September 19, 2019: Day 5 – I Samuel 5

The ark of the covenant is not a wanted possession for the Philistines.  Every place that it goes a common occurrence takes place.  All the people in that area break out in tumors.  It almost sounds like the Ark of the Covenant is a radioactive assembly.  But in reality what we realize is that the Ark of the Covenant for the people of Israel represented the presence of the Lord, so if the Lord is present but the people who surround the presence of the Lord does not respect and honor the Lord, then they are going to know about it.

The first home of the ark is right alongside the god Dagon.  Dagon was a god of grain whom the Philistines had adopted as one of the major gods.  But look what happens to good old Dagon.  Not only does he fall over, but then he also loses his head and his hands.  No wonder the people of Ashdod decided they probably didn’t want this ark thing around them.  Can you blame them?

When we are not in the will or the desire of God then more often than not we will find that out in not very positive ways.  I am convinced that God lets us know if we are following the path that He has laid out for us, and also if we are not.  It became obvious to the Philistines that the God of the Israelites was a God with whom one should not mess.