Bwebbservant
Sunday Evening Bible Study
May 27, 2001
I. Introduction
a. Goals of this study
i. Study 1 and 2 Samuel in their entirety as a single message
ii. Better understand the line of Messiah through types and prophecy
iii. Analyze the Shift from stoic to epicurean in society
iv. Examine Life and Times of the people 1000 years before Christ
b. How we will do this
i. Use maps, charts and graphs to understand relationships in certain areas
ii. Consider 1 & 2 Samuel as one book as the Hebrews did
iii. Evaluate civil, secular and religious life in 1000 year old terms from ancient literature
II. Previous Study
a. Situation of Ungodly Priests
b. Sign brought by the Man of God
c. A Summons
III. The Fall of Shiloh
a. The Israelites camped at Ebenezer
øæ†òÅä˜ ïá–àÆ
i. (ehb' ehn ee' zuhr) meaning, “stone of help.” The name of a site near Aphek where the Israelites camped before they fought in battle against the Philistines (1 Sam. 4:1). During the second of two engagements in the area, the Philistines captured the Ark of the Covenant. Later, after the recovery of the ark and a decisive Israelite victory over the Philistines, Samuel erected a monument to which he gave the name Eben-ezer.[1]
b. The Battle of Aphek
i. The Cities of Aphek
1. Aphek of Asher
a. Joshua 19:30; Judges 1:31
2. Aphek of Canaan
a. Joshua 13:4
3. Aphek of Golan
a. 1 Kings 20:26-30; 2 Kings 13:17
4. Aphek of Lebanon
a. Joshua 13:4
5. Aphek of Philistia
a. Joshua 12:18; 1 Samuel 4:1; 29:1
b. [AY-fek; “strength”] A Philistine royal city on the Plain of Sharon ne of Joppa, whose king was defeated by Joshua. Strategically located on the Great Trunk Road, its name appears in several ancient Egyptian sources. Possibly the campsite of the Philistines before their defeat of the Israelite army and capture of the ark. Antipatris was later built on the site.[2]
ii. How the battle would shape up
1. Valley of Sharon
a. Lied on a fork of two rivers
b. It was known for its dynamic pasturelands in the Bible
c. Mentioned in several places in Scripture:
i. 1 Chronicles 5:16
ii. 1 Chronicles 27:29
iii. Isaiah 3:9
iv. Isaiah 35:2
v. Isaiah 65:10
vi. Acts 9:35 where Tabitha lived and was raised by Peter from the dead.
iii. How they would fight
1. Camp on either side of the plains
2. They would taunt each other
3. They might send a champion as in the case of Goliath
4. The winner would pursue the looser
5. The would stop for periods of time as individuals or nations
a. Winter
b. Harvest
c. Festivals
c. Defeated by the Lord
i. Notice the Philistines reaction
1. Got up a battle array
Cø‡òÈ
a. Literally an ordered group or a company or a formation
b. They are the ones who are instigating
2. They killed 4000 men
ii. Notice the Israelites reaction
1. They do not give the win to the Philistines
2. The elders ask the question, “Why has the Lord defeated us?”
a. óâ‡ðˆ äåäé äîÈ
éz”LÔìÄtÀ íéð„tȈ íBé
b. Literally, “Why has YHWH struck us today before the face of the Philistines?”
3. The Elders knew that God was not with them.
4. They are then going to give a bad attributation to the Ark that is not its purpose.
d. The Ark comes into the Camp
i. How the Israelites viewed the Ark
1. They do not rely on the Power of God rather the power of “it” the Ark
2. The Ark is an icon of power for them not a throne of God
3. How it might have turned out different if their motives had been right
Factoid:
The Israelites according to the Torah in Numbers 9:15-23 there were some rules to be
followed when the Ark was to be moved.
When God’s presence in the form of the cloud was over the Tabernacle
they were not to move it. If they could
just walk in there and pick it up do you think that the Presence of God was
with the People or the Ark? Now look at
Judges 16:20. Sometimes God’s presence
is gone and people do not even know it.
What a sad commentary on this whole situation.
ii. How the Philistines viewed the Ark
1. Ryrie states, “The Philistines looked upon the Ark as an idol, an Israelite God.”
iii. The Ark comes out to the battle
1. The Israelites give a great shout:
a. How quaint that charismaticism precedes defeat!
