Sermon Tone Analysis

Leader Guide ESV, Unit 10, Session 2

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Edited by Rev. Lex DeLong, M.A., July 2022.

Summary and Goal

In these passages, the prophesied punishment on Eli’s family become reality.

Because of the sin of Eli’s sons, the Israelites faltered in their battle with their enemies, the Philistines.

In an effort to turn the battle in their favor, the Israelites looked to the symbol of God’s presence, but they didn’t look to the God the symbol represented.

This led to a crushing defeat and the departure of God’s glory.

When God brought His glory back home, the people responded with joy and worship, but they also forgot God’s holiness and suffered the consequences.

God’s holiness must be respected as it drives us to repentance.

Session Outline

1.

The people confused the symbol of God’s presence with His actual presence (1 Sam.

4:2-7,10-11).

2. The people received the symbol of God’s presence with joy and worship (1 Sam.

6:13-16).

3. The people failed to honor the holiness of God’s presence (1 Sam.

6:19-21).

Session in a Sentence

God’s people are to trust and live in His constant presence rather than that which only represents Him.

Christ Connection

The people of Israel mistook the ark (the symbol of God’s presence) as His actual presence.

It is important for us to avoid getting so caught up in the symbols of Christianity that we forget the person and presence of God that is with us continually.

Years later, God gave His people something greater than a symbol of His presence when He gave them His Son, Jesus.

Many people didn’t recognize Jesus for who He is—God in the flesh who came to unite people with God.

Missional Application

Because God lives in us, we display God’s presence to the world around us by properly honoring, worshiping, and serving God.

Even the world themselves, when considering God, make the mistake of looking to the symbol of God’s character and presence (us) with the reality of who He truly is, as revealed in the Bible.

People wrongfully assess and investigate in detail, the people of religion rather than the God of creation.

Ask the question:

What are some ways people explore the idea of God and/or salvation by assessing the symbols of God rather than the actual God of creation/the Bible?

Judging relationship with God based on that which represents God rather than based on God Himself is practiced by and a trap for both believers and non-believers.

The practice is a roadblock to the path of salvation and the path to spiritual vitality.

Summarize: In 1 Sam.

4-6, the prophesied punishment on Eli’s family became reality.

Because of the sin of Eli’s sons, the Israelites faltered in their battle with their enemies, the Philistines.

In an effort to turn the battle in their favor, the Israelites looked to the symbol of God presence, but they didn’t look to the God behind the symbol.

This led to a crushing defeat and the departure of God’s glory.

When God brought His glory back home, the people responded with joy and worship, but they also forgot God’s holiness and suffered the consequences.

God’s holiness must be respected as it drives us to repentance.

Point 1: The people confuse the symbol of God’s presence with His actual presence (1 Sam.

4:2-7,10-11).

The Philistines, a five-city league working together as one, were the major enemy of Israel during the time of Samson, Samuel, Saul, and David.

In 1 Samuel 4:1, we are told that the Israelites went out to battle against the Philistines.

But their first day of fighting did not go well, and they began to panic.

Read 1 Samuel 4:2-7 (DDG p. 21).

2 The Philistines drew up in line against Israel, and when the battle spread, Israel was defeated before the Philistines, who killed about four thousand men on the field of battle.

3 And when the people came to the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines?

Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord here from Shiloh, that it may come among us and save us from the power of our enemies.”

4 So the people sent to Shiloh and brought from there the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts, who is enthroned on the cherubim.

And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.

5 As soon as the ark of the covenant of the Lord came into the camp, all Israel gave a mighty shout, so that the earth resounded.

6 And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shouting, they said, “What does this great shouting in the camp of the Hebrews mean?”

And when they learned that the ark of the Lord had come to the camp, 7 the Philistines were afraid, for they said, “A god has come into the camp.”

And they said, “Woe to us!

For nothing like this has happened before.

DDG (p.

21) Sin was the reason God did not fight for the Israelites that day, so that they lost to the Philistines.

The elders rightly looked to God as the cause of their defeat (see Job 1:21-22).

