If someone had just said, you know what, let's just put this thing back in Israel, any kind of way we could get it. Then that would have expedited their relief. But instead, they're gonna take the time to go get a craftsman. I guess he sketches it out, has to submit it to the county for approval, and go through all of these steps. and then they come back.
And this is how the world does things when it comes to God. They abandon reason. and they do things that Just sh make the problems worse. Uh You're listening to Cross Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville.
Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of 1 Samuel. Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. Discovery and Recovery is the title of Pastor Rick's message, and he'll be teaching in 1 Samuel 5 today. Isaiah 45. God speaking to the prophet, I have sworn by myself.
The word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness and shall not return. That to me every knee shall bow. Every tongue shall take an oath. In other words, confess that he is God. And there is no other.
And when he says it shall not return, God says, I'm not backing down from this. This is it. This is final. And so, again, the great difference between God's people being defeated and God being defeated, and that is what is taking place here in the temple. Nobody's figured this out yet as this is unfolding in history back then.
No one's figured this out. Not yet. The ancients didn't see it this way. But Yahweh will help them all with this understanding. It continues in verse 4.
The head of Dagon, both palms of its hands were were broken off. On the threshold. He was violated. In the presence of the Ark of the Covenant. They're gonna get that part.
But the fact that his head And his palms are broken off, meaning he's brainless and he's powerless. There's nothing upstairs and there's nothing he can do. He cannot put his hands to anything. That's the message behind this, the symbolism here. God is exposing Dagon for what he is, nothing.
A useless, useless as a god, pretty good as a dust collector. Only Dagon's torso was left of it. It dismembered. pushed flat on his face. In the Book of Kings, we read about that wicked Jezebel.
and her fate was to be eaten by dogs. You just didn't get any lower than that as far as a curse being upon you. Second Kings chapter nine.
So they went to bury her. and they found no more of her than the skull And the feet In the palms of her hands, the dogs would have nothing to do with her pathway, with nothing, she'd nothing to do with what she put her hands to, with nothing that she entered her mind. What did Jezebel do before she died? She painted her face. She puts makeup on.
She hears that they're here, and she looks out the, you know, the eunuchs, they look out the window, and Jehu says, you know, who's with me? Throw her down. And so I threw it down. and the horses trampled her, and then the dogs did her in. And that is uh A fate that we warn the wicked.
We say, listen, you're not going to be able to endure the judgment and wrath of God. Convert. That times of refreshing may come. Verse 5: Therefore, neither the priest of Dagon nor any who come into Dagon's house tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day.
Well, in deference, superstitious deference, we don't walk over the threshold.
Well, where'd they get this from? How do you, so you found parts of him, you know, humiliated at the threshold, stepping over to somehow what? But that's what superstition is. It's just a fear. There's no basis for it.
You can't back it up. It suggests that there's another power in the universe other than God. When a Christian enters into, you know, throwing salt over their shoulder or carrying a rabbit's foot, why would anybody carry a rabbit's foot for luck? It didn't help the rabbit. Anyway, coming back to this, Zephaniah, the prophet.
He points out that they're still doing this kind of stuff in Israel. Zephaniah 1, verse 9: In the same day I will punish all those who leap over the threshold, all those still playing games with superstition. I'm going to deal with them. Verse six But the hand of Yahweh was heavy on the people of Ashdod. And he ravaged them and struck them with tumors, both Ashdod and its territory.
So not only the city, but uh the suburbs around it and the country around it. Speaking of hands, the hand of the Lord. The hands of Dagon were chopped off, but the hand of Yahweh were scourging. The people in one of the capital cities of the Philistines. He ravaged them, and that means he destroyed and killed.
This was a serious plague. The tumors were swellings. The Greek word is the Hebrew word, swellings. And the translators have just.
So our tumors will work. You can't dispute that. This is a physical judgment. on the people. It appears to be only on the men.
The particulars of these afflictions are subject to debate, but the essentials are easy to get. God smote them with some sort of physical ailment, and they were dying. And so rather than ra majoring in the minors, we'll suffice it to say, this was they were in serious trouble. Verse 7. And when the men of Ashdod saw how it was, they said, The Ark of God The God of Israel must not remain with us, for his hand is harsh toward us, and Dagon our God.
so steeped in darkness Conversion was not an option. They just stayed fixed on the emblem. Let's get rid of the ark. Obviously, the Jewish God is stronger now than Dagon. Instead of saying let's switch to their God and submit, Which was the purpose of the Jews to be the light of the world.
