1Samuel 4 Reversal of fortune

1 And the word of [the Lord through] Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out to meet the Philistines in battle and they camped beside Ebenezer while the Philistines camped at Aphek. 2 The Philistines assembled in battle formation to meet Israel, and when the battle was over, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand men on the battlefield. 3 When the people (soldiers) came into the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord here from Shiloh, so that He may come among us and save us from the hand of our enemies.” 4 So the people sent word to Shiloh, and from there they carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts who sits above the cherubim; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were with the ark of the covenant of God.

I never understood this before. The word of the Lord is coming through Samuel yet it is Hophni and Phinehas that are the chief priests with the ark of the covenant. When you read the Bible it seems that if the word is coming through Samuel that he is the chief priest, but that is not how it works in real life. You can have religious or political leaders that no one regards, no one listens to. They are corrupt, everyone knows it, and the only words they have are pure hypocrisy. So this chapter is depicting a time in Israel’s history when it was divided like this. Obviously when Moses was leading Israel and when Joshua was leading Israel it wasn’t like this. This is not a healthy situation, it is not sustainable, and this chapter will bring this out. When you have a situation like this how do you explain the role of the priests who do not have the word of the Lord? You have to make some kind of superstitious belief about the ark. You have to separate the two, and that is a false construction. In this book it is simple and clear, they sinned, God rebuked them, they would not listen, so He raised up Samuel and condemned them. Without God speaking through them their religion was nothing more than a pretense and a sham.

5 So it happened that as the ark of the covenant of the Lord came into the camp, all [the people of] Israel shouted with a great shout, and the earth resounded. 6 When the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, “What does the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews mean?” Then they understood that the ark of the Lord had come into the camp. 7 The Philistines were afraid, for they said, “God has come into the camp.” And they said, “Woe [disaster is coming] to us! For nothing like this has happened before. 8 Woe to us! Who will rescue us from the hand of these mighty [a]gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness. 9 Take courage, and be men, O Philistines, so that you do not become servants to the Hebrews, as they have been servants to you; act like men and fight!”

In this upside down world you have to really appreciate the Philistines. They have the right attitude, it is as though the Spirit of God is working through them to use them to exercise His judgement on the house of Eli.

10 So the Philistines fought; Israel was defeated and every man fled to his tent. It was a very great defeat, for thirty thousand foot soldiers of Israel fell. 11 Also the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were killed.

Or, in other words, God was disgusted with them and just as Moses warned this is what happens when you reject God and His word.

12 Now a man [from the tribe] of Benjamin ran from the battle line and came to Shiloh that same day with his clothes torn and dust on his head [as signs of mourning over the disaster]. 13 When he arrived, Eli was sitting on his seat by the road, keeping watch, because his heart was anxious about the ark of God. When the man arrived to report [the news] in the city, everyone in the city cried out [to God, for help]. 14 When Eli heard the noise of the outcry, he asked, “What is the noise of this uproar?” And the man came hurriedly and told Eli. 15 Now Eli was ninety-eight years old; his eyes were dim so that he could not see. 16 The man said to Eli, “I have come from the battle line. Indeed, I escaped from the battle line today.” Eli said, “How did things go, my son?” 17 The messenger replied, “Israel has fled before the Philistines and there has also been a great slaughter among the people. Also your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been taken.” 18 When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell off the seat backwards by the side of the [city] gate. His neck was broken and he died, for he was old and heavy. He had judged Israel for forty years.

Eli had one job, take care of the Ark. His sons were set to inherit that position. Now the job is gone and the sons are dead. In a moment Eli’s family went from being the most prominent family in town, maybe the most prominent family in Israel to having nothing. People who are proud and arrogant need to be warned, when God executes his judgement it can be like this, your fortunes can flip 180 degrees in a single day.

19 Now his daughter-in-law, Phinehas’ wife, was pregnant, and was about to give birth; so when she heard the news that the ark of God had been taken and that her father-in-law and her husband had died, she kneeled down and gave birth, because her [labor] pains began. 20 And about the time of her death [following the sudden birth] the women attending her said to her, “Do not be afraid, for you have given birth to a son.” But she did not answer or pay any attention. 21 And she named the boy [b]Ichabod, saying, “The glory has left Israel,” because the ark of God had been taken and because of [the deaths of] her father-in-law and her husband. 22 She said, “The glory has left Israel, for the ark of God has been taken.”

