You Won’t Forget This

Last week we looked at the previous chapter here and the incident that took place with the children of Israel going in and getting the Ark of the Covenant and using it as a lucky rabbit's foot, kind of. And then we notice in this chapter that, again, that the Philistines have taken the Ark of the Covenant and they're gonna try to figure out what to do with it. And a number of incidences take place here in this book, 1 Samuel chapter five, and we begin reading with verse one, and the Philistines took the ark of God. Now that word God there is capitalized in our King James, and many times it is. In fact, the majority of times it's capitalized. But not every time is it capitalized.

And when it comes to the Philistines talking about the God of Israel, I don't think that they had a concept about the capital G at all. They had a concept of a little g and they're going to use that same word about their God. So when it's the Ark of the says the Ark of God, the Philistines took the Ark of God when they're making reference to it, they're making reference to someone that is close to but not quite equal to their God. And that's the God that the Israelites were following. Most of the Israelites didn't know the capital G God that we find here. Most of them looked at this as a little G God, but by the very actions, that's what they're looking at. is a little g god and religion just promotes that little g attitude towards god because he can be manipulated and he can be worked and he will submit himself to the will of man and that's what they thought would happen when they took that ark of the covenant into the battle that he would submit or their will would take precedent and they would win the victory there with the Philistines. And the prize of the battle was the Ark. And they took this God of Israel, it says in verse two, when the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon and set it by Dagon.

So they are going to look at this as a victory lap. They're gonna look at this as we have succeeded in overcoming the God of Israel in this manner. Now, would you turn with me over to the book of Judges chapter 16? Turn back to the book of Judges, I should say.

This word Dagon, it means it was a fish god. It was a Philistine deity of fertility represented with a face and hands of a man and a tail of a fish. And that's what their god looked like. It's made out of stone in this particular instance. But over here in the book of Judges, we read here with regard to the time that Samson, is there in the Great Hall, Judges chapter 16. We read this, Judges chapter 16 and verse 23. It says that then the lords of the Philistines gathered together to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon, their little G God, which would be Elohim. Same word as we find many times with regard to the God of heaven.

And to rejoice for they said, our God, little G, hath delivered Samson, our enemy, into our hand. So they are looking at this in so many ways, just like Israel looked at the Ark of the Covenant, the Ark of God, it was just a lucky rabbit's foot. And then in verse 24, and when the people saw him, they praised their God. For they said, our God hath delivered into our hands our enemy and the destroyer of our country, which slew many of us. So our God has done this.

And it's faithfully throughout this whole section, we find that there is that little G God that the Philistines had. And when we find it represented with the God of the Ark, to them, it was nothing more than just like this. There were many. many variations of gods in Israel at this time. Almost every one of the tribes had gone after Baal. Many of them had gone after Ashtaroth or other of the gods. So we just find the proliferation of the gods that there and the Philistines, they brought this ark into the place where Dagon was, the temple of Dagon.

Let's go back to the book of 1 Samuel there, chapter five. And they bring this ark into the house of Dagon, verse two of chapter five. Now, there are a number of reasons we probably could write down to say why they would do this. As a thank you gift to Dagon for victory, they brought this ark in there.

Just remember what this was. to Israel, it wasn't much. What it was to God was a representation of Jesus Christ, the Lord. This is the mercy seat. This is where the blood was placed. This is the payment place for the sins of Israel in a type, in a shadow, in a picture form, just as Jesus Christ is the reality. Here was the picture in the Old Testament.

So they have this thank you gift for Dagon. And to tell all who is the most important God, little G, just as we read there with regard to Samson. Our God has delivered you into our hands. And then to pay homage to Dagon and to show who has the power. Our God, Dagon, has this power.

Many human reasons could be mentioned here just like those, but we find through the lattice, and I like that verse of scripture that's over there in the Song of Solomon. that behind the lattice, there is this one, this God, this savior, this deliverer, the lover of the church, this one. And so often we find that he's behind the scenes. We don't understand. I just mentioned to Mike out there, you know, you think that talking would be the easiest thing that we could do.

And yet when it comes to prayer, we can't even do that unless we have God's assistance. We know not how to pray as we ought. The Holy Spirit is gracious enough to take up that part. So without God, without the Holy Spirit, without the prestige of God, our prayers wouldn't even get up above the ceiling.

