1 Samuel 4:4-11 – God seeks our true devotion, not our mere religiosity

Fresh from the first defeat by the Philistines, the elders of Israel after some discussion decided to presume on the Lord. They decided to take the Ark of the Covenant into battle with the Philistines. So, the people went down to Shiloh, took the Ark with them and went into battle with the Philistines again. Verse 4 made it clear that Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were with the Ark of the Covenant. The specific mention of the two sons of Eli was deliberate. It’s them that the Lord was dealing with. Of all the people they were the least worthy to carry the Ark. Yet they were the ones doing it. The question to ask is: would God fight on the people’s behalf when the holiest article of their nation was carried by two degenerated priests? But the people were oblivious that God was about to smite them because of what these two reprobates did to His name.

Oblivious to what God was about to do, the people shouted with a great sound of joy. They presumed that God would fight for them now that the Ark was in their midst. So, there was a great commotion and hullabaloo in the camp. So loud was their shout that when the Philistines heard the pandemonium they trembled. It must have stunt them for a moment. For how could the Israelites, who had just been defeated and where 4,000 men were killed, be so jubilant? At least to the Philistines, the Israelites’ jubilation seemed out of place. And when they heard that the Ark of the Lord had come into the camp, they were even more afraid. The reaction of the Philistines was a surprise too. For after the first round of victory how could they be afraid? But notice how the Ark was referred to. It was not referred to as the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD of hosts but the Ark of the Lord.  

What the Philistines were afraid was not so much the Ark as it was of this powerful God that the Ark represented. They recalled how He had fought on Israel’s behalf. They remembered how this same God had smitten the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues and brought them down in utter defeat. The Philistines had a misconception about how the Israelites defeated the Egyptians. They thought that Israel had many gods fighting on their behalf. The reality is when we have the backing of the only one true God, nothing else matters. All we need is Him and Him alone if we are seeking a victorious walk. What He requires of us are faithfulness and wholehearted devotion. The fear of ending up like the Egyptians years ago gave resolve to the Philistines. They were determined not to fall into the Israelites’ hands and be their slaves. This emboldened them. So with strong resolve, they went out and fought the Israelites with all that they had. In this second round, they again defeated the Israelites with a greater resounding victory. Sadly, the Israelites were routed, 30,000 men were slaughtered, the Ark was captured, and Hophni and Philistines were killed. The damage to Israel was huge.

Of the many lessons we can learn let us focus on one. Remember that the God we serve cannot be manipulated. We must not have the same mentality as the elders of Israel thinking that just because they had the Ark of the Covenant with them, God was obliged to bring them the victory. Like them, we too must bear in mind that no amount of prayers, Bible study, church attendance, giving or scripture memory, etc, would bring us the victory we seek if we are not truly devoted to Him. Do not have a form of religion but deny His power. The best guarantee to victories in life is to give Him our allegiance, be totally devoted to Him and to stay faithful to His Word.