INTRODUCTION
The Book of First Samuel is filled with wonderful nuggets of biblical truth, nuggets that apply to our modern-day understanding of our Christian responsibility. In preparation for this analysis, it would be beneficial to read chapters 1-6.
We will begin our analysis in chapter 6:12. However, to get the proper sequence of events, the following is a short summary of the narrative as it unfolds in First Samuel: It is important to follow the movements of the Ark of the Covenant in First Samuel, especially beginning at the time it was taken by the Philistines at the battle of Aphek. Since the Israelites had reduced the Ark to the level of a talisman or lucky rabbit’s foot, God allowed the Ark to be taken. The Philistines were polytheistic and henotheistic in their beliefs. They placed the Ark of the Covenant in their temple for the pagan god Dagon (pronounced “doggone”) in Askelon. As the Philistines were a seafaring people, Dagon was half man and half fish. He was the fish god. In the morning, the Philistines found their fish god Dagon toppled off its mount face down on the floor. They picked it up and placed it again on its mount. The next morning, Dagon was once again found on the temple floor, but this time his head and hands were severed upon the threshold.
God afflicted the Philistines with “emerods” and mice infestations. Emerods is translated in various ways, but the King James Version is best. Emerods are hemorrhoids, and the Philistines were miserable because of the hemorrhoids and the infestation of mice. Mice are destructive and nasty, so it is no wonder that they decided to send it to their sister city of Gath, who suffered at the hand of God. First Samuel 5:9 indicates that “the men of the city, both small and great, and they had emerods in their secret parts.” They then sent the Ark to Ekron. The Ekronites did not want to suffer the same afflictions, so they decided to send the Ark back to the Israelites because “for there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city; the hand of the God was very heavy there” (1 Samuel 5:11).
The Ekronites sought the advice of their lords and their priests, who advised them to construct a new cart and acquire two milch kine that had just given birth and had never borne a yoke. They were also advised not to send it back empty but to make five golden emerods and five golden mice and place those in a box beside the Ark of the Covenant as a trespass offering. Once completed, they turned the milch kine, pulling the cart, loose to see if they would go to Bethshemesh. Scripture states that the kine took a straight route to Bethshemesh to the field of Joshua where there was a great stone and stopped before it. The Bethshemites were reaping in the field, and when they saw the Ark, they rejoiced to see it for it had been in the possession of the Philistines seven months.
The Bethshemites took the wood of the cart and offered the milch kine for a burnt offering to the LORD. The Levites took the Ark and the coffer with the jewels of gold and placed them upon the great stone. Then the men of Bethshemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices to the LORD that day.
THE ROAD TO DESTRUCTION IS PAVED WITH GOOD INENTIONS
The Bethshemites’ joy soon turned into great sorrow. They had violated God’s sacred representation of Himself with His people. Their transgression was two-fold. They touched and then looked into the Ark to view its contents. First Samuel 6:19 describes the transgression and its consequences:
And he smote the men of Bethshemesh because they had looked into the ark of the LORD, even he smote of the people fifty thousand and threescore and ten men: and the people lamented, because the LORD had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter. (1 Samuel 6:19 KJV)
The number in the King James Version is somewhat confusing. Bethshemesh was a farming community. Its population was probably fifty thousand. If God had struck down fifty thousand and seventy men, it would have destroyed the entire community. Perhaps it is best to notice alternative translations. In the New International Version, we read,
But God struck down some of the inhabitants of BethShemesh, putting seventy of them to death because they looked into the ark of the LORD. The people mourned because of the heavy blow the LORD had dealt them. (1 Samuel 6:19 NIV)
Therefore, the number of men that looked into the Ark was probably seventy leaving some fifty thousand or so to mourn.
Why did the men of Bethsehmesh look into the Ark of the Covenant? We know that the Ark contained the Ten Commandments, the rod of Aaron that budded, and a sampling of the manna that sustained them in the wilderness. It seems it was with good intentions that the Bethshemites desired to see if the Philistines had disturbed or taken any of those items.