So as we look at this, there were a few, no doubt, in Israel that were praying, but their prayers were in the hands of God. God moved. So as we look at this, we find out that this whole scene here is directed by someone from behind the lattice, all-powerful, all-knowing, God Almighty, behind the scenes of everything that takes place. There is this God.

Sometimes He's very evident, and sometimes He is, as we read over there in the book of the Song of Solomon, He is behind the lattice. Before we get too far, I just want to notice the difference between verse 2 of this 5th chapter. It says, the Ark of God, verse 2, Ark of God, Ark of Elohim, could be capitalized, could be small letters. But we look in verse three, and when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before.

Now the Holy Spirit gives us the understanding who this is. It's the Ark of Jehovah. To the Israelites, it was just an ark. It was just a piece. It was just something to take into battle and hopefully win a victory. But when we get down to it, we find out that Dagon had fallen on his face in front of the Ark of Jehovah.

Thank the Lord for that realization that the Holy Spirit gives to us about who this really is. It's not going to be the word of some Philistines or even the word of Israel. It's the word of the Holy Spirit to us that this is God's box. It's God's box. And that's where this Dagon fell in front of. Verse three, it says, And when Ashdod arose early in the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon the face to the earth before the ark of the Lord. And they took Dagon and set him in his place again. How many men it took? Maybe one, maybe a dozen. Doesn't say. But I just can't help but think that someone was saying that the person who set up this Dagon the first time didn't do a very good job.

And there's going to be a payment made. Someone's going to pay for doing this. From God's point of view, from the God behind the lattice, between the God that is overseeing all things, we find out why this ark was in the temple of Dacon. God is going to show to the Philistines who is God in Israel. And turn with me, if you would, to the book of the Proverbs. We've read this a number of times, not too recently, but recently. And here in Psalms, excuse me, Proverbs 21, Proverbs 21. There in verse one, we read this.

Why did they put that ark in the house of Dagon? The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord. As the rivers of water, he turneth it whithersoever he will. They were impressed upon by almighty God to put that art in the presence of Dagon, their God. And God's going to demonstrate some very strong things to them. The first time, as we've read, that God Dagon falls on his face. Well, the second time after they set him up, we find out that there is a more serious thing that has happened to the god Dagon.

Before we get there though, turn with me to the book of the Proverbs chapter 16. Proverbs chapter 16, as we see the one behind all things, we see the Lord behind all things, we don't understand it. My goodness, we just cannot comprehend so often how the Lord does things or why he does things. That's not, most of that is never revealed to us, but we do find out that God does it according to his eternal purpose. And as we read in Romans 8, 28, and we know that all things work together for the good of them that love God. And I just have to take counsel in that. Those who love God, He's going to work out all things for them. All right, here in the book of Proverbs chapter 16. Proverbs chapter 16 and there in verse 9. Proverbs 16 and verse 9. A man's heart devises his way, but the Lord directs his steps.

It's so interesting as we look into the scriptures and find out how very minute details God oversees. He doesn't just take the big things. He takes the minutest of details and oversees them all. And they're all going to work out according to His eternal purpose and for the glory of the church and for the glory of God.

I like over in the book of Ezra chapter 1 verse 1 where we read there that it's time, it's time for Israel to go back to Jerusalem. And we have this very first verse of this chapter is brought up and here we have that God is going to stir up a king to do something that he normally would not have done. Now whether these Philistines normally would have put the Ark of the Covenant in that house with Dagon or not, I don't know. But I know as a result of God overshadowing it, they did. And he's going to demonstrate to them that there's somebody much more powerful than this fish god that you have here.

But in Ezra chapter 1 verse 1, Now in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled. God's word will be, must be carried out, must be fulfilled. And so we have that brought up here that Jeremiah had wrote about this very thing. The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia.

Now how he did that among the Philistines? I'm not gonna dare even guess, but I am convinced that he was there and he stirred up somebody to put that Ark of the Covenant in that place in front of Dagon, and God is gonna demonstrate that he is God, and beside him, there is none else. So he stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, and Cyrus did something that he normally would not have done. Besides letting his whole slave crew go, he gave them money to go home on. And that's just not a normal thing for this kind of king to do, but it was normal for God to work it out in such a way.

