2018-09-30T08:00:00-05:00
22:1 After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” 3 So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. 4 On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. 5 Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.” 6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. 7 And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8 Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.
9 When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. 11 But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” 13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called the name of that place, “The LORD will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the LORD it shall be provided.”
15 And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven 16 and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, 18 and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright (c)2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. http://www.esv.org
We all have a worst fear, a greatest nightmare. For Israel, their worst nightmare was the absence of God’s presence. 1 Samuel 4 is a low point in the history of Israel, a time of incomprehensible darkness: 34,000 Israelite soldiers dead. The sound defeat by an arch enemy. Judgment fulfilled on the house of Eli. But all this devastation paled in comparison to the capture of the ark of the covenant, the very symbol of God’s presence and power among Israel.
Is He the living God to Israel or just a good luck charm? The loss of God’s personal presence was of unspeakable horror to Israel. Yet, we can see from the preceding chapters that Israel had a slow deterioration in reverence for God. This brings the loss of the ark into sharper focus. They didn’t treasure God or worship Him. Israel had forgotten God’s majesty and forgone relationship with Him in exchange for expedient results.
After their first defeat by the Philistines (1 Samuel 4:2), they did not pray, repent, or seek God’s counsel. Instead they conferred among themselves and came up with a plan that seemed right to them (1 Samuel 4:3-4). Bring the ark! That’ll work! They had reduced the living God to an oversized good luck charm. They almost were saying by their actions, “We don’t want God; we just want His power and victory.” They had lost sense of the reality that they are God’s servants, created to honor, enjoy, and glorify Him. The unimaginable darkness that follows (1 Samuel 4:10-11, 18, 20-22) is God’s just and merciful judgment to wake Israel up from their spiritual slumber and bring them back to covenant faithfulness.
What can we learn? We are also prone to spiritual slumber, lulled to sleep by preoccupations and distractions. We easily forget of our identity, purpose, and who is reigning on the throne. It’s not us! We are not the chief executives of our little worlds; God is not our consultant to advance our comfort and success. He is the living God— holy and awesome, whose greatness is unending (Psalm 145). We would all do well to ask God to search our hearts (Psalm 139: 23-24) to see where we may have grown cold in our affection or where we desire expediency or self-sufficiency over relationship with Him. We may also ask God to train our hearts to trust Him when we face darkness or confusion of any kind.
How do we hope for the dawn when darkness strikes? In 1650, a British preacher and historian wrote, “…It is always darkest just before the day dawneth, so God useth to visit His servants with greatest afflictions when he intendeth their speedy advancement.”1 This is true for Israel. And it is true for us. God never abandons His people. He cannot forsake them. God is always at work. Israel was in a valley of the shadow of death, but even in 1 Samuel 4 there is the lingering hope that the story is not finished. His promises give hope (Lamentations 3:21-24). He strengthens us to keep going. There is promised movement through the dark valley (Psalm 23:4a). Moreover, He is always with us (Psalm 23:4b), even when we fear the darkness will swallow us whole. No matter what you are facing, He is with you. The darkness for those of us in Christ is never permanent or perpetual. The dawn will surely come.
1. Thomas Fuller, A Pisgah Sight of Palestine (1650), Book II, ch. XI.