Once again, “The Road to Destruction is Paved with Good Intentions.” It is time to pause and realize that God can take care of His sacred Ark.
In Second Samuel 6, King David is attempting to restore the Ark to its rightful place in the temple. However, on the journey to return the Ark, we read in 2 Samuel 6:3 the following:
And when they came to Nachon’s threshingfloor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook it. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and he died by the ark of God. (2 Samuel 6:6-7 KJV)
There would not be a worshipping Israelite that did not know the restriction God had placed upon the sacred items of the tabernacle and temple. To comprehend this restriction, one must go back to the book of Numbers where God outlines the restrictions regarding the sacred items of the tabernacle. Numbers 4:15, 20 reveal these restrictions.
And when Aaron and his sons have made an end of covering the sanctuary, and all the vessels of the sanctuary, as the camp is to set forward; after that, the sons of Kohath shall come to bear it: but they shall not touch any holy thing, lest they die. These things are the burden of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of the congregation. . . . but they shall not go in to see when the holy things are covered, lest they die.(Numbers 4:15, 20 KJV)
The point here is to notice how this may apply to the worship of our God today. How often do we come up with some idea to worship our God in a way that is not approved by Him? How many defy God our Lord’s directives regarding homosexuality today? All one need do is review the teachings in Leviticus 18 and Romans 1 and First Corinthians 6:9 to realize that any church that emphasizes the mercy and love of God over His just demands are defying the directives of God.
Culture has decided that the God of Creation is wrong. Present day culture emphasizes that it knows better than God; however, God said simply and straight forwardly that He “created man in His own image in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (Genesis 1:27 KJV). This abominable humanist theology has even infiltrated many so-called Christian churches. This abomination is done all in the name of mercy and love.
GOD IS HOLY AND HIS EXISTENCE IS GLORIOUS
Did you notice what the Beshemesh community learned or, at least, admitted? In First Samuel 6:20, we notice that “the men of Bethshemesh said, Who is able to stand before this holy LORD God?” The holiness of God is an attribute of His that no man can stand before. There are two essential aspects of God’s holiness that need consideration there. First, holiness speaks to God’s otherliness; that is, His transcendence. He is not like us. Pastor David Guzik states: “The primary idea behind holiness is not moral purity (although the idea includes moral purity), but it is the idea of apartness – that God is separate, different from His creation, both in His essential nature and the perfection of His attributes.” The Old Testament passage in Isaiah 55:8-9 expresses this transcendence:
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. (KJV)
God’s holiness causes us to recognize our sinfulness. Fallen men cannot stand in the presence of the holy God and not recognize their depravity, their sinfulness. Isaiah expresses this distinction in the sixth chapter of his prophecy. In that moment of contact with the holiness of His Creator, the prophet states:
Then said I, Woe is me for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. (Isaiah 6:5 KJV)
It is difficult to separate the holiness of God from His glory. There is an unmistakable glow, a shining, that we call the shekinah glory of God. This shining points to His purity, His holiness. Moses had been in the presence of God and experienced His glory. When he returned before the people, Scripture says that his face shone for he had been in the presence of God (See Exodus 34:29 KJV).
At another time, Moses wished to see God’s glory. God’s response was “Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live” (Exodus 33:20 KJV). Immediately following that statement by God, He followed up by stating:
Behold there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: And I will take away mine hand while I pass by: And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen. (Exodus 33:21-23 KJV)
A. P. Gibbs in his excellent writing on Worship: The Christian’s Highest Occupation on page 80 states that Moses “was allowed to see his ‘back parts’ (v. 23). This expression is better translated as ‘afterglow’” (Worship 80).
CONCLUSION
As we move through the book of First Samuel, we begin to recognize that the historical narrative can directly apply to our present-day Christian experience. God does not change, and that which He effectively works in the lives of His chosen people in ancient times is the way He works in the lives of His chosen people today.