A Loss is a Gain

“And the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain.” (1Sa 4:11 AV)

On the face of it, it might seem God lost here.  The ark of the covenant was brought from Shiloh to the battlefield.  The thinking was using the ark of the covenant as a token or talisman.  A good luck charm, if you will.  They believed if the ark of the covenant came, God was bound to give them success.  So, when the Philistine army seized the ark of the covenant in battle, it may have seemed like God lost.  We know, from hindsight, that this is not true.  God allowed the ark of the covenant to be taken so that the Philistines would know, once and for all, who the true God is.

When the Philistines brought the ark of the covenant to Gaza, they put it in the house of their god, Dagon.  Dagon was a god with the head, face, torso, and arms of a man on a fish’s tail.  Think of a mermaid.  He was the god of fertility and prosperity.  Believing all life came from water, this god was worshipped by many cultures.  As the practice went, if you conquered your enemy, it was believed your god was stronger than the god of the nation who fell.  When the Philistines brought the ark into the house of Dagon, it was a statement that Dagon was mightier than Jehovah.  God divinely interceded and desecrated the statue of Dagon.  The response of the Philistines was to remove the ark to a different city.  While there, a great plague fell on the people wherein many died.  They moved the ark again.  In each city to which the ark came to rest, the city suffered the same plague and death.  The Philistines reasoned it was better to return the ark than to continue to suffer from its presence.  What they did, though, speaks volumes as to why the LORD allowed them to suffer what seemed like a loss.

The Philistines built a brand new ox cart.  They placed the ark on that cart along with golden idols to appease Jehovah.  They then took two nursing cows and strapped them to the cart.  With their calves in the opposite direction and set the cart in motion.  Naturally, the nursing mothers would have followed their young calves back into the territory of the Philistines.  If God was the cause of the ark being a curse to the Philistines, then it would return to Israel regardless of the natural instincts of the bovine.  The Philistines stated if the cart were to travel back to Israel, then all the misfortune they had experienced by the presence of the ark was not caused by the ark but was merely coincidental.  I think it is rather humorous the Philistines could not figure this out with all the death and illness and the desecration of their god which they had already suffered.  They figured they had to orchestrate impossible circumstances for God to prove Himself.

The point to be made here is that sometimes, God allows what might seem like a loss so that a greater victory can be had.  When the ark was lost, Eli, his sons, and his daughter-in-law all died as a result.  Eli’s two sons died because of their wickedness.  But Eli and his daughter-in-law died because the ark was taken.  They saw the loss of the ark as solely a loss.  They never considered it could be part of God’s bigger plan.  When we are discouraged because it seems like God is losing, just remember God never loses.  He is sovereign.  He is always in control.  He will not share His glory with another.  God has this.  He has lost nothing.  Those who think they have scored one against Jehovah have no idea who they are messing with.  It may seem like things are going backward, but God always has the last word.