Year One, August 5

Act Like Men, Be Strong1

1 Samuel 3:19-21

19And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. 20And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was established as a prophet of the LORD. 21And the LORD appeared again at Shiloh, for the LORD revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the LORD. (Samuel was faithful when God spoke to him the first time and therefore the Lord honored him again. May all young Christians be unwavering and true from the start and God will bless them. Meanwhile God was preparing terrible judgment for the wicked sons of Eli.)

  

1 Samuel 4:1-11

1bNow Israel went out to battle against the Philistines. They encamped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines encamped at Aphek. 2The Philistines drew up in line against Israel, and when the battle spread, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand men on the field of battle. 3And when the troops came to the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has the LORD defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD here from Shiloh, that it may come among us and save us from the power of our enemies.” (The Israelites trusted in the ark instead of the God it represented. They forgot that the most holy symbols will not bring blessings to ungodly hearts. God shows us here that religion on the outside is worthless unless holiness is on the inside. It is pointless to trust in words and ceremonies. They cannot help us if the Lord is not with us. A cross hanging from our neck is worthless, but Christ in the heart is precious.)

4So the people sent to Shiloh and brought from there the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts, who is enthroned on the cherubim. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God. (God had his own way to bring Eli’s sons to the battlefield where they were doomed to lose their guilty lives. God knows how to reach wicked people and deliver justice to them.)

5As soon as the ark of the covenant of the LORD came into the camp, all Israel gave a mighty shout, so that the earth resounded.

Overconfident people are always ready to shout, but before long they will have reason to weep and wail, just as these noisy boasters did. The law was in the ark, but what help could the law they had broken bring to them. Its very presence condemned them. Those who trust in the law face certain judgment.

6And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shouting, they said, “What does this great shouting in the camp of the Hebrews mean?” And when they learned that the ark of the LORD had come to the camp, 7the Philistines were afraid, for they said, “A god has come into the camp.” And they said, “Woe to us! For nothing like this has happened before. 8Woe to us! Who can deliver us from the power of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with every sort of plague in the wilderness. 9Take courage, and be men, O Philistines, lest you become slaves to the Hebrews as they have been to you; be men and fight.”

The Philistines were idolators and thought the ark was God himself. However, they were correct in thinking that if God was on Israel’s side, it would not go well with them. If they had understood that God is Almighty, they would not have attempted to fight against him. But they thought Jehovah was like their own god, Dagon, who had only limited powers. Therefore, they showed their bravery by deciding to fight like true soldiers. If these Philistines could be so bold in what appeared to be a hopeless situation, how brave should we be who have the assurance of victory, because the Lord of hosts is with us? Our Lord says to us, “Take courage, and be men.” To be cowardly in the cause of Jesus would be disgraceful! Never let the fear of others have the slightest power over you. Do not doubt the reality of the power of your Lord.

10So the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and they fled, every man to his home. And there was a very great slaughter, for thirty-thousand foot soldiers of Israel fell. 11And the ark of God was captured, (The ark was never captured until it was defended with physical weapons. True religion will always suffer when people try to defend it with force.) and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.

The Lord kept his word. He will be just as faithful to keep his threats as to he is to keep his promises. Woe to us if we continue in sin; because the Lord will certainly punish us. Are we all saved in Christ Jesus?

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¹ 1 Corinthians 16:13