Good Luck Charms: Daily Thoughts from 1 Samuel (1 Samuel 4:1-11)

As a baseball fan I am tantalized by the superstitions many players have about how to insure victory or a continuation of good playing. If they were wearing certain socks when they got a homerun, they keep wearing them every game. If they had a certain breakfast on a day they pitched a shut-out, that breakfast is on the menu every game day. These items become talismans, good luck charms.

But we are in danger of investing even more such superstition in holy objects, as witness Israel’s battle against the Philistines.

And the word of Samuel came to all Israel.

Now Israel went out to battle against the Philistines. They encamped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines encamped at Aphek. The Philistines drew up in line against Israel, and when the battle spread, Israel was defeated before the Philistines, who killed about four thousand men on the field of battle. And when the people came to 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, that it may come among us and save us from the power of our enemies.” So the people sent to Shiloh and brought from there the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts, who is enthroned on the cherubim. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.

As soon as the ark of the covenant of the LORD came into the camp, all Israel gave a mighty shout, so that the earth resounded. And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shouting, they said, “What does this great shouting in the camp of the Hebrews mean?” And when they learned that the ark of the LORD had come to the camp, the Philistines were afraid, for they said, “A god has come into the camp.” 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? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with every sort of plague in the wilderness. Take courage, and be men, O Philistines, lest you become slaves to the Hebrews as they have been to you; be men and fight.”

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 4:1-11, ESV)

As Samuel’s star is in the ascendancy, the nation of Israel is still making bad decisions, the same kind we saw in the book of Judges. God has allowed the Philistines to encroach on their territory because they have not been worshiping Yahweh aright. When they are defeated in the first battle at the cost of 4,000 lives, they ask the correct question, “Why has Yahweh defeated us today?” But they don’t go to the right place for the answer. Samuel is receiving the word of Yahweh. They should have gone to him. Instead, they reach for a talisman, an object believed to have magic powers, and their talisman is the ark of the covenant stored out of human sight in the holy of holies within the Tabernacle. It shows their great lack of understanding about who Yahweh is.

The Philistines misunderstand also, believing that the gods have come into Israel’s camp. But their fear stirs them to greater efforts and they give Israel a resounding defeat and capture the ark, killing Eli’s two wicked sons. God’s prophecy through the man of God has come true (chapter 3).

What do we cling to instead of God to bring us whatever victory we think we need? Is the Bible a talisman to us, is prayer, is being in the church building, or is a person in our life our talisman? Whatever it is, it isn’t the Lord and it will not bring the victory we so desire. Ask the right question and go to the right source to get that question answered. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.