The Power of the Lord

Today we read the well-known account of the Israelites bringing the Ark of the Covenant to the battlefield. Let's take a step back and review what the Ark contained and represented.

Referencing Exodus 25:10-22, the Ark was a chest made of wood completely overlaid with gold. In it was the Testimony, the two inscribed tablets containing the law. The Ark was to remain in the tabernacle--another way to describe this is that the tabernacle was built for the Ark, since it resided in the part of the tabernacle that was so holy that it wasn't just placed in the Holy Place with the lampstand and the incense altar in the Holy Place, but resided by itself in the MOST Holy Place (all this compliments of pp 124-5 of the NIV Study Bible). On December 29th, we'll learn just how important the Ark is and perhaps even learn where it is today (quick answer--not on Earth).

That's what the Ark is--what it ISN'T is some kind of secret weapon to be wielded in war. Nowhere in 1 Samuel do we read that the Lord commanded the Israelites to take the Ark to the battlefield, so it didn't serve as a weapon. As we read, God allowed it to be captured by the Philistines, but even that worked to his purposes. Imagine the game of Hot Potato that occurred amongst the cities of Philistia as the Ark was sent around. I imagine the conversations went something like this:

Ashdod king: Hey, king of Gath, I'm sending the Israelite Ark your way.

Gath king: Awesome. Why?

AK: Everyone's dying here because of it.

GK: ???

Two very simple points:

1. By this time, the Israelites had a solid 100-200 years of proof that the Lord would grant them victories when they were obedient and followed his instructions.

2. The people of Israel needed God to protect them, but God needed NO ONE to protect him--as the people of Ashdod, Gath and Ekron discovered to their dismay.

God will do what he wants when he wants, and he may even deign to let us in on his workings, but seriously, do we still need proof today? Haven't we seen it enough throughout history and in our own lives to know that his will WILL be done?

One last note--we're beginning to enter another era here, marked by 1 Samuel 3:1, which states "In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions." Up to this point, we've read of instances where the Lord talked with the people or his presence was visible, and that time is wrapping up. We'll still have occasions where the Lord will speak directly (and not through prophets), most notably on June 19th, but suffice it to say we'll be discussing something else that day which I'm sure you'll enjoy. God didn't leave the people of Israel any more than he's left us today, he just began speaking to them differently--just like today.

Scott