And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it from Ebenezer unto Ashdod.
2 When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon.
3 And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the Lord. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again.
4 And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold; only the stump of Dagon was left to him.
5 Therefore neither the priests of Dagon, nor any that come into Dagon's house, tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day.
6 But the hand of the Lord was heavy upon them of Ashdod, and he destroyed them, and smote them with emerods, even Ashdod and the coasts thereof.
7 And when the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, The ark of the God of Israel shall not abide with us: for his hand is sore upon us, and upon Dagon our god.
8 They sent therefore and gathered all the lords of the Philistines unto them, and said, What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? And they answered, Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried about unto Gath. And they carried the ark of the God of Israel about thither.
9 And it was so, that, after they had carried it about, the hand of the Lord was against the city with a very great destruction: and he smote the men of the city, both small and great, and they had emerods in their secret parts.
10 Therefore they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And it came to pass, as the ark of God came to Ekron, that the Ekronites cried out, saying, They have brought about the ark of the God of Israel to us, to slay us and our people.
11 So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines, and said, Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it go again to his own place, that it slay us not, and our people: for there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city; the hand of God was very heavy there.
12 And the men that died not were smitten with the emerods: and the cry of the city went up to heaven. 1 Samuel 5
Not uncommon for men to take trophies in war, but the problem here was not with the ark, it was with Israel. Men shall not forever stand before the word of God, His love is everlasting, and after heaven and earth pass away or your time has run it's course, then the time of grace however has come to an end. He never needed Israel, it is always an honor to stand for God or with God, but they do not deserve to war against God's enemies when they act like them. The proof that God could still be the only God, and yet His people suffer at the hands of His enemies can be remembered clearly by every Philistine here since they recall the suffering of Egypt, but these are the same people who would chain up Samson and parade him like a trophy, not ever expecting what would happen next. Samson killed more in his death, but Dagon, the mermaid, falls to his face before the Ark of the covenant. And what is in their other than the Word of God, saying what is sin. I wonder if they even opened it? They rush to the aid of their god, and must help him to stand back up, but then he loses his head and ends up prostrate to the mercy seat again. Bless their hearts though, they don't let his not being real get in the way of what they want to believe, they stand by their idol. The ground where he was smashed before the ark is now hallowed and no longer walked upon by men. Strange, Israel has made their own way, profaned true religion, these people see the brittle and delicate nature of Dagon, yet they prop him up, and like me, when I hated God and wanted a hero to slay His word, they put the word away from them. When it gets too heavy to carry, or humpty dumpty is too hard to put back together they just avoid the room and cling to their delusions about what's in there and what it represents. It's now their sacred place.
He burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied: yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire:
17 And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god.
18 They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand.
19 And none considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh, and eaten it: and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? shall I fall down to the stock of a tree?
20 He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand? Isaiah 44: 16-20
Not uncommon for men to take trophies in war, but the problem here was not with the ark, it was with Israel. Men shall not forever stand before the word of God, His love is everlasting, and after heaven and earth pass away or your time has run it's course, then the time of grace however has come to an end. He never needed Israel, it is always an honor to stand for God or with God, but they do not deserve to war against God's enemies when they act like them. The proof that God could still be the only God, and yet His people suffer at the hands of His enemies can be remembered clearly by every Philistine here since they recall the suffering of Egypt, but these are the same people who would chain up Samson and parade him like a trophy, not ever expecting what would happen next. Samson killed more in his death, but Dagon, the mermaid, falls to his face before the Ark of the covenant. And what is in their other than the Word of God, saying what is sin. I wonder if they even opened it? They rush to the aid of their god, and must help him to stand back up, but then he loses his head and ends up prostrate to the mercy seat again. Bless their hearts though, they don't let his not being real get in the way of what they want to believe, they stand by their idol. The ground where he was smashed before the ark is now hallowed and no longer walked upon by men. Strange, Israel has made their own way, profaned true religion, these people see the brittle and delicate nature of Dagon, yet they prop him up, and like me, when I hated God and wanted a hero to slay His word, they put the word away from them. When it gets too heavy to carry, or humpty dumpty is too hard to put back together they just avoid the room and cling to their delusions about what's in there and what it represents. It's now their sacred place.
He burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied: yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire:
17 And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god.
18 They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand.
19 And none considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh, and eaten it: and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? shall I fall down to the stock of a tree?
20 He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand? Isaiah 44: 16-20
No matter where the ark goes it is a burden to them that hate God, and where ever man has made an idol or put himself upon a pedestal the word becomes a plague, for God does not conform to the image of man. When the Word of God becomes flesh, He visits the region of the Gerasenes, where He is confronted by a man possessed by demons, a man who cannot be controlled by local authorities, a violent and scary individual. The demons recognize Christ, because He is the Son of God, but while they must bow, they have no love for him. The people on the island don't rejoice over the miracle either, they beg Jesus to leave. They preferred the swine to the redeemed man, Legion over God, created things held above the Creator.
18But they all cried out in unison: “Away with this man! Release Barabbas” to us! 19(Barabbas had been imprisoned for an insurrection in the city, and for murder.)…Luke 23:18
0 comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.