Ichabod, what a horrible name. So Ichabod loses his father, mother, grandfather and uncle all on the same day. This sounds like the reverse of a Dickens novel. In the Dickens novel you expect the orphan boy to be adopted by the prominent family and have his fortunes reversed 180 degrees, but here we have the little rich kid having his fortunes reversed 180 degrees to become the orphan boy. Those that despise God He will despise. Those that honor Him like Samuel He will honor.

By a coincidence we read 1Samuel 4 yesterday. Apparently, as mentioned in the book of Job, the Lord gives and the Lord takes. I fully concur with your last sentence.

Deuteronomy 28:15 “But it shall come about, if you do not listen to and obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today, then all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:

We don’t like to focus on this. The messages on blessings outnumber the messages on cursing, but this also is the word of God.

16 “You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the field.

The people working on the pipeline who lost their $50 an hour union jobs with benefits and now are told to move somewhere to make solar panels where they make $15 an hour and no benefits, is this what Moses is talking about? If you are looking to do one of these jobs you should know that China is the biggest manufacturer of Solar panels so you might want to learn Chinese as well. This is to be “cursed in the field”. Cursed in the city could refer to gang killings, little babies being killed by stray bullets. You cancel construction on the wall, you give amnesty to tens of thousands coming across the border and now, even though you raised minimum wage to $15 an hour there are plenty of immigrants pouring in willing to work at a fraction of that. Also the drugs and gang members can also cross over unhindered. This is to be cursed in the city.

17 “Your basket and your kneading bowl will be cursed.

$27 Trillion dollars in debt is doing what to the cost of food? Whether you notice it or not your dollar is buying less and less at the grocery store. Cancelling contracts on oil and gas, closing pipelines, this will all cause the cost of gas to also increase. Meanwhile raising taxes will hit the pocketbook from another direction. Finally doubling the minimum wage effectively means that every employee with union contracts just took a major pay cut. If you were making $18 an hour and minimum wage was $7.50 an hour you could feel that your job is not so bad. But now, you are essentially making minimum wage.

18 “The offspring of your body and the produce of your land, the offspring of your herd and the young of your flock will be cursed.

Shutting down the schools has been a very big curse on the children.

19 “You will be cursed when you come in and you will be cursed when you go out.

75 million who voted for the Republican candidate are now being portrayed as cult members who need to be deprogrammed and their kids sent to reeducation camps. They have been censored, shadow banned, suspended and banned from social media. Without them on social media to attack the jackals and hyenas that have been used to attack them with this cancel culture will turn on the Democrats. Already ANTIFA has been rioting against Biden.

20 “The Lord will send upon you curses, confusion, and rebuke in everything that you undertake to do, until you are destroyed, perishing quickly because of the evil of your deeds, because you have [d]turned away from Me.

Already there are multiple lawsuits against the Biden executive orders. Over half the country considers this impeachment to be unconstitutional and a waste of time. People are angry that Biden lied about the stimulus package and he lied about not banning fracking and he lied about allowing an unbiased DOJ prosecute the Hunter Biden scandal.

21 The Lord will make the pestilence and plague cling to you until He has consumed and eliminated you from the land which you are entering to possess.

Biden thinks that we have a vaccine, in a few weeks this whole pandemic will be a thing of the past. Sorry, not according to this. The South African strain and the Brazil strain are going to cling to us.

22 The Lord will strike you with consumption [causing you to waste away] and with fever and with inflammation and with fiery heat and with the sword and with blight and with mildew [on your crops]; and they will pursue you until you perish. 23 The heaven which is over your head shall be bronze [giving no rain and blocking all prayers], and the earth which is under you, iron [hard to plow and yielding no produce]. 24 The Lord will make the rain of your land powder and dust; from heaven it will come down on you until you are destroyed.

Pretty fair description of climate change, natural disasters and locusts during 2020.

25 “The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you will go out against them one way, but flee before them seven ways, and you will be an example of terror to all the kingdoms of the earth [when they see your destruction]. 26 Your carcasses will be food for all the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth, and there will be no one to frighten them away.

