HIKING LITTLE COTTONWOOD
STRANGEST THINGS OF THE BIBLE
ISRAEL LOST THE BATTLE
Israel went out to meet the Philistines in battle and camped at Ebenezer while the Philistines camped at Aphek. The Philistines lined up in battle formation against Israel, and as the battle intensified, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who struck down about 4,000 men on the battlefield. 1 SAMUEL 4:1-2 HCSB
The Elders have a new plan for victory. If we take the Ark of the Covenant, God will defeat our enemy.
When the troops returned to the camp, the elders of Israel asked, “Why did the Lord let us be defeated today by the Philistines? Let’s bring the ark of the Lord’s covenant from Shiloh. Then it will go with us and save us from the hand of our enemies.” So the people sent men to Shiloh to bring back the ark of the covenant of the Lord of Hosts, who dwells between the cherubim. Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God. When the ark of the covenant of the Lord entered the camp, all the Israelites raised such a loud shout that the ground shook.
1 SAMUEL 4:3-5 HCSB
The Philistines were afraid, when they heard the rumbling about the Ark of the Covenant being in the Hebrew camp.
The Philistines heard the sound of the war cry and asked, “What’s this loud shout in the Hebrews’ camp?” When the Philistines discovered that the ark of the Lord had entered the camp, they panicked. “The gods have entered their camp!” they said. “Woe to us, nothing like this has happened before. Woe to us, who will rescue us from the hand of these magnificent gods? These are the gods that slaughtered the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness. Show some courage and be men, Philistines! Otherwise, you’ll serve the Hebrews just as they served you. Now be men and fight!”
So the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and each man fled to his tent. The slaughter was severe—30,000 of the Israelite foot soldiers fell. The ark of God was captured, and Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, died. 1 SAMUEL 4:6-11 HCSB
ELI heard the news of the ark being stolen and the death of both of his sons.
That same day, a Benjaminite man ran from the battle and came to Shiloh. His clothes were torn, and there was dirt on his head. When he arrived, there was Eli sitting on his chair beside the road watching, because he was anxious about the ark of God. When the man entered the city to give a report, the entire city cried out. Eli heard the outcry and asked, “Why this commotion?” The man quickly came and reported to Eli. At that time Eli was 98 years old, and his gaze was fixed because he couldn’t see.
The man said to Eli, “I’m the one who came from the battle. I fled from there today.” “What happened, my son?” Eli asked.
The messenger answered, “Israel has fled from the Philistines, and also there was a great slaughter among the people. Your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are both dead, and the ark of God has been captured.” When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell backward off the chair by the city gate, and since he was old and heavy, his neck broke and he died. Eli had judged Israel 40 years. 1 SAMUEL 4:12-17 HCSB
Wife of Phinehas heard the news of the death of her husband.
Eli’s daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant and about to give birth. When she heard the news about the capture of God’s ark and the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband, she collapsed and gave birth because her labor pains came on her. As she was dying, the women taking care of her said, “Don’t be afraid. You’ve given birth to a son!” But she did not respond or pay attention. She named the boy Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel,” referring to the capture of the ark of God and to the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband. “The glory has departed from Israel,” she said, “because the ark of God has been captured.” 1 SAMUEL 4:19-22
HCSB Holman Christian Standard Bible
STRANGEST THINGS OF THE BIBLE
ARK OF THE COVENANT IS MOVED TO DAGON'S TEMPLE
The Philistines carried God’s Holy Box, from Ebenezer to Ashdod. They carried God’s Holy Box into the temple of Dagon and put it next to the statue of Dagon. 1 SAMUEL 5:1-2 ERV
PHILISTINES FIND DAGON BOWING BEFORE THE ARK AND STAND IT UP
The next morning, the people of Ashdod got up and found Dagon lying face down on the ground before the Lord’s Box. The people of Ashdod put the statue of Dagon back in its place. But the next morning when the people of Ashdod got up, they found Dagon on the ground again. Dagon had fallen down before the Lord’s Holy Box. This time, Dagon’s head and hands were broken off and were lying in the doorway. Only his body was still in one piece. That is why, even today, the priests or other people refuse to step on the threshold when they enter Dagon’s temple at Ashdod. 1 SAMUEL 5:3-5 ERV
PEOPLE OF ASHDOD WERE TROUBLED BY MICE AND TUMORS
The Lord made life hard for the people of Ashdod and their neighbors. He gave them many troubles and caused them to get tumors. He also sent mice to them. The mice ran all over their ships and then onto their land. The people in the city were very afraid. They saw what was happening and said, “The Holy Box of the God of Israel can’t stay here. God is punishing us and Dagon our god.” 1 SAMUEL 5:6-7 ERV
MEETING WITH THE FIVE RULERS
The people of Ashdod called the five Philistine rulers together and asked them, “What must we do with the Holy Box of the God of Israel?”
