1 SAMUEL 4 TO 6 (NOTES OF A READING)

^[p. 13] 1 SAMUEL 4 TO 6 (NOTES OF A READING)

1 Samuel 4: 21, 22; 1 Samuel 5:1-3; 1 Samuel 5:9-11; 1 Samuel 6:1-3; 1 Samuel 6:6-10; 1 Samuel 6:16; 1 Samuel 6:19; 1 Samuel 6:21

F What is the force of the glory having departed from Israel?

CAC The ark was the true glory of Israel and it was looked at as that which was committed to the guardianship of God’s people. The ark is in itself purely of God, but the time came when God had to give it up into the hands of the enemy because of the state of those who should have been its guardians. It is a very solemn thing when God cannot support what is of Himself because of the moral state of those identified with it.

F Phinehas’ wife gives her reasons for the glory having departed. She says, “Because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father-in-law and her husband”.

CAC Yes. If the ark goes, the priesthood goes too.

JEB What would correspond today with the ark being taken?

CAC What has happened in christendom through the unfaithfulness of God’s people; what is precious and holy has passed into the hands of the world; publicly the ark is taken. The idolatry of the people of God led to this condition of things. God’s anger was kindled so He forsook the tabernacle at Shiloh. The ark at Shiloh represented the place that God gave to Christ in the faithful affections of His people at the beginning. That has been lost; the glory in that sense has departed. All the present activities of God are really to secure the restoration of the ark to a suitable position, not to go back to Shiloh but to be ^[p. 14] brought back to a suitable position. It was not suitable for the ark to return to Shiloh for the priesthood was corrupt and the Lord could not identify that with the ark. What we find in the addresses to the seven churches in Revelation, until we come to Philadelphia, is that the glory is departed. He has to call on five of those assemblies to repent and bring a trespass-offering. Christ had left His place, there was no suitable place for the ark. We are today in the dispensation that has lost its glory; it is very solemn.

All that is precious has gone into captivity, all the precious truth of God has remained in christendom, the Bible is there and a lot remains that is of Christ but it has passed into Philistine hands.

HB What do the Philistines represent?

CAC The Philistines were a people who came out of Egypt and were in the land of Canaan but they did not come out of Egypt by divine deliverance and they were not in Canaan by divine gift. They are a sort of imitation; they are like spiritual wickedness. David was one who really subdued the Philistines and secured a place for the ark. It never got its own place until David spread a tent for it in the city of David. It is so interesting to see in these books how the kingdom results in a suitable place being prepared for the ark. In spite of all, there is a suitable place for the ark — for Christ. No doubt these Philistine priests were led of God in the way they proposed to send the ark back.

It is one of those instances where you find God coming in with a Balaam or a Caiaphas. What the Philistines proposed to do with the ark was the right way for it to be brought back.

Ques Why were the men of Beth-shemesh punished for looking into the ark, for it says they were glad when they saw it?

CAC There may be a great lack of reverence even with those who are glad to see the ark come back, as the ^[p. 15] men of Beth-shemesh were. It is a solemn warning to us. The lesson of this part of Scripture is the holiness of God and the jealousy of God as to Christ. The question is raised as to whether we are suitable persons to have anything to do with the ark. Are we spiritually able to bring the ark back? Have we the character of milch kine? That is an exercise for us tonight. The Philistines were quite right to put the ark on a new cart; it was the acknowledgement that there was not a man among them who was fit to carry it. They had no Levites. Even David had to learn the holiness of God and we all have to. One feels often what a lack of becoming reverence there is in the handling of the holy things of God, particularly as to Christ.

F In Exodus 19 this kind of carnal movement is guarded against. We all should be careful how we take up divine things.

CAC Yes. God knows how to give a testimony, even among the Philistines, to His thought of the ark. We see here that the ark was greater than their gods; Dagon falls down before it and is broken.

HB Are we sometimes like the Corinthians in the way we handle things?

CAC Yes, they were taking up holy things in a fleshly way. Most of them were true believers but the ark was not being handled reverently.

T Would not John 18 be the fulfilling of this? They took the Lord and we see Him standing in His holy dignity and they have to fall to the ground.

CAC Yes, indeed. God knows how to give testimony to Christ, even when Christ is taken captive. The Philistines were glad to get rid of the ark.

F In a certain way did they value the ark?

CAC No doubt it was a great triumph for them to get the ark. It was a kind of glory for the world when it became possessed of Christ through the unfaithfulness of the ^[p. 16] people of God. He is in captivity there. We do not get the ark in its liberty there. God is working to liberate the ark; He is calling to those who can move in a spiritual way for its liberation. We should all like to contribute to the bringing back of the ark.

HB Would the beginning of Luke come in in this connection?

