1 Sa. 7: Philistines Ebenezered

1 Samuel 7:12 "Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, 'Thus far has the LORD helped us.'"

So even with the ark in the possession of the Israelites, twenty years went by before Samuel went all Joshua 24 on them and told them to throw away their ancillary gods. Why did it take that long? And thanks to some recent conversations, it's becoming easier to believe that these Israelites were polytheistic. Sure, they may have had their main God, whom they call "LORD," but more consistently, Israel was found with Baal or Ashtoreth. And I always wondered if everyone got rid of their phony gods, or if enough did, and there were a few deceived people still, and God was like, "Eh, 97% have thrown away their gods...that works for me." Probably not.

Verse six talks about how Israel drew water and then poured it out before the LORD. Not commanded of them, as far as I know, but I can only figure that drawing water was a giant pain in the hiney back then compared to today. So perhaps its kind of like that kid in Africa who hikes to the ocean and brings a shell back to his teacher and says that the journey is the gift, or whatever. The effort is the gift.

With Israel assembled at Mizpah, the Philistines assumed it was for war, so they came to take on Israel...apparently forgetting the whole tumor and rat episode. They march on Israel while Samuel is sacrificing, and God scares the bejeebers out of the Philistines with some thunder. And I wonder. About this thunder. Something tells me its not the wussy thunder we hear in our "thunderstorms." I bet this was that angry God thunder. Thunder that sounds like the earth is crumbling beneath your feet and flinging a million tiny hand grenades through your timpanic membranes.

This thunder cause massive panic, and this allowed the Israelites to slaughter their hapless foes. They routed them all the way to Beth Car.

Because of this, Samuel set up a stone called "Ebenezer," because the LORD had helped them "thus far." Which is kind of sad. Thus far. Is that questioning the mettle of the Israelites? Or his own ability to lead? Or is it a testament to what is done when Israel rids themselves of their false gods and allows one God to take control?

The good thing is, the Israelites lived in peace and were not bothered by the Philistines while Samuel was at the helm. He apparently knew what he was doing as judge.

1 Sa. 6: Two Words: Golden Tumor

1 Samuel 6:4 "The Philistines asked, 'What guilt offering should we send to him?' They replied, 'Five gold tumors and five gold rats, according to the number of the Philistine rulers, because the same plague has struck both you and your rulers.'"

By this time, the Philistines are sick of the tumors and rats plaguing them because of their possession of the ark. So what's the best way to get rid of this? I know...cast tumors made of gold and rats, too. Then put them next to the ark on a cart and set it loose. The Philistines weren't all morons. They knew what happened with Pharaoh and the Egyptians when they refused to let the Israelites leave.

The test here to see if it was really the LORD that afflicted them with the tumors...hemorrhoids maybe, was that if these cows took the ark home to Israel. If the cows just wandered aimlessly, then it wasn't God behind the whole deal. Somehow, I don't think there was a doubt in their mind what was going on there.

When the Israelites saw the cart come over the hill, they were super happy. The ark had returned. The ark, was still holy. Apparently some dudes looked into it. They were struck down. "Who can stand in his presence?" The power was recognized. Heeded? We'll see.

1 Sa. 5: Oh, Wait: It Is a TOO-mah...

1 Samuel 5:10 "So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. As the ark of God was entering Ekron, the people of Ekron cried out, 'They have brought the ark of the god of Israel around to us to kill us and our people.'"

The Philistines added the ark to their collection of gods...making it two now. Even though they placed the ark in Dagon's temple in Ashdod, I doubt they had any intention of worshiping the God of the Israelites.

They come back into the temple the next morning, and there is Dagon, lying face down on the floor next to the ark. A submissive pose. The Philistines probably looked at each other, shrugged, and put Dagon back up on the mantle. But O! What should happen that night? The Philistines return in the morning (They're in the temple everyday it would seem...that's devotion), and find Dagon back on the floor, his head and hands broken off his body and lying on the threshold. What's the message God is sending here? What is the importance of the head and the hands removed from the body? The head and hands are action. Mind. Doing something...something headless and handless is most certainly powerless.

Verse 5 is interesting to me. The above situation with the head and the hands caused the people not to step on the threshold in subsequent days. Theirs was a religion of superstition, not faith.

The Philistines passed the ark around to their major cities, and wherever the ark went, it brought the party with it. Just kidding. It brought tumors and rats and despair and much panic. The Philistines almost immediately recognized that it was the ark that had this power over them. A change of scenery did not effect the outcome. It was pain and tumors.

