The Ark Comes Home! - Damon J. Gray
We have all witnessed the dramatic scene wherein a coach is addressing his frustrated team. They’re discouraged, tired, and beaten down. The coach needs to remind them of who they are, what they know, and what are their capabilities. They know their jobs. They have been victorious in the past and can be victorious on this day. They are capable of conquering this opposition just as they are capable of defeating any foe.
Sing to the LORD, all the earth!
Tell of his salvation from day to day.
Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvelous works among all the peoples!
For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised,
and he is to be feared above all gods.
For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols,
but the LORD made the heavens.
Splendor and majesty are before him;
strength and joy are in his place.
– 1 Chronicles 16:23-27, ESV
The Ark
The quote above is a small excerpt from a much longer thanksgiving hymn David sang as the ark of God was being brought home to Jerusalem. It had been gone for many years. Life was ho-hum. The people needed a shot in the arm, so to speak.
The lyric, from David, is a weaving of segments from three different psalms. If you open 1 Chronicles 16 in one Bible and Psalms in another, you can see the parallels here:
| 1 Chronicles | Psalms |
| 16:8-22 | 105:1-15 |
| 16:23-33 | 96:1-13 |
| 16:34-36 | 106:1, 47-48 |
Israel had gone to battle with the Philistines at Ebenezer and Aphek. There is no indication that God had instructed them to do so. They engaged the Philistines right at the borderline of Israel and Philistia. The battle lines were drawn, the fighting ensued, and the battle did not go well for Israel. The Philistines bloodied Israel’s nose, killing roughly 4,000 men.1
Rather than repent and seek the LORD in this matter, the people and elders of Israel came up with a “great idea.” They needed a good luck charm, a talisman. Let’s send to Shiloh, where that new prophet, Samuel is, and let’s get the ark of God, the ark of the covenant, and bring it here. Then we will mop the field with these Philistines.
So, the evil,2 priestly, sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, brought the ark of the covenant from Shiloh to the battlefront.3 When the ark arrived, the Israelite camp erupted with shouts of excitement such that “the earth resounded” with the cry. To the extent that the Israelites were thrilled and rejoicing, the Philistines were terrified, knowing that the same God who delivered the Israelites from Egyptian slavery was now among the Israelites coming against them.
And they said, “Woe to us! For nothing like this has happened before. Woe to us! Who can deliver us from the power of these mighty gods?
– 1 Samuel 4:7b-8, ESV
But God was not in this battle. It was the contrivance of men and the ark of God was brought in as little more than a good luck token.
So the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and they fled, every man to his home. And there was a very great slaughter, for thirty thousand foot soldiers of Israel fell. And the ark of God was captured, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.
– 1 Samuel 4:10-11, ESV
The Philistines held the ark captive for seven months,4 but it did not bring them good fortune. The Philistine god, Dagon, kept falling over in the presence of the ark. The people would stand their god back up, and the next day he would be on his face again. Eventually, Dagon lost both his head and his hands.5
Note: A “god” that you and I have to keep putting back on his feet isn’t much of a god.
The people of Ashdod were afflicted with tumors and demanded that the ark be taken away. So, the priests and leaders of the Philisines sent it to Gath. More tumors. So they sent the ark to Ekron, but the people of Ekron cried out in panic, “Don’t bring that thing here!!”6 At this point, the Philistines resigned to the circumstances and sent the ark back to Israel.
The Ark Returns to Israel
But the ark didn’t go to Jerusalem. After a brief stop in Beth-shemesh, the ark moved to the house of Abinadab on the hill in Kirjath-jearim. There it stayed for twenty years.7 Shortly afterward, Saul was anointed King of Israel, and reigned for forty years.8 We also know that the people did not consult the ark of God during the reign of Saul.
Following Saul, David was anointed King of Israel. He had reigned over Israel at Hebron for seven years and six months, when he decided it was time for the ark to come home to Jerusalem.
And David said to all the assembly of Israel, “If it seems good to you and from the LORD our God, let us send abroad to our brothers who remain in all the lands of Israel, as well as to the priests and Levites in the cities that have pasturelands, that they may be gathered to us. Then let us bring again the ark of our God to us, for we did not seek ita in the days of Saul.”
– 1 Chronicles 13:2-3, ESV
The Celebration
Everything to this point was just to set the stage for you. It seemed important to understand why the ark was gone so that we could feel the energy and the excitement of its return. We cannot set a precise timeline, but we can piece together enough evidence to say, with confidence, that the ark was gone at least seventy years. Now the ark is coming home, and King David is gushing with praise over it.
Sing to the LORD, all the earth!
Tell of his salvation from day to day.
Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvelous works among all the peoples!
For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised,
and he is to be feared above all gods.
For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols,
but the LORDmade the heavens.
– 1 Chronicles 16:23-26, ESV
The gods of society are worthless idols, but your God made the heavens. Yes, David celebrated mightily when the ark came home. “Great is the LORD,” he said, “and greatly to be praised.” Just understand that David’s God is your God too. Great is your God, and greatly to be praised.
The song of David, sung as the ark came home to Jerusalem runs for twenty-eight verses, and it is filled with expressions of gratitude for deliverance, and blessing and praise for the greatness and majesty of God. So overcome was David by what was happening that he danced before the LORDwith all his might!9
The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, the God you and I know and love and worship, this is not some mere tribal god of antiquity. The LORDis not a stone figurine or wooden pole. Neither is he some astrological configuration in the stars, or the mental construct of arrogant, humanist, evolutionary philosophers. These are all idols.
Idol: אֱלִיל – Of nought, good for nothing, weak, worthless
As Creator and Sustainer it is our God who lets the sea roar, the fields rejoice and the trees clap their hands!
Let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
let the field exult, and everything in it!
Then shall the trees of the forest sing for joy
before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth.
Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
for his steadfast love endures forever!
– 1 Chronicles 16:32-34, ESV
And finally:
Save us, O God of our salvation,
and gather and deliver us from among the nations,
that we may give thanks to your holy name
and glory in your praise.
Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting!
– 1 Chronicles 16:32-34, ESV
1. 1 Samuel 4:2
2. 1 Samuel 2:12-25
3. 1 Samuel 4:4
4. 1 Samuel 6;1
5. 1 Samuel 5
6. 1 Samuel 5:10
7. 1 Samuel 7:2
8. Acts 13:21
9. 2 Samuel 6:14
