The Right Thing Done Wrong

When they came to Nacon's threshing floor, Uzzah reached out to the ark of God and took hold of it because the oxen had stumbled.  Then the Lord's anger burned against Uzzah, and God struck him dead on the spot for his irreverence, and he died there next to the ark of God.  David was angry because of the Lord's outburst against Uzzah, so he named that place an Outburst Against Uzzah, as it is today.  David feared the Lord that day and said, "How can the ark of the Lord ever come to me?"  So he was not willing to move the ark of the Lord to the city of David; instead, he took it to the house of Obed- edom the Gittite.  The ark of the Lord remained in his house three months, and the Lord blessed Obed- edom and his whole family. (2 Samuel 6:6-10 NASB)

Sometimes God's behavior just doesn't make sense.  Sometimes there is simply no explaining away something He chooses to do.  So we need to make a choice.  It's sort of like a 'crisis of faith', but in another sense it's also an acceptance of a very obvious, but often overlooked, reality.  The fact is, there are no 'other alternatives'.  That's all in our head.

In John six, Jesus basically offends the people until they leave.  He then looks at his disciples left standing around, and says, "Will you leave too?" to which Peter answers, "Where will we go?  Who else has the words of life?"  Most of the time, we're not that smart.

It amazes me how people, including myself, believe that their obedience and faithfulness to God is somehow something we 'hold over him'.  As if we can modify and influence or control Him and His behavior by either promising to follow Him or threatening not to.  It's a behavior that, at its root, comes from a belief that the universe is all about me; and every 'me' is different, and all obviously wrong.

The inescapable truth is that there is only One God.  So what other options are there?  If we don't 'like' Him, it's not like we can simply follow another god or whatever.  There aren't any.  If we don't like Him or something He does, there's no sense in saying, "I'll never believe in a God who could do such things." Really?  As if there are other options?  What will we believe in if there's no God or we don't like the One speaking to us and doing these things?  I can choose to believe anything, that what I see is merely the projection into my dimension of something with other dimensions of existence.  I can choose to believe that blue is green, that read is black, and so on.  I can choose to believe anything, but that doesn't change what they are.  I can't change the nature of things through my belief.

God is.  He is as He is, and He is as different from us as we are from the clay pots and trinkets we make with our hands.  His ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts.  If this doesn't sound like it matters or makes sense, or helps accept the situation it's because it's so simple and obvious that we miss something equally as obvious but which we refuse to accept.

We are not at the center of the universe and this is not all about us.  God is not about us, He is for us.  There is a HUGE difference, and until we can wrap our heads and hearts around this truth we're hopeless.

God struck Uzza and killed him when what he was doing appeared good and right.  The whole thing was wrong though.  The Ark should never have been on a cart (the Philistines did it that way and they were pagans).  Uzza and his brother were not who was supposed to be tending it.  Uzza's death was not a sign of God's displeasure with David over all, but rather His displeasure of what David was doing at the moment.  David's response was to be angry, and to be afraid of God.  He then thought God did not want him to bring the Ark to Jerusalem, so he put it aside.  So, God blessed where the Ark was, just as He had previously blessed Kiriath Jearim where David was 'carting' it from.

The problem God has was with the 'mode' in which His Ark was being carried, and His solution was to strike Uzza for touching it.  That seems excessive, capricious, makes God a bully, a brute, an 'angry child' and so on.  The reality is that while we don't like the solution God chose, while such a Person may not be Who we would 'choose' to follow, believe in, or have faith in; He's the only One we have.  You don't like that God struck this guy with good intentions?  Tough.  You don't think you can trust a God who strikes down those serving Him in ignorance? Get over it. 

Face facts.  Get real. What we are missing is that we're afraid of God when He does such things.  We fear for our lives.  And that makes us very uncomfortable, unsafe, and insecure.  Part of God's point is exactly that, not to put us on the defensive; that's what we do because we believe we have a right to be safe, secure, and comfortable.  We don't any such right.  We should be uncomfortable, insecure, and afraid to stand in the presence of the One forming the universe out of nothing, creating stars, forming planets, and tracing the patterns of subatomic particles we haven't even found yet. 

Doesn't it seem odd that creatures described in such a way that to see them would so terrify us we would loose control of our bowels, spend all eternity declaring God's glory?  It does, but we don't pursue it.  We simply leave it at 'odd'.  If we were to pursue it we would be faced with Someone more magnificent than we can imagine.  We would be confronted with the God Creator, Warrior, Destroyer, and Savior.  If the creatures worshiping Him for eternity are frightening to behold, shouldn't we then consider that the One they worship would be terrifying?  Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.  Yet we find all sorts of reasons to not be afraid.  Well, good luck with that.

We are Uzza when we worship without fear.  We are the ignorant servant well-meaning but doing the right thing wrong when we come so boldly before the throne of God we do so with contempt.  We risk death to do so, and yet we blissfully go along our way as if God has some sort of obligation to maintain our physical existence. 