That was part of their commission. They really never did. Enter into it, and may that not be so with us. Every Christian should be hoping to share the gospel with someone. And God will make that.
easier than you could ever make it. And it is face to face and is personal. The people that uh Before becoming a pastor, and just in the workplace, in the neighborhood, the people that came to the Lord came because of eye-to-eye contact, because of a relationship. Because I was around them. and they had opportunity to ask me questions and observe.
They were not expecting me to be perfect, but they were. Expecting me to not be a hypocrite. And God always made it easy. And whenever there were droughts, or there were times where I didn't get to preach to anybody. I knew that I was not to do anything to m to change that.
that he would bring them, and he did. You may have another system Verse seven And when the men of Ashdod saw how it was, they said, The ark of God of Israel must not remain with us, for his hand is harsh toward us. And Dagon, our God.
So the suffering brings admission out, but that their God is inferior, but not enough to really make a difference. Verse 8, therefore, They sent and gathered to themselves all the lords of the Philistines and said, What shall we do with the ark of The God of Israel. And they answered, Let the ark the God of Israel be carried away to Gath.
So they carried the ark. of God, the God of Israel, away.
So it's like You know, let's just take them from one Philistine city. Let's just give them to the other Philistine. What's wrong with these people? Why don't they say, listen, if we take the ark back to our people in Gath, they're going to be smitten too? How about we send it back to the Jews?
Uh they will get there, but Not before a lot suffering goes on. Verse 8: Therefore, they sent and gathered to themselves all the lords of the Philistines, and they said, What shall we do with the ark of the of the God of Israel. When they answered, let the ark The God of Israel be carried away to Gath. Didn't I read that? I did.
Well, I It's for you that Verse 9.
So it was after they had carried it away That the hand of Yahweh was against the city with a very great destruction, and he struck the men of The city, both small and great, with tumors, broke out on them. Again, there it seems to be restricted to the males. Verse 10, therefore they sent The ark of God to Ekron. They're still doing it. They sent it to Gath.
From Ashkelon to Gath, now to Ekron, and it's going to be the same, it's escalating, it's getting worse for them.
So it was, verse 10. As the ark of God came to Ekron, that the Ekronites cried out, saying, They have brought the ark of the God of Israel to us. to kill us and our people. Yeah. Yeah.
I mean, what do you just say to that? Yahweh does not need an army to fight for him, does he? The Philistines are learning he can do a pretty good job on them without. People. Verse 11.
So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines and said, Send away the ark of God, the God of Israel. And let it go back to its own place.
So that it does not kill us and our people. For there was a deadly destruction throughout all All the city The hand of God was very heavy there. They are being afflicted. And Not Learning the lesson with this proverbial hot potato. Trying to send away the presence of God to their own people is really kind of dumb.
I don't know how they could reconcile that. Verse 12, and the men who did not die were stricken with tumors. And the cry of the city went up to heaven. Incidentally, I have a lot in my notes about What the tumors might be, all of it, a lot of heavy-duty reading that you probably need to go through in the early days of pastoring. But not now.
And you'll thank me later. If not now.
Well, back to this. With every movement, as I mentioned, it intensifies. Uh It just uh Not gonna go good. This is over again, seven-month period. This is drawn out.
Now we come to chapter six.
Now the ark of Yahweh was in the country of the Philistines seven months. And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, What shall we do with the Ark of Yahweh? tell us how we should send it to its place.
Well, they're they're sending um I don't know a A tractor mechanic to fix a car, I don't know, the best I can do. They got the wrong people. The right idea, but still wrong. Why don't they send to Israel? and asked one of Uh there Priests to come.
Well, we're going to find out, even Israel's priests. We're up. To date on their own law, and they're going to cause a lot of problems for their own people. And so God is showing that everybody's a mess about these things. Israel was not doing what she was supposed to do.
And the Philistines, of course, you expect them to be the Philistines. And so This trophy was continuing the war that ended seven months ago, this trophy to them. The Ark of the Covenant was a trophy. with horrific losses. Verse three, they said, If you send away the ark of God to Of Israel do not send it empty.
