The Power of God!
Dear Lord, I pray for wisdom to know the power of the God of Israel to subdue foreign gods and more. In Jesus name, amen.
When the Philistines were victorious over Israel, as described in 1 Samuel 4, they brought the Ark of the Covenant to various cities. In the city of Ashdod, the ark was placed next to the Philistines’ god Dagon. The first night, the statue of Dagon fell face down on the ground before the ark. After being put up the next day, Dagon’s statue fell the next night, and the head and hands were cut off.
When the ark was taken to other cities, the people developed tumors.
1 Samuel 5:11-12 (ESV) tells us the Philistines in the City of Ekron was in a panic when the ark was brought into the city.
“So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. But as soon as the ark of God came to Ekron, the people of Ekron cried out, ‘They have brought around to us the ark of the God of Israel to kill us and our people.’ They sent therefore and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines and said, ‘Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it return to its own place, that it may not kill us and our people.’ For there was a deathly panic throughout the whole city. The hand of God was very heavy there. The men who did not die were struck with tumors, and the cry of the city went up to heaven.”
Scripture records how scared the Philistines were of the ark and the God of Israel.
They had to decide what to do with the ark.
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