1 Samuel 7:1-4 - The people of Israel turned back to the Lord

7:1,2a

This is another example of a chapter division being in rather an odd place, the first verse seems more suited for chapter 6. Anyway, the ark is moved from Kiriath Jearim to Abinadab’s house. There his son Eleazar is consecrated and is tasked with standing guard over the ark of the Lord. The ark remained there for twenty years. The presence of the Lord, which is what the ark represented, is not something to be taken lightly.

7:2a-4

It seems that it took these twenty years for the people of Israel to return to the Lord. Mankind seems happy to endure an awful lot of pain and disaster before admitting his need for God. Samuel is now centre-stage, he acts as a prophet, a priest and a judge (or ruler). Unlike all the previous judges, his priority is to make sure that the people are genuinely committed to the Lord. So he tells the people the actions they must take in order to show that their repentance is genuine, and not just words. They must get rid of all the idols that they had accumulated over the years. Instead they must serve only the Lord. God is very much for exclusivity! There was also a promise that if they did this the Lord would deliver them from the Philistines. The Israelites did this, dumping the Baals and Ashtoreths, and serving the Lord instead.

1 Corinthians 1:23,24 - A stumbling block

1:23

Regardless of what the Jews and Greeks were looking for, Paul and his companions preached the cross. There is perhaps a lesson for us here. Each society has its own measure for what it values. This would say that we must not pander to our society. Even if the gospel is a stumbling block or foolishness, we must preach it anyway. For part of the power of the gospel is that it goes against the flow. So if we “go with the flow” we are going against the gospel. At the same time we must also remember that elsewhere Paul does speak of becoming all things to all men. We do not ignore the way that the society we are in operates.

1:24

Why do we do this? Because the gospel is the power and wisdom of God. “to those whom God has called ...” The gospel is a God driven enterprise. If we neglect that fact then we make it man-centred and it loses all its power, and indeed its wisdom. And there are people whom God has called among both Jews and Greeks. So in our anti-Christian society there are people whom God has called, and they will be saved by the gospel. Even among the most woke, there are those whom God has called. It is God who sets the agenda, not the world.

1 Samuel 6:17-21 - Who can stand in the presence of the Lord?

6:17,18

There was a gold tumour for each of the cities, and it seems that there was a gold rat/mouse for each of the towns and villages. At the time of the writing of 1 Samuel the large rock on which the ark of the Lord had been set was still there. 

6:19-21

Some of the men of Beth Shemesh looked into the Ark, and so were struck down by the Lord. The Bible is manifestly not a “pro-Israel” text, it is about God. For Israel is under the same requirements as everyone else, and Israel is represented as at least as sinful as everyone else. So the seventy who were killed are a sign of the same judgement that befell Philistia. This judgement caused the people of Israel to mourn. The people of Beth Shemesh were no longer so keen on having the Ark in their midst. They were beginning to recognise that the Lord was a Holy God. They wanted it to go to Kiriath Jearim, a town about ten miles further up the Sorek valley. No one wanted he Ark in their town!

1 Corinthains 1:21,22 - Through the foolishness of preaching

1:21

God allowed man to go his own way, just as the Father allowed the younger son to go his own way. The younger son just ended up in a mess. Likewise, mankind in general has ended up in a mess. Man by his own efforts and wisdom does not know God. No one is saved by the world’s wisdom. Instead, it is through the “foolishness” of the cross that people are saved. Lives are changed and healed through the gospel, “the foolishness of what was preached”.

1:22

In the gospels we frequently read of the Jewish leaders demanding a sign from Jesus, and this was despite Him performing numerous miracles and healings! The Greeks demanded wisdom. The term “Greeks” is sometimes used as referring more generally to the Gentiles. However, with the Greek love for philosophy Paul may be thinking specifically of the Greeks here. Signs and wisdom were the measures by which the Jews and the Greeks, respectively, judged the validity of something or someone.

1 Samuel 6:10-16 - They rejoiced at the sight

6:10-12

The priests’ instructions were carried out to the letter. The cows duly went straight up to Beth Shemesh. Beth Shemesh was in a valley connecting Philistia and Israel. The cows had had no training at all, so it was a miracle that they went straight along the road to Beth Shemesh. The philistine rulers followed them as far as the border, so they knew where the Ark was heading.

6:13-16

When the Philistine towns had seen the Ark coming they were full of fear, for they expected death to accompany it. The Israelites had a very different reaction, rejoicing at the return of the Ark. The cart stopped beside a large rock in the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh. We have no idea who this Joshua was. They chopped up the cart and sacrificed the cows there. Bulls were the normal offering, but given the situation this seemed a reasonable thing to do. The Levites took charge of the situation, and various other offerings were made. The Philistine rulers saw all this and reckoned that they had now resolved the problem.

1 Corinthians 1:19,20 - Where is the wise person?

1:19

Paul sees our salvation as all part of God’s plan.He also sees the opposition and the perishing as part of God’s plan as well. He quotes from Is 29:14 where God states that He “will destroy the wisdom of the wise” and “frustrate the intelligence of the intelligent”. Rebellious man claims to be wise, claims to know what he is doing, but in fact he is foolish and hasn’t a clue what he is doing.

1:20

Man’s efforts have manifestly failed. Paul singles out the “teacher of the Law” and the “philosopher of this age”. The teacher of the Law is the Jewish “wise man”. The Pharisees in particular with their detailed knowledge of the Law, and interpretation thereof, were revered in Jewish society. The philosopher of this age is the Gentile or Greek “wise man”, the ones who were thought to be clever. But the wisdom of the world has achieved little, and brought about much harm.

1 Samuel 6:7-9 - Get a new cart ready

6:7

The priests took the whole matter very seriously, realising that they were dealing with a serious God who had power, so they insisted on a new cart, and cows that had calved, but never been yoked. The calves were to be penned up, i.e. effectively locked behind closed doors. The significance of all this is that if the cows did go to Israel, then it would be proof that it was the Lord leading them, for their natural instinct would be to go back to their calves.

6:8,9

The Ark was to be placed on the cart, along with the gold offerings. They were then to keep an eye on it. If it did indeed head off to Israel this would prove that it was the Lord who had brought disaster on the land. Otherwise it would just be coincidence that the disasters had happened at the same time as the Ark was present. The Philistine priests are demonstrating a high degree of intelligence, even a scientific approach to the matter.