The history of the tabernacle with the ark is vitally important if we would realize God’s desire concerning His building. In the previous chapter we saw that when the tabernacle was completed, six major things followed. Firstly, the glory of God Himself appeared on this earth and filled the tabernacle. The glory of God’s presence was clearly seen by His people-this is no small matter. Secondly, God spoke from the tabernacle. To receive God’s word we must come to the building of God. Thirdly, a priestly service or a priesthood was formed. Fourthly, this priesthood was also an army to fight the battle for God. Fifthly, all the battles were won with the purpose of gaining the ground for God’s building. And lastly, the tabernacle was set up as a worship center in a place called Shiloh (Josh. 18:1). From that time, any person seeking the Lord, such as Samuel’s parents (1 Sam. 1:3-9), had a definite place to go. How wonderful the situation was! But it did not last long.
During the time of Eli the priest, the people of Israel failed God. They were sinful in the eyes of God; they were wrong with God; yet they still went on to fight the battle. Of course, they were defeated (1 Sam. 4:1-2). We must realize that whenever the children of God are defeated by the enemy, it is proof that they are wrong with God. If we are rightly related to God, we can never be defeated. When we are wrong with Him, we must be defeated, for the ground is lost. We must learn this vital lesson.
Though the Israelites were defeated, they would not learn their lesson, they would not be judged and dealt with by the Lord. Rather, they developed a certain superstitious attitude concerning the power of the ark of God. Because they were wrong with God they misused the ark. They superstitiously planned to let the ark fight the battle for them (1 Sam. 4:3-9).
The ark did not help the Israelites. They were defeated, the ark was captured, and the two sons of Eli the priest, the two leaders, were killed (1 Sam. 4:10-11). The glory of God departed from the Israelites (1 Sam. 4:19-22), and the tabernacle was left empty. They retained the outward expression, but it was an empty vessel; the content was gone. The ark failed to protect them, for they had not learned their lesson.
In a sense, the Israelites were not completely superstitious in depending upon the ark to win their battle. The ark was indeed powerful, for it did protect itself. After defeating the people of Israel in battle, the Philistines placed the captured ark in their own temple, and in so doing their idol was slain. Eventually, the ark itself defeated and subdued the Philistines (1 Sam. 5). The Philistines had vanquished thousands of the Israelites in battle, but they could not vanquish the little ark. They simply did not know how to handle it nor what to do with it. Eventually they decided to send the troublesome ark back to the Israelites and did so (1 Sam. 6:1-16), sending it to Beth-shemesh. Upon receiving the ark, the people of Beth-shemesh dealt carelessly with it, and many of them were smitten by the Lord. The Beth-shemeshites then sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kirjath-jearim, asking them to take the ark to their place. Hence, the men of Kirjath-jearim fetched the ark and brought it into the house of a priest named Abinadab, where it remained for twenty years (1 Sam. 6:12-7:2).
The situation was indeed abnormal: the tabernacle with the altar was in Shiloh, but the ark was in Kirjath-jearim. The content was separated from the vessel, and the vessel was left empty. This situation prevailed until a full recovery was realized by the people of Israel. The ark must be in the tabernacle. If we would have a normal church life, we must have Christ, the ark, in the church, the tabernacle. All these events in the history of Samuel, Saul, and David occurred with only one object and purpose in view-God’s building.
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