Bible Reading Challenge Blog

The glory of the Lord returns back to the people of  God.  We find in this chapter that the Philistines had the ark of the covenant for seven months and wanted nothing to do with it.  So they consulted with their religious people and they told the leaders that they should send it back from whence it came with an offering to basically say that we are sorry for taking it from you.

Notice that the pain of the lost battles and the lost men in battle had not dissipated but remained with the people.  Reclaiming the ark was important and it was a reminder to the people around the Israelites that you may defeat the people in battle, but you cannot defeat the God who is behind them and supports them.  You then have this puzzling presence of Jeconiah who wasn’t at all interest in the celebrations that were taking place and killed the folks who were happy about the ark.  We don’t hear about him again.  

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.

The glory departs from Israel.  

So that scene is not from the Bible, but it is the discovery of the ark by Indiana Jones as a result of the ark being lost by the defeat of the Israelites at the hands of the Philistines.  We lose track of the ark eventually, even as here the Philistines take it only to give it back later.  Too scary and too much responsibility.

But it is here more than any other place in the Bible where we see the glory of the Lord leaving Israel, to the point where the wife of the son of Eli, has a child who is named Ichabod, which means that the glory has departed from Israel.  Who remembers Ichabod?  Maybe this would help.

Anyway, let’s stick with the Bible, shall we?  The Philistines conquer the Israelites twice and the second time they take what is considered the presence of the Lord, the ark of the covenant.  As a result of the battles the sons of Eli are killed just as the Lord had told Samuel that it would happen.  When Eli hears of the capture of the ark, not of the death of his sons, but of the capture of the ark, he falls backwards and breaks his neck.  No, like he legitimately breaks his neck and dies.  

We now have the high priest dead and his two sons who were the heirs apparent to the priestly throne.  Guess who that leaves?  That’s right, Samuel.  

Samuel gets a calling.  This is another classic Bible story of Samuel when he is a child, and as vs.7 states, he does not yet know the Lord.  What a strong statement.  There are a few of those strong statements in these verses.  The first we find in vs.1 where we read that the word of the Lord was rare in those days.  God was simply not speaking because no one was listening.  

He finds Samuel sleeping by the ark of the covenant.  Okay, we can’t just let that pass.  The ark of the covenant was considered the presence of the Lord.  In vs.10 after two unsuccessful attempts to get Samuel’s attention, the Lord actually comes and stands in Samuel’s presence and calls out to him.  Eli, the wise high priest whose kids were scoundrels, instructs Samuel to respond and to listen to the Lord.  We need people like Eli who instruct us to be quiet and listen to the Lord.  Oh how things would be different if we listened to the Lord. 

The message is not good for Eli’s sake, but he accepts it and realizes that it is what his family deserves for, as we said earlier, his kids were scoundrels.  We then read in vs.19 what sets up the rest of the book of I Samuel, that the Lord was with Samuel.  From that we read that his authority and the respect that is given to him is given to him through all of Israel.  This doesn’t happen overnight.  This is a result of Samuel living in the presence of the Lord for his entire life.  

Keep notice of the fact that all of this is taking place at Shiloh.  It is at Shiloh where God continues to reveal himself simply because it is there where Samuel resides.  It is also where the ark of the covenant is as well as the center of the spiritual life for the people of Israel at that time.  Shiloh, don’t forget it.

We have a couple things happening here.  First of  all Samuel’s mom, Hannah, is a great comparison to Mary.  Look at her prayer of thanksgiving in this chapter and compare it to the Magnificat in Luke 1:46-55 and you can see a similar story of two women praising the Lord for His mighty acts.  

That story of Hannah is interrupted to give us an update on the sons of the high priest who were “scoundrels”.  Not only did they steal the sacrifices that the people brought to the Lord but they also slept with the attendants as they worked in the temple.  It had become a real cesspool of activity and Eli knows it.  He speaks harshly against his now grown children but they would not listen to him.  As a result at the end of this chapter we read that God is going to destroy the house of Eli and the lineage of priests which He had established while they were wandering the wilderness, and set up a new priestly family through Samuel.

In the meantime, Hannah remains faithful and comes every year to visit Samuel and even makes him a tiny little robe so that he would be comfortable as he worked and learned in the temple.  As a result of their gift of Samuel and their faithfulness to the Lord we see that they are in turn blessed with even more children.  Wife #2 disappears out of the picture as Hannah takes center stage in these first two chapters.  

The scene is set for Samuel to grow up and for the sons of Eli to recognize that he is favored among the Lord.  This is bound to create some violent tension.

Hopefully you can read this map which I took a  picture with my phone from my Bible.  I couldn’t find anything similar online.  Amazing!  Anyway, this is where we find ourselves as we begin I Samuel.  It is a great book of the Bible with amazing stories.  Guess who the protagonist is?  Most of us would say Samuel, and we would be right, up to a certain point, but his life ends in chapter 25.  We have Samuel but we also have the great kings of Israel as well as we make our way through  both I Samuel and II Samuel.  So, hang in there as we make our way through this very easy book of the Bible to read, and yet it is so full of God’s evident presence.

In chapter 1 the scene is set as it often is with a woman whose husband loves her and yet she is barren and is not able to have children.  Keep in mind that bearing children back in that day was considered a blessing from the Lord, so the converse was also true.  If you were barren and not able to have children then for some reason the Lord was holding back His hand.  Hannah, one of the two wives of Elkanah, goes to the temple to pray and ask that the Lord would rid her of her barrenness.  She is so emotional and distraught in her prayer that the high priest of the time, Eli, thought she was drunk.

