No God, No Glory

No God, No Glory

1 Samuel 4:1-22

 

Read: 1 Samuel 4:1-11

 

Intro: Getting glory.

 

As we turn to 1 Samuel 4, we turn back to a time in biblical history when the overwhelming majority of people had turned from God. While studying through the early chapters of this book, we have seen the symptoms of a people who were in pursuit of their own wants, desires, and ways; rather than trusting in and following the Lord. 1 Samuel begins in the time period known as the time of Judges. And at the end of the book of Judges, we get a clear indication of just how bad things had gotten.

 

Judges 21:25, In those days, there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

 

This was a picture of the people at that time. When the Bible says “everyone did what was right in their own eyes,” it surely seems to be the case. Though we started with the book of 1 Samuel seeing a couple of exceptions in Hannah and Samuel, there were also clear examples of those doing whatever they felt was right in their own eyes. We saw examples of the sons of Eli in 1 Samuel 2, who were serving as priests, but the Bible refers to them as “Useless men who did not know the Lord.” They did what was right in their own eyes. Though the Lord had given specific instructions surrounding what to do with the meat of the sacrifices, they would take whatever they wanted whenever they wanted, even that which was to be given only to God. They slept with the women who served at the tabernacle. Their father Eli had heard about it, and he questioned them, but did not put a stop to their deeds or what they were doing.

The word of the Lord then came to Eli, and the Lord made it clear that since Eli did not put a stop to it, He was going to put a stop to it, that Eli had honored his sons above God; and in 1 Samuel 2:30, “those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me will be insignificant.” The Lord makes clear, based on what was going on, Eli’s house would not endure. They were going to be cut off. This would be confirmed and spoken again by Samuel in 1 Samuel 3 after he heard from the Lord personally.

 

Illus. Warnings: Deuteronomy 28.

 

The title of the message this morning is a play on the famous phrase, “no guts, no glory.” Though that has been a phrase you have likely heard or perhaps even considered before, my hope is that by the end of the sermon this morning you would know that it is not guts that will get you glory in your life in the truest sense, but God. With that in mind, I have titled the message, “No God, No Glory,” and what we will find is that the statement is seen clearly in 1 Samuel chapter 4.

 

1. Select No Substitutions

 

1 Samuel 4:1-2, Now the Israelites went out to fight against the Philistines. The Israelites camped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines at Aphek. The Philistines deployed their forces to meet Israel, and as the battle spread, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand of them on the battlefield.

 

• After learning in chapter three that Samuel was a true prophet who hear from the Lord and whose words would go out to all Israel, the scene shifts. Samuel had heard from the Lord, Samuel was listening to the Lord, and when Samuel spoke, he spoke the word of the Lord.

 

• But the scene shifts, from the powerful story of Samuel hearing the word of the Lord, praying “speak Lord, your servant is listening,” to the people who rather than listening, were doing their own thing.

 

• As the scene shifts, a situation arises where the people needed to pursue the Lord, they needed to hear what He had to say about their situation, but rather than pursue Him, they seek a substitution.

 

1 Samuel 4:3-4, When the people came into the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines? Let’s take the ark of the covenant of the Lord from Shiloh, so that He may come among us and save us from the power of our enemies.” So the people sent men to Shiloh, and from there they carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord of armies who is enthroned above the cherubim; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.

 

• When news of the defeat came back to the camp, the leaders begin to ask some questions to one another.

 

• Why has this happened? They question whether it was God defeating them before the Philistines.

 

• As the questions are asked amongst each other, they come up with a conclusion that they believed would save them.

 

• They actually asked a good question, why has this happened?

 

Illus. Warning!

 

• Here was their plan, to go and get the ark of the covenant of the Lord in hopes that it would save them.

 

• The battle even seems to bring about some questions about God, but they do not ask God their questions. They confer together and come up with their own solution.

