Eli, the High-Priest in Shiloh (1 Samuel 1:3), died along with his two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, who had disgraced the priesthood by living wicked lives (1 Samuel 2:12-17). The priesthood was now removed from the house of Eli as God had said (1 Samuel 2:22-36) but now He was raising up the prophet, Samuel, who would turn Israel’s attention back to God (1 Samuel 3:19-4:1). Unfortunately, Israel had forgotten God and was defeated twice by the vast army of the Philistines (1 Samuel 4:1-11); furthermore, the Philistines had also captured the ark of the covenant, which had been recognized as a symbol of God’s presence for many years. The ark of the covenant was first established as part of the furnishings of the tabernacle when God was giving His law to Moses (see Exodus 25:10-22). Throughout Israel’s history, the ark was a representation of the Lord’s presence, but during this time they were more enamored with the object more than God. After suffering their first loss to the Philistines (1 Samuel 4:1-2), Israel decided to take the ark with them for “good luck,” but instead of bringing them victory in battle, the Philistines defeated them once again and took possession of the ark, which sent great fear throughout everyone in Israel (1 Samuel 4:3-22).
Having captured the ark of the covenant, the Philistines placed it in the temple of Dagon (the god of grain or vegetation), which would have showed them the power of Dagon over the God of Israel (5:1-2). When the Philistines entered the temple of Dagon the next morning, Dagon had fallen on his face before the ark of the covenant (5:3). The Philistines set Dagon back up in his place, but the next day Dagon had fallen once again before the ark of the covenant and the fall had caused him to break into pieces (5:4-5). God’s judgment fell upon the people of Ashdod (location of the temple of Dagon) and He struck the Philistines with a plague (5:6). The men of Ashdod immediately knew that their possession of the ark was bringing God’s anger upon them so they sent the ark to the town of Gath (5:7-8); however, that city also experienced God’s judgment (5:9). The ark was then taken to Ekron, but it brought the same results in that city (5:10-12). After the ark of the covenant had been with the Philistines for seven months (6:1), they sent it back to Israel on a cart that was hitched to two cows who would hopefully take the ark back to Israel (6:2-12). The leaders of the Philistines believed that if the untrained cows pulled the cart with the ark back to Israel, this judgment had come directly from the God of Israel (6:9).
By the supernatural hand of God, the cart was pulled to the Israelite town of Beth Shemesh, a city of the Levites, and the people of Israel rejoiced at the sight of it (6:13). The ark was handled by the Levites and then a sacrifice was made of the wood and cows which had carried the sacred ark of the covenant (6:14-16). Alongside the ark of the covenant the Philistines had included gifts in order to appease the wrath of God (6:17-18); however, a group of men from Beth Shemesh were struck dead because they looked inside the ark, which was strictly forbidden according to Numbers 4:20 (6:19). The ark of the covenant was very sacred and to be handled according to the prescribed laws of God. The judgment of God upon those who looked into the ark sent great fear upon the Israelites so they called for messengers fro Kirjath Jearim, who took the ark to the house of Abinadab and consecrated Eleazar to keep the ark of the Lord (6:20-7:1). The ark of the covenant remained in the house of Abinadab until David had it brought to Jerusalem (see 2 Samuel 6:1-19).
Dear God, help me to maintain a healthy respect and reverence for You.
