Fear-filled Heart
1 Samuel 4:13
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.
He was wise to fear for the ark. He must have known it was highly inapropriate to carry the ark into battle like a good luck charm or a pagan idol, yet he didn't stop the elders who thought it was a great idea after the stunning defeat they'd just experienced.
In the Bible study on the Tabernacle, Beth Moore suggested that the ark represented the heavenly throne of God. Verse 4 says as much. The glory of God literally appeared on the ark, between the gold cherubim, as God is surrounded by living cherubim in Heaven. It was kept in the Most Holy Place, not even to be seen by human eyes more than once a year, and then under the most careful of circumstances.
Yet the panicky Israelites thought it a good plan to haul it out into the army camp. It did cause a stir there, which unfortunately only rallied the Philistines to fight the harder and deal them a truly devastating loss.
Back home, Eli sat waiting, all his secret thoughts full of guilty knowledge that they had misused a holy object.
Why didn't he stop them?
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.
He was wise to fear for the ark. He must have known it was highly inapropriate to carry the ark into battle like a good luck charm or a pagan idol, yet he didn't stop the elders who thought it was a great idea after the stunning defeat they'd just experienced.
In the Bible study on the Tabernacle, Beth Moore suggested that the ark represented the heavenly throne of God. Verse 4 says as much. The glory of God literally appeared on the ark, between the gold cherubim, as God is surrounded by living cherubim in Heaven. It was kept in the Most Holy Place, not even to be seen by human eyes more than once a year, and then under the most careful of circumstances.
Yet the panicky Israelites thought it a good plan to haul it out into the army camp. It did cause a stir there, which unfortunately only rallied the Philistines to fight the harder and deal them a truly devastating loss.
Back home, Eli sat waiting, all his secret thoughts full of guilty knowledge that they had misused a holy object.
Why didn't he stop them?
posted by ruthees @ 1:06 PM
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