Israel disobeyed God by bringing the Ark of the Covenant to the battlefield. Israel lost the battle to the Philistines, and they lost the Ark of the Covenant too.
The idol-worshipping enemies of God then brought the Ark to their own temple. The next morning their idol, Dagon, had fallen down. They stood him up. On the second day, Dagon had fallen and his head and hands had broken off. The Philistines wisely left the Ark where it was. But God struck the Philistines with illnesses and death. So they moved the Ark to a different city—and the illnesses came with it. “They had emerods in their secret parts” 1 Samuel 5:9. God struck the Philistines with hemorrhoids. Can you imagine?
Eventually, the Philistines moved the Ark again and again, from Ashdod to Gath to Ekron. And the Lord struck the people of each city, “the hand of the Lord was against the city with a very great destruction, and he smote the men of the city, both small and great, and they had emerods in their secret parts” 1 Samuel 5:9.
Finally, the Philistines were finished playing with Israel’s good luck charm. They sent the Ark home on a cart pulled by two cows—and the cows, who left behind their nursing calves, miraculously pulled the Ark back to Israel.
So God rescued the holy Ark and brought it home to Israel. What did his people do with this sacred box that belonged in the tabernacle? Well, they opened it up and looked inside, what else?
Did they treat the Ark with the respect it deserved? No.
Did they treat the things of God with the appropriate fear of God? No.
“And God smote the men of Beth-Shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the Lord, even he smote of the people fifty thousand and threescore and ten men. And the people lamented, because the Lord had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter. And the men of Beth-Shemesh said, ‘Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God?” 1 Samuel 6:19-20.
How many men died because they failed to respect the Ark of the Lord? Fifty thousand, 50,070. (That is, 50,000 Hebrews died. We don’t know how many Philistines died of severe hemorrhoids and whatever other pestilence they may have suffered.)
But to lose over 50,000 Israelites because they wanted a peek into the sacred things of God? That seems ridiculous. When will these people learn? As a matter of fact, Israel lost only 30,000 men in the battle in which the Philistines captured the Ark. So they lost almost twice as many men when the Ark was miraculously returned as they had lost when they fumbled the Ark in the first place.
But why did fifty thousand, three score and ten men die? What is so wrong about looking into the Ark?
They failed to have the proper fear of God. They failed to reverence God. Even after the miracles in Egypt and countless other lessons about God’s holiness, the men of Israel once again began to take everything about God too casually.
We must take God seriously. We must fear him. Revere him. Honor him.
We should come to God. We should love him. We should “Come boldly before the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy” (Hebrews 4:16), but we must come to God with reverence.
I think of a cliff. It is exciting to stand on the edge of a cliff. You do not need to be afraid of the cliff. You can walk up to the edge and look over. But you absolutely better respect that cliff and the danger that it represents. To fear God is to maintain both the excitement about the astounding view—you are drawn to him and all that knowing him represents—but you are also careful, respectful, and cautious. God is holy and other and higher than we are, and we must remember that and fear that.
“When we see Him face-to-face in all His awesome holiness and blazing glory, it will seem incredible to us that we ever had a casual thought in relation to him” Joy Dawson.[1]
Dear God, teach us to love you more and to fear you appropriately! Startle us and fill us with the AWE of God.
AΩ.
[1] As quoted in The Awe of God: the Astounding Way a Healthy Fear of God Transforms Your Life, by John Bevere.
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