 

• They do not wait for the Lord, they do not inquire of the Lord, they don’t pray and ask for God’s battle plan, they do not see it as a wakeup call, they do not pursue the posture of Samuel, “speak Lord, your servant is listening,” rather they take matters into their own hands.

 

• Rather than seek God, they seek what they have allowed to be His substitute.

 

• What do they seek? First they seek out one another for answers to their questions, and then they come to the conclusion that what they need is the ark of the covenant.

 

• It is important to note that their desire for the ark of the covenant is in some ways understandable at face value, but what it had come to represent to them tells us an important story.

 

Illus. The Ark of God.

 

• Their idea did not come out of nowhere. They had seen the power of God in time past when the ark was brought out for specific battles or situations…

 

• Numbers 10:35, In the wilderness wanderings Moses used it as a point of context that God was before them. Moses, attached the Lord Himself to it, however, as when it set out, Moses sought the Lord, “arise, O Lord, and may your enemies be scattered.”

 

• In other words, Lord, we will take the ark, but we need you!

 

• In Joshua 6, after the Israelites enter into the promised land, they have a battle on their hands, Jericho. And in that chapter, the Lord gives specific instructions to Joshua. Some of those instructions had to do with having the priests take the ark, marching around the city. And on the seventh day, after the seventh time around the city, the Lord was going to give them the victory.  

 

Joshua 5:13-14, Now it came about when Joshua was by Jericho, he raised his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand, and Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us or for our enemies?” He said, “No; rather I have come now as captain of the army of the Lord.” And Joshua fell on his face to the ground, and bowed down, and said to him, “What has my lord to say to his servant?”

 

• I love Joshua’s posture before the battle, “what has my Lord to say?”

 

• In 1 Samuel 4, the people pursued and celebrated the ark of God…

 

1 Samuel 4:5, And as the ark of the covenant of the Lord was coming into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth resounded.

 

• But they were missing something. You see, they sought the ark of God, without seeking the God of the ark.

 

• They put their faith in the box, and in so doing, they put God in a box. They restricted God to the box, forgetting His omnipresence, and chose reliance on the things rather than relationship with their God and King.  

 

Illus. No Power.

 

• The people were in pursuit of what they thought might work, rather than who was working. This is something seen in the different translations of the text.

 

1 Samuel 4:3, Let us take to ourselves from Shiloh the ark of the covenant of the Lord, that it may come among us and deliver us from the power of our enemies. (NASB 95’)

 

Illus. He, or it?

 

NASB 2020 , that he may come, ESV, that it may come, NKJV, that it may come, NLT, that it may come.

 

Illus. No Substitutes.

 

Illus. Knock on God!

 

1 Samuel 4:6-9

 

• The people pursued their own plan based on formula rather than fellowship with God. They took a symbol of God as the substance of God.

 

• And in so doing, they selected a substitute rather than the one true God.

 

• They had forgotten the importance of relationship with God, of devotion to God, and had settled for substitutes for God.

 

1. Have Ears to Hear and Eyes to See

 

• Upon learning that the battle was lost, we learn that the ark of God was captured and the sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas died in the battle, the scene shifts back to Shiloh where Eli was.

 

1 Samuel 4:12-14, Now a man of Benjamin ran from the battle line and came to Shiloh the same day with his clothes torn, and dust on his head. When he came, behold, Eli was sitting on his seat by the road keeping watch, because his heart was anxious about the ark of God. And the man came to give a report in the city, and all the city cried out. When Eli heard the noise of the outcry, he said, “What does the noise of this commotion mean?” Then the man came hurriedly and told Eli.

 

• It would have been about a 20 mile journey from where the battle was in Aphek to Shiloh.

 

• The messenger came with very bad news, he had torn clothes and dirt on his head which was a sign of mourning.

 

• He arrived to the city and shared the news and the city cried out. “Cried out” is a word that depict an audible sound, a shriek from aguish or danger, or something proclaimed.

 

• Eli heard the noise before he heard the news, and asked what all of the commotion meant and then the report was given to him personally.

