Musings in Samuel (6)

“When the people came into the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has Yahweh defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us take to ourselves from Shiloh the Ark of the Covenant of Yahweh, that it may come among us and deliver us from the power of our enemies.” 1 Samuel 4:3.

Israel treated the Ark as a good luck charm, a kind of religious magic. It mattered not to them that the Ark of the Covenant spoke of God’s desire to have communion with man, or that within the Ark were the Ten Commandments, the manna, and the rod of Aaron, with all that those holy items communicated. Israel did not care about the Mercy Seat or the sacrificial blood sprinkled on it, or the cherubim guarding the holiness of the True and Living God. Israel thought that by just bringing the Ark with them into battle that God would fight for them against the Philistines

Not only did the Philistines defeat Israel, they captured the Ark. So much for a lucky charm.

Note the amazing self-deceit of the Israelites, “As the Ark of the Covenant of Yahweh came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth resounded” (1 Sam. 4:5). Much noise does not mean that God is present. A consensus of deceit does not turn false thinking and practice into the truth. The priests Hophni and Phinehas were with the Ark, but that did not mean that what they were doing was right. Phinehas and Hophni were leading sinful lives, they were desecrating the priesthood, the Tabernacle, the sacred worship of Yahweh – much as many pastors and priests are doing today. The Ark would be captured and Hophni and Phinehas would be killed in the battle.

Perhaps the Bible is our lucky religious charm today. We think that if we say that we and our churches “believe the Bible” that we need do no more. We need not read the Bible. We need not really know the Bible. We need not obey the Bible. Our sermons need not be from the Bible. Our Sunday school and small group curriculum need not submit to the Bible. We need not bring our Bibles when we gather. We need not preach the Christ of the Bible and belong to Him and to Him alone.

Our priests and pastors need not study at schools that function under the authority of the Bible, our leaders need not really believe the Bible and live under its authority.

We may have Bibles in our pews, on our bookshelves, on our tables – as comforting religious charms. What is within the Bible is not important, not really – surely simply possessing a Bible is enough.

What do you think?

How do we compare with Israel and its attitude toward the Ark of the Covenant?