GOD WILL NOT BE MOCKED

God will not be mocked. This is true for today, and it was true in the days of the ancient Israelites. Men will always try their own ways. Eventually, God speaks in a way that all will understand. He proves He is the One and Only God. It is always evident that He is God and there is no other.

Every generation seems to want to find this out the hard way.

Today, we will see how the struggle by the Israelites and the Philistines living during the days of Samuel managed to prove this point in several different ways.

Last week, we discussed all that went wrong when the Israelites took the power of God into their own hands. They brazenly moved the Ark when God had not instructed them to do so.

I will say it again, and we will search out the evidence. God will not be mocked.

You can read the whole story in 1 Samuel Chapter 5. 

WELCOME

Thank you for joining us in the COME AS A CHILD Thursday Bible Study. You are welcomed to come along with us on this journey. We are walking through the Books of Samuel once a week from our COME AS A CHILD topic of The IN SEASON Lifestyle blog. If you wish to have all of our posts delivered to your in-box by e-mail, just click the “subscribe” button at the top of this page and give us an e-mail address.

We are excited that you have joined in with us for this study. Today’s lesson is taken from 1 Samuel, Chapter 5. We find, once again, that the Israelites are facing trouble.

ISRAEL IN TROUBLE

What went wrong?

By using God’s sacred Ark in the way it was never supposed to be used, the Israelites had placed the Ark right into the wrong hands.  Shamefully, God’s place of dwelling with mankind upon earth was taken to the land of the Philistines and placed inside the House of Dagon, their pagan god. 

You may remember Dagon from our studies of Samson. Here is a link to a summary of our stories from Samson: https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/the-sad-ending-of-samsons-story/. In the beginning Samson defeated the Philistines, who came from the coast and worshipped Dagon.

After several battles with the Philistines, Delilah discovered the secret of Samson’s power. It was the fact that he had taken a Nazarite vow to never cut his hair.

The Philistines eventually conquered Samson by using his weakness for foreign women against him. They gouged out his eyes and placed him inside the Temple of Dagon to entertain the people in their pagan ceremonies. That was the Temple which Samson collapsed by pulling down the two strong pillars holding up the roof of the temple. He collapsed the temple, and died along with the Philistines.

In capturing and defeating Samson, the Philistines thought they had proven Dagon to be greater than the God of Israel. God would not be mocked. Samson was used to show this truth to the Philistines.

GOD WILL NOT BE MOCKED

No lessons from the past were learned by the Philistines. In capturing the Ark, the Philistines were again expressing their erroneous thoughts that Dagon was more powerful than the God of Israel. God had been merciful to this point. He had been waiting to see if some of these people would change. However, this last act ended His patience.

Can you imagine how crazy this situation would be?

The people of Israel spent years preparing and getting ready for God to dwell among them. It was the Ark where God chose to be recognized among them. Yet, the Ark had now been taken by the enemies of God.

The Holy God that came to dwell among Israel had delivered them from bondage and slavery. He had led them into The Promised Land. Their blessings were many and abundant. God was so good to them. The Ark had been instrumental in all of their worship and blessings.

Now, they had carelessly let their worst enemies take the Ark and place it in the most pagan place in the land. To top that off, it repeated the pattern of what had happened with Samson. Consider how much danger this could have brought to the nation of Israel. It was a shameful and dishonoring way to treat God Almighty. How would that manifest?

What was to be the end of this tragedy?

How many times have we seen nations do this?

A TERRIBLE DISGRACE

The worst part was the way the common people took this use of the Ark for granted. They seemed to think they had the right to use God’s property in any way they chose. The men of Israel had blindly trusted dishonest priests. No one questioned the wisdom of such a move.

I wonder if that could ever happen again?

Now the seat from The Holy Place where God dwelled with The People of Israel had been taken to the most pagan place in the land. All of Israel should have trembled.

Did they tremble and repent?

No, they were simply stunned to know they had lost the Ark.

THE FALSE GOD NAMED DAGON

What was going to happen next?

Dagon has been known by the ancients as the father of Baal. He was supposed to be half-man and half-fish. His statue looked like a merman, fish from below the waist and man from above the waist.

Most discerning Christians realize that pagan and mythological gods are symbolic of demons. In actuality, the people here were dealing with a demon, not a pagan god. Dagon was a demon using the disguise of a pagan god.   This was one way Satan tricked the ancients into believing in false gods.

