March 28

March 28

1 Samuel 4–8

Scripture Text: 1 Samuel 4:1–8:22

Series: Read the Bible in a Year

What a difference a chapter can make. Where the word of God used to be rare in Israel (1 Samuel 3:1), it is now proclaimed throughout the land by Samuel (1 Samuel 4:1). In the same verse we read that Israel is going into battle against the Philistines. Is this because of their confidence in Samuel or because they are listening to the Lord? It does not seem to be the latter. The Philistines defeat them and without inquiring of the Lord, they bring the ark from Shiloh to the battlefront. They are again defeated by the Philistines. Moreover, the ark of God is captured by the Philistine army (1 Samuel 4:11). It is also in this battle that Hophni and Phinehas, the two worthless (1 Samuel 2:12) sons of Eli, died. A messenger runs back to Shiloh with the news. There sits Eli, worrying about the ark of God that he likely suspects he should not have allowed to depart the tabernacle. At the messenger’s mention of the captured ark, the 98-year-old priest falls over backward and breaks his neck. 

Meanwhile, the Philistines place the ark of the living God in the temple of a false god named Dagon, setting up the ark next to the idol. The next morning, unlike Eli, Dagon had fallen face first to the floor while the ark remained upright. They stood up the idol again, but the next morning Dagon had fallen again, and his head and arms are severed. The living God is victorious over the idol, decapitating him and severing his hands and arms as was often done in those times. Recall what David to did after killing Goliath. God, however, did not need to kill Dagon, as he is only a lifeless idol. Toppling him like a chess piece and beheading him is enough to make the Lord’s point. 

Now the hand (power) of the Lord turns against the Philistines. He afflicts them with tumors. Disease and It becomes clear to them that the ark is the cause and should be sent back to the Israelite army. They return it with a guilt offering of golden tumors and rats (likely a symbol of the filth connected to disease), five each, the number of Philistia’s major cities (1 Samuel 6:18). As a cart carries the ark and offering back to Israel, but the Lord does not permit its immediate return to Shiloh, perhaps because it was so easily sent away by Eli. Samuel calls on Israel to put away their idols and return to the Lord. Though Samuel faithfully serves as Judge, the people demand a king, not rejecting Samuel but the Lord. The Lord is about to grant their request. 

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