puts it, even Ashdod and the coast thereof. Now the Hebrew word for emeralds is usually translated tumor. But since it will tell us later that these tumors were in their secret parts, some people think it means hemorrhoids. Now, that would not be very funny to the Philistines, although I have no doubt the Israelites would have taken that news with grim humor. Well, when the men of Ashdod saw it this way, they said, “…the ark of the God of Israel cannot stay here, because his hand is sore upon us and upon Dagon our God.” So they sent some people together, gathered all the lords of the Philistines, and said, what are we going to do about this? What do we do with the Ark of the God of Israel? And someone said, I know. Let’s carry it over to Gath. So they carried the Ark of God of Israel about there. The comic qualities of the story can’t be ignored at this point. Let’s get rid of this thing, take it over to Gath. So they did. Well, after they carried it over there, the hand of the Lord was against the city. A very great destruction. He smote the men of the city, small and great, and they had hemorrhoids in their secret parts. Then, when the men of Gath decided they would take the ark from there to Ekron, great panic ensued in Ekron. I can see the people screaming and running in panic and saying, they’re bringing that thing over here. They sent the ark of God to Ekron. It came to pass that as the ark of the God came to Ekron, the Ekronites cried out saying, They have brought the ark of the God of Israel to us to slay us and our people. So they got together, gathered all the lords of the Philistines together and said, Let’s get rid of this thing. Let it go again to its own place that it slay us not and to our people. For there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city. The hand of God was very heavy there. And the men that didn’t die were smitten with the hemorrhoids, and the cry of the city went up to heaven. So I guess it’s easy to see God has a sense of humor. I can see some of the angels perhaps sitting around a table in heaven saying, now let’s see, what are we going to do to those men down there who are keeping the ark of God? We want them to send it back. And one of them said, well, I’ve got an idea. Let’s give them a really bad case of hemorrhoids. And here are these poor Philistines sitting down. They can’t sit down to eat the pain, the discomfort. So to make a good television commercial, wouldn’t it, for a hemorrhoid remedy? When it really gets funny is when they decide they’ve got to send this thing back, and they have to figure out what we’re going to do to appease this god. They also had plagues of mice going on at the same time, so they got busy, and they made some golden mice as offerings to send back. And believe it or not, they made some golden emeralds to send back as well. And the mind boggles to think.
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of how they did that. Ronald Dart 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-BIBLE-44. That’s 1-888-242-5344. And tell us the call letters of this station.
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I hope you’ll give us a call or drop us a line and request this program. If you do, we’ll also give you the first program in the series as well. And there’s a French benefit. You’ll help us evaluate the station that you’re listening to. We have a limited budget, supplied entirely by our listeners, and we have to be careful to place the program where it is really being heard. The only way we can be sure is by the number of contacts we get from a given station. Apart from any ratings the station may claim, we know that if we get ten responses from one station and five from another for the same program, we conclude that one station has twice as many listeners as the other. When we factor in the cost of the station into the equation, we know which stations are doing the job for us, which ones we can afford, and which ones are simply not making it. Why am I telling you this? Well, because we want to hear from you. If you write or call and make a request, we know you’re listening. If you write and tell us how much you enjoy the program, Or if you call us and tell us you didn’t like something. Either way, we know you’re listening and your radio station becomes a little stronger on our list. If you like, we’ll put you on the list to receive any free CD offers we have in the future. Why are they free? Well, we feel our job is to teach the Bible to the public, so we follow a simple procedure. We kind of imitate the old ice cream commercial. We give away all we can, and we sell the rest. We probably have over 1,000 titles and tapes, CDs, and what have you, and we just can’t give them all away. But we do make regular free offerings, and we’d be very happy to send some of them to you. And, of course, we’re not allergic to receiving your contributions either. If you’d like to help in this effort, any contribution you make will be appreciated and spent faithfully. So protect your station. Give us a call at 1-888-BIBLE44. That’s 1-888-242-5344. And don’t call 1-800-BIBLE-44. That’s not us. That’s 1-888-BIBLE-44. Or you can drop us a letter at Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas, 75791. Also, on our website, we have a number of sermons, radio programs that can be downloaded in MP3 format. You can put them on your iPod if you’re an iPod person and carry them around with you. We have a lot of material there and hope to be adding more all the time. If you’re inclined, you can take a look at my personal website. I have a developing Bible commentary online, as well as inspirational articles, and my personal blog, my commentary on what’s going on in the world. So until next time, when we learn the Philistines’ novel solution to their problem,
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I’m Ronald Dart. The Born to Win radio program with Ronald L. Dart is sponsored by Christian Educational Ministries and made possible by donations from listeners like you. If you can help, please send your donation to Born to Win, Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas 75791. You may call us at 1-888-BIBLE44 and visit us online at borntowin.net.
