The Capture of the Ark:the Future History of Israel

05/07/10 | Bill Randles

[pastorbillrandles]

The capture of the Ark pt 1 THE WHOLE FUTURE OF ISRAEL “And the word of Samuel went forth to all Israel.” I Sam 4:1

I Samuel 4-6 recounts the story of the time that the Ark of the Covenant of God was captured in battle by the Philistines. The events in the story actually happened in time, but like so much of the Biblical narrative, it also has a prophetic element to it. The “Word of Samuel” really does “go forth to all Israel”, not only to his own generation but it reaches down to Israel at the very end of the age. This is why I refer to it as the ‘future history of Israel’.

Israel was in a political crisis. Once again because of their unfaithfulness, they had become slaves of a gentile power, in this case Philistia. God would raise up Judges,(ie saviours) , to deliver them , but Israel longed instead for a King to rule them, like their pagan neighbors.

Also the High Priesthood was corrupt. Eli’s sons bullied the worshippers, profaned their offerings and by their immoraty, scandalized the faith of Israel. Finally, after more than twenty years, the oppression by the Philistines was unbearable . Rather than waiting for God, Israel was mobilizing to throw the yoke off by war.

Now Israel went out to battle against the Philistines, and encamped besides Ebenezer; and the Philistines encamped in Aphek . Then the Philistines put themselves in battle array against Israel. And when they joined battle ,Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand men of the army in the field.(I Samuel 4:2-3)

The battle ended in a shattering loss for Israel. The four thousand dead, not to mention the countless wounded, would be devestating for any army , let alone this oppressed, struggling , and badly demoralized people.

Naturally there would be soul searching and rightfully so. Israel’s God had said that if they were faithful to Him, he would make just one of them as potent as a thousand in battle, but should they depart from Him, he would reverse the ratio. The question, “Why has the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines? (vs 3) ” was valid, and there certainly could have been given a valid answer.

But they didn’t really wait upon God for a word of explanation. Instead One of them proposed a radical idea, which the leadership readily agreed to

Let us bring the Ark of the covenant of God from Shiloh to us, that when it comes among us it may save us from the hand of our enemies. So the people sent to Shiloh, that they might bring from there the Ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts, who dwelleth between the Cherubim. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phineas were there with the ark of the covenant of God.(vs 3-4)

Notice the contrast between what the people were saying about the Ark, and what the narrator of the story said about it. The people were saying, “let us bring it…that it may save us!”. But the narrator describes the Ark in personal terms, not “It” but in terms of “Who”. For the Ark is a type of Christ. It was the very earthly throne of the Holy God, and the supreme teachng of who Christ would be and what he would effect for us by His blood.

When the High Priest entered the tabernacle and removed the Ark ,taking it to the battlefield, the children of Israel were elated! They cheered so loudly , it badly frightened the Philistines. In fact the Philistines were terrified when they realized that it was the Ark of Israel’s God . They knew well what Jahweh had done to Egypt, and to other nations.

So the Philistines were afraid, for they said,” God has come into the camp” and they said, “Woe to us! For such a thing has never happened before .Woe to us! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods ? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness”(7-8)

But the Philistines rallied themselves nonetheless, and went to battle against Israel, severely routing them. This second battle for Israel was incalculably shattering. Among the 30,000 Israelites who were slain, were the two Sons of the High Priest, Hophni and Phinehas. The army of Israel retreated in disarray, and the worse horror of all, the Ark of the Covenant was captured in Battle!

A messenger running back from the Battle , was stopped by Eli, the badly shaken High Priest of Israel, who was awaiting news of the battle , “trembling for the Ark of God”. In rapid fire, breathless strokes, the messenger laid upon Eli the tidings of woe that had befallen Him and Israel…

”…Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has been a great slaughter among the people, Also your two sons Hophni and Phineas are dead, and the Ark of God has been captured…When He made mention of the ark of God, Eli fell off the seat backward by the side of the gate, and his neck was broken and he died…”(I Sam 4:17-18)

If that scene of horror is not enough, the daughter in law of the High Priest, who was great with child, went into labour when she received the news that her husband and Father in law had died, and that the Ark had been captured in battle. She was not heartened at all by the news that she had borne a son. Rather she named the son “Ichabod” , saying “the Glory of God has departed from Israel, for the Ark of God has been captured”., then she died.