So what do we do?  Do we enter into worship like we're about to be killed?  Do we walk around on 'egg shells', tip-toe around the One who may spontaneously obliterate us?  Read the rest of the chapter.  David dances in worship like a wild-man.  He pours out everything in his expression of the value of God to him.  God is all those things, including Savior.  Think of it!  The terrifying One worshiped by the frightening beings knows who you are, where you are, and sent His Only Son, Deity in flesh, to make sure we can have an eternal relationship with Him.  Grace means that we can worship Him at all!  So worship will all the power within us!  That meager expression of worship to such a One is His desire.  Every day, He takes a lunch for two and feeds 5,000; we just call it 'worship'. 

Stubborn Student, Stubborn Teacher

Now the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.  Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it to the house of Dagon and set it by Dagon.  When the Ashdodites arose early the next morning, behold, Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD. So they took Dagon and set him in his place again.  But when they arose early the next morning, behold, Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD. And the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off on the threshold; only the trunk of Dagon was left to him.  Therefore neither the priests of Dagon nor all who enter Dagon's house tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day. (1 Samuel 5:1-5 NASB)

Being stubborn is sometimes an admirable trait.  Sometimes being stubborn is indomitable,  sometimes abominable; it all depends on what isn't being given up.  Chapter's 5 and 6 in 1 Samuel depict a stubborn people, victorious in battle, but losers on the religious front - and stubborn losers at that.

From the inside looking out, the Philistines just seem silly.  They hold onto their belief in Dagon even though he winds up face down before the captured box of Israel.  They believe this box represents the God worshiped in Israel, and they see what happens to their idol when in the presence of the box, but still persist in worshiping an inferior god.  Why is that?  It seems silly, at least from the inside of the people of God looking out and those on the outside.

From the outside, when the culture and cultures around the Philistines are honestly considered, it makes a bit more sense.  The gods of nations holding to "pantheons" of gods aren't burdened with certain assumptions about their gods.  First off, they don't assume gods are "all-powerful" or omnipotent.  This is partly because there are many gods and a hierarchy among their ranks.  Then there is also the belief that certain gods are responsible for various things in the world, and they use those things against each other occasionally.  They fight amongst each other.  They lie, cheat, steal, and are like people in many ways, just really powerful ones.

So, in that context, being "wrong" only means for that moment.  Dagon beat this Israelite god in battle, otherwise they wouldn't have the box, right?  So Dagon being face down twice isn't an indicator that there is One God, or that this God is more powerful than the others necessarily, at least not for them.  It may mean that this foreign god was able to get the best of their local deity a few times; "the best out of three falls and all that."  It could mean several things that didn't necessitate belief that Dagon wasn't real or that he wasn't powerful enough to be worshiped, or that the Philistines should abandon their ways and gods and join Israel (the people couldn't even win a battle with their god among them - why join them?).

Sometimes, I'm a slow learner.  I keep banging my head against a wall, confused by my headache.  Why isn't what I'm doing working?  Perhaps I should just keep at it.  On the flip side, persistence in obedience to my Master seems so...difficult.  When I don't see the results I want, I use the pragmatic American philosophy and try something else that "works".  Why is it so easy to be stubborn with the wrong things, and hard to be stubborn with the right things?

But this account of the Philistines and the gold box of Israel continues.  Plagues are inflicted on the city holding the Ark of the Covenant.  Then they move it because, "...His hand is severe on us and on Dagon our god."  The next town suffers the same, and the third, and so on.  For seven months they continue to move and the plagues move with the box.  Finally they decide to give it back to Israel.  This God of Israel is persistent, even with students who persistently don't get it.

I believe that my Master was working with the Philistines to get their attention and lead them to Himself.  I believe He did that with the Egyptians as the Israelites tried to leave with Moses.  I believe that He does that repeatedly throughout Scripture with foreign peoples.  And He doesn't give up either.  There are lots of examples of God using Israel to reach Philistines, Edomites, Amonites, Syrians, Phoenicians, even Babylonians and Persians.  His work with foreign powers is fairly consistent.  So why this persistence?

Again, I believe that these are examples in the Hebrew Scriptures of my Master's grace toward other peoples besides Israel.  They weren't chosen, but they were shown grace.  There is a desire on the part of my Master to relate to these peoples.  In some cases the Chosen People were a hindrance, in others they were the messengers; much like church today.  The grace of my Master hasn't diminished, and while culminated in Jesus and His death, burial, and resurrection, it didn't start there; and it doesn't end there either.  One day, examples these peoples whom my Master has tried to reach for thousands of years will stand before Him together with His chosen people.