The Ark was placed inside the pagan temple devoted to Dagon. Next morning, the statue of Dagon was found laying facedown before the Ark.

When the Philistines saw what had happened they stood their pagan god back up. 

I had to wonder how many Philistines questioned why Dagon’s image had fallen down on his face before the Ark of God?

This should have stood out as a strong message for who was the REAL God.

GOD SHOWS WHO IS REAL

Again, on the next morning, the fake god Dagon fell face down before the Ark.  Only this time he lost his head and his arms. They were found cut off and placed on the other side of the threshold of the pagan house of worship.  Only the trunk of Dagon remained in place inside the pagan temple.  It lay prostate before the Ark.

In those days, the threshold of the doorway to a temple was thought to be a dividing line between things that were common and things that were sacred. That the head and hands of the idol were on the other side of the threshold meant that the humiliation of the Philistines was greater.

Their pagan god was tossed out of the sacred area and into the common area. It presented even more proof that Dagon wasn’t really a god at all. He was simply a common statue being operated by a demonic spirit which was controlled by Satan.

God was showing the Philistines and the Israelites who was in control.

God will not be mocked.

LASTING HISTORY IN ASHDOD

It is still said that the priest in Ashdod today do not go near the thresholds of their place of worship.  This is because of what happened during the days that the Ark was in the possession of the Philistines. The people there still remember.

The Hand of God was against Ashdod and all its surrounding territory.  People living there were covered in tumors and afflicted with disease.  Mice came in droves and inhabited the land. They realized this happened because they had captured the Ark of God and kept it in their possession.

MOVING TO GATH

The Philistines called a meeting to discuss what to do. 

It was decided to move the Ark to Gath. 

When the Ark arrived in Gath the people there also broke out in tumors and became afflicted. Mice overcame their homes.

So, they moved the Ark on to another place called Ekron.

The same problems happened in Ekron. 

A GUILT OFFERING FROM EKRON

If you are truly concerned about your standing before God, please don’t go to a pagan priest and ask them what to do.

Obviously, the priest in this story had no clue about making sacrifices.

The priests of Ekron did not understand that the precious blood of an innocent lamb was the only thing that would remove guilt. A lamb’s blood was the only thing that would remove the guilt of idolatry which the Philistines had committed.

Today, many materialistic and idolatrous people make this same mistake. It is only the precious blood of Jesus Christ that will bring God’s forgiveness to us. If that covering is not there, God does not forgive. He must look down and see the blood of Jesus to show mercy for sin.

Sometimes we think it is our good-deeds, or our righteous works that He wants. This thinking is as erroneous as the thinking of Ekron’s pagan priest.

None of our human righteousness counts unless we are first covered by the blood of Jesus. Until that happens, God will only see our guilt. Without the covering of a blood sacrifice, we will look the same as if we are offering golden mice and tumors up to God while expecting to be forgiven for our sins.

As a side note, the biblical description of tumors is just polite conversation. Most historians think the “golden tumors” represented a plague of hemorrhoids.

That was the guilt “offering” the Philistine priests advised the men of Ekron to make. God will not be mocked.

RETURNING THE ARK TO ISRAEL

Finally, it was suggested that the Ark should be returned to Israel. The priest in Ekron advised they send a guilt offering along for good measure. 

The land of the Philistines was now terribly plagued with mice.  Their “tumors” had become a great problem in the land. These two plagues were received as a result of their sins against God.

Having no discernment at all and hoping that a guilt offering would heal their land, the Philistine priest decided they would send five golden tumors and five golden mice back with the Ark to Israel. 

They carefully prepared a new cart to carry the Ark and the peace offering. Two milk cows who had never been yoked were used to pull the cart.  The cows were yoked to the cart.  Their young calves were taken away from them.   

The Ark was placed inside the cart. The golden guilt offerings were placed in a box beside The Ark. 

Can you imagine God’s reaction to this?

God will not be mocked.

WATCHING THE COWS

The plan was to let the Ark go on its own. 

The Philistines would know they had done wrong by taking the Ark if the cows turned toward Israel.

If not, the Philistines would think what had happened was all a coincidence. 

The cows took off in a straight line toward Israel.

 As the Ark traveled through Beth-shemesh, the people of that city were harvesting their wheat in the fields.  This is rather ironic, since it was also believed that Dagon was the god who produced grain and produce.

