Philistines: How Shall We Make Atonement? (vv. 1-12)
1 Now the ark of the LORD was in the country of the Philistines seven months. 2 And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, "What shall we do with the ark of the LORD? Tell us how we should send it to its place." 3 So they said, "If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it empty; but by all means return it to Him with a trespass offering. Then you will be healed, and it will be known to you why His hand is not removed from you." 4 Then they said, "What is the trespass offering which we shall return to Him?" They answered, "Five golden tumors and five golden rats, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines. For the same plague was on all of you and on your lords. 5 "Therefore you shall make images of your tumors and images of your rats that ravage the land, and you shall give glory to the God of Israel; perhaps He will lighten His hand from you, from your gods, and from your land. 6 "Why then do you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When He did mighty things among them, did they not let the people go, that they might depart? 7 "Now therefore, make a new cart, take two milk cows which have never been yoked, and hitch the cows to the cart; and take their calves home, away from them. 8 "Then take the ark of the LORD and set it on the cart; and put the articles of gold which you are returning to Him as a trespass offering in a chest by its side. Then send it away, and let it go. 9 "And watch: if it goes up the road to its own territory, to Beth Shemesh, then He has done us this great evil. But if not, then we shall know that it is not His hand that struck us -- it happened to us by chance." 10 Then the men did so; they took two milk cows and hitched them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home. 11 And they set the ark of the LORD on the cart, and the chest with the gold rats and the images of their tumors. 12 Then the cows headed straight for the road to Beth Shemesh, and went along the highway, lowing as they went, and did not turn aside to the right hand or the left. And the lords of the Philistines went after them to the border of Beth Shemesh.
Send the Ark Away with Strange Trespass Offerings
For seven months, the Lord waged a deadly war against the Philistines. Their leaders called for the priests and wise men, as Pharaoh did, but there is no wisdom or counsel against the Lord. Our only relief from his heavy hand upon us for our sins is to turn to him in faith and repentance. The Philistines did not, and they were still dying, even as they held this little conference (v. 3). Some atoning sacrifice was needed, their wise men suggested. It was clear to the Philistines that they had violated the Lord in some way; they had trespassed against him. This shows God’s law written upon the hearts of all men, that when conscience functions, men feel their guilt of cleansing. That our nation and its leaders do not should make us all tremble with fear and know that our future lies in the church and kingdom of our Savior, not in our wicked nation that has turned from him and now faces inevitable judgment. The Philistines determined to make five golden tumors and five golden mice – one for each devastated city, a reference perhaps to the bubonic plague, and then send the Ark back to Israel on a new cart drawn by unbroken oxen. This strange offering was typical of paganism. Soldiers would hang swords and even body parts on the walls of their temples to commemorate a great victory. When men are only guided by the light of nature without having the Lord give them his word, their inborn sense of guilt can find no sure way to atonement but always devolves into superstition.
Superstition Seeking Relief, but Doubt Dominates
And because the Lord did not show his saving grace to the Philistines, they remained convicted but uncertain. Dark and burdened is the sinner’s conscience until God shines the relieving light of Christ into his soul (2 Cor. 4:6). The Philistines had no such light. All they knew was that this “God” destroyed the Egyptians, and he will destroy us. You had better send this Ark back quickly. Death was still stalking them. But, perhaps after all it was not the Lord, so let us test our fears. Perhaps these things happened accidentally (v. 9). Guilt without the heavenly light of the gospel of Jesus Christ will never bring the sinner clarity or relief. So, they devised an impossible test. Pen up the calves of the oxen, place the Ark on the cart, and then point the oxen toward the nearest Israelite city, Beth Shemesh. It was about nine miles away, just across the border. These sinners did not want their plague to be from the Lord. They preferred an accident to accountability, chance to giving up their idols. How would two oxen, with crying calves, never before yoked, and without a driver, head straight to Israel, nine miles away? Unrepentant sinners erect many barriers to block conscience from finding relief in Christ. We are our own worst enemies, until the Lord conquers us by His Word and Spirit. The Lord destroyed their doubt and left them without excuse. The oxen headed straight to the border, did not turn aside, lowing all the way. The Philistine lords saw it and returned home. They did not repent. Worse judgments awaited them in the future when the righteous King came.