So the question is two-fold.  Am I willing to learn from my Master?  And am I willing to be a messenger rather than a hindrance?  It's amazing how closely linked those two are.  It helps to have the first one answered before working on the second part.  So, back to school for me, as I apprentice to the Maker of Stars and Tracer of quarks.  Hmmm, where's my slide rule?

There Went The Judge

Then the one who brought the news replied, "Israel has fled before the Philistines and there has also been a great slaughter among the people, and your two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been taken."  When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell off the seat backward beside the gate, and his neck was broken and he died, for he was old and heavy. Thus he judged Israel forty years. (1 Samuel 4:17-18 NASB)

Eli was the high priest from Aaron's line.  He was condemned by God for honoring his sons above God, and received two prophecies regarding the demise of his family and their place before God as priests.  It was happening.  His sons were dead, struck down in battle while carrying the Ark of the Covenant.  I thought it was interesting that, as the prophecy comes to pass, Eli dies over the Ark rather than his sons.

The charge by God against Eli had to do with his parenting of his sons, and how that parenting was debasing the priesthood and Israel's worship.  His bad choices were affecting Israel's devotion to God.  Not many parents have that much riding on their parenting, but there are several noted in Scripture.  Ironically it seems they are mentioned at major junctures in Israel's history.  Here the temple/tabernacle is destroyed, never to be rebuilt until Solomon.

But that Eli responds this way to the news of the Ark, his concern for it as he waits for news, indicates something unexpected of his heart.  If he honored his sons above God, then the news of their death would have struck him more than the loss of the Ark.  Yet it is the Ark's loss that moves him to fall over backward, and terminally break his neck.

There are a few possibilities about this, like it is his "job" at the temple that concerns him.  I doubt this.  It could be that he thought God was really with or in the gold box.  Likely, but not required since he also knew the box wasn't God and God didn't follow it around like a puppy.  It may be that he thought that the loss of the Ark signaled the removal of God's election from Israel.  While this is possible, I suspect that Samuel's work as a prophet was enough proof that the Ark was not the determining factor.

Instead, I think that what it was about the loss that killed Eli over the loss of his sons was the removal of God's presence from among His people.  I don't think it was the election of Israel, to whatever degree he understood that.  I don't think it was the "capture" of God, which I don't think anyone seriously thought possible.  I think Eli thought he had caused the presence of God to be removed from among his people.

The death of his sons had been predicted, he had been told twice.  Their death was no surprise.  The loss of the Ark of the Covenant was the summation of his fears when it left the shrine at Shiloh.  He knew he had caused the end of his line, but had he also caused the loss of the presence of God from among his people?  He sat by the road and fretted over that (or that's my opinion, how I imagine it).

The Ark of the Covenant was the symbol of the presence of God among His people.  While, over the years, this symbol had resided in Shiloh, God's presence had been assured, although never really mentioned in all of the period of the Judges until here.  It's odd that such an important object with so much importance and meaning was given so little ink during such dark times for Israel.  Regardless of the reason (and there are several historical perspectives on the reason why), the result is that the inspiration of the Master that we do have leaves it out.

Consider then the setting of the high priest presiding over the worship of the chosen people of God, and yet a word from God was rare, precious, scarce.  Prophets are unheard of, so where is God?  It makes the job of high priest and priest and Levite rather bland and colorless.  There is no word from God, only the practice of death, blood, fire, and repetition.  How does the "show bread" taste after years of eating it without a word from the One having appointed it?  It almost seems pointless. 

But they had the box, and that meant God was still there, enthroned above the Chrubim.  He had chosen Israel as His people, but He had also chosen to abide among them.  So, pointless as it may have seemed, Eli could have found purpose and comfort knowing that the Ark was still among the people of God. 

Now this isn't required.  Samuel was still a prophet, and God was clearly with Samuel, Ark or not.  But Eli isn't looking at or for Samuel, he's looking for the gold box.  So what's my point?  After judging Israel 40 years, leading them in worship, ministering before God, Eli focuses on the box.  He put all his hopes in there.  Sure it symbolized the presence of God among His people, but it was symbol, not the presence.  It had become an Idol.  This judge of Israel had become one through whom God would not speak, his heart was focused too low.

Where's my focus?  Where's my hope and design?  What do I see as my purpose?  Where is my Master located within my life?  Am I bound up in myself, my family, my church?  These are all important (not necessarily in that order though).  Am I bound up in my Master?  Is my focus on my relationship with Him rather than with others here (including myself)?  Would the loss of my church, my daughter, my wife, or even my own life be the end of me? 

I don't think the loss of my church would be crushing.  It would hurt, and I would grieve; but I would live.  The loss of my family would be devastating, and I have no idea what recovery, if it came, would look like.  That would be life-changing.  I like to think that I could sacrifice myself for others more easily than I could defend myself, so that wouldn't be the most fearful thing for me.  I don't think that loss of any of these things could do away with me.  But that isn't all there is to me.  What is my gold box?  What is yours?

