_And the ark of God was in the country of the Philistines._ TERRIBLE ASPECTS OF GOD’S CHARACTER At last the ark leaves the land of the Philistines. For seven terrible months it had spread among them anxiety, terror, and death. Nothing but utter ruin seemed likely to spring from a longer residence o... [ Continue Reading ]
_Send it not empty._ SUPERSTITION THE APE OF TRUE DEVOTION These superstitious priests can counsel them not to send away the ark of God empty, but to give it a sin offering. They had not lived so far away from the smoke of Jewish altars, but that they knew God was accustomed to manifold oblations.... [ Continue Reading ]
_What shall be the trespass offering?_ OFFERINGS TO THE GODS The idea of presenting offerings to the gods corresponding with the object in connection with which they were presented was often given effect to by heathen nations. “Those saved from shipwreck offered pictures of the shipwreck, or of th... [ Continue Reading ]
_It was a chance that happened to us._ THE MINISTRY OF CHANCE The world believes in chance, and without doubt there is some ground for its belief, but whether that ground constitutes a real foundation we may doubt. What does chance mean? It means that it is something which happens, falls out, with... [ Continue Reading ]
_Lowing as they went._ THE HEART GOING TOWARD HEAVEN How many, many times have men gone by their tears to the gate of heaven who never could have been drawn there by the mere presentation of truth. As the kine went lowing with the ark, so the heart goes lowing toward heaven, seeking its own, and f... [ Continue Reading ]
_And they of Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley._ THE HARVEST FIELD The words of the text give a harvest scene. I. Signs from God. Every harvest scene is a new Divine revelation. Thousands of years have rolled away since He promised that “while the earth remaineth, seed t... [ Continue Reading ]
_And He smote the men of Beth-shemesh, because they had Looked into the ark of the Lord._ IRREVERENT CURIOSITY The prying men of Beth-shemesh have had their counterparts many a time in more recent days. Many men, with strong theological proclivities, have evinced a strong desire to pry into the “se... [ Continue Reading ]