CAC Yes, there were those there who had the character of milch kine. They represented those who could move in the Spirit of Christ. It had all a sacrificial character. Milch kine were clean creatures, they were suitable for sacrifice and were in moral keeping with the ark because they moved under a moral impulse in a way contrary to what would be natural. It ended in their being offered as a burnt offering. If I am going to help to bring back the ark I must be prepared to suffer. What am I prepared to surrender to give expression to the Spirit of Christ? We have, through grace, a sense of the holiness of Christ who is the image and glory of God. Everything is going to work up to the point where He will have His right place in the temple but in the meantime He is to be brought back, not to Shiloh, but brought back in a suitable way to a suitable place. It is something we all have to be exercised about. What a suitable Levite Mary was! How suitable she was to carry the ark! Christ does not come amongst people who do not appreciate Him. He came amongst a priestly company. That is the beauty of the beginning of Luke; you see a priestly company waiting to receive Him. All Israel had become Philistines, so to speak, but there was a little company of circumcised people who were able to cherish and carry the ark. We have that privilege today; the public profession has lost Him.

HB He has never ceased to be the Ark of God.

CAC No. Whatever may go on in the land ^[p. 17] of the Philistines the true lovers of the ark would want it back. The truth was that God gave His strength into captivity. It is a solemn judgment that Christ has passed into the hands of the world. All these big cathedrals are the judgment of God; they tell us that Christ has passed into the hands of the world. The world does not know how to value Him though they may be compelled to own that Christ is greater than anything they have. God will compel them to own that. The Philistines did not want to give up their own gods. If christians had been true to Christ from the beginning the world would never have taken up christianity. It was the unfaithfulness of christians that led to the world taking it up.

JEB Would not Dagon’s fall indicate the break-up?

CAC It was a testimony that all that was idolatrous must give way. The Lord said, “I beheld Satan as lightning falling out of heaven”. He saw the great overthrow of Satan. I think there are dealings of God with the christian part of the world that are different to those with the heathen world. God thinks of Christ. Many of the terrible visitations that come on the christian part of the world are the result of how Christ is treated by those who profess His name and are in the place of the Philistines. God makes His hand felt in connection with Christ and we cannot get away from it.

The Philistines had to acknowledge that their god had been overthrown. One feels how instructive this section of the book is as to the ark. There is great spiritual instruction for us. We are challenged as to how far we are prepared to move on lines that give Christ His suitable place. There are frequent references to the place of the ark in this book. The Philistines let it go to its own place, and David prepared a tent and brought the ark to its own place. It is a great thing that there should be a place for Christ, that holy conditions should be maintained. Beth-Shemesh was ^[p. 18] not a suitable place; there was no reverence, they looked into the ark. They represent true people of God who appreciate Christ but who do not realise the holiness of the ark or the seriousness of having to do with it. It is a fleshly thing to look into the ark.

F Was it a wrong action to fetch it from Shiloh?

CAC Yes, it showed they did not understand that it was the glory of God. They brought it out as a kind of charm to secure victory for them but there was nobody there fit to have to do with it.

AS Does the place of the ark involve what is collective?

CAC The tent David spread for it involves what is collective. It is only then you get its place — he brought it up to its place. The divine thought is that there should be a place where Christ gets His place among the people of God collectively. The houses of Obed-Edom and Abinadab do not give the full thought; they show how God can work so that Christ is appreciated by individuals. It requires the truth of the kingdom to secure a collective place for Christ. The tent is provisional before the temple is built. The temple is what looks on to the day of Christ, but before that time comes there is a tent — a provisional place. Philadelphia is very like the tent thought. How delightful it is to God to have a few persons who have a due sense of the greatness of Christ, who have been subdued to Him. There is a holiness about them that is suitable to Christ; priestly conditions are there. There are delightful suggestions on God’s part brought before us in these chapters. God’s thought in the kingdom is to prepare suitable conditions for the ark. It is a very necessary exercise for us.

JEB Why did the Philistines bring a trespass-offering?

CAC The thought of a trespass-offering was suitable. Of course we know that they could not bring anything ^[p. 19] that was pleasing to God, but the spiritual suggestion of it is beautiful. If Christ has not been rightly regarded a trespass-offering is needed. We cannot get Him back to His right place without a trespass-offering. He had not been rightly regarded or worthily handled among either the Philistines or the Israelites. Probably the place He had in Israel was more offensive to God than the way He was handled among the Philistines because the Israelites should have known better.

Every one of us can do something to bring the ark back, every one of us can provide a suitable place for Him. It must begin individually, and then there is the collective exercise to provide such a place for the ark so that that blessed One may be cherished and honoured in a way that is pleasing to God. It depends on spiritual state; an unspiritual people cannot provide a suitable place for the ark.