1 Samuel 5

All right, good job. Well, good morning. Good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This morning we're going to talk about Ichabod. Who's Ichabod? I guess you'll have to find out. Let's have some coffee. That's an ik and a bod? And maybe it's an ik and a bod. Let's have some coffee. We'll pray and we'll get into God's Word.
All right, let's pray. Father, thank you so much for this day. Thank you for time together and thank you for time in your word. We pray that your Holy Spirit would please be teaching us, helping us. We pray that we would know and understand your word and that we would or that your Holy Spirit would take these words, bury them in our hearts like seeds in the ground that would spring up, grow into a strong plant and produce much good fruit. We pray in Jesus's name. Amen.
I don't think I can read, can I have a magnifying glass? A magnifying glass? I'm just going to read to you, okay? Then the Philistines took the Ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. Ashdod is one of the capital cities of the Philistines. When the Philistines took the Ark of God, what is the Ark of God? It's kind of like a chest. A chest that was made of acacia wood and had a top and had overlaid with gold. But an ark is a boat. It can be like a boat, but this is a chest. OK, let's not touch that.
All right. When the Philistines took the Ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon and set it by Dagon. Dagon's their idol, kind of like a merman, half fish, half man. That's their god. And when the people of Ashdod arose early in the morning, there was Dagon, fallen on its face to the earth before the ark of Jehovah. So they took Dagon and set it up in its place again. And when they arose early the next morning, there was Dagon, fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of Jehovah. The head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were broken off on the threshold. Only Dagon's torso was left of it. Therefore, neither the priests of Dagon nor any who came into the house tread on the threshold of Dagon and Ashdod to this day.
But the hand of Jehovah was heavy on the people of Ashdod, and he ravaged them and struck them with tumors. Who? These are the people of Ashdod, the Philistines. So you're getting like big old boils on their body, like little sores. And when the men of Ashdod saw how it was, they said, The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for his hand is harsh toward us and Dagon our God. Therefore they sent and gathered to themselves all the lords of the land of the Philistines and said, What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? And they answered, The ark of the God of Israel let the ark of the God of Israel be carried away to Gath. That's another important city in the Philistines. So they carried away the ark of God of Israel away. So it was, after they had carried it away, that the hand of Jehovah was against the city, with a very great destruction. And he struck the men of the city, both small and great, and tumult broke out on them.
What was tumors in the world like like big old sores growing up on their body? Well, it's not the chest that's doing it it's God who's doing it it's the Lord who's doing it Jehovah Well therefore they sent the Ark of God to Ekron. That's another important city. So it was the Ark of God came to Ekron that the Ekronites cried out saying, they have brought the Ark of the God of Israel to us to kill us and our people. So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines and said, send away the ark of the God of Israel and let it go back to its own place so that it does not kill us or our people. For there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city and the hand of God was heavy there. And the men who did not die were stricken with tumors. And the cry of the city went up to heaven.
So, we got three questions. A, what is this? About. B, what's the? Boss Benjamin. That's first to summarize. And C, what are we? Called to do. Called to do. Okay, that's all of the things that I don't remember because I haven't read any of them.
Okay, so what is A? What is this about? About. It's about a chest. And what's the chest called? A ark. The ark. The Philistines, the enemies of God's people, had captured the ark. And what happens when they bring it into the temple of Dagon? Broke everything, breaking, breaking. Breaks the statue of their god. Falls down. They pick it back up, come back the next day. What happens? Head gone, hands gone. Uh oh.
So what else happens to the people? They bring it to another person. Well, yeah, but first they get all these sores, these tumors or boils or something on their skins, right? Yeah. And so they're like, well, we don't want this, so let's send it to another city. What happens in the other city? They got to. Boy, so they said oh wait, we don't want to hear so we're gonna send it. We're the people of Gatsby We're gonna send it to Ekron. And what are the Ekronites say? So they get all dumb together and what do they decide Yeah, send it back to Israel right send it back to Israel, let's keep your shirt up, please You can keep your arms. Please. Keep your arms out Put your arm through the armhole, please
Okay, so, uh, so they're gonna send it back. And they're, uh, who's doing this? Is it the Ark that's doing it? Is it the wood box covered in gold itself? No. No? What's doing it then? God. God himself? Yeah. And then they got, and then, uh, the people die. Well, they're breaking out in sores. There's a great calamity, yeah. So, uh, so they, they're smart enough to realize, oh boy, this isn't good. So they try to bring it back. Well, I'm going to read next time how it's actually brought back to the people of Israel.
So do you think you can just treat God like he's a mini God, like he's underneath other gods like Dagon? No, he's not just the God of the Israelites. He's the God of heaven and earth. There is no other God like him. There is no other God, period. So, best verse to summarize this. Well, I think I really like that whole section about Dagon. I think it's really funny. I like the one when the idol fell on his face and then fell on his face again. Yeah, I actually think I would probably underline verse 11 and 12. That's what I would do in my Bible.
Well, let's go ahead and talk about Steve Collin. What are we called to do or how does this point us to Jesus Christ? What do you think? How does this change Ellie's life today? Ow! My tooth! Yeah, you got a loose tooth. It's gonna come out soon. I got a loose tooth and it already came back out. So you tell me. How does this change Ellie's life today? Uh... Or how does it challenge you? Please don't do that. Thank you. You know how it challenges me? God's not some type of toy or trinket that I can mess around with. He's holy. He will share His glory with none other. So He needs to be. Remember we've talked about what is forbidden in the first commandment? Is it not worshiping or glorifying God as a true God and our God and the giving of that glory to to any other which is due to God alone. We can't give. We can't give that glory to any other.
Remember, well, in high school, our art teacher was like, no, not our art teacher, One of our teachers was like, it's cut, it's cut, it's cut. Like it's done? Yeah. So are you trying to say you're done? Yeah.
Would you like me to pray? Yeah.
Okay. God, thank you so much that you have given us Jesus Christ, who is the full embodiment of the divine glory. And Lord, we thank you that we can worship you because you have redeemed us. You have bought us with the blood of your son. And so Lord, we pray that we would enjoy you and worship you alone forever. For you indeed are the king of heaven, the mighty one of Israel, our redeemer, our master and our maker in Jesus's name. Amen.
Well, may God bless you. And you, and you, and you, and everybody. And may you worship and glorify the God of heaven. We'll see you next time. Bye. Bye bye.