God-in-the-Box

When the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, "What does the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews mean?" Then they understood that the ark of the LORD had come into the camp.  The Philistines were afraid, for they said, "God has come into the camp." And they said, "Woe to us! For nothing like this has happened before.  Woe to us! Who shall deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who smote the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness.  Take courage and be men, O Philistines, or you will become slaves to the Hebrews, as they have been slaves to you; therefore, be men and fight."  So the Philistines fought and Israel was defeated, and every man fled to his tent; and the slaughter was very great, for there fell of Israel thirty thousand foot soldiers.  And the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died. (1 Samuel 4:6-11 NASB)

 The movie, "Raiders of the Lost Ark" depicts the Ark of the Covenant as a powerful object.  Statements were made about it like, "The Bible speaks of it laying waste to entire regions", and shows a supposed wood cut of it destroying enemy soldiers.  Ironically, this chapter in 1 Samuel seems to be the only place it's carried into battle, and not very effectively.  Another quote from the movie is, "an army that carries the Ark before it is invincible."  Obviously not.

Shouldn't it be that powerful though?  This chapter uses four different terms for the Ark.  The first is the "Ark of the Covenant of the LORD" (using the name of God), the second is the "Ark of the Covenant of the LORD of Armies sitting above the Cherubim".  So the idea was that they could bring God into their camp/battle by bringing His "chair".  And since He is the Master of a host of armies, He'll defeat their enemies, again, because they brought His chair with them.  Technically, I suppose what they brought was His footstool, maybe that's why it failed?

The problem was they tried to manipulate God.  The first sentence of this chapter is, "Thus the word of Samuel came to all Israel."  So they finally had a prophet, yet even so, with priests, they could inquire of God anyway.  Instead of asking, seeking, or even including the plans of the Master of universe, they simply brought Him along into their plans.  For them at this time, the Ark was their "God-in-the-Box."  Bring the box, and you bring your god.  He even made it easy by providing poles to carry it; very convenient of Him.

This is sad, yet funny to see the foolishness, yet a tragedy.  And it also depicts believers today.  How often have I "included" my Master into my plans?  How often to I inquire of Him only to seek approval for what I've already decided to do?  I have made fairly large decisions in my life, with the expectation that my Master make it work.  It looks like what the prophets do, except mine comes from a life lived from myself rather than from one lived immersed in my Master. 

The other way I do this is by objectifying my Master, or locating Him with an object.  My favorite seems to be a Bible.  When I was still in school, I had a Bible I used to lead Bible studies (which is a really good idea by the way), and I put all my study notes, observations, questions, and so on in this Bible.  I could do a study on the spot on nearly anything, at a moments notice.  It was fantastic, and a lot of time and sweat was put into this tool.  It was so cool, no inspiration from the Spirit was really needed, I could do it myself; very impressive.  So, my Master had it stolen.  Yes, my truck was broken into (they picked the lock rather than broke a window), my glove box was ransacked, but the only thing stolen was my Bible.  I learned that my Master does not like objects taking His place. 

The Bible is good, but when the tool or method replaces the Master, it becomes evil in His sight.  Church attendance and worship styles are all excellent things, but when they replace the Master as our "time with Him", then they become evil in His sight.  He doesn't want my methods or my music, He wants my veneration, my worship, my life.  He wants me on Monday too, not just Sunday.  He wants me to submit to Him, not to "include" Him.  He's not my "buddy" who goes with me everywhere, He's not my "imaginary friend", I'm His; for my Master is more real than I am.  He is more real on more levels to more degrees than I can even imagine.  I am stuck on a lump of molten nickel and iron hurling around a burning hydrogen/helium bonfire.  I know where I am, I cannot be so precise with Him, and not because He's hard to find, but because He's so pervasive.  The question is, "where isn't He?" 

So, the Maker and Sustainer of the glories of the universe and sub-sub-atomic particles doesn't really "fit" into any sort of box, whether made of gold, or created within my imagination.  More to the point though, He doesn't like it when I try to put Him in such a box.  His normal response is to do away with the box.  When the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD of Armies enthroned above the Cherubim was captured, Eli and his daughter-in-law both died from hearing the news.  They thought they had lost God; that He had left them and their nation.  Instead, He was waiting for them to realize He had never gone to the battle, but was with His prophet, Samuel.  He was right there with them in Shiloh, and they missed it by focusing on a gold box with angels on the lid.

Attending church, worship, Bible study and prayer are all vital to my life with the Master.  Yet they are never to distract from the One I worship, pray to, read about, and spend time with each day.  I don't come to church to "visit" my Master, I come to visit my fellow followers before His throne; that is what I can't do alone.  I cannot let these things become my "box" to make my Master more convenient for me.  That would be a disaster (imagine the swirling sands and dramatic thunder - very "Spielberg").