2. The Israelites start talking about the Ark coming into the camp so much that word gets to the Philistines
a. How quaint that gossip accompanies charismaticism!
iv. The Ark goes to visit the Philistines
1. This is going to be hard to understand in some sense, but the Philistines paid more respect to the Lord than the Israelites did and that is why they won.
e. The Men of Benjamin
i. Fighting Men of the Tribe of Benjamin
BENJAMIN (Behn' juh mihn) Personal name meaning, “son of the right hand” or “son of the south.” The second son Rachel bore to Jacob. He became the forefather of the tribe of Benjamin. His birth was difficult, and his mother named him Benoni, which means “son of my sorrow.” She died giving him birth. His father Jacob, however, did not let that name stand. He gave the child the name Benjamin, which means “son of the right hand.”
The tribe of Benjamin occupied the smallest territory of all the tribes. Yet, it played a significant role in Israelite history. Saul, Israel’s first king, was a Benjamite. Furthermore, the city of Jerusalem was near the border between the territories of Benjamin and Judah and may have been in Benjamin originally (Josh. 18:16; Judg. 1:21). Benjamin’s appetite for territory may be seen in Jacob’s blessing (Gen. 49:27). Moses’ blessing highlights Benjamin’s special place in God’s care (Deut. 33:12). Late in the period of the judges, Benjamin almost disappeared from history when they mistreated a Levite and his concubine (Judg. 19-21).
ii. In the New Testament, the apostle Paul proudly proclaimed his heritage in the tribe of Benjamin (Rom. 11:1; Phil. 3:5).
iii. Why Benjamin were such fighters
1. When you are little you learn how to fight
f. The Death of Eli
i. The Battle is Lost
1. Largely the victory is owned to those who showed proper reverence for YHWH
2. Notice that the Philistines had a better battle rational then and cheerleading section than the Israelites.
ii. Why was Eli not fighting?
1. Why was the Judge not out at the front lines?
a. People get in serious trouble when they do not get out and fight. The prime example of this will be David
b. He is overweight, out of shape and blind.
iii. The news comes
1.
Notice that Eli is eagerly watching, I thought he was
blind? The word äôÈöÈ tsaphah means to
lean forward or peer and can mean to await anxiously. It does not have to mean physically look.
2. You kind of get the sensation that Eli did not think it was a good idea to take the Ark
iv. The news has a result
1. First, as the news reached out a cry went up in the city
2. Second, the news hits home
a. Eli falls and dies
b.
g. The Birth of Ichabod
i. Has it struck anyone that everyone seems to be so religious around the two bad guys?
1. Eli is
2. Samuel is
3. Phinehas’ wife is
ii. Names hold an important place in Hebrew society
1. Each Hebrew word can mean between 2 and 6 different things or more. This is intended to paint word pictures in the mind of the reader and allows some interesting speculations from the interpreter.
2. When working with the Hebrew text it is important to dissect each phrase and word where necessary to get at the meaning. This is apparent in some areas, not so in others.
3. We have seen before how a name can be used to indicate a hope for a child or family.
a. Moses = drawn from water or better a gift of the gods
b. Abram = exalted father
4. Here is another reason for using a specific name
a. Ichabod = departed glory
b. Maher-shalal-hash-baz = Isaiah’s son means, “quick to the plunder, swift to the spoil”
c. Jezreel = Hosea’s son means, “God sows”
d. Lo-ruhamah = Hosea’s daughter means, “not-pitied”
e. Lo-ammi = Hosea’s third child, a boy meaning, “not my people”
f. The Holman Bible dictionary give the following article on names:
NAMING In biblical tradition the task of naming a child generally fell to the mother (Gen. 29:31-30:24; 1 Sam. 1:20) but could be performed by the father (Gen. 16:15; Ex. 2:22) and in exceptional cases by nonparental figures (Ex. 2:10; Ruth 4:17). The last son of Jacob and Rachel received a name from each parent; Jacob altering the name Rachel gave (Gen. 35:18). Naming could be attributed to God originating through a divine birth announcement (Gen. 17:19; Luke 1:13). Naming took place near birth in the Old Testament and on the eighth day accompanying circumcision in New Testament narratives (Luke 1:59; 2:21).
The biblical concept of naming was rooted in the ancient world’s understanding that a name expressed essence. To know the name of a person was to know that person’s total character and nature. Revealing character and destiny, personal names might express hopes for the child’s future. Changing of name could occur at divine or human initiative, revealing a transformation in character or destiny (Gen. 17:5, 15; 32:28; Matt. 16:17-18).
