In 1 Samuel 4 – 7 the Spirit records an enigmatic event where the ark of Israel is lost to the Philistines. A simple reading of the text inevitably leads to a number of intriguing questions.[1] Why does God allow the ark to go into the hands of the idolatrous Philistines? Why is the ark mentioned so frequently? Why are we told about Dagon’s hands being cut off? Where do the elusive golden mice come from?
To examine these questions, and underpinning the ‘Analysis’ column, is a methodology to ‘search the Scriptures’ by ‘comparing spiritual things with spiritual’[2] (Acts 17:11, 1 Cor 2:14[3]). By doing so, the aim is to receive with meekness the engrafted word and to be doers of the word, and not hearers only. The consideration of this text in 1 Samuel will highlight the need to ‘look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen’ (2 Cor 4:18).
‘to prove Israel by them’
To appreciate the context of our passage, Israel is at war with the Philistines, something they have been engaged in since the time of Samson (cf. Jud 13:5).
Now Israel went out against the Philistines to battle, and pitched beside Ebenezer: and the Philistines pitched in Aphek. 1 Sam 4:1b (KJV)[4]
We learn from Judges 3 that the Philistines[5] had been left in the land purposefully by God:
Now these [are] the nations which the Lord left, to prove Israel by them, [even] as many [of Israel] as had not known all the wars of Canaan; Only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at the least such as before knew nothing thereof; [namely], five lords of the Philistines,…and they were to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of the Lord, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses. Jud 3:1-4 (KJV)
In the incidents we will examine, we are seeing God using the Philistines to prove Israel to see whether they would keep the commandments He gave to their fathers, by the hand of Moses.
‘it may save us’
With the latest battle lost, and with the loss of 4,000 Israeli lives (1 Sam 4:2), Israel began to question why this had happened (1 Sam 4:3). In so doing, they apportion the blame of the defeat to God and are entirely self-absorbed:
…the elders of Israel said, Wherefore hath the Lord smitten us to day before the Philistines? Let us fetch the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of Shiloh unto us, that, when it cometh among us, it may save us out of the hand of our enemies…
The elders believe that their salvation will come from the ark ‘that, when it cometh among us, it may save us out of the hand of our enemies’ (v. 3). The elders of Israel believe that the ark alone will save them (cf. Exod 32:8). At best, they treat the ark of the Yahweh of hosts as a mascot; at worst, they treat it like an idol.
The elders of Israel believe that the ark would ‘save (ysh)’ (1 Sam 4:3). The irony was that Israel already had a specific commandment by the hand of Moses regarding salvation in a battle situation:
When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses, and chariots, [and] a people more than thou, be not afraid of them: for the Lord thy God [is] with thee, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And it shall be, when ye are come nigh unto the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak unto the people, and shall say unto them, Hear, O Israel, ye approach this day unto battle against your enemies: let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them; For the Lord your God [is] he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save (ysh) you. Deut 20:1-4 (KJV)
The priest was to tell the people that Yahweh would save them – not the ark itself. Israel had failed to hearken to His commandments. The elders had not followed the ‘biblical’ approach, but had chosen their own course of action.
In 1 Samuel, we learn the identity of the ‘priests’ who were supposed to be leading Israel into battle – Hophni and Phinehas[6] (1 Sam 4:4; cf. Deut 20:2). As priests they were to ‘keep knowledge’ (Mal 2:7), they should have known Deuteronomy 20 and applied it. Yet Hophni and Phinehas, ‘sons of Belial’ who ‘knew not Yahweh’ (1 Sam 2:12), were not at the battle but back with the ark at Shiloh (1 Sam 4:4). The priesthood of the day was so corrupt they didn’t know Yahweh – or his commandments (cf. Jud 3:4).
‘shouted with a great shout’
After losing the first battle, the ark was brought into camp to assist Israel in the next military skirmish (1 Sam 4:5). Upon arrival, Israel ‘shouted with a great shout’ (1 Sam 4:5). By comparing this Hebrew phrase elsewhere, it would appear that Israel are trying to draw inspiration from events at Jericho a couple of hundred years prior.
In Joshua 6, God gives Joshua explicit instructions detailing how they were to take Jericho:
And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams’ horns: and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets. And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long [blast] with the ram’s horn, [and] when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him. Josh 6:4-5 (KJV)
As a result of obeying God’s command, God gave Israel the victory:
…the rereward came after the ark of the Lord, [the priests] going on, and blowing with the trumpets...so the people shouted when [the priests] blew with the trumpets: and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. (Josh 6:13, 20)
The similarity of events between the battles of Joshua 6 and 1 Samuel 4 is illustrated by the use of the ‘ark’ of God and the people ‘shouting with a great shout’:
| 1 Samuel 4 | Joshua 6 |
|---|---|
| “the ark of the covenant of the Lord came into the camp” (v. 5) | “so the ark of the Lord compassed the city…and they came into the camp” (v. 11) |
| “all Israel shouted with a great shout” (v. 5) | “the people shouted with a great shout” (v. 20) |
| “be carried about to Gath” (5:8) | “compassed the city” (v. 15) |
The Hebrew word translated ‘carried about’ three times in 1 Sam 5:8, 9 is the same word translated ‘compassed’ in Joshua 6:15. Just as Joshua compassed about Jericho and destroyed it with the Ark of the Covenant, so also here in the Philistine towns.
In 1 Samuel 4, the elders and the people model their actions on the events of Joshua 6. However, there is a key contrast between these two events, which is the underlying approach to the battle. In Joshua 6, God had explicitly stated what would happen (Josh 6:2-5), and Joshua highlights the fact that it is Yahweh who was the one giving the city (Josh 6:16). Whereas in 1 Samuel they believe that it is the ark that saves. As Israel found, the mere slavish repetition of deeds without appreciating the underlying principles and truths is ineffectual.
The noise of Israel’s great shout terrifies the Philistines (1 Sam 4:6, 7), who believe that ‘God is come to the camp’ (v. 7), highlighting Israel’s failure to appreciate the divine (v. 3). The Philistines continue:
Woe unto us! Who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods? These [are] the Gods that smote the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness. 1 Sam 4:8 (KJV revised)
The Philistines refer to a) the ‘hand of these mighty gods’ and b) reference the plagues inflicted on Egypt, an event some 400-500 years prior (cf. Exod 15:14). As we shall illustrate, there is an uncanny foresight in the two aspects of verse 8.
[1] Scripture teaches that we should humbly interrogate the text of scripture – cf. 1 Cor 9:9, 10; Luke 10:26.
[2] For further consideration of this see P. Heavyside “‘Comparing spiritual things with spiritual’: the whole counsel of God as the basis for sound doctrine”, The Testimony Vol. 55, p. 131 – 135.
[3] These two passages are connected – the Greek word translated ‘searched’ in Acts 17:11 is the same word used in 1 Cor 2:15 translated ‘discerned’.
[4] The first clause of 1 Sam 4:1 is part of the previous section, “for Yahweh revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of Yahweh [3:18], and the word of Samuel came to all Israel. [4:1a]” (1 Sam 3:21b-4:1a). Some translations have highlighted this in their formatting, e.g. ESV, NET, NKJV.
[5] By comparing Josh 11:22, 15:45-47, Jud 1:18 and 1 Sam 5:1, 8, 10; 7:14 it would appear that the possession of these towns was relatively fluid between Israel and the Philistines.
[6] Hophni and Phinehas are referred to as priests in 1 Sam 1:3
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One