Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Samuel 4-7.

Today’s passage begins with the Israelites suffering a defeat at the hands of the Philistines.  Instead of seeking an answer from God as to why He did not give them victory, they chose to force His hand by bringing the Ark of the Covenant to the battlefield.  As a result they suffered a devastating defeat and the Ark was captured by the Philistines.  The Philistines interpreted their victory, and capture of the Ark, as evidence that their gods were more powerful than the God of Israel.  God promptly disabused them of this notion. So, the Philistines sent the Ark back to the Israelites in a way which demonstrated God’s power.  Even with the return of the Ark, some of the Israelites failed to properly respect God.  Finally, the people turned once more to worshiping God, and Samuel was prepared to tell them what to do.  At Samuel’s instruction they did away with their various idols, gathered to confess their sins and worship God.  The Philistines mustered their armies to attack the assembled Israelites.  Rather than rely on their own strength, the Israelites begged Samuel to cry out to God for them.  God caused the Philistines to panic and flee before the Israelites.

Initially, when things went bad for Israel, they looked to God for help, but they did not first turn from their sin.  It was only when they repented and sought to serve God that He rescued them.  Let us learn from this and act accordingly.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.