1 Samuel 7:1-2– Be sensitive to God’s dealing

God took His relationship with Israel seriously. All that He had set in motion in the first six chapters of 1 Samuel was to accomplish the purpose that He had for them. He not only dealt with the internal threat that would jeopardize His plan for them but also the external forces that hinder their progress. Whether it was the leadership of Israel that God had to deal with or the threat of their enemies from without, one thing was sure: He was shaping the destiny of His people. He did it for Israel His people, He will also do the same for us whom He had acquired for Himself in Christ Jesus. God wants to help us to deal with our personal propensity as well as the external threats that would jeopardize our destiny and relationship with Him.  

Interestingly, the last Samuel was mentioned was in verse 1 of chapter 4. It said, “Thus the word of Samuel came to all Israel.” After that, he was absent from the accounts in chapters 4-6. During that period many things had happened. Israel lost two battles, 34,000 of their men were killed in those battles and the Ark of the LORD was captured. Hophni and Phinehas the two sons of Eli, who abused their position and the altar of God, paid dearly with their lives and died in the second battle. Eli, their father fell from his chair, broke his neck and died at the news of the capture of the Ark and the death of his two sons. The final tragedy that happened in Eli's family was the death of the wife of Phinehas, his daughter-in-law. When news of her husband's death reached her, she went into labor and gave birth to a son. In her dying breath, she managed to name her son Ichabod, meaning “where’s the glory.” Through it all, God was dealing with the leadership of Israel.

Considering what took place in the camp of the Philistines described in chapters 4-6, after they captured the Ark, we can also see the hand of God dealing with them. The head and hands of Dagon their deity were severed, leaving it with only the trunk. Their cities were inflicted with a plague of mice and the Philistines themselves were inflicted with tumors for as long as the Ark was with them. Couldn’t take the dealing of the Lord any longer, they finally got rid of the Ark by returning it to the people of Israel. Without a doubt, God was dealing with them as well.

At the end of 1 Samuel 6, we find the people of Beth-shemesh suffered a great loss. God had taken out 50,070 men including those who carelessly and irreverently looked into the Ark. They then sent a message for the people of  Kiriath-jearim to come and take the ark there. First Samuel 7:1 tells us that the people from Kiriath-jearim then came and took the Ark with them and placed it in the house of Abinadab and consecrated his son, Eleazer to keep the Ark of the LORD. The choice of Abinadab and Eleazer suggests that they were Levites, people whom God had assigned the task of handling the Ark. Verse 2 indicates that the Ark was in  Kiriath-jearim for twenty years. What’s heartening to us is that the second part of verse 2 reads, “…all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord.” It was unlikely that they had been lamenting after the Lord for twenty years. It is more likely that after 20 long years they decided to return to the Lord. Because God always responds when His people return to Him in sincere repentance and contrition of heart. It couldn’t be that God would harden His heart to a repentant people. What’s disheartening in this incidence is that it took the people 2o years to come to their realization. What happened in those 20 long years? Take a lesson here. Let’s not test the patience of God. The longer we wait to return to God, the longer it would be to endure the pain of His dealings. So, call upon the Lord while He may be found. When we draw near to Him, He will draw near to us. That’s a promise. So, let’s do it!