Samuel's Word Came to All Israel

1 Samuel 4:1-22

Key verse 1

And Samuel's word came to all Israel.

In today's passage we see that God was giving his word through Samuel, but the people were not listening. As a result they were confused and majorly defeated, even losing the ark of God which was captured by their enemies. Through the events in today's passage we can learn to serve God by praying and listening to the word of God.

First, the people didn't pray. 

Look at verse 1. 

Now the Israelites went out to fight against the Philistines. The Israelites camped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines at Aphek.

Right away we notice a big omission: There is no message from God to them. Why did they go out to battle. There is no command from the Lord nor do we see the Israelites asking if they should go to battle. If you have been following along in the daily bread passages from the books of Joshua and Judges, we see the Lord giving instructions and commands whether to go to battle and how to do the battle. But here they just went right into battle without a message from God.

Firstly, we see that they did not pray and seek God's will, or listen to his word. They were doing what they wanted. 

Look at verse 2. 

The Philistines deployed their forces to meet Israel, and as the battle spread, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand of them on the battlefield.

The result was that they got majorly defeated. It's difficult to imagine that four thousand men died on that battlefield. The number of US soldiers that have died in Iraq from 2003  to 2012 is about 4,500. But here in this battle they lost about 4,000. 

Look at verse 3. 

When the soldiers returned to camp, the elders of Israel asked, "Why did the Lord bring defeat upon us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the Lord's covenant from Shiloh, so that it may go with us and save us from the hand of our enemies."

Only after their defeat did they think about the Lord. However, it was only to blame him. The elders asked, “Why did the Lord bring defeat upon us today?” This shows us how they regarded the Lord. He was against them. He had brought defeat without reason. They did not trust in God and their minds were quick to turn and accuse him. 

Notice who asked this question: the elders. And to whom did they ask this question? To themselves. They didn't ask the Lord. They didn’t ask the Lord’s servants, such as Samuel who was already known at that time as a prophet and speaking God’s words.

Then they made up their own answer to their question and made the plan to bring the ark of the Lord’s covenant into the battlefield. They didn’t have an answer from the Lord. Their own answer sounded reasonable because it was what they did in the past to get victories. The most famous one is the battle of Jericho. At that time the ark of God went with them into the battlefield and they won the battle. 

This kind of attitude lacks faith in God and does not have a mind to obey God. Why did the Israelites bring the ark of God with them into the battle of Jericho? It was because God commanded them to do so. Here, they tried to do what they did in the past because it looked like a formula for success. But if they really wanted to do what worked in the past, then the issue is not whether they had the ark with them or not. The real lesson to learn from the victories in the past was praying, seeking God’s will, and obedience to his commands by faith in him.

Like the Israelites of Samuel’s day, we may find that we often fall back on “what worked” in the past. And so we may hold to a certain way of fishing on campus, of discipleship, of counseling others, of writing messages, making worship agendas, conference programs, etc., the list can go on and on. Because we experienced great victories by God’s help or heard about great victories that others have experienced, we may hold to those ways as being “the way” or being “the best way” to do this or that. However, that kind of attitude develops the same kind of attitude as the Israelites here and we should be warned against having such an attitude. 

We can’t just go by what we or others have done in the past because it worked then. Instead, we need to pray, seek his will, hear his word, and obey him. Faith in the Lord and obedience to his word is the single consistent pattern of victory from the Lord--not methods. This tells us that when we have faith and obey we can experience the Lord’s power and victory. To do so, you have to have his word first, so that it is there for you to obey. God’s word was going out through Samuel, but they weren’t listening. They went with what they thought was reasonable and good. The results were disastrous.

Their attitude also made them superstitious. How did they regard the ark? Look at verse 3 again. They believed that the ark itself had power. They said, so that "it" may go with us and save us. They didn't say, so that the Lord may go with us and save us. Israel treated the ark of God like a good luck charm. They just tried to utilize It for supernatural power.

Look at verses 4-5.

[4] So the people sent men to Shiloh, and they brought back the ark of the covenant of the Lord Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim. And Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God. [5] When the ark of the Lord's covenant came into the camp, all Israel raised such a great shout that the ground shook.

Look how excited they got just by the ark being there. What is missing here? Yes, a message from the Lord. Still, there was no word of God. They should have been terrified to go back into the battlefield without hearing a message from the Lord about what to do. But they didn't fear. When they asked why the Lord gave then defeat, they just made up their own answer, "Oh, it is because we didn't bring the ark with us."

