L’ARCHE DE L’ALLIANCE DE L’ETERNEL ENTRE LES MAINS DE L’ENNEMI

CHRIST THE ROCK CONGREGATION

DIMANCHE 30 MAI 2021

Sermon by Pasteur Marc Siméon

Ichabod (Part 2)

L’ARCHE DE L’ALLIANCE DE L’ETERNEL ENTRE LES MAINS DE L’ENNEMI

THE ARCH OF THE COVENANT IN THE HANDS OF THE ENEMY

1Sa 4:12 ¶ Un homme de Benjamin accourut du champ de bataille et vint à Silo le même jour, les vêtements déchirés et la tête couverte de terre.

 13 Lorsqu’il arriva, Éli était dans l’attente, assis sur un siège près du chemin, car son coeur était inquiet pour l’arche de Dieu. A son entrée dans la ville, cet homme donna la nouvelle, et toute la ville poussa des cris.

 14 Éli, entendant ces cris, dit: Que signifie ce tumulte? Et aussitôt l’homme vint apporter la nouvelle à Éli.

 15 Or Éli était âgé de quatre-vingt-dix-huit ans, il avait les yeux fixes et ne pouvait plus voir.

 16 L’homme dit à Éli: J’arrive du champ de bataille, et c’est du champ de bataille que je me suis enfui aujourd’hui. Éli dit: Que s’est-il passé, mon fils?

 17 Celui qui apportait la nouvelle dit en réponse: Israël a fui devant les Philistins, et le peuple a éprouvé une grande défaite; et même tes deux fils, Hophni et Phinées, sont morts, et l’arche de Dieu a été prise.

 18 A peine eut-il fait mention de l’arche de Dieu, qu’Éli tomba de son siège à la renverse, à côté de la porte; il se rompit la nuque et mourut, car c’était un homme vieux et pesant. Il avait été juge en Israël pendant quarante ans.

 19 ¶ Sa belle-fille, femme de Phinées, était enceinte et sur le point d’accoucher. Lorsqu’elle entendit la nouvelle de la prise de l’arche de Dieu, de la mort de son beau-père et de celle de son mari, elle se courba et accoucha, car les douleurs la surprirent.

 20 Comme elle allait mourir, les femmes qui étaient auprès d’elle lui dirent: Ne crains point, car tu as enfanté un fils! Mais elle ne répondit pas et n’y fit pas attention.

 21 Elle appela l’enfant I-Kabod, en disant: La gloire est bannie d’Israël! C’était à cause de la prise de l’arche de Dieu, et à cause de son beau-père et de son mari.

 22 Elle dit: La gloire est bannie d’Israël, car l’arche de Dieu est prise!

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1Sa 4:12 ¶ Then a man of Benjamin ran from the battle line the same day, and came to Shiloh with his clothes torn and dirt on his head.

 13 Now when he came, there was Eli, sitting on a seat by the wayside watching, for his heart trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came into the city and told it, all the city cried out.

 14 When Eli heard the noise of the outcry, he said, “What does the sound of this tumult mean?” And the man came quickly and told Eli.

 15 Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes were so dim that he could not see.

 16 Then the man said to Eli, “I am he who came from the battle. And I fled today from the battle line.” And he said, “What happened, my son?”

 17 So the messenger answered and said, “Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has been a great slaughter among the people. Also your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead; and the ark of God has been captured.”

 18 Then it happened, when he made mention of the ark of God, that Eli fell off the seat backward by the side of the gate; and his neck was broken and he died, for the man was old and heavy. And he had judged Israel forty years.

 19 ¶ Now his daughter-in-law, Phinehas’ wife, was with child, due to be delivered; and when she heard the news that the ark of God was captured, and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and gave birth, for her labor pains came upon her.

 20 And about the time of her death the women who stood by her said to her, “Do not fear, for you have borne a son.” But she did not answer, nor did she regard it.

 21 Then she named the child Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel!” because the ark of God had been captured and because of her father-in-law and her husband.