Israel: Rejoicing, but Presumption, Then Death (vv. 13-21)
13 Now the people of Beth Shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley; and they lifted their eyes and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it. 14 Then the cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh, and stood there; a large stone was there. So they split the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the LORD. 15 The Levites took down the ark of the LORD and the chest that was with it, in which were the articles of gold, and put them on the large stone. Then the men of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings and made sacrifices the same day to the LORD. 16 So when the five lords of the Philistines had seen it, they returned to Ekron the same day. 17 These are the golden tumors which the Philistines returned as a trespass offering to the LORD: one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath, one for Ekron; 18 and the golden rats, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, both fortified cities and country villages, even as far as the large stone of Abel on which they set the ark of the LORD, which stone remains to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh. 19 Then He struck the men of Beth Shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the LORD. He struck fifty thousand and seventy men of the people, and the people lamented because the LORD had struck the people with a great slaughter. 20 And the men of Beth Shemesh said, "Who is able to stand before this holy LORD God? And to whom shall it go up from us?" 21 So they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kirjath Jearim, saying, "The Philistines have brought back the ark of the LORD; come down and take it up with you."
Sacrifice of Praise! The Lord Returns Victorious
Beth Shemesh – what a name for an Israelite city – “house of the Sun God!” The reapers were busy in the fields – did anyone give a thought for the Ark of God? Was Israelite blood too precious to shed for him, their fields worth tending while his house was in shambles? Hearing the lowing oxen, the workers looked up and saw the Ark approaching. They ran to meet the Lord in his victorious return to his people. He fights his own battles! They broke up the cart and slaughtered the oxen for a burnt offering to the Lord. The Lord was present, signed and sealed by the Ark, so they did not act presumptuously at this point. Nearby Levites attended and removed the Philistine offerings and placed the Ark on a large stone in the field. He needed no covering. He is our covering. At the time of the writing of 1 Samuel, that stone was still in the field, well-remembered, in the field of Joshua the Bethshemite. We must not forget that the Lord is mighty in battle, and that his return to Israel was an act of incredible grace and condescension – did they deserve his return? It was also a testimony to his victory over his enemies without any help from Israel. He is mighty in battle, and we must love and reverence his mighty name.
Presumption and Death: Who Is Able to Stand before the Holy God?
Quickly the hearts of God’s people became presumptuous. They did not reverence him. The Ark of the covenant became something of a local curiosity, and many came to see it. Beth Shemesh was a small village, but it was part of larger suburbs. Two to three million Israelites were living in the land, and such a spectacle would not remain a secret. The Lord killed over 50,000 Israelites. This is a hard truth for us, for we live in such an unholy age, and even within us the old man of sin, our flesh, is always fighting against us. The Lord killed Philistines and Israelites. His covenanted nearness and grace did not excuse their presumption. And his people cried out: “Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God? To whom shall he go up for us?” The Lord is holy. He is separate from sin and sinners. Without a mediator, his nearness means death. With a mediator, Jesus Christ, the One who has gone into his presence for us, we must approach boldly but reverently, trusting in his name alone. The point here is that if his grace creates presumption and carelessness, his people are more guilty than the Philistine, pagan unbelievers. Our God is a consuming fire. Redemption has not altered him. It cleanses us, and we may approach as his blood-bought children, and we must serve him “with reference and godly fear” (Heb. 12:28-29).
Can We Stand before Him?
