Scenes from the Cosmic War, 1 Samuel 4:1–22

Second Chance: God Is Misunderstood
1 Samuel 4:3–11

Paul J. Bucknell

Israel’s confidence rises when the ark enters the camp, but the second defeat proves that God cannot be manipulated or used as a religious charm.

2.) Second Chance: God is Misunderstood (1 Samuel 4:3-11)

3 When the people came into the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has the LORD defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us take to ourselves from Shiloh the ark of the covenant of the LORD, that it may come among us and deliver us from the power of our enemies.” 4 So the people sent to Shiloh, and from there they carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts who sits above the cherubim; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.

5 And it happened as the ark of the covenant of the LORD came into the camp, that all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth resounded. 6 And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, “What does the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews mean?” Then they understood that the ark of the LORD had come into the camp. 7 And the Philistines were afraid, for they said, “God has come into the camp.” And they said, “Woe to us! For nothing like this has happened before. 8 “Woe to us! Who shall deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who smote the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness. 9 “Take courage and be men, O Philistines, lest you become slaves to the Hebrews, as they have been slaves to you; therefore, be men and fight.” 10 So the Philistines fought and Israel was defeated, and every man fled to his tent, and the slaughter was very great; for there fell of Israel thirty thousand foot soldiers. 11 And the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.

12 Now a man of Benjamin ran from the battle line and came to Shiloh the same day with his clothes torn and dust on his head. 13 When he came, behold, Eli was sitting on his seat by the road eagerly watching, because his heart was trembling for the ark of God. So the man came to tell it in the city, and all the city cried out. 14 When Eli heard the noise of the outcry, he said, “What does the noise of this commotion mean?” Then the man came hurriedly and told Eli. 15 Now Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes were set so that he could not see. (1 Samuel 4:3-11)

When defeat doesn’t wake us up

Valiant attempts to do great things for God without relying on Him are foolishness. But this self-dependence is exactly what we see here.

And so, what happens next is the exchange of what seem to be brilliant suggestions from God’s people. They are worried but still move forward. They believe bravery matters, even if it looks like trusting in God. God told them they would be defeated. But what was their bright idea? Take the ark of God with them into battle. Now, this seemed to work, rallying the Israelites’ confidence (as seen in their roar of victory). Their confidence even caused the enemies to lose theirs. But doesn’t it seem that God was on the enemy’s side, or at least, He was not with them? The enemy regrouped and decided they better fight for their lives. They did, and God granted them victory. The ark of God was captured, and the Israelites were defeated. Thirty thousand foot soldiers died. How significant this was!

The Lord will allow the core doctrines of grace and signs of His glory to temporarily fall into disrepute so that His people remain faithful in judgment. God didn’t completely wipe out the Israelites; instead, in His faithfulness, He later sent Samuel to prevent their total destruction. If we are stubborn, the Lord remains faithful and will work despite us. Never get in God’s way. Never be one of those unfaithful ones that God has called, yet you delay, put off, or ignore. Don’t think your delay, even with all sorts of great excuses, will spare you from the harm that comes your way because of your ignorance.

Changing society’s fundamentals

Our generation is chasing futility. To outsiders, we seem blind and foolish. We see this in the new trends affecting vital God-ordained institutions: marriage, sexual identity, and family. Can people redefine these core truths without facing harm? No. Yet, despite the pain shown by increased drug use, escapism, worship of false gods, and ignoring the statistics, they keep going in their foolishness.