How is it that so many people are ignoring the 25,000+ troops in Washington DC. I saw a video of this and the only thing you can compare Washington DC to is Myanmar which is experiencing a coup. We didn’t do this after 9/11, we didn’t do this after the JFK assassination, we didn’t do this during Clinton’s impeachment. The idea that this is because a policeman was killed after being hit with a fire extinguisher is idiotic.

27 “The Lord will strike you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors and with the scab and the itch that you cannot heal.

Sounds like sexually transmitted diseases.

28 The Lord will strike you with madness and with blindness and with bewilderment of heart and mind; 29 and you will be groping at noon [in broad daylight], just as the blind grope in the darkness, and nothing you do will prosper; but you will only be oppressed and exploited and robbed continually, with no one to save you.

I was told that an article that showed Maxine Waters paid $1.3 million to her daughter to help with her campaign was “nothing illegal here”. I was told that it is no big deal that Pelosi made a million dollar bet on Tesla after sitting in a meeting with Biden on the green new deal, a bet which wasn’t just that Tesla would go up, but when it would go up was garbage. This from the same person who thought Trump’s tax return and impeachment were big deals and made many accusations of nepotism to Trump. In a democracy you get the government you deserve. The lord is telling them that if you justify those who oppress, exploit and rob you then that is what you will get.

30 You will be pledged to marry a wife, but another man will be intimate with her [before you]; you will build a house, but you will not live in it; you will plant a vineyard, but you will not use its fruit. 31 Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will not eat any of it; your donkey will be torn away from you, and it will not be returned to you; your sheep will be given to your enemies, and you will have no one to save you. 32 Your sons and daughters will be given to another people, while your eyes look on and long for them continually; but there will be nothing you can do.

If you look at the curriculum being taught in the public school your sons and daughters are already being given to another people. Biden just signed an executive order that makes things even weirder, boys can use the girls bathroom, boys can play girls sports.

33 A people whom you do not know will eat the produce of your land and all the products of your labors, and you will never be anything but oppressed and exploited and crushed continually.

Wow, talk about reversal of fortune for the US.

34 You shall be driven mad by the sight of [e]the things you see. 35 The Lord will strike you on the knees and on the legs with sore boils that you cannot heal, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head. 36 The Lord will bring you and your king, whom you appoint over you, to a nation which you and your fathers have never known; there you will [be forced to] serve other gods, [lifeless gods of] wood and stone. 37 And you will become a horror, a proverb [a mere object lesson], and a taunt [a derisive joke] among all the people to which the Lord drives you.

It is going to be the focus of the comedians on TV when the US starts serving the Chinese.

38 “You will bring out a great quantity of seed to the field, but you will gather in little, because the locusts will consume it. 39 You will plant vineyards and cultivate them, but you will not drink the wine or gather the grapes, because the worm will eat them. 40 You will have olive trees throughout your territory but you will not [f]anoint yourselves with the oil, because your olives will drop off.

If you have been paying attention this is what happened last year in China and in previous years in other socialists countries. Yet for some reason Americans want to imitate them.

41 You will have sons and daughters, but they will not be yours [for long], because they will go into captivity. 42 The cricket will take possession of all your trees and the produce of your ground. 43 The stranger who lives among you will rise above you higher and higher, and you will go down lower and lower. 44 He will lend to you [out of his affluence], but you will not lend to him [because of your poverty]; he will be the head, and you the tail.

45 “So all these curses will come on you and pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God by keeping His commandments and His statutes which He has commanded you. 46 They will be a sign and a wonder to you and your descendants forever.

Let’s be clear here, this is not because God doesn’t love you or because God is some kind of mean God judging and condemning you. The Lord said “if you love me you will do what I command”. This is because we don’t love the Lord. Now you may say that is not fair, surely there are those like Abraham and Noah that love God? Yes, they will be taken in the first rapture and then things will get much worse. But surely there are those like Lot who God will save? Yes, he will be taken in the second rapture and then fire will fall.

47 “Because you did not serve the Lord your God with a heart full of joy and gladness for the abundance of all things [with which He blessed you], 48 you will therefore serve your enemies whom the Lord sends against you, in hunger and in thirst, in nakedness and in lack of all things; and He will put an iron yoke [of slavery] on your neck until He has destroyed you.