This shows us further their pride. It means that they initially thought that they could do it on their own. Then after their defeat made up this excuses that it was the Lord who did because the ark was not there with them. 

Look at verses 6-9. 

[6] Hearing the uproar, the Philistines asked, "What's all this shouting in the Hebrew camp?" When they learned that the ark of the Lord had come into the camp, [7] the Philistines were afraid. "A god has come into the camp," they said. "We're in trouble! Nothing like this has happened before. [8] Woe to us! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? They are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the desert. [9] Be strong, Philistines! Be men, or you will be subject to the Hebrews, as they have been to you. Be men, and fight!"

The Philistines reaction shows that Israel regarded God as other nations regarded their idols. It looks like Israel and the Philistines had the same mind. But it turns out that the Israelites were worse. The Philistines were afraid at first. They remembered what God had done in the past and they feared God. Some how they still mustered their courage and fought the Israelites. But Israel had no fear of God. 

They also didn’t know their history well. If Israel really accepted that God had given them their defeat, it's strange that they thought he would change his mind just because they brought the ark with them. 

Recently, in going through the book of Joshua through Daily Bread, we saw where the Israelites suffered a massive defeat. What did they do? 

Look at Joshua 7:6-7.

[6] Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell facedown to the ground before the ark of the Lord, remaining there till evening. The elders of Israel did the same, and sprinkled dust on their heads. [7] And Joshua said, “Ah, Sovereign Lord, why did you ever bring this people across the Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us?

Joshua and the elders also blamed God at first. But they went to the ark to ask the Lord. They sought the answer from him and waited. Then he answered them. 

Look at Joshua 7:10-11.

[10] The Lord said to Joshua, “Stand up! What are you doing down on your face? [11] Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep.

The Lord pointed out their sin and then gave them instructions to consecrate themselves, remove their sin, and then how to win the battle. They got this information by going to the Lord and asking him. 

Now how about the elders in this passage? The elders in Samuel didn't wait. They treated God like he was confined in a box for them to use. The ark literally was a box, a gold cover box that housed the two stone tablets of the covenant (the 10 commandments), a golden jar of manna, and Aaron’s staff that had budded. They thought it was like a Pokemon they could call out in battle. "I choose you, the Lord!" The point is not the box itself, but about God who was with his people and how he had worked among them. The Bible says that God would speak to Moses from between the two cherubim on the cover of the ark. This teaches us that the Lord works by prayer.

We should not treat God as if he is confined in a box. It means not to confine God and his work by our own ideas and rules. We may say, "If only we had this.., if only we had that! If only Sunday messages were better!" Do we need something additional than what we already have? Does having that one additional thing make the difference? Maybe. But if it is the case, we need God’s direction. We should not be superstitious, hoping to have that one thing and then we can be successful. When you think about it, we have a much greater resource pool than most other US UBF chapters: we have so many coworkers. God has given us much more than others. Since he has given us more, surely he is expecting more from us and we need to be more responsible.

Last month while traveling I met with a friend who said he has been attending some meetings put together where you can here good reports about God's work in other ministries. He said that he attends because hearing those reports reaffirms his position as a servant of God and encourages him. But whether he hears good reports or not isn't he still a servant of God called by God and guided by the word of God? 

So, firstly, we see that we need to pray and seek to do God’s will, not our own.

This reminds us of how Jesus taught us to pray. In Matthew 6:9-10 he said,

"[9] This, then, is how you should pray: `Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, [10] your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.' "

In his prayer the word "your" is repeated three times: your name, your kingdom, your will. And "Our" repeated once, our Father. So actually, the "our" is talking about him too, not us. 

How did Samuel pray and grow in the Lord and service to him? It began with, "Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening." It is submission to God, listening to God and ready to serve God whatever he says. When Samuel prayed like that the Lord spoke to him. He revealed what  he was going to do and what Samuel should do. 

Second, they did not listen to God's word. 

Look at verse 1 again.

And Samuel's word came to all Israel.

Samuel was giving the people God's word. It went out to all Israel. Verse 1 is contrasted with verses 2-22. After verse 1, we don’t see any mention of Samuel, his words, or God’s words. God gave Samuel his word. Samuel taught God's word. But we don't see Eli nor his two sons doing the same. Nor did they or the elders listen to it.

