I Samuel 5:8 They sent therefore and gathered all the lords of the Philistines unto them, and said, What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? And they answered, Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried about unto Gath. And they carried the ark of the God of Israel about thither.
Israel had left God, and, subsequently, God had left Israel. Israel still had the Ark of the Covenant and they were still God’s special people, but they thought they had God in a box. When they fought against the Philistines, they brought the Ark of the Covenant along with them as if it were a good luck charm. The Philistines feared when they heard that the Ark of the Covenant was with Israel. However, the Philistines were merely superstitious. They served false gods and tried to appease those gods, and that was exactly the way they viewed Israel’s God. Because Israel was not obedient to God, Israel suffered defeat and the Ark of God was taken.
When the Philistines took the Ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon. Dagon was their idol. They set the Ark of the Covenant before their god. They figured, “Hey, if Israel’s God cannot give them victory, then our god has obviously given us the victory. Our god is greater than their God.” These people did not serve a god; they served a stone that had been made in the image of some beast they had created. They were superstitious. Their god was fickle, contrived, and manmade. Jehovah is God. He made us.
Imagine their thoughts when Dagon was found lying on his face before the Ark of the Lord. They came in the next morning and it had happened again, only this time his hands were cut off on the threshold of the door. From then on, the priests of Dagon did not tread on the threshold of Dagon because it was a bad omen. In other words, they didn’t have a god; they had superstition.
How did they view their god? They viewed it superstitiously. How did they view Israel’s God? They viewed Him superstitiously. How did Israel view Israel’s God? They viewed God superstitiously. You see, superstition is making guesses and making gods.
The Ark of the Covenant brought nothing but heartache and sorrow to the Philistines in Ashdod, Gath, and finally in Ekron. They kept moving the Ark around because every place it went God judged those people. But instead of trying to find out who God is and pleasing Him, they merely wanted to appease Him. They merely wanted to manipulate and control Him, even if it was by their own concessions.
The sad thing is that when the Ark of the Covenant came back to Israel, it was returning to a people who belonged to God but were essentially like the Philistines. They were making guesses and making gods. They had forgotten Who God was.
Well, the Philistines sent the Ark of the Covenant back, and they did it in a very specific way. They had a new cart pulled by two milk cows. They sent back golden representations of the plagues God had sent. They were making guesses. They didn’t know how to please this God because they didn’t have God’s law, but Israel did. Yet Israel was just as superstitious and in the dark as were the Philistines.
When you know God, you don’t need to make a guess and you don’t need to make a god. I need to bow to Who He is, not to Who I want Him to be. So many people speak of God, but they are speaking of a contrivance of their own making, a vision of a god they wish God to be. God is not who you want Him to be. God is Who He is, and He is so much better than any of us could ever imagine.
The Bible tells us in Peter that we have a more sure word of prophecy even than experience. That is the Word of God. Israel had God’s law. Israel should have known Who God is. When the Philistines asked what they should do with the Ark of the God of Israel, they were left to guessing and superstition. Israel should have asked the same question, and instead of using the Ark of the Covenant as a good luck charm, they should have bowed in submission to the God Who was associated with it.
The more you know God’s Word, the more you will know Who God is. God is not fickle, moody, or arbitrary. God is a just, righteous, merciful, and loving God. When you know God’s Word, you know God, and when you know God, you don’t have to worry, carry around a lucky rabbit’s foot, or be superstitious. You can know Who God is and live in submission to Him every day of your life and have power because you do.