“He will put the iron yoke of slavery on your neck until He has destroyed you.” Let that sink in

49 “The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, [as swift] as the eagle swoops down [to attack], a nation whose language you will not understand, 50 a [g]defiant nation who will [h]have no respect for the old, nor show favor to the young, 51 and it will eat the offspring of your herd and the produce of your ground until you are destroyed, who will leave you no grain, new wine, or oil, nor the offspring of your herd or the young of your flock until they have caused you to perish.

From far away? A language we don’t understand? What is He talking about the Chinese? Hmmm, maybe that massive cyber attack was a prelude to a war. Maybe the election fraud was an act of war. Maybe the pandemic which we now know came from a bioweapons lab was an act of war. Maybe, just maybe there is a good reason for 25,000+ plus troops to have locked down Washington DC.

52 They will besiege you in all your cities until your high and fortified walls in which you trusted come down throughout your land; and they will besiege you in all your cities throughout your land which the Lord your God has given you. 53 Then you will eat the offspring of your own body [to avoid starvation], the flesh of your sons and daughters whom the Lord your God has given you, during the siege and the misery by which your enemy will oppress you. 54 The man who is most refined and well-bred among you [i]will be cruel and hostile toward his brother and toward [j]the wife he cherishes and toward the rest of his children who remain, 55 so that he will not give even one of them any of the flesh of his children [k]which he will eat, [l]because he has nothing else left, during the siege and the misery by which your enemy will oppress you in all your cities. 56 The most refined and well-bred woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because she is so delicate and pampered, [m]will be cruel and hostile toward [n]the husband she cherishes and toward her son and daughter, 57 and toward her afterbirth that comes from between her legs and toward the children whom she bears; for she will eat them secretly for lack of anything else, during the siege and the misery by which your enemy will oppress you in your cities.

Sounds like Sodom and Gomorrah when Lot was rescued from there. Sounds like the Great tribulation. There are two choices, you can side with God and His word or you can side with Satan. There is no longer any fence to be sat on.

58 “If you are not careful to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, to fear and honor with reverence this glorious and awesome name, the Lord your God, 59 then the Lord will bring extraordinary plagues on you and your descendants, even severe and lasting plagues, and miserable and chronic sicknesses. 60 Moreover, He will bring on you all the diseases of Egypt of which you were afraid, and they will cling to you. 61 Also the Lord will bring on you every sickness and every plague which is not written in this book of this law, until you are destroyed.

A lot of people are concerned about this election and what the left is going to do. I am a lot more concerned about what the Lord is going to do. “Be careful to do all the words of the law”. We need to go through each and every word to make sure we are doing all the words. I get it that we are in the New Covenant, but the Lord’s command to “love your neighbor as yourself” requires a careful consideration of every word of the Bible. James explains that any form of favoritism is a violation of this law. Racism is a kind of favoritism, but instead of outlawing favoritism they are outlawing racism against some races by imposing racism on other races. That is favoritism.

62 Because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God, you who were as numerous as the stars of heaven shall be left few in number. 63 It shall come about that just as the Lord delighted over you to make you prosper and multiply, so the Lord will delight over you to bring you to ruin and destruction; and you will be [o]uprooted [violently] from the land which you are entering to possess.

Talk about reversal of fortune! One day the Lord is rejoicing over us to make us prosper and multiply the next He is rejoicing over us to bring you to ruin and destruction.

64 And the Lord will scatter you among all the nations, from one end of the earth to the other; and there you will [be forced to] serve other gods, [lifeless gods of] wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known.

The diaspora happened to the Jews it can happen to us.

65 Among those nations you will find no peace (rest), and there will be no resting place for the sole of your foot; but there the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and a despairing soul. 66 Your life will hang in doubt before you; night and day you will be filled with anxiety and have no assurance of living. 67 In the morning you will say, ‘I wish it were evening!’ and in the evening you will say, ‘I wish it were morning!’—because of the dread in your heart with which you tremble, and because of the sight of your eyes which you will see. 68 The Lord will bring you back to Egypt in ships, by the way about which I said to you, ‘You will never see it again!’ And there you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but there will be no one to buy you.

The New Testament says "vengeance is mine, I will repay". When I read this I realize God is much, much better than me at repaying evil with evil. Our focus needs to be on telling people to repent for the Kingdom, receive Jesus and be saved from this sin sick world.