The rulers answered, “Move the Holy Box of the God of Israel to Gath.” So the Philistines moved God’s Holy Box.
But after the Philistines had moved God’s Holy Box to Gath, the Lord punished that city. The people became very frightened. God caused many troubles for all the people—young and old. He caused the people in Gath to have tumors. So the Philistines sent God’s Holy Box to Ekron.
But when God’s Holy Box came into Ekron, the people of Ekron complained. They said, “Why are you bringing the Box of the God of Israel to our city Ekron? Do you want to kill us and our people?” The people of Ekron called all the Philistine rulers together and said to the rulers, “Send the Box of the God of Israel back home before it kills us and our people!”
The people of Ekron were deathly afraid because God severely punished them there. Many people died, and those who did not had tumors. The people of Ekron cried loudly to heaven. 1 SAMUEL 5:8-12
ERV (Easy to Read Translation)
STRANGEST THINGS OF THE BIBLE
PHILISTINES' 7 MONTHS OF GRIEF
When the ark of the Lord had been in Philistine territory seven months, the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the Lord? Tell us how we should send it back to its place.”
They answered, “If you return the ark of the god of Israel, do not send it back to him without a gift; by all means send a guilt offering to him. Then you will be healed, and you will know why his hand has not been lifted from you.”
The Philistines asked, “What guilt offering should we send to him?”
They replied, “Five gold tumors and five gold rats, according to the number of the Philistine rulers, because the same plague has struck both you and your rulers. Make models of the tumors and of the rats that are destroying the country, and give glory to Israel’s god. Perhaps he will lift his hand from you and your gods and your land. Why do you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh did? When Israel’s god dealt harshly with them, did they not send the Israelites out so they could go on their way?
“Now then, get a new cart ready, with two cows that have calved and have never been yoked. Hitch the cows to the cart, but take their calves away and pen them up. Take the ark of the Lord and put it on the cart, and in a chest beside it put the gold objects you are sending back to him as a guilt offering. Send it on its way, but keep watching it. If it goes up to its own territory, toward Beth Shemesh, then the Lord has brought this great disaster on us. But if it does not, then we will know that it was not his hand that struck us but that it happened to us by chance.”
1 SAMUEL 6:1-9 NIV
They watched the direction the nursing cows pulled the cart. Will they search for their calves or go to the Hebrews?
So they did this. They took two such cows and hitched them to the cart and penned up their calves. They placed the ark of the Lord on the cart and along with it the chest containing the gold rats and the models of the tumors. Then the cows went straight up toward Beth Shemesh, keeping on the road and lowing all the way; they did not turn to the right or to the left. The rulers of the Philistines followed them as far as the border of Beth Shemesh.
1 SAMUEL 6:10-12 NIV
THE ARK OF THE COVENANT RETURNED
Now the people of Beth Shemesh were harvesting their wheat in the valley, and when they looked up and saw the ark, they rejoiced at the sight. The cart came to the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh, and there it stopped beside a large rock. The people chopped up the wood of the cart and sacrificed the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. The Levites took down the ark of the Lord, together with the chest containing the gold objects, and placed them on the large rock. On that day the people of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings and made sacrifices to the Lord. The five rulers of the Philistines saw all this and then returned that same day to Ekron. 1 SAMUEL 6:13-16 NIV
TUMORS CAUSED BY A PLAGUE OF RATS
These are the gold tumors the Philistines sent as a guilt offering to the Lord—one each for Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath and Ekron. And the number of the gold rats was according to the number of Philistine towns belonging to the five rulers—the fortified towns with their country villages. The large rock on which the Levites set the ark of the Lord is a witness to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh. 1 SAMUEL 6:17-18 NIV
DON'T LOOK IN THE ARK
But God struck down some of the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh, 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. And the people of Beth Shemesh asked, “Who can stand in the presence of the Lord, this holy God? To whom will the ark go up from here?”
Then they sent messengers to the people of Kiriath Jearim, saying, “The Philistines have returned the ark of the Lord. Come down and take it up to your town.” 1 SAMUEL 6:19-21 NIV
New International Version
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