No Reverence if Heart Far from Him, Prefer Externals to Spiritual Worship
Behind Israel’s response to the return of the Ark lies an ugly truth. Their hearts were not right with him. They were happy enough for external trappings of worship, but they remained unchanged from the heart disease that led them to take the Ark into battle. Their hearts were far from the Lord. If their hearts were right with him, they would have obeyed him and not looked into the Ark or handled it otherwise than as he made clear in his Word. This is indicative of a fundamental truth about sinners. True reverence for the Lord and worship he approves is spiritual, as our Savior made clear (Mark 7:1-16; John 4:23-25; Col. 2:23). Spiritual worship means two things. First, we cannot be spiritual if we are disobedient. True spirituality requires a sincere heart that is submissive to his word – not human commandments and traditions. Thus, worship that God accepts is worship that he commands in his word. Second, spiritual means that our hearts are right with him. Sinners love and even prefer external worship – forms, rules, practices – for these do not touch the heart or confront its idols. This is not to say that spiritual worship is left up to each person. The first rule is important – that it be according to his word, not what men think is pleasing to God. But even with those elements of worship that he has made clear are pleasing to him, by command and example, they do not substitute for a reverent, humble heart. The chief sacrifice that is pleasing to him is a heart broken over our sins and that looks to his mercy alone, through the person and work of his beloved Son.
Therefore, the modern church is guilty of two sins respecting worship. First, it has lost the conviction that worship is regulated by God’s commandments, otherwise it comes from the mind and heart of man. Our sincerity and good intentions are always judged by what he has commanded in his word. Second, many substitute good feelings for a humble, seeking heart. As we see in the men of Beth Shemesh and the surrounding region, all loved that the Ark came back, but many died because their hearts were as far from the Lord as ever. How do we know? They did not obey the Lord but were curious and disobedient. Legitimate good feelings must always be tested by the rule of God’s word. Our Savior rejoiced not to do his own will, but his Father’s. He did not turn away from self-denial and bearing the cross because it hurt his feelings. He was willing to have his feelings hurt and be submissive to his Father’s revealed will. And thus, he shows us the way the true worship that the Lord accepts from us – obedient, self-denying hearts, and desiring most of all to please him and live in his fellowship humbly.
Everyone Loves a Show
Why did so many Israelites die for curious mishandling of the Ark? Some have suggested the numbers are too high, but the Hebrew text gives the number as 70 and 50,000. I will suggest one motivating factor in the widespread disregard for the Lord’s rules for handling the Ark. Everyone likes a show. The Ark sitting in that field on Joshua’s rock became something of a novelty. People came from all over to see it – outside the Holy of Holies, the power that killed so many Philistines. They loved the experience of being so close to “God.” This should really resonate with us today. Worship in many places has become like the Ark sitting in that field – an experience. A curiosity. A show. But choreographed shows and music-fueled enthusiasm are not the same thing as worshipping God. Most worship their own feelings or are simply misguided. Now, we should be exuberant, praise the Lord with a loud voice, clap and raise our hands in praise to him – without any showmanship, desire for attention, or seeking to gain elevated feelings so that we “experience God.” God is not an experience. He is holy. His holiness is what we should feel most deeply, and this feeling produces reverence – not stoicism, cold indifference, and colder hearts – but deep reverence that stands in awe of his mercy, approaches him on his terms, and delights to give to him the worship that pleases him, not what looks good on a screen and leaves people feeling a strange combination of spiritually high but spiritually empty at the same time.
Our God Remains a Consuming Fire: Near and Holy
So, is the Lord near and gracious, or distant and deadly? Perhaps this is not the best way to frame the question, but the answer is both. Asked a different way, which is more fundamental to our relationship with God? His imminence or nearness, or his transcendence and exaltation? Under the old covenant, the Lord taught his people transcendence and holiness. The church in her infancy had to learn the distance between God and man. She had to learn the horror of sin and God’s hatred for sin. God was near, but his nearness was limited and defined so that only the high priest could really draw near to him on the yearly Day of Atonement (Lev. 16). Otherwise, God’s people knew that he was near to them, as many of the Psalms and history of godly men and women make clear. But it is not like it now is for us, for the Son of God has come in our flesh, made atonement for our sins, and brought us near to God by his heavenly intercession at God’s right hand.