In that same book, in chapter 7 of the book of Ezra, Ezra chapter 7, and there in verse 27, Ezra 7, verse 27, we read this, 27 and 28. Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers, which hath put such a thing as this in the king's heart. Ezra chapter 7, verse 27. Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers, Jehovah Elohim. Blessed be Jehovah Elohim of our fathers, which hath put such a thing as this in the king's heart, to beautify the house of the Lord, which is in Jerusalem, and hath extended mercy unto me before the king and his counselors, and before all the king's mighty princes.

And all was strengthened as the hand of the Lord my God was upon me, and I gathered together out of the chief Israel, cheap man to go up with me. So how God carried out this business is so intricate and so careful and so beautiful to see how God does his business. Here it is displayed here as Ezra brings it up and said, it's wonderful how God has worked with the king. How God has worked with his counselors, how God has worked with the Israel, how God has worked with me. And this is going to be carried out that the city of Jerusalem is going to be rebuilt after being destroyed 70 years prior to this.

In the Psalms, we read, he turned their heart to hate his people. There's a number of times that God, right there with, in fact, with regard to the Philistines, he turned the heart of the Philistines to hate Israel and to take them into battle. Let's just go over there, Psalm 105. In Psalm 105, we have this recorded, that God turned other nations to hate Israel.

And then, you know, as we're gonna find out with the Philistines, they won the battle. Nothing happened to them when they captured the ark. Something's gonna happen to them after taking the ark, but now God's gonna punish them for taking the ark. It's just, it's ironical how this works out.

All right, the Psalms, Psalm 105. In Psalm 105, there in verse 17, Psalm 105, verse 17, it says, he sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant. That's an interesting statement that he sent before Israel, Joseph sold as a servant, as a slave. And then we find out something here in verse 18. I don't think we find in Genesis and that is whose feet they hurt with fetters as he was laid in iron.

So they had him in irons until the time that his word came, the word of the Lord tried him and the king sent and loosed him, even the ruler of the people and let him go free and made him Lord of his house and ruler of his substance from a servant, a slave to being second in command in Egypt.

What a statement. And this is for the deliverance of Israel. God moved in those mysterious ways, his wonders to perform. And then we, this verse of scripture that we've often gone to there in the book of Daniel chapter four and verse 35, where it says, he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand or say, what doest thou? It is the Lord that does all of these things. Even in the message that Stephen brought, he brought up that subject about Joseph being promoted and put in command. He was God's appointed person for the hour.

Well, Dagon has fallen. Let's go back there to the book of 1 Samuel again, chapter five. He's fallen on his face the first time and they reset him. And here in the book of 1 Samuel chapter 5, we read this about the second time, the next time that they set him up. In the book of 1 Samuel chapter 5, and there in verse 4, the scripture says, and when they arose early on the morrow morning, 1 Samuel chapter 5 and verse 4, we've had him straightened back up, he'd been fallen, he'd set him in place, the last few words of verse 3, and when he arose, when they arose early in the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of God. Now I've often thought if God had hands and had fingerprints, you'd find them all over the back of Dagon as he was pushed forward. did this. He performed this great act of pushing an immovable object that became movable.

And then it tells us here the Ark of the Lord, the Ark of Jehovah. Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the Ark of God. and the head of Dagon, and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold. Only the stump of Dagon was left to him." So God demonstrated, he pruned it, he's not, he can't think, he's just a stone, he can't work, he can't handle, he can't do anything, he's just a stone, and he's no more to the Philistines than that ark was to Israel.

It was the Ark of little G to them, little G God. But it is the Ark of Jehovah that they're dealing with. In verses five now, therefore, neither the priests of Dagon nor any that come into Dagon's house tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod until this day.

How superstitious they became instantly. And that's just how superstitious religion is. It's just a religion of superstitions. They can't step on that threshold because that's what cut Dagon's head and his hands off. Therefore, verse five, neither the priest, or verse six, but the hand of the Lord was heavy upon Ashdod. Now that's an interesting phrase that God put here into the book, into the first Samuel chapter five. The hand of God was was heavy upon Ashdod. And it tells us there that he destroyed them and smote them with emeralds, even Ashdod and the coast thereof.