The Philistines figured they were safer with the ark of God in the hands of the hapless Israelites than holding it in their own camp. And they were probably right. The Israelites were for the most part unaware or unwilling to come to terms with the power God would give them. And this speaks to how God continued to judge the nations (here, the Philistines (Judges 14:4)) with or without the Israelites. What God had to do was not dependent on the Israelites really doing whatever they were supposed to be doing.

1 Sa. 4: Ark of War

1 Samuel 4:17 "The man who brought the news replied, 'Israel fled before the Philistines, and the army has suffered heavy losses. Also your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been captured.'"

Well...just about everything you would think could go wrong for Israel does, right here in chapter 4.

First off, they go to war with the Philistines. Not sure why. The point is, the Philistines kick their hineys. Confused, the Israelites remember something way back about needing God with them or some such thing, so they drag the ark out of the place it belongs and bring it to the battlefield. The ark made people erupt in cheers and screaming and shouting. The Philistines are like, "What's the deal, what's going on?" So they have quite the pep talk amongst themselves. But now that the ark is there, and with God on their side, the Israelites stomp the Philistines. Just kidding, the Philistines actually kill 30,000 Israelite foot soldiers. So it was even worse with the ark.

The Philistines captured the ark, and I am assuming that they did their research and new it was of some value. And Hophni and Phinehas died, fulfilling 1 Samuel 2:34.

Eli is told about this defeat, the death of his sons, and the capture of the ark. And it was too much for him to handle. He fell backward off his chair and broke his neck. Which is amazing. Can you imagine dying with your last thought being the capture of the ark, and possibly questioning everything you believed?

Phinehas' wife gave birth to a boy named Ichabod. Meaning "no glory." Ain't that right.

Ge. 26: Isaac and Abimelech

Kicking off the second half of Genesis, we find out there is a famine in the land. So Isaac goes and pays a visit to his dad's old friend, Abimelech in Gerar.

Meanwhile, God tells Isaac not to go down to Egypt. Not sure if it has something to do with his stepbrother Ishmael's wife, or that Egypt just sucked. Anyway, God tells him to avoid Egypt. In verse 4, God almost word-for-word reiterates the promise he made to Abraham back in Gen 22:17. But he adds a caveat, saying that Abraham obeyed God, and did everything required of him. This was a challenge to Isaac to follow the same path.

Follow the same path, he did...right down to letting Abimelech think Rebekah was Isaac's sister. When his dad pulled the stunt, it was before he was born, so maybe Isaac thought of it on his own, or maybe Abraham told him about it....I'unno. The point is, we have a husband with a hot wife, fearing for his life in spite of God's promise of preservation, Abimelech (or his cohorts) under the impression hot wife was a sister, Abimelech getting upset because they don't mess with married women, and then a decree going out not to harm the prophet. Maybe this was how Isaac figured it worked. Bring your wife in, let them think she's your sister, and then they protect you and lavish gifts upon you. Not a bad racket, I guess.

Isaac planted crops in that land, and God gave him a hundredfold increase. I'm no farmer, but if I plant one seed of corn or wheat or something, and I get 100 plants, I'd say that's pretty amazing, and a miracle.

So he gets rich. Big time. So much so that the Philistines living in the land got jealous. All they had were their cave paintings and sloping, ape-like foreheads presumably. So what do you do when you're jealous of the new rich guy in town? Go fill in all his wells. Grr...now they've got him.

Abimelech gets word of this, and tells Isaac to move away. He's become too big a fish for the small pond. So he moves away to the Valley of Gerar, which is apparently distinct from Gerar.

Isaac reopened all the wells, but was apparently not far enough away from Gerar, as the Gerarian herdsman argued with him over land and wells. He finally moved far enough away to be able to call a well Rehoboth, or "Room." Then he went to Beersheba. God again reconuts his promise, and Isaac builds an altar.

I'm pretty amazed by how often God recounts his promise to Abraham and Isaac. So far it's been 5 or 6 times. He must mean it.

Abimelech tracks him down, and goes to meet Isaac. Isaac is like, "What do you want? We moved away from your hostility." Abimelech goes, "No, we see that you and the LORD are like...tight. We want to make a deal with you."

Just like Abimelech, trying to get on God's good side without making any effort on his own.

So they have a feast and everyone's happy. They're cool.

Then they find out Ishmael went and married some Hittite chicks. And this really bugged Isaac and Rebekah.