Latest / A Chapter a Day Bible Reading / January 3 - 1 Samuel 6

Transcript

January 3 - 1 Samuel 6 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello friends. Sean here.
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  It's Wednesday, it's the 3rd of January and here we are to
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  continue reading God's word together.
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  I hope you're going well. If this is a week of holidays
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  for you, then I hope you are getting the chance to put your
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  feet up or get your hands deeply sunk into the dirt or whatever
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  project it is that you are doing.
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  I hope that you have got some time to enjoy doing that.
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  If you are off school, oh that is awesome.
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  You have still got ages to go before you have to get back.
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  And if you are retired, well, what is all this talk of
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  holidays and not holidays? That makes no difference at all.
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  But wherever you are, whatever stage of life you're at, friend,
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  I am just so grateful that you have chosen to take a bit of a
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  moment and let God's Word punctuate the beginning of your
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  year this first week of January. And we are going to continue
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  this story hearing about God's sovereignty.
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  Even when captured in a foreign land, God is still in charge and
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  the only God on the block worth worshipping.
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  And here we we have the story continue where these poor people
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  trying to work out what they do with this hot potato that they
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  have stolen from the Hebrew people and now realize this is
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  not an impotent God that they have dominated, but this is an
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  alive, powerful and independently spirited God that
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  they need to work out. How can they get rid of it so
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  that God doesn't continue to damage their people?
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  So that said, let us empty our minds and hearts and invite in
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  the Holy Spirit to teach us something about the character of
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  God as we read this passage together.
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  Reading First Samuel, chapter 6, the Ark of the Lord remained in
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  Philistine territory seven months in all.
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  Then the Philistines called in their priests and diviners and
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  asked them what should we do about the Ark of the Lord?
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  Tell us how to return it to its own country.
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  Send the Ark of the God of Israel back with a gift, they
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  were told. Send a guilt offering so the
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  plague will stop. Then if you are healed, you will
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  know it was his hand that caused the plague.
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  What sort of a guilt offering should we send?
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  They asked. They were told since the plague
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  has struck, both you and your five rulers make 5 gold tumors
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  and five gold rats, just like those that have ravaged your
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  land. Make these things to show honour
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  to the God of Israel. Perhaps then he will stop
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  afflicting you, your gods and your land.
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  Don't be stubborn and rebellious as Pharaoh and the Egyptians
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  were by the time God was finished with them, they were
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  eager to let Israel go. Now build a new cart and find 2
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  cows that have just given birth to calves.
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  Make sure the cows have never been yoked to a cart.
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  Hitch the cows to the cart, but shut their calves away from them
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  in a pen. Put the Ark of the Lord on the
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  cart and beside it place a chest containing the gold rats and
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  gold tumors you are sending as a guilt offering.
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  Then let the cows go wherever they want.
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  If they cross the border of our land and go to Beth shimmesh, we
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  will know it was the Lord who brought this great disaster upon
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  us. If they don't, we will know.
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  It was not his hand that caused the plague.
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  It came simply by chance. So these instructions were
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  carried out. 2 cows were hitched to the cart and the newborn
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  calves were shut up in a pen. Then the ark of the Lord and the
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  chest containing the gold rats and gold tumors were placed on
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  the cart, and sure enough, without veering off in other
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  directions, the cows went straight along the road toward
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  Beth Shemesh, lowing as they went.
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  The Philistine rulers followed them as far as the border of
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  Beth Shemesh. The people of Beth Shemesh were
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  harvesting wheats in the valley. When they saw the ark, they were
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  overjoyed. The cart came into the field of
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  a man named Joshua and stopped beside a large rock.
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  So the people broke up the wood of the cart for a fire and
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  killed the cows and sacrificed them to the Lord as a burnt
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  offering. Several men of the tribe of Levi
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  lifted the ark of the Lord and the chest containing the gold
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  rats and gold tumors from the cart and placed them on the
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  large rock men. The sacrifices and burnt
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  offerings were offered to the Lord that day by the people of
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  Beth Shemesh. The five Philistine rulers
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  watched all this and then returned to Ekron the same day.
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  The five gold tumors sent by the Philistines as a guilt offering
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  to the Lord were gifts from the rulers of Ashdod, Gaza,
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  Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron. The five gold rats represented
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  the five Philistine towns and their surrounding villages,
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  which were controlled by the five rulers.
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  The large rock at Beth Shemesh where they set the ark of the
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  Lord still stands in the field of Joshua as a witness to what
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  happened there. But the Lord killed 70 men from
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  Beth Shemesh because they looked into the ark of the Lord and the
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  people mourned greatly because of what the Lord had done.
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  Who is able to stand in the presence of the Lord, this holy
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  God? They cried out, Where can we
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  send the ark from here? So they sent messengers to the
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  people at Kiriathjiram and told them the Philistines have
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  returned the Ark of the Lord. Come here and get it.
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  Yes, Lord, You are our God, and we love you and worship you and
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  sacrifice all that is important to us, to you.
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  But help us never forget that you are indeed a holy God, so
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  incredibly perfect and powerful that it is only through the gift
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  of the sacrifice of Jesus and His Holiness that we are able to
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  come before you, our incredible holy God.
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  So we recognize you as this perfect, mighty and holy God of
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  ours. And we give you all the
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  reverends we can. We worship you, and we thank you
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  that through Jesus we can come before you without fear and
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  without separation. Thank you for making this way
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  for us, us imperfect people, to be able to be in your presence
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  because of your great love for us.
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  And we pray all of this in His name.