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    April 10th Chronological Bible Readings

    1 Samuel 4:12-8:22
    ~ Click here to read today’s Scripture on BibleGateway.com ~ // Mobile Site Link
    ~ Listen to today’s Scripture on ESV Online.org ~

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    Interesting chapters in First Samuel today!  The idol Dagon was no match for the Ark of the Covenant!  You’ll notice in verse 4 that Dagon ends up in a worship position before the Ark: “And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD.”  Dagon was the “god” of the Philistines, and was thought to have been some sort of man / fish combo.  The idol of Dagon may have looked something like this:


    Dagon

    Below is a pretty good map of that will show you where three of the Five Cities of the Philistines (Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron, and Gath) that we read about in today’s readings are located in the Philistine territory:


    Philistines

    It’s fascinating to see the Philistine’s send back to Israel a “guilt offering” of golden tumors and rats with the Ark.  Not quite what was prescribed for guilt offerings in Leviticus… but, I guess you can give them an E for effort.  🙂  We read in chapter 6 verse 11 – “Then the Ark of the LORD and the chest containing the gold rats and gold tumors were placed on the cart.”

    Ark_samuel 


    Then we arrive at the people of Beth-shemesh who look in the ark and perish – and then the ark is sent off again to another town.  We then arrive at some wonderful words from Samuel in chapter 7 verses 3 & 4: “Then Samuel said to all the people of Israel, “If you are really serious about wanting to return to the LORD, get rid of your foreign gods and your images of Ashtoreth. Determine to obey only the LORD; then he will rescue you from the Philistines.” So the Israelites destroyed their images of Baal and Ashtoreth and worshiped only the LORD.”  And later in verse 10 we read – “Just as Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines arrived for battle. But the LORD spoke with a mighty voice of thunder from heaven, and the Philistines were thrown into such confusion that the Israelites defeated them.”

    I_sam_710_as_samuel_was_offering


    Bible.org’s commentary on our 1 Samuel readings today titled “The hands of Dagon and the Hand of God” is at this link.


    We have some great dramatic reading today in First Samuel!  Tyndale’s One Year Bible Companion today has some good food for thought to the question of Why did Israel want a king? – “1. Samuel’s sons were not fit to lead Israel 2. The 12 tribes of Israel continually had problems working together because each tribe had its own leader and territory.  It was hoped that a king would unite the tribes into one nation and one army. 3. The people wanted to be like the neighboring nations.  This is exactly what God didn’t want.  Having a king would make it easy for them to forget that God was their read leader.”  In First Samuel Chapter 8 we hear Samuel passing on God’s warning to how the king will treat the people…

    I_sam_8_10_samuel_addressing_the_people


    Worship God: Today’s readings in 1 Samuel reminded me of Matt Maher’s song “Hold Us Together:”



    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SHXQNfib_M

    Do you believe that love will hold you together? Click here for Love!


    Please join us in memorizing and meditating on a verse of Scripture today: “And the LORD told him: ‘Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.’”  1 Samuel 8:7 NIV


    Prayer Point: Pray that you will never reject Jesus as your King. Pray that you will bow down only to Jesus as your King today and forevermore.


    Comments from You:  What verses or insights stand out to you in today’s readings?  Please post up by clicking on the “Comments” link below!

    God bless,
    Mike

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    One response to “April 10th Chronological Bible Readings”

    1. Ramona Avatar
      Ramona

      1 Samuel 5-7:17
      For me this entire story of the capture of the Ark and its return can be played out today in our dealings with God either individually, as a congregation, a community and a nation. The Ark was captured because Israel used it as a “good luck” charm. It had become a symbol of God, something to carry into battle because they had lost a previous battle and not because they trusted God, they had put God in a box and kept Him there in the reasoning of their minds.
      The Philistines now had the God of Israel in a box and took Him to their temple where their god, Dagon, fell before Israel’s God. [(I have sworn by Myself, the word is gone out of My mouth in righteousness and shall not return, that unto Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear [allegiance] Isaiah 45:23); (It is written: ” ‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.’ ” 12 So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God. Romans 14:11-12)]
      Instead of getting a clue and either being too stupid or stubborn to buy one, the Philistines kept their god and tried to reason and placate the God of Israel. Their means and methods of dealing with Israel’s God, placing it in a chart being pulled by cows that had given just given birth to calves that were not allowed to travel with them and the gold idols, were about “blind” men searching in the dark for God. In the natural new mothers don’t leave their babies. Israel took this as a sign, which it was; however, they misinterpreted the “sign” because they failed to seek God’s direction. They went by how things appeared to them instead of what God said because they failed to have fellowship with God to find out what He required, they failed to adhere to the Laws handed down by Moses so they went by it kinda-sorta-seems-like-to-me.
      We still do that today. We try to keep God in a box and only bring Him out in crisis, then only to cry, “Why God, why?” When we don’t have God in our lives, His Presence, when manifested, defeats the gods in our lives and instead of asking questions and examining the reasonableness of the gods we serve, we send the true God back. When the God we say we serve out of tradition shows up in our lives in a powerful way, we then forge a worship method based on what we think we have seen instead of drawing closer to Him in fellowship to find out what He requires. We then begin to forge a worship system formed out of the ignorance of our own minds based on traditions formed from the lifestyles of unbelievers, a deadly formula.

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