THE LIVES OF THE PATRIARCHS #152 | THE LIFE OF MOSES #133
Pastor Christopher Choo
Lesson 3838
THE LIVES OF THE PATRIARCHS #152
THE LIFE OF MOSES #133
MOSES AT MT. SINAI #32
THE TRANSFORMING GLORY OF GOD #16
THE ARK OF THE COVENANT ( Part 8)
Encounters with the Ark of the Covenant ( Part 3: The villagers of Beth Shemesh )
I once organised a study tour in the footsteps of the Ark.
Included in the itinerary was a Samsung/Huawei moment and teaching stop outside the modern town of Beth Shemesh
We climbed the traditional spot atop a hillock where they could imagine the picture of bellowing cows bearing the Ark on a cart they were pulling.
I shared a short exhortation that much as we wanted to behold the glory of God, we must learn to acknowledge His holy presence with reverence and not take Him for granted like the villagers of Beth Shemesh did in their curiosity.
They treated the ark with contempt, handling it even though only the Kohathites, from the tribe of Levi, were supposed to touch it (Num. 3:27–32).
That they did so should not surprise us, for the Israelites had lost the ark in the first place by treating it as a magical talisman, trusting in its presence instead of the God whose footstool it was (1 Sam. 4:1–11).
In 1 Samuel 6:19 a number of people were struck dead by God after looking into the ark of the LORD.
1 Samuel 6:19 (NIV)
But God struck down some of the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh, putting seventy[a] of them to death because they looked into the ark of the Lord. The people mourned because of the heavy blow the Lord had dealt them.
As is evident from the citation above, the NIV has a footnote on the number 70, noting that most of the manuscripts have 50,070 people rather 70. This is not a small difference. I notice the NET opts for 50,070 while the NIV prefers 70.
Which was more likely the original number?
Others, like the commentator Faussett, have explained the number, saying, “God smote in the proportion of 50 out of the 1,000, i.e. one twentieth instead of one tenth of the population…; seventy men in all, out of the population of Bethshemesh, which amounted to 1,400 in this view” ( Read his motes on “Bethshemesh,” 1998).
What is the spiritual lesson for us who remained standing?
The Bible reveals a God who cannot be manipulated by human beings.
However, God’s people have not always embraced this truth consistently.
In Samuel’s day, they treated the ark as a talisman and looked inside it when they were not supposed to (1 Sam. 4:1–11; 6:17–21).
Such idolatrous and manipulative practices ended poorly for the Israelites.
Things will not go well for us either if we try to manipulate the Lord.
Let us resolve to fear the Lord first and foremost and not just fall back on His grace and mercy as we glibly tend to do.
Remember Uzzah? Remember Dagon? And now the villagers of Beth Shemesh?