Now God's gonna bring something on them. I like what one old preacher had to say about this. I'm not gonna elaborate too much. We all know what that is, but he just summed it up and says, it seemed, it summed up the condition, a very painful disease. That's what God gave them was something they could not forget day or night. You know, as I was thinking about this, this is just like the fall. It's you can never get to the point where you can get away from it on your own. It doesn't matter whether it's in our sleep. It doesn't matter whether we're awake. It doesn't matter whether we're eating. It doesn't matter whether we're drinking. It doesn't matter whether we're out fishing.

You just can not get away from this issue. And the Philistines could not get away from this issue. Once God had given them these embroids, they could not get away from them. There was no way, and they were serious to them, and they were constant to them.

And it's just reminded me of that position that we're in by the fall. You never, the best you can do, you can never get away from that. There's only one thing that will take care of the fall, and that's the blood of Christ, the only thing. So whatever we do, whatever church we go to, whatever religious activity that we do, we're still carrying along the problem. We have it with us. We can move, saying I'm going to go to a better place because I don't want to be around the folks that I'm around, and we get there and we're carrying the problem right with us because we cannot get away from it. And so here all the people of this town had this problem.

And they see the only way to get rid of the problem is to get rid of the arc. So that's what they're going to do. In verse eight, it says here in verse seven, and when the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, the ark of God of Israel shall not abide with us, for his hand is sore upon us and upon the god Dagon our God. The ark of God, the representative, is hard on us. His heavy hand is upon us, and he's brought us a remembrance that we cannot get rid of. We hope, that when this arc is gone and we give it away, that it will take care of it. Well, we can train from one religion to another religion and never get rid of the problem. We can go to even a good religion and never get rid of the problem.

There's only one that can do this. We'll carry it to gas. So that's what they're going to do. They're going to take it to another place. They're going to carry it to Gath. And it says, they sent therefore, verse 8, they sent therefore and gathered all the lords of the Philistines unto them and said, what shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? And they answered, let the ark of God of Israel be carried about unto Gath, another town. And they carried the Ark of God of Israel about thither.

So they carried it. You know, when Israel had this Ark, they were never supposed to move it. The common man was not supposed to move it. The army was not supposed to move it. It was to be held only by the Levites and a certain group of them, and it was to be covered, and it was to be carried on their shoulders. Well, God doesn't treat them for doing this as he would of Israel.

So they carry it over to Gath and here we have the same issue is going to be in Gath. The same issue are there too. You just cannot get away from it. The Lord struck them. As we travel through here, we find that they carried it, and it was so, in verse nine, that after they had carried it about, the hand of the Lord was against the city with a very great destruction, and he smote men of the city, both small and great, and they had emeralds in their secret parts. So one more time, God reminded them, you cannot get away from this. The fall is so serious, you can never get away from it. We, when we look at the fall, we find and we just, we never can come to the end of it. We never realized the totality of that. We never realized the total inability that was given until after we're saved. And then we still don't get, we can't grasp it.

It's so big, so huge, what happened in the garden with Adam as he ate that forbidden fruit. We talk about the totality. Mike and I were talking about this and I think the word that He brought up and I and I started putting it in my vocabulary is his total inability. We don't understand total depravity. That's a that's a word that well, that's somebody else's problem.

But the total inability that we have to ever do anything right. righteous in the eyes of God. And this is so played out here with these Philistines that when Adam sinned, he was given a serious disease and he could never get away from it. You know what? This very disease that God gave the Philistines is a disease that he gave the human race in Adam.

The same thing. It's still with us. Doctors still deal with it. We still deal with it. So it's just a sign. It's just a picture. It's just a shadow of the problem that we have as a result of the fall. And it never gets any better until God saves us by his grace.

And I was listening to a sermon today and that preacher said, you know, he didn't deal with my flesh. That's gonna have to go in the ground. And that's the truth. He didn't change my flesh. It's gonna have to go in the ground. But He did deal with my spirit. It was dead in trespasses and sin. He raised it, resurrected it, gave me the new birth. I have an attitude towards God that I've never had by nature. And He's given me a victory in Christ Jesus. So they carried it over to Gath. The issue is exactly the same. And he smote the men of the city, both small and great.

