1 Samuel 4:10-11 Defeated

 ”And the Philistines fought, and Israel was smitten, and they fled every man into his tent: and there was a very great slaughter; for there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen. And the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain.“ ‭‭1 Samuel‬ ‭4‬:‭10‬-‭11‬ ‭KJV‬‬

a. Israel was defeated: There were three reasons for this great defeat. First, the Philistines fought with the courage of desperate men. Second, the Israelites felt the battle would be easy with the ark of the covenant there and did not try as hard. Finally, God did not bless Israel’s superstitious belief in the power of the ark instead of the power of God.

i. We often make the same mistake; believing that if God is with us, we don’t need to try so hard. We think if God is on our side, the work will be easy. That may not be true at all.

ii. As it turned out, God did not feel obligated to bless the Israelites just because they took the ark into battle. He wouldn’t allow His arm to be twisted by the superstitions of the Israelites. God is a person, not a genie to be summoned at the will of man.

b. There fell of Israel thirty thousand foot soldiers: Not only did Israel lose, they lost far worse than they did before taking the ark into battle. The loss which prompted them to take the ark resulted in the death of about four thousand men of Israel (1 Samuel 4:2). With the ark, more than seven times as many men of Israel were killed.

i. In the late 1970s, a five-line inscription was found on a grain silo in the ruins of Izbet Sarteh. When deciphered, it was found to contain a Philistine account of this battle, the capture of the ark, even specifically mentioning the priest Hophni. This is the earliest known extra-biblical reference to an Old Testament event.

Defeated

There are times we feel defeated by events that happen in our lives. 

We learn in these verses what happens when we rely on our own strength instead of relying on the Lord. 

The hard part as a Christians is praising Him during the defeated times in our lives. I’ve heard it said when you are defeated that you need to ask yourself one question, what is the Lord trying to teach me?

If the Israelites did this after the first battle and truly sought the Lord they would have learned that they strayed from God and were worshiping false god’s.

God loves us and wants us to return to Him when we stray just like the Prodigal Son.

 ”And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.“ Luke‬ ‭15‬:‭20‬ 

Do you praise Him when you feel defeated?

Blessings