 

1 Samuel 4:15-18, Now Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes were fixed and he could not see. The man said to Eli, “I am the one who came from the battle line. Indeed, I escaped from the battle line today.” And he said, “How are things, my son?” Then the one who brought the news replied, “Israel has fled before the Philistines and there has also been a great defeat among the people, and your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas are also dead; and the ark of God has been taken.” When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell off the seat backward beside the gate, and his neck was broken and he died, for he was old and heavy. And so he judged Israel for forty years.

 

• It was a sad end for a man who had served many years. Some of what had taken place, Eli may have been anticipating.

 

• It has been made clear to him that his sons were bringing a curse upon themselves due to their evil ways. That they were going to be cut out and cut off.

 

• While he knew what would take place, he did not know the timing. It happened on that day.

 

• It was not just the loss of his sons that took place, however, the ark had been captured.

 

• And when he heard that the ark had been captured, he fell off his seat backward and that would be the end of his life.

 

• It is striking to me that it was not after hearing the news of the lost battle or the loss of his sons that cause his falling, rather, the news of that the capture of the ark of the covenant had taken place.

 

• Before he got the news, he is shown not as being anxious about his sons, or about the battle, but about the ark of the covenant.

 

1 Samuel 4:13 (b), Behold, Eli was sitting on his seat by the road keeping watch, because his heart was anxious about the ark of God.

 

• His heart was anxious about the ark of God. The word for “anxious” here depicts trembling or fear.

 

• It seems Eli knew that there was something wrong, something concerning about sending the Ark of God into battle without God being on board with it.

 

• Still Eli did not stop the people from taking it. It is a sad ending for Eli’s story.

 

• But also an opportunity for us to look at his life, and learn in our own lives.  

 

• Eli was not seeing things clearly. This was true both physically and spiritually.

 

Illus. The progression: 1 Samuel 3:2, 1 Samuel 4:13, 1 Samuel 4:14-15.

 

• The last couple of weeks we have been talking about hearing God. The Scripture has been quoted from Matthew 11:15, “He who has ears, let him hear.”

 

• So too, we need eyes to see.

 

Matthew 13:13-15, While seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.

 

Illus. Eyes to see.

 

Revelation 3:17-18, Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.

 

• The picture here is of a church that was lukewarm. They weren’t seeing spiritually.  They did not know what they had lost, how far they had gone, and in Revelation, the Lord in His love, is letting them know.

 

Illus. When the light turns on.

 

III.    Make God’s Glory Essential to Your Story

 

1 Samuel 4:19-22

 

• When the news came to Eli’s daughter in law, she was overwhelmed with grief and being pregnant, labor pains came upon her.

 

• She gave birth to a son, and named him “Ichabod,” which means, “there is no glory,” because the glory had departed from Israel.

 

• She spoke these words with what seems to be her final breath, “the glory has departed from Israel, because the ark of God has been taken.”

 

• The word “departed” carries the meaning of that which has been removed, or exiled.

 

• The ark was the symbol of God presence, and clearly they had applied even more to it than that, it had become like God to them.

 

• So it seems, it was to them as if God himself had gone into exile, or had been captured. Now the chapters that follow, show that God was far bigger than that box, but the thought amongst the people seems to be that of “all is lost.”

 

• The glory of God had departed they said, but in reality, the people had departed from God much earlier.

 

• They were living their own lives according to their own desires, they were looking to the wrong thing, walking in the wrong ways…

 

• They knew of God, but did not honor him as God…

 

• The glory departed, they proclaimed, and that happened; it seems as they realized in that moment, just how essential God’s glory was to their story…

 

• It paints the picture of the Glory of God departing and there being nothing more to their lives…As if to say, without the Glory of God, we cannot go on.

 

• The word for glory is “kabode,” which means feeling weight, or splendor. Throughout Scripture it is a reference to many attributes of God, his magnificence, worth, beauty, and majesty.

 

Illus. Show me your glory.

 

Hebrew 1:1-3, God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom He also made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

1 Samuel 4:1-22