Musings in Samuel (10)

“Now the people of Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley, and they raised their eyes and saw the ark and were glad to see it. The cart came into the field of Joshua the Beth-shemite and stood there where there was a large stone; and they split the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to Yahweh. The Levites took down the ark of Yahweh and the box that was with it, in which were the articles of gold, and put them on the large stone; and the men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices that day to Yahweh. When the five lords of the Philistines saw it, they returned to Ekron that day.

“These are the golden tumors which the Philistines returned for a guilt offering to Yahweh: one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath, one for Ekron; and the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, both of fortified cities and of country villages. The large stone on which they set the ark of Yahweh is a witness to this day in the field of Joshua the Beth-shemite.” (1 Samuel 6:13 – 18).

Here comes a new cart with two boxes on it; one box is the Ark of the Covenant, the other box contains golden mice and golden tumors - a guilt offering to Yahweh from the Philistines. The Philistines were aware of Yahweh’s dealing with the Egyptians, they were aware of the danger of “hardening” their hearts, and they were aware that they ought to “give glory to the God of Israel” (1 Samuel 6:4 – 6). They also had a sense that there ought to be a certain way in which they handled the Ark (1 Samuel 6:2).

Sometimes the children of the world and the adversaries of God’s Kingdom have a greater sense of the Divine than those who profess to know God. I have often witnessed a greater reverence for prayer and Divine things from the children of the world than from professing Christians who treat the Holy One as a kind of ATM machine or magic genie. Professing Christians often have a presumption about them that the sincere children of men rightly consider sacrilegious. Why have we lost a sense of the Holy One? How has this happened? Can it be recovered?

The people of Beth-shemesh were initially glad to see the Ark, but they wanted the Ark on their own terms. The Levites initially did their job by handling the Ark, removing it from the cart and placing it on a large stone – but then the Levites failed God and the people by allowing the people to look into the Ark:

“He [God] struck down some of the men of Beth-shemesh because they had looked into the ark of Yahweh. He struck down of all the people, 50,070 men, and the people mourned because Yahweh had struck the people with a great slaughter. The men of Beth-shemesh said, “Who is able to stand before Yahweh, this holy God? And to whom shall He go up from us?” So they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath-jearim, saying, “The Philistines have brought back the ark of Yahweh; come down and take it up to you.”” (1 Samuel 6:19 – 21).

The Philistines repented and offered guilt offerings when Yahweh judged them, the Israelites of Beth-shemesh mourned but, as far as we can see, they did not repent. Here again we see the children of the world, in this case the adversaries of the people of God, with a greater honesty and sensitivity than the people of God. Ought this not to convict those of us who profess to follow the Way?

We say we want the Ark, the Presence of God, in our midst – but we want it on our own terms to do with it as we want. We will take the cart and the cows and we’ll sacrifice them and we’ll have our worship services and we’ll rejoice and have a good time, but we will not reverence the Holy One. Should God hold us accountable we’ll simply ask Him to move on and hope that the people of Kiriath-jearim will come and take God and His Ark from us – thank you very much.

When we turn the holy things of God into Jesus junk, God will hold us accountable. To whom much is given much is required. When we merchandise the Holy One the way celebrities are merchandised, we will be held accountable. We have an earthly example of this the way Prince Harry wanted to use his royal title to make money – the Queen would have none of it. If this is true of an earthly monarch, how much truer is it of the King of kings and Lord of lords? Will the Father allow His Son to be made merchandise of? Will the Son allow His Father’s House to be made a place of profit and marketing and merchandise?

In our present distress, I occasionally hear about our need to pray – but I have yet to hear about our need to repent. We are a barbaric people, a people who have sold souls for gain, a people who delight in wickedness, a people and a church who believe we can flaunt our sin and reject the Holy One.

Yet the Stone of witness remains (1 Samuel 6:18); Christ desires us to come to Him and accept His love, forgiveness, and reconciliation – He desires that we, by His grace, repent and confess our sins and take up our cross and follow Him.

Let us confess our sins, repent of our sinful ways, and intercede on behalf of a world in darkness. Perhaps God will grant us hearts for repentance, perhaps we can emerge from this distress with a new appreciation for His goodness and the worth of our neighbor.

He is the Holy One. The Church is His sanctuary. His Ark is holy. We are not called to mimic a theme park – we are called to display the Crucified One.