God’s sovereign hand delivered the Israelites to the Philistines for one singular reason—sin.

But instead of looking for the sin amongst the people, the elders believed the ark of the covenant itself, the symbol of God’s presence, would turn the battle in their favor.

· The “sin in the camp” belonged to Eli’s sons, Hophni and Phinehas, who dishonored God and took advantage of their position as priests, and Eli allowed their behavior to go on unchecked (1 Sam.

2:12-34).

The ark of the covenant served as a holy memory box (Heb.

9:4) and a throne of God (1 Sam.

4:4)—a representation of the presence of God among the people.

The ark had led the way through the Jordan River into the promised land (Josh.

3–4).

The ark was part of the procession around the walls of Jericho before they fell (Josh.

6).

Here the Israelites wanted the ark to lead them to victory over the Philistines.

They looked to a symbol of God’s presence, the memory of God’s presence, rather than God Himself, who expected holiness among His people.

Say: When Hophni and Phinehas brought the ark, the Israelites cheered and shook the ground.

The Philistines, however, shook in fear, recalling the tales of the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt and their victories in the wilderness (1 Sam.

4:6-9).

But in spite of the ark’s presence, God was not present, and Israel suffered a worse defeat.

Read 1 Samuel 4:10-11 (DDG p. 21).

10 So the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and they fled, every man to his home.

And there was a very great slaughter, for thirty thousand foot soldiers of Israel fell.

11 And the ark of God was captured, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.

· The Israelites valued a symbol of God’s presence above the real thing, God Himself.

This was a form of idolatry that came with severe consequences.

It is possible for us to do the same with the gift of God’s Son, Jesus.

When we treat Jesus like a symbol and not the God-man, when we pray in Jesus’ name to try to secure our own selfish desires and wants while knowing they are not God’s will, we are just as guilty as the Israelites of trying to use God’s presence for our own purposes.

Let us repent and give glory to God alone.

Fill in the blanks: DDG (p.

21)

Jesus’ Deity: Within the person of Jesus Christ, there are two natures—the divine nature and the human nature.

Scripture teaches He is fully divine and has full humanity added to Him.

His divinity is on display in passages that describe Him as being equal with God (John 1:1-18; Phil.

2:5-11; Col. 1:15-20; Heb.

1:1-3).

The New Testament also points to the deity of Christ by showing how He possesses attributes that God alone possesses (Mic.

5:2; John 1:4), how He performs works that only God performs (Mark 2:5-12; John 10:28; 17:2), and how He Himself claims to be the Son of God (Matt.

26:63-64; John 8:58; 10:30; 17:5).

Point 2: The people receive the symbol of God’s presence with joy and worship (1 Sam.

6:13-16).

DDG (p.

22)

The Philistines captured the ark and put it in the temple of their god Dagon; they believed they had bested the God of Israel in defeating the Israelites.

They misunderstood the the Ark to be Israel’s God, since that is the impression they got from the Israelites; however, God let them win to execute judgment on Eli’s sons and to teach His people and the Philistines a lesson.

While the Israelites believed the glory of God was lost (1 Sam.

4:19-22), the Lord defended His glory among the enemies of His people.

· For two mornings in a row after putting the ark in the temple of Dagon, his statue was found prostrate on his face before the ark.

On the second morning, his head and hands had broken off as well (5:1-5).

Read 1 Sam.

5)

· The Philistines of Ashdod, Gath, and then Ekron were all afflicted with tumors and the fear of death when the ark came to their cities (5:6-12).

· After seven months of turmoil, the Philistines decided to send the ark back with a guilt offering of gold objects symbolizing their affliction to appease the God of the Israelites.

They put the ark on a cart to be drawn by two milk cows that had never been yoked and whose calves were penned up.

If the cows went for their calves, then the Philistines’ suffering would be recognized as nothing but a coincidence.

But if the cows headed for Israel on their own, then the Philistines would know God had afflicted them.

· The cows made straight for Israel, following the road to Beth-shemesh and never deviating from it.

The Lord brought His ark of the covenant home to Israel.