Immerse: Kingdoms Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 111
1S
| 6:17–7:12
S am u el – K I N G S
99
The five gold tumors sent by the Philistines as a guilt offering to the
Lord were gifts from the rulers of Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and
Ekron. The five gold rats represented the five Philistine towns and their
surrounding villages, which were controlled by the five rulers. The large
rock at B
eth-shemesh, where they set the Ark of the Lord, still stands in
the field of Joshua as a witness to what happened there.
But the Lord killed seventy men from Beth-shemesh because they
looked into the Ark of the Lord. And the people mourned greatly because of what the Lord had done. “Who is able to stand in the presence
of the Lord, this holy God?” they cried out. “Where can we send the Ark
from here?”
So they sent messengers to the people at Kiriath-jearim and told them,
“The Philistines have returned the Ark of the Lord. Come here and get it!”
So the men of Kiriath-jearim came to get the Ark of the Lord. They
took it to the hillside home of Abinadab and ordained Eleazar, his son, to
be in charge of it. The Ark remained in Kiriath-jearim for a long t ime—
twenty years in all. During that time all Israel mourned because it seemed
the Lord had abandoned them.
Then Samuel said to all the people of Israel, “If you want to return to the
Lord with all your hearts, get rid of your foreign gods and your images of
Ashtoreth. Turn your hearts to the Lord and obey him alone; then he will
rescue you from the Philistines.” So the Israelites got rid of their images of
Baal and Ashtoreth and worshiped only the Lord.
Then Samuel told them, “Gather all of Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray
to the Lord for you.” So they gathered at Mizpah and, in a great ceremony,
drew water from a well and poured it out before the Lord. They also went
without food all day and confessed that they had sinned against the Lord.
(It was at Mizpah that Samuel became Israel’s judge.)
When the Philistine rulers heard that Israel had gathered at Mizpah,
they mobilized their army and advanced. The Israelites were badly frightened when they learned that the Philistines were approaching. “Don’t stop
pleading with the Lord our God to save us from the Philistines!” they
begged Samuel. So Samuel took a young lamb and offered it to the Lord
as a whole burnt offering. He pleaded with the Lord to help Israel, and
the Lord answered him.
Just as Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines arrived
to attack Israel. But the Lord spoke with a mighty voice of thunder from
heaven that day, and the Philistines were thrown into such confusion that
the Israelites defeated them. The men of Israel chased them from Mizpah
to a place below Beth-car, slaughtering them all along the way.
Samuel then took a large stone and placed it between the towns of