Again, I think of the story of Samson. Remember how he tied fire to the tails of foxes and set the Philistine’s fields ablaze? This was a way of saying that The God of Israel was higher than the false god called Dagon. Their grain was destroyed in those fires.

It was the land of Israel that had produced a good harvest during the year the Philistines sent the Ark back to Israel. Yet another point which proves that God will not be mocked.

The harvesters of Israel were busy in their abundant fields of grain.

They looked up and saw the Ark and rejoiced. 

THE GREAT STONE IN JOSHUA’S FIELD

The cows came into the field of Joshua and stopped.  A great stone was in that field. The King James Bible calls this The Abel Stone, or The Great Stone of Abel. I am interested in knowing more of the meaning of this stone and will be researching this part of the story further. Hopefully, we will cover that in an upcoming lesson. Archeologists think they have uncovered this huge stone in some recent digs. I feel sure we will be adding more information on this subject whenever we have more time to investigate the truth. Also, the history of this stone may tie into some of the other books of the bible we have studied.

For today we want to stick to the story from this chapter of Samuel.

The people of Israel split up the wood of the cart and used it for the altar.  They sacrificed the two cows. 

Some of the Philistine men had followed the Ark to see where it went and what happened when it arrived.  They returned to Ekron to tell the story to the people.  These men were specifically there to let the people of Ekron know that the golden mice and tumors had safely arrived in Israel. 

Would God accept their guilt offering?

COVENANTS MATTER

There was one huge difference in the sins of the Philistines and the sins of the Israelites. The Israelites had a Covenant with God, the Philistines did not.

When the right sacrifice was made by the Israelites; God would show mercy to them. That is the reason for calling the covering of the Ark The Mercy Seat.

In those days, the only way to obtain atonement for sin was to offer a blood sacrifice. When the blood of the sacrifice was sprinkled on the Mercy Seat; God would remember His Covenant with Israel. He would show them mercy.

Israel brought the blood sacrifices (the cows that pulled the Ark) to the rock called Abel.

Remember the story of Cain and Abel? Do you recall how Abel’s blood called out to God? It is an interesting fact that this is the name for this particular rock. Some believe this is a mistranslation. If it is a correct translation, we could wonder if it had anything in common with the rock used by Cain to slay Abel. We could explore a lot of symbolism here, but for now, let’s finish this story.

They chopped up the cart and used its wood for the altar. The Israelites sacrificed the two cows. These cows met the requirements for a blood sacrifice for sin.

The Ark was placed upon the Stone of Abel.

Blood was sprinkled upon the Mercy Seat.

THE WITNESS STONE

Please note, the golden mice and the golden tumors meant nothing to God. There was no life in them. The life is in the blood, not the gold.

Therefore, the golden tumors and mice were not a proper sacrifice.

I will note again that the life is in the blood. God did not find life in the golden mice and tumors. Also, there had been no repentance from the Philistines. We see no turning away from the sins of worshiping a false god. They continued their honor of Dagon. Nothing had really changed wit them. Therefore, the Philistines remained unforgiven and without any covenant from God.

Hence; the guilt offering they offered was not accepted by God.

There were witnesses, even the Stone of Abel served as a witness. How can a stone hear words? Here is a link that offers such an explanation: https://hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/questions/71673/how-does-the-stone-hear-words-in-joshua-2427. We will study this aspect of the story further in the future. I’m remembering the “ROCK” that traveled through the desert with the Israelites. On this significant day, even this stone was a witness of the actions of God.

I will say this again.

God will not be mocked.

SEVENTY COURIOUS MEN

The Ark was placed upon the stone in Joshua’s field. Seventy men were curious and wanted to see what was inside.

They lifted the Mercy Seat and looked upon the broken tablets of the law.

Seventy men were struck dead. This tragedy happened during the moment God could no longer see the blood on the Mercy Seat.

When they lifted the Mercy Seat, God could only see the broken tablets of the law. No blood covering was there to protect them.

I will say this one last time.

God will not be mocked.

A PLACE OF MOURNING

Because of the death of these seventy men, this place became known as a place of mourning.

The men of Beth-shemesh called the men from Kiriath-jearim. They told them to come and get the Ark of God. 

The men from Kiriath-jearim came. They took the Ark to the house of Abinadab who lived upon a hill. Then, the son of Abinadab was consecrated as a priest. This was so he could oversee the Ark. His name was Eleazar.

Twenty years passed. 

During that time, the House of Israel lamented before the LORD.