 22 And she said, “The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured.”

INTRODUCTION

• We are making headways toward the end of these series on the life and the ministry of Prophet Samuel.
• We started with his birth and his dedication to God by his parents.
• We highlighted Samuel’s first encounter with God while he was still a child.
• We emphasized on the negative environment Samuel grew up in, yet he set out to become an outstanding and upright leader.
• We talked out the behavior of the House of Eli and licentious lifestyle of his two sons.
• We talked about how God’s wrath was growing like a volcano to the point of eruption, yet the old High Priest was vague about it.
• Last week we began to speak about the high cost of tolerance in the things of God.
• We’ve seen how people illusion themselves thinking that they can steer God with lips service.
• On that fateful day, 34000 Israelites lost their lives, including the two sons of Eli.
• That day was indeed apocalyptic in every aspect for the frail nation of Israel.
• The entire nation was in lamentation and shock.  
• Not a doom’s day for some but a doom’s day for all the Jews.
• You did not have to be a member of the family of Eli to be sad on that day.
• You did not have to lose a family member to be sad on that day.
• If you were an Israelite, you were automatically torn apart.
• The Arch of the Covenant was seized; the sons of the High Priest were killed in the battlefield; 34000 Israelite soldiers killed, and the dominion of the Philistines to be enhanced.
• If Jeremiah was living in that era, there would have been two books of Lamentations in the Bible.

THE REMORSE OF ELI

• Eli had long lost his authority over the land, because of age and because of God’s rejection of his family.
• He exercised no right as to what to do with the Arch of the Covenant although he was very concerned.
• His belligerent sons were running the show at that time and these two had no concept of the fear of God.
• As a veteran in the job, Eli knew about the sense of awe that was due to the Arch of the Covenant because it symbolized the presence of God.
• Although Eli gradually lost his intimacy with God over the tolerance of his sons, but he was reminiscent of how God should be revered.
• The absence of Arch from the temple at Shiloh made the old man very nervous.
• Nothing was done to shield the old man from the news that was coming.
• As his heart grew weary over the whole scene, he heard the noises of tumults and lamentations coming from the city.

1 Samuel 4: 12-17

12 ¶ Un homme de Benjamin accourut du champ de bataille et vint à Silo le même jour, les vêtements déchirés et la tête couverte de terre.

 13 Lorsqu’il arriva, Éli était dans l’attente, assis sur un siège près du chemin, car son cœur était inquiet pour l’arche de Dieu. A son entrée dans la ville, cet homme donna la nouvelle, et toute la ville poussa des cris.

 14 Éli, entendant ces cris, dit: Que signifie ce tumulte? Et aussitôt l’homme vint apporter la nouvelle à Éli.

 15 Or Éli était âgé de quatre-vingt-dix-huit ans, il avait les yeux fixes et ne pouvait plus voir.

 16 L’homme dit à Éli: J’arrive du champ de bataille, et c’est du champ de bataille que je me suis enfui aujourd’hui. Éli dit: Que s’est-il passé, mon fils?

 17 Celui qui apportait la nouvelle dit en réponse: Israël a fui devant les Philistins, et le peuple a éprouvé une grande défaite; et même tes deux fils, Hophni et Phinées, sont morts, et l’arche de Dieu a été prise.

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1Sa 4:12 ¶ Then a man of Benjamin ran from the battle line the same day, and came to Shiloh with his clothes torn and dirt on his head.

 13 Now when he came, there was Eli, sitting on a seat by the wayside watching, for his heart trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came into the city and told it, all the city cried out.

 14 When Eli heard the noise of the outcry, he said, “What does the sound of this tumult mean?” And the man came quickly and told Eli.

 15 Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes were so dim that he could not see.

 16 Then the man said to Eli, “I am he who came from the battle. And I fled today from the battle line.” And he said, “What happened, my son?”

 17 So the messenger answered and said, “Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has been a great slaughter among the people. Also your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead; and the ark of God has been captured.”

• We are reminded of the lone survivors who came to inform Job of his predicaments.
• This man who escaped the battlefield to bring the news was from the Tribe of Benjamin, one the elite Tribe of Israel.
• The men of Benjamin were known for their bravery. On that fateful day, there was no good news to tell.
• As mentioned, Eli was old, heavy and blind, but he wasn’t deaf.
• He enquired of the outcry coming from the city.
• The survivor dropped a bombshell on the old man, ignoring how the 98 years old veteran might react.
• 17 So the messenger answered and said, (1) “Israel has fled before the Philistines, (2) there has been a great slaughter among the people. (3) Also your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead; (4) and the ark of God has been captured.”
• When the news of the Arch of the Covenant permeated his psyches, the old Man lost consciousness, fell on his back, broke his neck and died.
• The old man died with a guilty conscience.
• Everyone wish to leave a good legacy behind you.
• No one wants their names to be associated with failure or disaster.
• Eli knew that it was his behavior that drew that calamity upon the people.
• The one thing he was hired to do was to instill the knowledge and the fear of God upon the land, and he failed miserably on the task.
• The emblems of his life, his two sons were killed on the battlefield.
• What else to live for, Eli was better dead than alive.