But by all means return it to him with a trespass offering, then you will be healed. And it will be known to you why his hand is not removed from you.
So they're in total darkness about this, they're guessing. What to do. For them, theological etiquette dictated that there had to be some sacrifice to appease any God. And that's why they're going to get the The offerings and the gold involved, you know, gold is valuable to men, so it must be valuable to God. Incidentally, this disease also likely With it came the destruction of their crops.
And that's why they're going to put the Golden rats or mice. Also, in, you say, well, what? That's kind of random.
Well, let's look at it, verse 4. Then they said, What is the trespass offering which we shall return to him? And they answered, Five golden tumors, five a golden rat and a partridge in a pear tree. According to the number of Of the lords of the Philistines, For the same plague was on all of you and on your lords. And so if you're saying, well, what is the significance of the number five?
Well, there were five Philistine lords, that's and it tells us right out. That's why they're getting five of these Tumors that again is the subject of much debate among scholars, but the Hebrews are just very simple. You know, just some sort of inflammation going on there, and it was killing people. The golden rats or mice, as the other translations seem to prefer, the Hebrew word is Something like those who gnaw, like a mouse gnawing through something, that might, some believe that. Therefore, it was the bubonic plague that is the connection.
I think that the Crops were affected or something, but it really doesn't matter what we think it was. What matters is what was happening. They were being afflicted. And how they come up with this. Magic is meaningless.
None of this does anything for the situation. In fact, it prolongs their relief.
So, this is the work of witch doctors and shaman, you know, telling the people to do stupid things that don't work. Meantime, valuable time is slipping away. If someone had just said, you know what, let's just put this thing back in Israel, any kind of way we can get it, then that would have expedited their relief. But instead, they're going to take the time to go and get a craftsman. I guess he sketches it out, has to submit it to the county for approval, and go through all of these steps.
And then they come back. And this is how the world does things when it comes to God. They abandon reason. And they do things that just make the problems worse. In verse five, Therefore you shall make images of your tumors and images of your rats.
that ravaged the land. See, there's my belief that it Mice or rats feeling that some sort of a rodent that's doing harm to the crop. And you shall give glory. Uh to the God of Israel. Perhaps he will lighten his hand from you.
from your gods and from your land.
So they're not sure about this, which is understandable. But evidently, and this is important to the story, they know something of Israel's history, of the Jewish history out of Egypt. And that's not surprising. They may even have had copies of. uh the Jewish scripture.
No question they would have had copies. Of Israel's writings, we have the cities they conquered, they would have taken things like that. And uh they had some basic knowledge of To model this solution from Israel, Numbers chapter 21.
So Moses made a bronze serpent and put it on a pole, and so it was. If a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived. And so that may have been their precedence for this.
Well, you know, Moses fashioned something and it helped the people. Let's fashion something that's related to us. For Moses, it was serpents. To us, it's these tumors and these rodents. They've upgraded though, they did do an upgrade from brass to gold.
And I Verse 6. Why then do you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts when he did mighty things among them? Did they not let the people go? That they might depart. And so again, this exhibits their knowledge of that Pharaoh bore his own guilt and that.
the whole history of the Jews with this event.
So, in life, you say, I really believe that when we come to the scripture, We want it to have some application to us. Not every verse is easy to find in application, but so many of them are, and these are. Because we meet Unbelievers who insist on remaining unbelievers. in the face of hard facts. and they cling to things that they've made up or picked up somewhere.
That hath no basis and truth. Maybe you come across someone who said, Well, I got it off the internet. Yeah, but I can disprove it. And yet they still cling to it. God is saying, listen, people are difficult.
When it comes to winning their souls, you're really going to need me. Prayer and dependence on the Lord. Numbers chapter 19. Again we read, Speak to the children of Israel. That they bring you a red heifer without blemish in which There is no defect.
and on which a yoke has never come.
So they may have modeled even this part about getting the Two milk cows, though a heifer has not had cows but they modeled a part that she's n they've never pulled a cart.
So I'm just saying that The Philistines likely We're referencing their religious scholars' Jewish materials to find out how to appease Yahweh. Instead of just getting that thing out of there, could you imagine?