The knowing of a name implied a relationship between parties in which power to do harm or good was in force. That God knew Moses by name occasioned the granting of Moses’s request for divine presence (Ex. 33:12, 17). The act of naming implied the power of the namer over the named, evidenced in the naming of the animals in Genesis 2:19-20 or Pharaoh’s renaming Joseph (Gen. 41:45; compare Dan. 1:6-7; 2 Kings 24:17).
Proper names consisting of one or more terms consciously chosen by the namer conveyed a readily understandable meaning within the biblical world. Reflecting circumstances of birth Rachel called the child of her death, Ben-oni, “son of my sorrow” (Gen. 35:18). Jacob was named “the supplanter” for “he took hold on Esau’s heel” (Gen. 25:26). Moses, the “stranger in a strange land,” named his son Gershom (Ex. 2:22). Conditions of the times proved imaginative as well: Ichabod, “The glory has departed from Israel,” (NRSV) came about by the ark of the covenant falling into Philistine hands (1 Sam. 4:21-22) and the symbolic names of Isaiah’s sons: Shear-jashub, “a remnant shall return,” (Isa. 7:3); Maher-Shalal-hash-baz, “swift is the booty, speedy is the prey,” (Isa. 8:3, NASB).
Personal characteristics, Esau means “hairy”; Careah means “bald,” (Gen. 25:25; 2 Kings 25:23); and the use of animal names in early times, Deborah means “bee”; Jonah means “dove”; Rachel means “ewe,” are attested. Less frequently occurring are names taken from plants: Tamar meaning “palm tree”; Susanna meaning “lily.”
Simple names functioning as epithets, such as Nabal meaning “fool” and Sarah meaning “princess,” gave way to compound names factual or wishful in nature, such as Mattaniah meaning “gift of Yahweh” and Ezekiel meaning “may God strengthen.” Compound names in the main are theophoric, employing the divine names El and Yah (Elijah, Ishmael, Nathaniel). Titles and kinship terms (Abimelech, melech means “king”; Abigail, Ab(i) means “father”) and foreign names occur: Aramaic, Greek, and Roman (Martha, Salome, Alexandra, John Mark).
The patronymic practice whereby a child received the name of a relative, especially the grandfather (Simon Bar-Jona is “son of Jona”) was common by the Christian era. Geographical identities are attested as well (Goliath of Gath and Jesus of Nazareth
iii. Where does Ichabod wind up?
1. Henry Wallace writing for the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia writes the following concerning Ichabod:
ik´a-bod,
Œô´ka-bod (ãBáëÈÎéàÄ, Œô-khaô-bhoôdh,
meaning “inglorious” Son of Phinehas, Eli’s son, slain at the battle of Aphek when
the ark was taken. Ichabod was born after his father’s death. His mother gave
him this name on her death-bed to indicate that the “glory (had) departed from
Israel” (1 Sam 4:19ff). He was thus important as a symbol, though little is
recorded of him as an individual. His nephew Ahijah was one of those who
tarried with Saul and the six hundred at Gibeah just before Jonathan’s brave
attack upon the Philistines (1 Sam 14:2 f).
2. Icabod does have an older brother who was mentioned latter on in Bible as noted by the ISBE:
AHITUB (uh hi' tuhb) Personal name meaning, “my brother is good.” [3]
The brother of Ichabod and son of Phinehas the son of Eli (1 Sam 14:3; 22:9, 11, 12, 20), According to 1 Ch 24 he and his line were descended from Aaron through Ithamar. The record implies that he was born while his father and grandfather were priests at Shiloh, and it says that he was the father and grandfather of priests; but it is silent as to his own exercise of the priestly office. We have no information concerning the office from the time when the Philistines captured the ark till Saul became king.[4]
IV. Conclusion
a. This week we have seen:
i. Story, “How my enemy had said that if I did not stop drag racing my car I would loose it.” He respected my car more than I did. He was right and this is a Biblical principle that caused Israel to loose the Ark.
ii. Eli died at age 98. He judged Israel for 40 years
iii. Names can commemorate an event. An important part of this culture.
iv. Samuel is now the one in charge.
b. Next week we will see:
i. Read 1 Samuel 4:1b-22
ii.
“The End of Shiloh”
Any Questions? Contact the Webbservant at… stephen.mack.howard@juno.com