Relating to God: 1 Samuel 4:11-22
Rather than being a power to wield, He wants us to see Him as a partner in life. He wants to be a part of our joys and our sorrows. He wants relationship with each of us.
The ark of the Lord is captured by the Philistines. The priests who brought it out – Eli’s two sons – are killed in battle. When Eli hears about the battle, how his sons were killed, and how the ark was captured, he falls over in shock, breaks his neck, and dies. This fulfills the prophecy God gave to the unknown man and later confirmed through Samuel’s conversation.
Furthermore, Eli’s daughter-in-law hears the report. The shock causes her to go into labor. The birth was complicated, and she dies during childbirth. As she is dying, she declares the glory of the Lord has departed because the ark of the Lord has been captured.
In addition to the battle story from earlier in the chapter, these two scenarios give a good snapshot of why things were going poorly for Eli and for the Hebrew people in general. The Hebrew people focused on God as a power to be yielded rather than a being to be in relationship with. Rather than seeing God personally, they saw Him more like a national badge of honor. If they were in a position where they needed more of God’s power, they brought out the ark like a talisman. If they were in a place in their life where an event needed to go a particular way, that made a special sacrifice. The Hebrew people weren’t in relationship with God; the Hebrew people were trying to buy God’s love and force His hand in certain circumstances.
Therefore, when the ark of the covenant was captured, it spelled doom for Eli, Eli’s daughter-in-law, and the Hebrew people in general. When the ark was captured, their talisman was gone. When the ark was captured, it symbolically demonstrated someone took away their ability to access God, at least from their perspective. When the Philistines captured the ark, the Hebrew people may have thought the Philistines could use the ark against them!
As a whole, the Hebrew people of Samuel’s day misunderstood God. God does not champion whoever possesses His ark. God does not care more about the needs of the person who sacrificed twice as many cows to get their request heard. We don’t buy God’s love. That’s not how He works, even if we do try.
God loves us first. He comes to us and offers relationship. We accept or reject His offer. I would say He offers the relationship no strings attached, but there is the general expectation for those in relationship with Him to spend time with Him and follow Him. That isn’t earning God’s love; that is simply what it means to be in a relationship. Rather than being a power to wield, He wants us to see Him as a partner for life.