So you got a bomb in your car and said, well, let's figure out, should we pour milk on it? Or, you know, how about you just run away or get away from that thing? I don't know. Maybe you get better ideas. Verse 8.
Then take the Ark of Yahweh.
Well, let me pause here. I wouldn't pick a reading on this chapter normally. If you said if you Pick a few chapters out of the Bible that you wouldn't read. These two would be in there. Uh anyway, they are still very instructive.
Then take the ark of Yahweh and set it on the cart, and put the articles of gold which you are returning to him as a trespass offering in a chest by its Side. Then send it away and let it go. You should have just done that initially. I know I've said that, but it's kind of frustrating. It's like a kabuki theater.
It's a bunch of guys with masks acting weird. Yeah, I know you had a hard day. You want to get through the sermon, go home, eat, and go to sleep. Not yet. Verse 9.
And watch, if it goes up the road to its own territory to Beth Shemesh, then he has done us a great evil. But if not, then we shall know that it's not his hand that struck us, it happened to us by chance. And so they said, you know, they get the chest next to the ark, they put it on a cart. They have these cows, milk cows, taken from their calves, and they're going to pull a cart. They've never done this before, so they're inexperienced.
So they're creating this condition here. And they're saying, well, if it heads to Beth Shemesh, which is Israel's territory in the northern part of Judah. Then it is God that has afflicted us. But if it doesn't, if it just turns around and goes, you know, back to our land, then we're just victims of. Bad circumstances.
And so this is sort of how they are going to deduce what's going on here.
Now Beth Shemesh is a uh An ironic, not ironic. From the line of Aaron Iranic and a Levitical city at the same time. That's very significant. And that is also another miraculous act of God. There were three Beth Shemesh cities in Israel.
one in Nephtali, one in Ishkar, and one in Judah.
Well, the one in Judah was a city given to the priests and the Levites.
Well, The priests were the only ones that could handle the ark according to the law of God. In fact, The Levites, who were supposed one group, one division of the Levites, were to carry the ark of the God with the poles. The ark of God with the poles. the sons of Kohath. And They both are in this city.
The Levites were not to Look inside the ark, they weren't to touch it, they weren't even to look at the ark. The priest was supposed to cover it.
Well, evidently, that's not the case here.
So there have to be some exceptions. or else people would be dropping dead looking at the ark. But it is an act of God that He's sending His ark to those who are supposed to be skilled and authorized. in handling This Chest of the Lord. We know this from Joshua 21, incidentally, where the Beth Shemesh is the city for priests and Levites.
So, verse 10 now: Then the men did so. They took two milk cows and hitched them to the cart. and shut up their calves at home. Oh, this would keep the Cabs from following the Mommy cows. And distracting them, they separate them.
It will also cause the cows to low for their calves, and we'll get that in a minute. Verse 11.
And they set the ark of Yahweh on the cart. And the chest with the gold rat And the images of of the tumors.
Now, my pastor would like to make a point when he would come to this verse. He would say, That The work of the Lord is not to be carried on carts. And carts are made out of boards and big wheels. And it's a very important lesson. It's one that I I don't think I've ever lost sight of.
The work of the church is not done by church boards and important people. The work of the Church is done by the Holy Spirit. through those who are appointed by the Holy Spirit to do His work. And they're no more important than anybody else in the church, though they may be more accountable with things of the church. They are no more important.
And so that is just a good lesson because, unfortunately, there are many churches that are run by boards and big wheels. you know, church governing boards and people who the uh other people have deemed to be um more important than others. And I think that this is just a good illustration of how it should not be because the ark does not belong on a cart. And it's going to cost lives. Verse 12.
Then the cows headed straight. for the road to Beth Shemesh, and went along the highway, lowing as they went. and did not turn aside to the right hand or the left. And the lords of the Philistines went after them to the border of Beth Shemesh. I'm reading this with a smirk because there's so much humor in here, but I'm just going to leave it alone because I'm probably the only one that thinks it's humorous, and you might think it was an attempt at humor.
Well, this confirms that Yahweh afflicted the Philistines. Road to Beth Shemesh, the Lowing in protest of being separated from their calves, again attesting to the realistic part of the story and the presence of God, both at the same time. Um Thanks for joining us for today's edition of Cross Reference Radio. This is the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville, in Virginia. Currently, Pastor Rick is in the book of 1 Samuel.
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