As he chastises her she explains her predicament and promises that if the Lord were to answer her prayer that she would bring him back and pledge him to the temple for the rest of his life as a Nazirite.  Okay, what is a Nazirite?  Remember Samson?  He was a Nazirite.  They are pledged to the work of the Lord and they do not drink wine or any alcohol and they do not cut their hair.  All of that was a sign of their devotion and dedication to the Lord.

As we often see in the Bible stories Hannah conceives and as a result she brings her son Samuel to the temple and leaves him there.  Okay moms, how are you feeling about now?  Does this sound like something you could do with a son that you and your husband had a very difficult time in conceiving and you just never know if he will be the one and only son that you will ever have?  Yeah, it’s not that easy is it?  But Hannah once again gives us such an incredible picture of the faithfulness of these somewhat nameless characters who give so much and yet are credited so little for what they did.  She really strikes me as someone who even more than Mary was faithful in what the Lord gave to her to the point where she was willing to completely give it up because God had fulfilled His promise.  

What a great example of following through on our part of the agreement that we will love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, strength, and body…and children.  Elkanah disappears and Hannah emerges as a giant of the faith.  

Dear FPC family and friends,

            It is hard to believe that we are so close to finishing the entire Scripture together.  We started with the Gospels and since then have made our way through the entire New Testament and are very close to finishing the Old Testament.  How has the journey been for you?  We started back in the New Year of 2016 and we have made it very, very far, so far.  I can’t believe that it will be over 4 years since we started.  So, how has the journey been?  Have you gained a new appreciation of Scripture, or, as they say, is ignorance bliss?  Sometimes we run across Scriptures that are simply difficult and we would rather not read.  How come there is so much violence?  How come women are seen as nothing more than property in some areas?  How come Jesus says he comes to bring peace but then war seems to be the mainstay in some areas of Scripture.  I hope this blog will put things within context.  You can follow along at: http://www.straspres.org/90-day-challenge-viii on our website. 

            This journey will take us through the books of I and II Samuel, Hosea, Zephaniah, Zechariah, and Malachi.  As we continue along in our Old Testament keep in mind that these books of the Bible were primarily written to a people who understood God to be in control.  But, as God was in control, the prophets who speak in these books, or the priests and kings who act in these books, were first and foremost interested in making sure that God’s will was done, not the will of a leader, or the people, or even of the nation.  Sometimes God’s will was that the nation be punished, and so the prophets had to bring that message as well.  You will find that in some of these chapters it is easier to find modern day application, and in others not so much.  In all of it I pray that you will find an opportunity to ask the question: how does God want me to act in relationship to my neighbor as I read this Scripture?

            Happy reading and I pray that these next 90 days will provide you with a tremendous amount of insight.

Your servant in Christ,

Pastor Bob

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We find ourselves with the Lord speaking directly to the leaders of the people, Zerubbabel who was the governor of Judah, and Joshua who was the high priest.  They were basically the two most influential and important people in the land of Israel.  He begins speaking with them in vs.4 in the same exact way that we see it depicted in I Chronicles 28:20 where David speaks to Solomon as he is about to build the temple and says: “Be strong and of good courage, and act.  Do not be afraid or dismayed; for the Lord  God, my God, is with you.”  In the same way the Lord says to Zerubbabel and to Joshua, and we also see to all the people of Israel who were gathered: “Now take courage…for I am with you.”  

What a great way to leave this 90 Day Challenge with these words from our Lord who tells us in our big and small projects, whether we are building the temple or trying to fill the usher list for Sunday, “Take courage for I am with you.”  I want this to be your mantra as you make your way through life these days.  Don’t allow the cultural message of fear and anxiety pervade your style of life so that all of your decision making is impacted and affected by a fear of what could be.  Allow it to be directed by the promise of what will be given to us by our Savior: Take courage for I am with you.

As a result of that promise the people of Israel were able to face their future in the midst of just returning from captivity to rebuild their nation to a point of the Lord saying that He would overthrow all of their enemies.  When we face life with the courage and the confidence that the Lord instills within us then we do not need to fear, we do not need to wonder “what if?”, we simply need to live our lives to the fulfillment of what God has in store for us.  Let’s do that together in community.  See you next 90 Day Challenge and thanks for following!

The word Hag in Hebrew means festival and so maybe the author and the one depicted in this book of the Bible was someone who either was born on a festival day…, or just liked to party.  When we read about this king Darius in the first verse we are able to get a pretty good indication of when this was written.  Darius was the one who dedicated the temple after it had been rebuilt.   So we are talking about around the years 515 BC.  Let’s look at the content. 

We see the prophet speaking to the people about how is it that you can live in such nice beautiful houses while the house of the Lord, the temple, lies in ruins?  They were convicted and we see that in vs.12 the people mobilized and set off and did what they needed to do in order to put the house of the Lord back in shape.  They worked hard to do it.  The mobilization of the people happened from the top down in this example.  First it was the ruler and the chief priest, and they spoke to the people, and the Spirit of the people rose up.  It was top down, but it doesn’t always work that way.

I will never forget spending time in Latin America, not just Honduras but primarily, and all the  countries between there and here.  I  was often shocked by the abject poverty which surrounded me and yet the place of worship in the town, a church, would be a place of utter wealth and splendor.  It was shocking, it was troubling, and I sensed a disconnect which was obvious and appalling as someone who  professed faith in Jesus Christ, but the Jesus that I believed in would not be caught dead in that church.  He would have been sleeping on the streets in the filth with everyone else.

What is interesting about this prophet, that is Haggai, is that he speaks  and the people respond overwhelmingly.  In almost  all the other books of the Bible that we have read  we see  the prophet speak and it has to be about doom and gloom because the people absolutely refuse to respond to the message.  But not here.  They respond  and in the next, read last, chapter we will see what comes of that response.