Bible Bits -- 1 Samuel 6

1 Samuel 4 is the record of the Philistine army capturing the ark of the covenant from the people of Israel.  It was punishment for the people of Israel being unfaithful to the Lord.  It was particularly a punishment on the sons of Eli, the priest.  His sons were a disgrace to the office of the ministry--stealing from the Lord's altar and sleeping with the women who served at the temple.  They did not heed the warning of their father Eli, but neither did Eli remove them from office.  Both his sins died in the battle, and Eli himself died when he got the news that the ark of the covenant had been captured.

Israel had taken the ark of the covenant into the battle, treating it as a good luck piece.  It was as if they could harness the power of God and manipulate it for their own advantage.  The Philistines, apparently, viewed it the same way.  They brought it into the temple of their false god, Dagon.  But the Lord toppled their false god.  Dagon was found prostrate on the temple floor in the presence of the ark.  After the Philistines had erected their god, he was toppled again.  This time his head and his hands were broken off.

The Philistines moved the ark from town to town.  God's curse followed the ark.

This harkens back to the days of Joshua when the angel of the Lord appeared to him.  Joshua asked whose side the Lord was on.  The Lord responded, "No."  It is not that the Lord choose our side.  It is that we must be on his side.

In the case of Israel and Philistia, the Lord was on neither side.  Both had earned his wrath.  He could not manipulated by either one.

God's side was his promise.  A Savior would come through Israel, even if Israel often proved unfaithful to him.  Their unfaithfulness would not change God's faithfulness.  He would fulfill his promise.  A Savior would come.

Of course, the Savior has come.  Jesus faithfully completed all the works of salvation.  

Even if we do not see it now, every false god and faithless person will fall prostrate before the Lord.  Or, as Philippians states: "at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2:10-11).  It is our joy to confess Jesus and to bow the knee before him.  The Lord has brought us into his kingdom.  He has taken us to his side.  We do not try to manipulate the Lord; he has converted us.  There, we have peace and hope and comfort.