THE REACTION OF PHINEHAS’ WIFE

19 ¶ Now his daughter-in-law, Phinehas’ wife, was with child, due to be delivered; and when she heard the news that the ark of God was captured, and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and gave birth, for her labor pains came upon her.

• Another unlikely victim was still on the path of the judgment of God.
• The silent or frustrated wife.
• No one knows how to judge the wives of the sons of Eli.
• Did they condone or condemn what their husbands were doing.
• Some wives are numbed to the ways their husbands earned their livings.
• Some wives try to steer their husbands to the right path with their limited influence over him.
• Some wives manage to walk away from the situation in order to avoid the judgment of God.
• Some wives take matters into their own hands in their effort to fix the wrongs of their husbands even when the husbands are not aware of it.
• We have no clue as to what kind of a person Phinehas’ wife was.
• We know that she was a very emotional person.
• The news was too graphic for an expectant mother.
• Same as Eli, no one sought to protect her.
• Each person laments the lost of a loved one differently.
• Example of the lady who wanted to hold back her cries over the passing of her best friend for fear of being mocked.
• She went on to say: Mwen byen anvi krye pou intel, se pa ti krye mwen anvi krye; mwen pa vle jenn vagabond yo pran plezi sou mwen.” Lol
• She was crying while uttering these words which made it so funny.
• The young men had a greater kick out of it than they would if she simple cried.
• The wife of priest Phinehas went to a complete shock.
• She delivered the baby on the spot.
• She was speechless for a longtime.
• She was presumed dead.
• And then she gained enough strength to give the name of the child.
• The insistence of giving the name right away means that she was dying and there was no longer a husband in the picture to carry on with the naming.
• If she died in the process, she died with the same concern as Eli.
• The absence of the Arch of God in the territory of Israel was unbearable to her and to all.
• So many are waited for a divorce paper to show their emotions.
• So many are waiting for a call from the police station concerning their sons and daughter to show their emotions.
• So many are waiting for a vital reaction from God to steer them to repentance and action when they wasted ample of time to do so.

THE GLORY OF GOD HAS DEPARTED FROM ISRAEL

• God had checked out a long time ago but the presence of the Arch and the religious ceremonies prevented them from seeing that.
• Don’t wait for a disaster to check to see if God is in your camp.
• That was the end of a dynasty of people who kept on insulting God.
• People are always shocked when God says enough is enough.
• Some won’t leave the job although they no longer sense the presence of God.
• Sometimes, God is left with no choice but to kill certain people in order to clear the way for the nextleader in line.
• God knew what he was doing.
• The Bible says that God was on His throne the day of the flood of Noah.
• The horrific scene of the end of the house of Eli was rehearsed by God a million times over.
• Eli was warned about what God was about to do and did nothing to deter the wrath of God from his house and from the nation.
• Unfortunately, we too often wait for disaster to strike before we take God seriously.
• In the house of Eli sat least 4 people died on that day if the wife of Phinehas also died after giving birth to Ikabod.
• The glory of God has departed from Israel.
• It is so sad to say that the glory of God keeps on departing from places of worship, from families, from countries while no one takes notice.

CONCLUSION

• We have at least two or three more messages in these series on the life of Samuel.
• I know that God is very intentional in sending these messages to the church and to all the thousands of people that this message will reach.
• You don’t have to follow the path of Eli who stood naively still while waiting for the judgment of God.
• God is probably giving you the last warning through these messages.
• How is the glory of God manifested in you?
• Is the glory of God still shinning upon you?
• Prolong disobedience is a sure sign that God has checked out in the lives of illusionned Christians.
• Genuine Christianity is authentic.
• It is a state of being that only reflects the present stand with God; not the past.
• God is eternally present; he who desires to maintain a relationship with God must be viable at all times.
• Never pick rituals over relationship with God.
• Never take God for granted.
• Never neglect the person that God establishes to carry his word.
• Never tempt God by putting Him in a situation to act outside of His will.
• Never listen to the voice of the people when it contradicts the voice of God.

6. Never try to fix a defeat without first consulting the leadings of God on the matter.

7. Never follow carnal leaders blindly.

8. Never assume leadership in the things of God if God did not establish you in that post.

9. Never think that God is weak when you experience defeat.

10. Never think it’s over when it seems over. So long that God seats on His throne, He will work all things for His glory.

• This message is equally for me as it is for you.
• We all need to be doers of Word and not mere hearers of the Word of God.
• Next week God willing, we will prolong in the story of Samuel as we target another angle in the life of this extraordinary man of God named Samuel.
• May God add His blessings upon His Word.

AMEN!