That I may Know HIM - A Devotional

Day 23: And the Philistines Drew Near TO BATTLE

Day 23: And the Philistines Drew Near TO BATTLE

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And as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel: but the LORD thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and discomfited them; and they were smitten before Israel.

1 Samuel 7:10.

1. At the Time of Sacrifice

Our text reports: "but the LORD thundered with a great thunder ON THAT DAY upon the Philistines." What day was that? The preceding verse describes the day very well. But before that, a little into the past.

The second and third chapters of 1 Samuel tell the moral and spiritual decline not only in the priesthood but also among the people of Israel. Chapter 4 presents the consequences of that backsliding: Israel was defeated shamefully in battle, the ark of God was captured, and the priesthood was severely judged. Chapters 5 and 6 give the account of the sojourn of the captured ark of God in the land of Philistia, and its return to Kiriath Jearim (Kirjath-jearim, KJV). Israel did not automatically return from their backsliding after that episode. Twenty years afterwards, "all the house of Israel lamented after the LORD" (7:1). A revival was in the air. That was the season of total national heartfelt repentance towards God. The repentance bore good fruits, for "Then [in that season] the children of Israel did put away Baalim and Ashtaroth, and served the LORD ONLY" (v.4).

They not only put away all their "strange gods"; they did not only keep themselves far from idols, they sought ways of drawing near to God. They fasted and confessed their sins (v.6); they prayed; they sought deliverance, through the aid of the prophet Samuel, from the oppression of the Philistines whom their own sins had imposed over them as bitter oppressors (v.8). On "that day" in Mizpeh they had come only one step of burnt-sacrifice away from God’s decisive intervention.

It was in such a season that the Philistines "drew near to battle against Israel." Why that time of all times? After all, they had condoned the Israelites all the while. What was special about the new religious move in Israel, for them to want to crush it? In fact, the Philistine move was not merely the agitation of some ‘jobless youths.’ It had the very "lords of the Philistines" behind it (v.7). They hatched the plot. They initiated the move, even though they were going to use others, who had known nothing of their plot, but who shared their ethnic sentiments. Samuel’s burnt offering was going to mark the turning point in Israel’s relationship as servants to the oppressive Philistines. The lords of the Philistines knew it; so they had to ensure that the revival in Israel did not get to that highpoint of national breakthrough by burnt sacrifice of the young lamb (v.9), which lamb was a pointer to another Lamb - "the Lamb of God, which taketh way the sin of the world" (John 1:20).

In the twenty years while Israel played religion and wallowed in idolatry, the Philistines appeared to have bothered little. But as soon as the Israelites, in a national repentance involving "all," began the relevant steps towards God; as soon as they began the symbolic offering of themselves wholly to God as a sacrifice, the Philistines began to bother and began to react.

It appears the Philistines often stayed close enough to monitor developments in Israel, so as to know when to strike. Here, it was at the time of a priestly/prophetic sacrifice. In 2 Samuel 5:17-21, it was during a kingly anointing function - the crowning of David as king - which they sought to frustrate.

2. At the Place of Sacrifice

Where was all this taking place? What was the setting or location of this impending ‘mother’ of all confrontations between Israel and the Philistines? It was Mizpeh, the place where the people of God fasted and confessed their sins (v.6); Mizpeh, the place of the all-important altar of sacrifice to God; Mizpeh, which had been the base of some of the ancient deliverers of Israel, such as Jephthah (Judges 11:34), Samuel (v.16), and so on. There also, Jacob had drawn the line with Leban (Genesis 31:49).