Now, by faith in Jesus Christ, we have the Father’s invitation to “draw near with boldness” (Eph. 3:2; Heb. 4:16; 10:19). We have a “new and living way,” not the veil of the tabernacle/temple, but we enter through faith in our resurrected Savior and his “in the flesh,” heavenly intercession for us. Thus, we have a nearness to God for which the old covenant saints longed but that we possess by faith in Jesus Christ. Our temptation, however, is to abuse his nearness and to underestimate his holiness. The triune God has not changed. He is “HOLY, HOLY, HOLY” (1 Pet. 1:15). The question Israel asked is as a relevant for us: “Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God?” The Holy Spirit dealt with this very issue at the end of Hebrews. After giving us the solid, gospel foundations for our nearness to the Lord by our Savior’s more glorious person, better sacrifice and priesthood, and heavenly intercession, he concludes with many exhortations to remember as we draw near that “our God is a consuming fire” (Heb. 12:29). We must serve him with “reverence and godly fear” (v. 28), the first word meaning with a sense of his honor and the honor of approaching him so that we are modest or humbled, and the second word emphasizing caution. It is a great privilege for us to draw near to the holy God, the Holy One his Son, with the help of the Holy Spirit. God is HOLY. We are invited to come, but we can only come aright if we come carefully, reverently, and adoringly.
How Shall We Make Atonement for our National Sins?
It may be easily missed that in the age before Jesus Christ came, the Philistine nation felt the need to atone for its trespasses. Now, this desire was completely derailed by their superstition, and there was not a God-fearing, wise man among them. But the nations of antiquity had not so silenced conscience as to be like senseless animals – like modern day Americans specifically and Westerners generally. The Lord gave us some measure of gospel light, and at some level we confessed to believe it. Now, however, we have bowed successively at the altars of the Enlightenment and Liberalism, statism, technocratic bureaucracies, and planned, socialistic economies. The impact upon the conscience is that we no longer feel our need to atone for our national sins – at least, not collectively. Nations are not responsible, so go the lie, to confess the Lordship of Jesus Christ and submit to his word. But, in fact, they are, for he must have preeminence in all things. He will crush the rebellious nations (Rev. 2:27). Therefore, since we despise the reign and light of Christ, he has struck us with national blindness, spiritual madness, and perversions that would make an upright pagan blush.
But silencing our national conscience has not removed our sins but redirected the guilt into a multitude of diseases, psychoses, and idolatrous blood-lettings in abortion, child mutilations, murderous foreign wars, food and water supply endangerment, and deadly medical practices and especially medications. All of these are part of the Lord’s judgment upon us, for here is a fact you never hear from any major media source. Our national sins have no covering. Our unbelief, bloodshed, and perversions demand satisfaction. Christ-trusting, Bible-believing, God-fearing Christians are the only hope for our nation. Privately, confess our national sins, as Daniel did (Dan. 9), and plead the blood of Jesus Christ upon God’s people and upon our nation. Pray that he will pour out upon us a spirit of repentance and faith. Publicly, explain and disciple in terms of “sin, righteousness, and judgment,” for this is the way and work of the Holy Spirit (John 16:8-11). The only reason this nation survives is because so many believers are at their post, confessing personal, church, and national sins, pleading the blood of Jesus Christ, and calling upon men to repent. Our nation will answer for its unbelief (Prov. 14:34). Outside of faith in Jesus Christ, we have no future.
Only Jesus Christ Brings Us Near Safely
This does not mean that everyone in our country will become a Christian or that Christians have a duty to engage in Christian politics. Yes, since all have sinned and few of our leaders call for truth and righteousness, faith or repentance, then we are under the blood curse that the Lord brought upon Egypt and Philistia. Our sins testify against us. Only Jesus Christ can bring us near to God safely. Believe this, child of God, and apply it carefully. Only Jesus Christ can save us and our nation by bringing its peoples to faith and repentance. And for ourselves, since we are part of these sins, whether the grosser sins that get all the publicity or the more common sins that plague us all, we must do our part in repenting. Who knows if the Lord Jesus will come and save many in our land if his church will get serious about her own sins, pursuing “righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit,” and living in the light of the judgment to come? But this is the path, and he is the only way to God, to personal salvation and holiness. His Spirit is the only power unto godliness and fruitfulness. Jesus Christ is the only way and truth by which anyone can approach God and receive forgiveness for his trespasses. We have all broken every command of God. Let us lead the way in drawing near to Jesus Christ, casting ourselves upon his perfect sacrifice, and trusting his intercession. “There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). This is true for every man and every nation.
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