Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1889-07-12
ELS S0RROWFUL DEATH.
LESSON u, THIRD QUARTER, INTER-
NATIONAL SERIES, JULY ID.

Text of the Lesson, ] Sam. Nv. 1-1S-Com-
init to Memory Verses 17-1s-Golden
Text, I Sam. iii, 13-Commentary by
the Rev. ID. NJ. stearns.
compiled from Lesson Helper Quarterly by per
mission of ii. S. Hoffman, publisher, Philade-
phial
When Samuel told to Eli the message from
the Lord the attitude of his heart towards
God is made manifest in his reply: ut is the
Lord; let Him do what seemeth Him good
His meek submission is commendable, but
prompt and decisive dealings with his sons
would have been better
l. 1.-THE word of Samuel came to all Israeli
That is the word of the Lord through Samuel,
for he, as the Lords prophet, would speak
the Lords message alag. /, 49,; and thus all
Israel would know through him the will Of
the Lord.
g ''Israel was smitten before the Philis-
tines" This indicates that God was not with
them, for had He been in their midst victory
would have been certain lone should chase
a thousand and two put ten thousand TO
flight" He had promised to fight for them
when He sent them forth Oeut i, 30; iii, %
xxi, 30, so that this going out against the
enemy and this defeat was not the result Of
Gods leading.
g. "Let us fetch the ark of the covenant of
the Lord; y it may save u.s." They did
not look to the Lord to save them, they vera
not at this time worshiping Him, but idols,
and they speak of this holy vessel as if it
were an idol which perhaps may have more
power than the other idols which they wor-
shiped but their iniquities had separated
between them and God, and their sins had
hid His face from them.
4. $50 the people sent to Shiloh, that they
might bring from thence the ark of the cove
nant of the Lord of Hosts, which dwelleth
between the cherubinn Thus they add sin
to sin and are so blinded that they see not the
enormity of this sin. Consider the signif-
canoe of this holy vessel, mentioned eleven
times in this chapter, and that its place in
the tabernacle was in the Holy of Holes into
which the High Priest alone entered but once
year and never without the blood of the
sacrifice typifying the blood of Jesus Christ
consider also the expression ''dwelleth between
the cherubim" found here for the first time
and only seven times in all Scripture III Sam.
vi, 2; II Kings xix, Is; Chr. xiii, g.; Ps Xxx
/; xcix, l. Isa. xxxvii, TO-; carrying us back
to Elk. XIV, 90, where we find its origin. The
Lord of Hosts will be entreated by, and do
great things for, every penitent heart that
humbly seeks Him, but when such blind and
blasphemous hands approach Him they can
only expect His wrath.
5. "All Israel shouted with a great shout :"
1t was not like the great shout when the walls
of Jericho fell, or when the foundation of the
second temple was laid Josh. vi, 20; Ezra iii,
lib, for then it was shout because the
Lord was in their midst and the work was
for His glory, but this was simply the shout
of Israel without reference to the glo-y of
God; it may have been a louder shout than
on the other occasions, but it was all noise
with no power to it.
60 God is come into the camp When
the Phiistines heard the shout. and under
stood the cause of it, they were afraid, sup
posing the ark was Israel's God as Dagon was
theirs, but although they tremble at the pos
sible results, remembering what they had
heard of the wonders in Egypt and in the
wilderness, they are ready to make trial
of the power of their god against Is
raels God and urge their soldiers to
be strong and quit themselves like
men, lest they become servants to the He
brews. 1t is not to be wondered at that the
Philistines knew not the God of Israel nor His
mighty power, when Israel knew not their
own God nor relied upon Him.
TO- Israel was smtten; there
fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen." Is
rael was chosen to rely upon God that He
might shew forth His power, and whenever
she failed to do so her defeat was sure. Two
things were required of her; that she should
be Holy and by implicit reliance upon, and
obedience to her God, magnify His name.
The same two things are required now of
every Christian and of every church.
IL. THE ark of God was taken;
the two sons of Eli were slain" The next
two chapters tell of the journeyings Of the
ark in the land of the Philistines, and how
the hand of the Lord was against the people
wherever it rested until they were glad to re-
turn it to Israel with an offering.
12-17 "Eli sat upon a seat by the wayside,
watching, for his heart trembled for the ark
of God" Only twice outside of these first
four chapters of l Samuel do we find the
name Of Eli in the Bible CHAP xiv, 8;
Kings, ii, 20, yet he lived to be % years old
and judged Israel forty years. He does not
seem to have walked very closely with God
or to have been very intimate with Him, fol-
the only two special messages which we read
Of God giving to him were not direct but
through others, as in last weeks lesson
through the child Samuel and in chap. ii, 81
through a man of God whose name is moi
mentioned. And as we see him in thest
verses, watching and tremblingy waiting fol
tidings from the army, his heart, like the
hearts Of the people, seems to be more upor
the ark and its safety than upon God and Hi
glory, as if a minister should now say OF
think that if his church, or even denomina
ton, should go to smash, the caus'
Of Christ would perish. The sam,
thought seems to have been in tn,
heart of the wife of Phinehas who died thai
same day lamenting the death Of her father
in-law and her husband and that the ark o
God was taken, saying The glory is depart
ed from Israel" She and her father-in-lav
were wonderfully interested in the ark anC
its safety all at once, while it seems to hav,
neither troubled nor benefited them mucl
while it was in its place in the Holy of Holes
and that the holy vessel should fall into tn
hands of the Philistines seems to have BEEF
in their sight far more grievous thing thai
that Hophni and Phinehas should daily breal
the holy commandments of God, written b,
His own finger on the tablets Of stone con
tanned in the ark. The glory of Israel was no
the house of Eli of which four died that day
nor even the ark itself, precious holy vesse
though il WAS. hut God Himself the ord n