That I may Know HIM - A Devotional

Day 2: THE ENEMY AT THE HILL OF THE LORD

Day 2: THE ENEMY AT THE HILL OF THE LORD

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After that thou shalt come to the hill of God, where is the garrison of the Philistines…

1 Samuel 10:5 (King James Version).

After that you will come to Gibeath-elohim, also known as “God’s Hill,” where the garrison of the Philistines is... (Living Bible).

What is a garrison? It is a strong military outpost; a detachment of soldiers for protecting or guarding a strategic location.

Who were the Philistines? They were Israel’s worst enemies, who fought some of the fiercest and longest wars with Israel. They still are, as a people, the most worrisome foes of the modern nation of Israel. Now they are called Palestinians.

Because of Israel’s sins, God often handed them over to be oppressed by one enemy nation after another, especially as the book of Judges clearly shows. During the time of which our text reports, which was Prophet Samuel’s dispensation, the Philistines were the dominating, controlling power over Israel.

The text seems to stress their entrenchment in Israel so strongly as to show that even the religious landmark known as “God’s Hill” had come under the influence of those uncircumcised heathen rulers of the land. That was in spite of the fact that prophets still frequently carried on their affairs around that hill. In other words, although the Hill had prophets around it, who prophesied under God’s Spirit, it was not in full possession of the prophets. If the Philistines were to issue a decree any day, that nobody should go there anymore, the ministrations around the Hill would cease (v.5). In other words, although a large measure of religious practice still went on around the place, it was only such practice as could be condoned by the enemies who were in control; only such prophesyings as they considered of no threat to their authority.

Perhaps the prophets did their thing loudly, in a show of great religious freedom. But that was only so long as the monitoring Philistine garrison close by raised no objection. That prophet was therefore deceived who felt that because the Philistine stronghold had so far raised no objection to his religious practice, their power no longer existed, or that he had, in fact, taken over control.

Alas, soon, there shall be a loud cry in the land; the ‘Philistines’ shall raise a strong voice of protest against the prophets and their ‘religious freedom.’

The hill was still called the Hill of God, but merely so in name. The divine encounters of the past that had given that location its glorious name had become mere history. O, how the Israelites longed for that ‘long ago’ before the Philistines had come and planted their garrison there! O, how they wished for the glories of God that they used to find there before the Philistines had chosen to plant their stronghold, of all places, there at the “Hill of God!”

There may still be prophesyings in the land; there may still be prophets going about in some liberty with psalteries and tabrets and pipes and harps. But the louder company of prophets no longer has the final say in that place, nor in any other place under the ‘jurisdiction’ of that Hill of God. The silent yet determinant garrison of the Philistines has become the ultimate force there.

The tragedy in point may better be expressed in the language with which the Bible, in Judges 15:20, describes the tenure of another strong leader of Israel during the oppression of the same Philistines years back:

Samson was Israel’s judge… BUT the Philistines STILL CONTROLLED the land (Living Bible).

Samson LED Israel… while the Philistines RULED the land (Good News)

And he JUDGED Israel in THE DAYS OF THE PHILISTINES… (KJV)

For twenty years, Samson was the leader in Israel, but all that while, the Philistines were the rulers. (Are we merely leaders or are we the rulers?) For twenty years he was the strong and loud ‘prophet,’ ministering, as it were, unto the Lord in Gibeath-Elohim, “God’s Hill”; but the powers that really were, were the Philistines.

And after that thou shalt come to the hill of God, where is the garrison of the Philistines: and… thither… thou shalt meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place with a psaltery, and a tabret, and a pipe, and a harp, before them; and they shall prophecy (1 Samuel 9:5).

Alas, the blind company of busy prophets doing their usual thing, unaware of the strongholds nearby that monitor and dominate them! Alas, the ever busy “procession[s]” of prophets (NIV) going up and down that Hill, oblivious of the threat of the silent and apparently indifferent but calculative foes! Alas, the prophetic commotions of music that echo from the Hill! Alas, the competitive noise of tambourines and tabrets and harps! Alas, a busy prophesying band of blind seers at the Hill of God where now there is the garrison of the wicked!

Thank God for the prophets, and the prophesyings that we hear. Thank God for the memories of the yesterdays when Gibeath-Elohim was indeed “God’s Hill,” but alas now, O Lord, the Philistines, of all places, at the hill called by Your name!