God's Supremacy

1 Samuel 5-7

Have you ever let your child win a game. Does that mean that you didn’t have the power to beat him? No. You restrained your power for a specific purpose, but it was never lacking. It may have looked like it to your child, but you could have revealed it at any time.

That’s what happened when God let the Philistines defeat the Israelites. He had a that had to do with the Israelites, but He could not allow the Philistines to think that their god was more powerful than Him. So, He not only revealed His power to the Philistines, but He also revealed how feckless and impotent their god was.

God Proves His Power - 1 Samuel 5:1-6:18

 The Philistines took the ark of God to a city about three miles inland from the Mediterranean Sea and put it in the house of their god, Dagon. Because they had defeated the Israelites, they believed they had also defeated their God. So, they brought Him into the house of their god to show their dominance over Him. But the next day, Dagon had fallen facedown before the ark of God. This was obviously God’s way of making their god bow down to Him. But the people set the idol back upright, only to find that Dagon had fallen before the ark again the next day. Only this time, his hands and head had broken from his body so that only his torso was laying before the ark. This was done to demonstrate that their god had no mind and was unable to perform any tasks for them. Then, because the pieces of their idol had touched the threshold of Dagon’s house, it became a tradition for the people to always step over the threshold. There is proof that this tradition continued in Gaza into the first centuries A.D.

When the Philistines beat the Israelites in battle, they thought it proved that their god was more powerful. But God wanted them to see that not only was He more powerful than their god, but that their god had no power at all. He was completely feckless and impotent. They did not beat the Israelites because their god was stronger, but because God allowed it. He was against the Israelites, but that did not mean He was for the Philistines. So, His hand weighed heavy on them, and He struck everyone in Ashdod and the surrounding area with something like tumors or boils. The word technically means “swelling”, and because it later talks about an infestation of mice, many scholars believe this was the bubonic plague. This disease is contagious and causes the lymph nodes to swell with bacteria along with other severe symptoms. It is very painful and deadly without treatment.

This was all the people could take and they wanted the ark out of their city immediately. So, they sent it to Gath, which was about twelve miles to the east. But God afflicted Gath with the same deadly plague. So, they sent the ark to Ekron, which was the closest large city to Israel. The people in Ekron had already heard what had happened in the other cities and they wanted nothing to do with the ark. Some of them even died of fright at its arrival, whereas God struck the rest with the awful plague.

By this point, the ark had been with the Philistines for seven months and they were searching for a way to give it back to the Israelites so this horrible plague would leave their land. Their diviners told them that they had to return it with a guilt offering so the Israelites knew that it was returned with the knowledge that their God was punishing the Philistines for capturing it. There was no need for them to be stubborn like the Egyptians whose resistance had been futile in the end. Because of their stubbornness, the people suffered immensely, and ultimately, they were forced to submit to God anyway.

The Philistines agreed and attached a box to the ark and put five golden mice and five golden images of their boils in it. This showed that they recognized the plague which had inflicted all five provinces of their land had come from Israel’s God.

Then, they put the ark on a cart that was pulled by two milk cows who had never been yoked. Then, they also took their calves away from them and set them on their way towards Beth-shemesh, which was eight miles to the east in the land of Israel. The reason these cows were chosen is to prove God’s hand in everything. Their natural instinct would be to return to their babies, and if they had never been yoked, they probably would not carry the load well. So, if the cows went against their instincts and had the ability to get the ark to the intended destination, the Philistines would know that the plague had indeed been sent by God because of the ark.

So, the cows went on their way, carrying the ark with the golden mice and boils, crying for their babies the whole way. But they never got off the road, and they made it to Beth-shemesh while the Israelites were reaping their wheat, which would have been sometime in June. They entered Joshua’s field and when the men saw the ark, they split the wood of the cart and used a huge stone from the field to sacrifice the cows. This would have normally been forbidden since they were only supposed to offer sacrifices in the Tabernacle. But since God took the priesthood from Eli’s family, the Tabernacle was no longer in service. Also, Beth-shemesh was a Levitical city, so the people who lived there were priests, which meant they could technically officiate the offerings.

After this, the people set up the stone where the sacrifices were made as a witness of God’s supremacy. It served as a memorial there so that no one would forget how the ark had been returned to them.