Verse 10, therefore, they sent the Ark of God to Ekron. And it came to pass as the Ark of God came to Ekron that the Ekronites cried out saying, they have brought about the Ark of God of Israel to us to slay us and our people. The word is out. The Ark is moving. It's being taken. taken from town to town by the Philistines. And they bring it to their friends and say, we have a gift for you. And they say, take it away. We've heard about it already. So they sinned and gathered together all the Lords of the Philistines and said, send away the Ark of God of Israel and let it go again to his 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. My goodness, the hand of God against the Philistines for this crime that they have. They've taken the ark of God and he brings a heavy hand. The fall and the results of the fall is a very heavy hand, but it is a promised hand that God gave to Adam.

The day you eat, you shall surely die. And that's the most serious form. the most serious description that we can have of a problem, you shall die. Well, we find that that's an ongoing issue. The number of people that die every day in the world, astronomical. Same thing we heard, the number of babies that are born every day, astronomical. The balance sheet, but death is going to be the end. We'll carry it to gas.

We'll send it away, and then in verse 10, and the men that died not were smitten with emeralds, and the cry of the city went up to heaven. One more time, this city is reminded they cannot get away from the problem. This is a problem that God gave as a result of the fall. It's an issue that God gave them because of their sin and he punished them sorely.

And we're going to find out that they decide in the next chapter, in chapter six, they decide they're going to send it home. Now, it's not going to go back to where it was. It's going to go to a place that hasn't been there before. where Eli was and where Samuel was, it's never going to be there again. It's going to be, again, dropped to a place and dropped to another place before it is put into the temple under Solomon. But they're going to carry to Ekron the same issue, death and constant reminder of wrong incurred day or night. There is no relief in any of these places that the ark has ever gone.

And the Lord God of heaven intervenes behind the lattice to take care of the great issue. It's interesting that they're going to decide to put this ark on a new cart behind two milk cows that have calves. Now, I don't know if you've ever been around milk cows that have calves, but they will knock you to the ground if you get around their calves and start to bother them. But these milk cows took that ark to Israel and didn't have any direction except he that is behind the lattice.

In the book of the Song of Solomon, would you turn there with me? Song of Solomon chapter two. In the Song of Solomon, chapter two, here is the one that is behind the scenes of everything that ever happens in your life and in my life, in the life of our country, the life of the world, whether it is glacier time or sunbaked time, here's the one that's behind it all. I like what God said to us in the book of Genesis, there will always be seed time and harvest.

There will always be the sun coming up until he comes again. Here in the book of Song of Solomon, chapter 2, verse 9, my beloved is like a roe or a young heart, which are of the deer family. Behold, he standeth behind our wall. He looketh forth at the window showing himself through the lattice.

And that's what we find in God's providence throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament. Always, God is there behind all things. He oversees all things. None of those folks of the Philistines had any issue but that God was behind the scene giving them the issue. And then we're going to find out that Israel gets that ark back. And again, God is going to direct this behind the scenes. It's as if he was leading those cows back to Israel, but there was no one physically leading them back. He is directing them as showing himself through the lattice. I'm thankful that we have a God that oversees everything. We may not see him, but we can see his activity. He is behind the lattice.

And so as the Philistines, great enemies of the church, great enemies of God, great enemies of Israel, are treated in this way, we find out God is over them too. Even though it looked like they had won a great victory, 30,000 Israelites were killed. Men with the sword were killed right there at the very beginning. The ark was taken.

It was all in God's providential watch and care over the people and a demonstration to everyone that this sin that we have in the fall is not erasable. by our own actions. It is no wonder that God says a number of times, it's not by works of righteousness, which we have done, that we got rid of the disease. We think of that woman that was of an issue of blood, and I don't know how much she spent when it comes to dollars and cents, but the Bible says she spent all. on trying to be better and she couldn't. The same thing is there. So we're thankful that the blood of Christ takes care of the issue and it is applied by Christ himself.

There in the Old Testament, there at the Passover, all my life I was told anyone out there and they took that blood. We had the kids doing it. We had the dad doing it. We had the mom doing it. The grandparents doing it. Everybody's doing it. The head of the household did it, and that's who did it finally. The head of the household, the head of the church, did it on the behalf of his people. So he didn't leave it to us to go out there. Put the blood on you. No, no, sorry, can't happen that way. We can't lift our arms up that high. So we're thankful for God's message throughout the scriptures. There is a savior that saves his people from their sins. We'll stop there for tonight and Lord willing, the next time we get together.

You Won’t Forget This

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You Won’t Forget This

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