Havasu Christian Church
Series in I Samuel
May 19, 2024
I Samuel 7:1-14
INTRO: Well, we’re back to I Samuel. Two weeks ago, we visited the Philistines… with their deadly hemorrhoids… or whatever they had. This week, we see Israel, or more accurately, God deal with the Philistines again. It’s not going to go well for them!
We’re going to look at verses 1-14 of I Samuel chapter 7, but we’re going to look at it in smaller bits.
- Israel takes care of the Ark of the Lord.
1 Samuel 7:1–14 (NASB95) And the men of Kiriath-jearim came and took the ark of the LORD and brought it into the house of Abinadab on the hill, and consecrated Eleazar his son to keep the ark of the LORD.
2 From the day that the ark remained at Kiriath-jearim, the time was long, for it was twenty years; and all the house of Israel lamented after the LORD.
- This is a good first step in their journey back to God!
- They no longer look at the Ark of God as a “lucky charm.”
- They are no longer looking at God as though He owes them something.
- We have the “magic box” so God has to do for us!
- They put the Ark into the care of a household, with a son, Eleazar, to see that the Ark is given proper respect and care.
- This wasn’t exactly how things were supposed to be.
- The Ark should have been in the Holy of Holies of the Tabernacle.
- The Ark should not have been on public display…. Maybe it wasn’t.
- But…. Baby steps!
- Israel returned to the Lord!
3 Then Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, “If you return to the LORD with all your heart, remove the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you and direct your hearts to the LORD and serve Him alone; and He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines.”
4 So the sons of Israel removed the Baals and the Ashtaroth and served the LORD alone.
5 Then Samuel said, “Gather all Israel to Mizpah and I will pray to the LORD for you.”
6 They gathered to Mizpah, and drew water and poured it out before the LORD, and fasted on that day and said there, “We have sinned against the LORD.” And Samuel judged the sons of Israel at Mizpah.
- RETURN TO THE LORD WITH ALL YOUR HEART!!!
- Get rid of all the “g” gods.
- This especially includes the Ashtaroth!
- The practices of this worship were especially offensive to God!
- Sexual practices… temple prostitutes
- Child murder.
- Direct your hearts to the Lord.
- The One True God must be the “one and only” in their lives.
- , and serve Him alone!
- No more “a god for this, a god for that.”
- There is a promise attached to this call.
- God will deliver them from the Philistines.
- GOD will deliver….
- It won’t be by their own power.
- This happened repeatedly in their history.
- 10 Plagues on Egypt, crossing the Red Sea.
- Exodus 17:9–13 So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose men for us and go out, fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will station myself on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.” Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought against Amalek; and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. So it came about when Moses held his hand up, that Israel prevailed, and when he let his hand down, Amalek prevailed. But Moses’ hands were heavy. Then they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it; and Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other. Thus his hands were steady until the sun set. So Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.
- Jericho
- Deborah & Barak… God sends rain to bog down the chariots of Sisera’s army.
- Gideon and the 300 vs Midian
- These are some of the times that God delivered Israel in a Miraculous way.
- The Philistines decide to attack!
7 Now when the Philistines heard that the sons of Israel had gathered to Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the sons of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines.
8 Then the sons of Israel said to Samuel, “Do not cease to cry to the LORD our God for us, that He may save us from the hand of the Philistines.”
9 Samuel took a suckling lamb and offered it for a whole burnt offering to the LORD; and Samuel cried to the LORD for Israel and the LORD answered him.
- The Philistines hear about the gathering of Israel.
- Maybe they think Israel is gathering for war.
- Maybe they decide to “stamp them out” with one fatal blow.
- Whatever the reason, they come to fight!
- The Israelites and scared to death!
- But they don’t give in to their fears!
- “Don’t stop praying Samuel!
- Samuel offers a sacrifice.
- God fights for the Israelites!
10 Now Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, and the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel. But the LORD thundered with a great thunder on that day against the Philistines and confused them, so that they were routed before Israel.
11 The men of Israel went out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, and struck them down as far as below Beth-car.
12 Then Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpah and Shen, and named it Ebenezer, (stone of help) saying, “Thus far the LORD has helped us.”
13 So the Philistines were subdued and they did not come anymore within the border of Israel. And the hand of the LORD was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.
14 The cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron even to Gath; and Israel delivered their territory from the hand of the Philistines. So there was peace between Israel and the Amorites.
- The Philistines attack right while the people’s attention is centered on the sacrifice.
- This would seem to be great strategy.
- But God has other plans!
- God panics the Philistines with thunder!
- THUNDER! That’s all the Scripture tells us that God used.
- No mention of lightning
- No mention of hail
- No mention of anything else.
- But this is enough to confuse them to the point that they are no longer an effective fighting force.
- Thunder would scare horses.
- Thunder, especially coming out of a clear blue sky would scare people.
- Continuous thunder would make communication impossible.
- The men of Israel had to do their part as well.
- They pursue the Philistines.
- They beat them so bad that the Philistines never bother them, all the days that Samuel is High Priest!
- Israel even retakes cities that have been lost to the Philistines.
- The battle is so decisive, no one in Canaan wants to fight the Israelites for many years!
- The Battle is commemorated by setting up a stone. Ebenezer. “The Stone of Help!”
What difference can any of this make to my life?
- God is willing to put up with our “baby steps” when we sincerely are reaching out to Him!
- God wants your whole heart!
- No divided loyalties!
- We won’t be perfect, but He expects us to try!
- Turning to Jesus will not protect us from being attacked by Satan.
- It may actually make it worse!
- Satan doesn’t have any real reason to attack someone that belongs to him.
- But we can stand. We have the promises that we won’t be alone! The Lord WILL be on our side!
- Sometimes, that means we stand physically alone, but the Lord is with us.
- Other times, we stand with our Brothers and Sisters in Christ!
- But we KNOW that God is working for our good!
- When the Lord protects us, or works in our lives, we need to REMEMBER!
- Probably don’t need to set up a stone, but we need to not only remember, but tell others about what God has done!
