1 Samuel 5:1-7:17, John 6:1-21, Psalms 106:13-31, Proverbs 14:32-33
Today is the 9th day of May. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It is a pleasure to be here with you to take the next step forward on our journey through this week and through this month and through this year and through the Bible. And in the Old Testament, we are taking our steps through the book of first Samuel and getting to understand who Samuel was and what was going on when he came onto the scene and we have experienced the loss of the Ark of the Covenant in battle to the Philistines. And, so, we’ll pick up the story today. First Samuel chapters 5, 6, and 7. And we’re reading from the New English Translation this week.
Commentary:
Alright. We have quite a dramatic story beginning to unfold in front of us as we roll out first Samuel and work our way through it. So, the ark of the covenant, this symbol of the people had been lost in battle to the Philistines. The Philistines had certainly brought it rejoicing back to their Capital Cities. It first began it’s moving around in the city of Ashdod. And Ashdod is a place that I’ve been many times. Ashdod is the place that we normally begin our pilgrimage when we go to the holy land. It’s our first night. And, so, it’s a place that exists. And when the ark of the covenant was captured it was taken to Ashdod. But, I mean, as demoralizing as losing the ark of the covenant would’ve been for the children of Israel, the Philistines, they didn’t have the celebration that they were looking for. And, you know, at first it seemed like the Philistines god, Dagon, had defeated the God of the Hebrews, Yahweh, right? And, so, they got the ark, they got the symbol and they’re transporting it back to Dagon’s temple but then Dagon falls over, right, for two consecutive days and the second day his heads broke off and his hands are broken off and then like skin tumors begin breaking out on the people. And, so, in fear for their lives they decide to move the ark inland away from the coast to the city of Gath, another one of their capital cities. And Gath was the home city of the giant Goliath and it also exists today. Actually, it’s still very much an active archaeological site where many things are being discovered about the Philistine people. But anyway, I mean, the people of Gath experienced the same thing the people of Ashdod experienced, this plague, this outbreak against them. And, so, then the ark was taken north to Ekron, which is a Philistine city I haven’t been…I’ve tried to get there. We have tried to film Ekron twice and it’s not an easy place to get to at all. It’s like not a place…you have to…you have to access it by four-wheel-drive and we’ve been stuck…I mean you have to cross fields and everything. So, we’ve been stuck in mud two different times in an attempt but it’s there and eventually…eventually we’re getting gonna get there. But anyway, the ark of the covenant is on his way to Ekron and the people are freaking out about what Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews might do to them. And, so, they begin bagging that the ark should probably back to the Hebrew people before the Philistine people are destroyed and that’s what happened. So, the Philistines prepare this guilt offering, right? So, golden images of their tumors, golden rat, basically just acknowledging the plagues that have broken out and then they loaded the ark onto an ox cart and sent it away. And they thought, like, if the cattle know where to go, like if the cattle just wander away aimlessly then we’ll know this wasn’t the God of Israel doing this, but if they follow the road, if they just…if they know where to go, then we’ll know it was the God of Israel. And the cows go straight back into Israeli territory ending at Beth Shemesh, which is also in existence today as a modern developing settlement but also as ancient ruins. I’ve been there many times, filmed there many times as well. I was shocked this past year at how much new discoveries were happening in Beth Shemesh that aren’t even open to the public. There just on the side of the road, you can see them, and I was shocked. So, yeah, Beth Shemesh where the ark of the covenant returned is also an active archaeological site today. So, obviously, as the ark of the covenant came back to Beth Shemesh the people are overjoyed, the national treasure has returned, the emblem of their heritage has come back. The power of the Lord, the presence of the Lord they feel has come back but after they sacrifice and worship the Lord and some people try to look inside the ark, which is supremely forbidden, and they died. And, so, yeah. So, I mean, the ark of the covenant out in the wild, people are trying to figure out the secret of the mystery and it’s just not working well. And, so, they’re like, “who is able to stand in the presence of the Lord?” So, as interesting and intriguing and dramatic as the situation was for the Philistines and then for the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh, this entire episode solidified Samuel’s leadership clearly. And as we read toward the end of our reading in the Old Testament because of that leadership the false idol worship was cleansed from Israel and the Philistines were subdued and the children of Israel had once again returned to the God who had called them out of Egypt and planted them in their homeland.
Now in our reading from Proverbs today we’re told that our hearts are the resting place for wisdom. Some translations even use like shrine language like wisdom is enshrined in the heart. So, in other words, an understanding heart is a resting place, a revered, sought after place for wisdom. And, so, we have to wonder. We have to allow the penetrating question. Are we actively seeking out wisdom in our lives? Is it an important enough thing that we have it enshrined in our heart, that it’s a resting place, that it has a place to rest within us or is the chaos of life just leading us to be reactionary and all we’re doing is running in circles just trying to keep all the balls up in the air or have we carved out some sacred place for wisdom to find rest within us? Because like everything that’s good and valuable in life, gaining wisdom isn’t going to just happen to us. Like, It’s not in default. Wisdom is something that we have to seek and treasure and cultivate and create space for it to rest, for it to be enshrined in our hearts. And all that’s done by the choices that we make. The choices that we make today in our thoughts and in our words and in our deeds are either going to be creating a place, a revered sacred space for wisdom to rest or not. We’ll fill that sacred space with other things.
Prayer:
Holy Spirit, we invite You into that because we’re not going to get anywhere without becoming continually more and more wise. And that’s not going to happen by experience alone. We need Your guidance because we don’t know all that’s going on. As much as we like to think that we have a handle on reality, we don’t. There’s much more going on than we are ever aware of. You are fully aware and have invited us into a collaboration of life. And one of the ways that we build a collaboration is through cultivating an ear for wisdom. So, come Holy Spirit and give us eyes to see and ears to hear we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Announcements:
dailyaudiobible.com is the website, it is home base, its where you find out what’s going on around here. So, be sure to stay tuned and stay connected in all the ways that you can, any way that you want to stay connected.
The Prayer Wall is at dailyaudiobible.com, which is wonderful, wonderful place to connect and pray for each other. So, check that out. The Daily Audio Bible shop is at dailyaudiobible.com as well. Check out the resources there that are available for this journey as we continue to walk our way through the Bible.
Also, man, we just like…we keep encountering places that are real places in the Bible. And if you want to see some of these places for yourself you can check that out at dailyaudiobible.com for our 2020 pilgrimage. All the details can be found in the Initiatives section at dailyaudiobible.com. Just look for Israel 2020 and all your questions can be answered there. These tours, they all fill up and they all fill up well in advance. And, so, this one’s well on its way to being full. So, you may want to check into that if it’s kind of on your list, something that’s been in the back of your mind.
If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link, it lives on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. I humbly and with a heart of gratitude thank…thank you for clicking that link. If you’re using the daily by app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Springhill Tennessee 37174.
And, as always, if you have a prayer request or comment, 877-942-4253 is the number to dial.
And that is it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.