This story- the “word of Samuel that went to all Israel” is actually the future history of Israel. It actually happened , but it also serves as a prophecy. Allow me to explain.

In this story, Israel is chafing under the yoke of a gentile power, the Philistines. They want to be free of them, so they mobilise for battle. There is no mention of prayer, or repentance, just a mobilization of arms and volunteers for resistance.

There is a two-fold defeat of Israel. The first one is bad, costly in lives and treasure. But the second defeat is shattering, a disaster, one that is not recoverable from by human means. The Glory departs, the Tabernacle is emptied of its Holy inhabitant, and national Israel in a sense , dies as a result of that defeat

And the one incident that happens shortly before the second, shattering defeat of Israel, is the act of the corrupt high priesthood in handing Israel’s most sacred trust, the Ark of the Covenant God of Israel , over to the gentiles.

History has born this out to the jot and tittle. Israel has time and again,chafed under the yoke of gentile world powers. And , there have been resistance movements, such as the Maccabees , Zealots, and Masada, etc.

But this resistance on two occasions has resulted in two major defeats of Israel, that has marked her indelibly. The first was in 506 BC, when Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem, and dispersed Judah unto captivity. This was a shattering loss. However, Israel did recover, after 70 years of captivity. By the intervention of God, using Gentile world rulers, such as Cyrus of Persia, Israel was restored to the land and the Temple was rebuilt.

But the second defeat was absolutely devastating, and to this day Israel has not recovered from it. When the Romans carried out the destruction of the temple in 70 AD and glutted the world slave trade with Jews, Israel dissolved. Hosea predicted the long winter of Israel’s living death,

For the children of Israel shall abide many days without king or prince , without sacrifice or sacred pillar, without Ephod, or teraphim . Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God, and David their King. They shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days.”(Hosea 3:4-5)

And as in the story in I Sam 4, there was an incident that happened shortly before this second defeat . An equally corrupt high Priest of Israel, seized, not the Ark, but all that the Ark of God pointed to, and delivered him unto the Gentiles. Within one generation, there would not be a Jewish state called Israel, for almost the next two thousand years.

“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, and they shall hand him over to the gentiles…(Mark 10:33)

part 2 God as a Prisoner of War?

[Texas Fossil]

Source of history account?

[pastorbillrandles]

The Bible, my point is that there is a parallel between the capture of the Ark and the turning over of Jesus, and that the two folld defeat in I Sam 4 is parallelled by the twofold destruction of the temple(Both occurred on the same calender day 5 centuries apart) in 500 BC and 70 AD

[Texas Fossil]

I recognized the scriptures you quoted, but felt there were contemporary sources you did not reference.

It is my opinion that God intended us to have the understanding of scripture to see how things are unfolding, but not to be able to predict the time. There were several cautions about those who used scripture to predict the future.

In my lifetime many things have fallen in place described in Revelations, but there are still a few missing key events. We simply will not know the time, until it happens. (if we live to see it) But we do know it is near.

The attempt to take-over our government is precipitated by those who desire a World Government. It will happen, but I am not yet sure it is now. I refuse, at whatever cost, to be a part of that.

[Lera]

Pastor Bill is not date setting . He is actually teaching history the history of of the Nation of Israel/Judah.

There is a 3 week mourning period for Jews.
It starts with the 17 of Tammuz and ends on the 9 of Av.
The reason for the mourning is because of all the things that have happened to them during these 3 weeks during all their history.

The Babylonians destroyed the first Temple on the 9 of Av.
The Romans destroyed the second Temple on the 9 of Av.
Many other things have happened to them on this same day .
This was also the day that God kept them in the desert for another generation because of their unbelief (Book of Numbers tells the story)

The last war Israel fought against Hezbollah was fought during this same 3 week period.

[Texas Fossil]

Until you mentioned these events I had forgotten the connection of (corrupted) king Menashe and the 2nd destruction of the Temple. It has been a very long time since I last looked at my copy of the “Works of Flavious Josephus”.

New that Josephus was a Jew who was turned and served Rome.

I am not well read about Jewish history. Have some interest in and have studied some of the history of the Temple. I have read that there are some disputes amoung Jews about some of the dates concerning the destruction of both the 1st and 2nd temples. Suspect that is a result of covering up some revealing connections. But I am not interested in Jewish Numerology.

The Christians in the West, like myself, are forever bound to Israel. They are the best friend that Israel has in the world. Unfortunately our current “government” does not share that connection.