Let’s look at the results: 

Look at verse 10.

So the Philistines fought, and the Israelites were defeated and every man fled to his tent. The slaughter was very great; Israel lost thirty thousand foot soldiers. 

(1) Their loss multiplied greatly. Now they lost thirty thousand foot soldiers. It says that they were slaughtered. 

Look at verse 11.

The ark of God was captured, and Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, died.

(2) The ark of God was captured. 

Look at verses 12-18.

[12] That same day a Benjamite ran from the battle line and went to Shiloh, his clothes torn and dust on his head. [13] When he arrived, there was Eli sitting on his chair by the side of the road, watching, because his heart feared for the ark of God. When the man entered the town and told what had happened, the whole town sent up a cry. [14] Eli heard the outcry and asked, "What is the meaning of this uproar?" The man hurried over to Eli, [15] who was ninety-eight years old and whose eyes were set so that he could not see. [16] He told Eli, "I have just come from the battle line; I fled from it this very day." Eli asked, "What happened, my son?" [17] The man who brought the news replied, "Israel fled before the Philistines, and the army has suffered heavy losses. Also your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been captured." [18] When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell backward off his chair by the side of the gate. His neck was broken and he died, for he was an old man and heavy. He had led Israel forty years.

(3) Eli died and the people were all discouraged. It says here that Eli feared for the ark of God. Why? It is because he had no word from God. He didn't know whether they would win the battle or not. Actually, it looks like he thought they would lose. Then he died. Without the word of God there was fear and confusion and loss. 

It reminds us Proverbs 29:18, which says,

Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint [or, “people perish” (KJV)].

Look at verses 19-22.

[19] His daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant and near the time of delivery. When she heard the news that the ark of God had been captured and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she went into labor and gave birth, but was overcome by her labor pains. [20] As she was dying, the women attending her said, "Don't despair; you have given birth to a son." But she did not respond or pay any attention. [21] She named the boy Ichabod, saying, "The glory has departed from Israel"---because of the capture of the ark of God and the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband. [22] She said, "The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured."

Sadly, this woman also died. She said that the glory departed from Israel and named her son accordingly. I was so happy to name my newborn daughter as a testimony of what God has done. But she named her son “no glory”. It was so sad. 

Yes, Israel was in a very shameful position, but was she right about the glory? 

Actually, we do see one word of God confirmed here. He had already foretold that Eli and his sons would die in this way. It happened just as he had said. But he also promised,

I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who will do according to what is in my heart and mind. I will firmly establish his house, and he will minister before my anointed one always. --1 Samuel 2:35

When Eli heard the news of his sons’ death, he could remember God’s word and repent. It was given in advance to be a sign for him. The people could have remembered his word, repented, and looked forward to what he had promised, preparing themselves. It was not the time to give up and die. The midwives were right in saying, “Do not despair,” but this mom gave up, not remembering the word of God. Eli and her husband failed in this way.

When we are discouraged, we must not give up, but listen to the word of God. From the word of God we can understand our situation better and we can find hope. It is because the word of God talks about Jesus Christ who came to give life to all who believe in him. At the same time, we can't be optimistic without reason. We find hope in the word of God and when we set ourselves to obey that word.

We also do not need the ark of the covenant anymore. Jesus made a new covenant between God and us through his own blood. Through him we can come to God without being blocked by the angels’ wings. He is God with us. He promised to be with us and he gives his Holy Spirit to be with us and guide us. But we need to pray and listen to him.

I have agonized many times over how to serve my ministry at Cal State LA. I too had the mentality of, “If I just had this or that, then I could do something!” and I tried to do what I did in the past that succeeded, but it didn't work. I know that I spent more time thinking of what I needed to do than I did praying about what God wants me to do and how to do it. I also flip flopped between feeling optimistic without basis and defeated with basis. I complained and blamed. I did all the wrong things. It can feel overwhelming to the point of wanting to give up. But I see that it is my pride. I need to pray and listen to the word of God. 

From today's passage we learn to serve the Lord by prayer and listening to the word of God. We can't serve the Lord by our own way or ideas, or by methods of victory in the past. Especially, we must not confine God into to a box and make up our own ways. Otherwise we will be confused, afraid, scattered, and defeated. We can't do anything. Rather, we ought to pray and listen to his word, and set ourselves to obey his word.

One word: pray and listen to God’s word.

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