God’s Holiness
1 Samuel 5:1-12
Introduction
The holiness of God is not something to be played with. God's Ark of the Covenant is described as the holiness of God. The God we worship is not only the God of the Israelites but, the God of every human being, including the Philistines. In this passage, the Philistines try to violate God's holiness. They thought that the god they worshiped could be compared to the God the Israelites worshipped. This essay will explain God's Statement that He is the only God worthy of worship.
Content
The Philistines took the ark of God. When the Philistines defeated the Israelites, they took the ark of God and took it to Ashdod. The philistines at that time did not know that they should not carelessly take hold of the ark of the covenant of God. The sins committed by the philistines were unintentional sins. However, even though this is an unintentional sin whose name is sin, it is still a sin. God punished them for their actions by humiliating them so that they could return the ark of God to the Israelites.
The Philistines placed the ark of God beside Dagon or the god they worshiped. The purpose of the Philistines placed the ark of God by Dagon's side was to offer their victory to their god. They wanted to show that God had been defeated by Dagon but this philistine was wrong. God revealed himself to the philistines by destroying Dagon. The Dagon fell with his head facing the ground and his hands were cut off. This was a disgrace to the Israelites. God reveals himself to this with the aim of telling him that no one can match or defeat God.
God taught the people of Ashdod a lesson for their actions against the Ark of Allah. The calamity of the ulcers that befell the people of Ashdod was terrible. The ulcers appeared from children to adults so that great chaos occurred in the nation. The reaction of the Ashdod to the disaster that befell them brought them to realize that the Ark of Allah is not something to be played with. And finally, they moved the Ark of God to Gath, then it was moved again to Ekron and then the Ark of God was brought back to Israel.
POV
The Ark of Allah represents the holiness of Allah. Why was the Ark stolen and later on returned by the Ashdod and Ekron? Because the Philistines thought that the Ark of God was the god of the Israelites, after the victory the Philistines made them proud. They took the ark of God from the Israelites in order to show their god Dagon that Dagon had defeated God. But some time later after Allah revealed Himself to the people of Ashdod by humiliating them and even giving them a catastrophic illness, the people of Ashdod realized their deeds and decided to return them to Israel. The lesson that can be drawn from this is that we should not play with the holiness of God. Allah is the only God we can worship. Even if there are other gods, let us not equate with our God. Because in the book of Exodus God commands us not to worship other gods.
Conclusion
God can reveal Himself in some ways that can surprise us. God wants us to worship Him as the only God. In this passage, it is explained that the philistines became proud of their victory over the Israelites which led them to seize the ark of God. Because of this, God gave a lesson to the Philistines so that the Philistines realized that the Ark of God or the holiness of God should not be toyed with. The lesson for us is to let us obey every commandment that God gives us.
References
King James Bible Version
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