Ancient Aquaman: The Fish-god Bows

 Evil cannot stand in the Presence of our Holy God. He is so utterly good and perfect that His very Presence is the undoing of evil. Throughout Scripture God’s Presence is described as an all-consuming fire that destroys his enemies. But for his own people, In His Presence there is fullness of joy.

 

While God is not confined to a box and he does not dwell in any object made by human hands, the Ark of the LORD represented God’s Presence among his people. It was a reminder of the special covenant he had made with the nation of Israel and that is why we call it the Ark of the Covenant.

 

1 Samuel 5 records a remarkable event that occurred when both the Philistines and even God’s own people the Israelites failed to show enough respect for the Presence of God.

 

The Israelites had been defeated in battle because of the sins of Eli’s wicked sons Hophni and Phinehas. These miscreants were charged with ministering before God and atoning for the sins of the people but these perverse priests had disrespected the sacrifices, preventing them from being offered properly and gorging themselves upon the best meats. They had committed sexual abuse against the women who served at the entrance to the tabernacle.  Both of these wicked priests were killed on the very same day as the army of Israel was routed by the Philistine army, which then carried off the Ark of the Covenant into their territory to the city of Ashdod.

 

After the Philistines had captured the ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod, brought it into the temple of Dagon and placed it next to his statue. When the people of Ashdod got up early the next morning there was Dagon, fallen with his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD. So they took Dagon and returned him to his place. But when they got up early the next morning there was Dagon, fallen with his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD. This time, Dagon’s head and both of his hands were broken off and lying on the threshold. Only Dagon’s torso remained.  -1 Samuel 5:1-4

 

1. Yahweh is the God above all other gods

 

The Philistines treated the Ark of the Covenant as a trophy of war. For thousands of years it was common for large ceremonial chests to be carried in front of armies, but this container was different as it carried a different type of treasure. On top of the ark was a seat—representing a place for God himself to sit—not inside of the box, but upon the seat of honor, watching over his people. The Philistines had been afraid when they heard the ark was in Israel’s camp, but after capturing it, they placed it in a subjugated position to Dagon, perhaps expecting blessings from adding this new god. These Philistines likely believed that their god had granted them victory over the God of Israel. Pagans such as these believed that gods actually inhabited idols, which are statues carved or sculpted by human hands, but Yahweh, the one true God, is the God above all others and in the morning, the statue was discovered lying in a position of worship, prostrated before the LORD. They returned the statue to its full and upright position.

 

On the second morning, the statue was decapitated and missing its hands with only the torso remaining. Dagan's knocked off noggin reflected the fate that often awaited conquered kings. Yahweh had defeated Dagon, who like all other idols, was a false god. In the ancient world, hands represented power and control. The severing of the statues hands would indicate that it was completely powerless. The reason no mention is made of the feet is that the statue probably did not have any. You see, the land of the Philistines is near to the great sea, the Mediterranean. Dagon was a fish-god and his idol was usually crafted in a form we might recognize as a merman.

 

 

God graciously granted the Philistines a sign to show them He was not to be trifled with, but they did not immediately get the message. They failed to understand and respect his very real presence among them.

 

2. Evil Cannot Abide in the Presence of God

 

The Lord’s hand was heavy on the people of Ashdod and its territory and afflicted them with tumors. When the people of Ashdod saw what was happening, they said, “The ark of Israel’s God must not stay here with us, because his hand is strongly against us and our god Dagon... (1 Samuel 5:6-7)

 

So the ark was relocated to Gath.

 

After they had moved it, the LORD’s hand was against the city of Gath, causing a great panic. He afflicted the people of the city from the youngest to the oldest, with an outbreak of tumors. The people of Gath then sent the ark of God to Ekron. (1 Samuel 5:9-10)

 

So the hot potato was moved again.

 

But when it got there, the Ekronites cried out, “They’ve moved the ark of Israel’s God to us to kill us and our people!” The Ekronites called all the Philistine rulers together. They said, “Send the ark of Israel’s God away. Let it return to its place so it won’t kill us and our people!” For the fear of death pervaded the city; God’s hand was oppressing them. Those who did not die were afflicted with tumors, and the outcry of the city went up to heaven. (1 Samuel 5:10a-12)

 

Instead of blessing, the ark brought God’s judgement upon each city it was taken to because of their sinful, idol worshipping ways. They understood that God was judging both them and their (false) fishy god Dagon. The land was also overrun with mice and it is commonly believed that the tumors were a result of bubonic plague spread by the rapacious rodents. People were dying and suffering. But even in this judgement, there was mercy. The fear of the Lord came upon the people and that is a good thing, looking forward to the day when salvation would be provided for all nations. God did hear their cries ascending up to heaven. Sadly, because they didn’t know how to be in a right relationship with the Father, they sought an escape from his Presence.

 

3. Sin Must Be Atoned For.

 

The relationship between man and God was torn apart when Adam and Eve sinned and needed to be mended. The ark was a sign of God’s covenant with the nation of Israel, but Philistia was not part of that covenant. Even in the midst of this display of God’s judgement, it is pointing us toward the need for Jesus and the atoning sacrifice he provided on the cross. The special seat I mentioned on top of the Ark is known as a kapporeth, or mercy seat. The word means a place of atonement. It was a place to seek reconciliation for sin. The Ark represented God’s desire to be in relationship with his people, but to approach the seat without making atonement, brought punishment. The mercy seat would become a seat of judgement.

 

The Philistines came to understand that they needed a way to atone for sin and escape God’s wrath. They called together their priests and asked them what to do.

 

What should we do with the ark of the LORD? Tell us how we can send it back to its place. They replied, “If you send the ark of Israel’s God away, do not send it without an offering. Send back a guilt offering to him, and you will be healed. Then the reason his hand hasn’t been removed from you will be revealed.” They asked, “What guilt offering should we send back to him?” And they answered, “Five gold tumors and five gold mice corresponding to the number of Philistine rulers, since there was one plague for both you and your rulers. Make images of your tumors and of your mice that are destroying the land. Give glory to Israel’s God, and perhaps he will stop oppressing you, your gods and your land. Why harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharoah hardened theirs? When he afflicted them, didn’t they send Israel away, and Israel left? (1 Samuel 6:2a-6)

 

They offered a sacrifice as an offering to atone for their guilt. They paid the price in gold for their sins (or at least, they attempted to). They recognized that while their army had defeated Israel, they had not defeated Israel’s God. They remembered the historical Exodus of the people of Israel from Egypt and how God had punished the Egyptians when they hardened their hearts against the Lord and against Israel by sending plagues. They were suffering from plagues of  mice and tumors themselves. 

 

Philistia consisted of 5 fortified cities, each with a ruler over the town and its surrounding hamlets. They fashioned an offering that acknowledged it was God who had brought the plague of mice and tumors and then offered a sacrifice for each of the 5 cities including those that had not yet been affected.

 

Next, the Bible describes how they went about getting rid of the ark.

 

Now then, prepare one new cart and two milk cows that have never been yoked. Hitch the cows to the cart, but take their calves away and pen them up. Take the ark of the LORD, place it on the cart and put the gold objects that you’re sending him as a guilt offering in a box beside the ark. Send it off and let it go its way. Then watch: If it goes up the road to its homeland toward Beth-shemesh, it is the LORD who has made this terrible trouble for us. However, if it doesn’t, we will know that it was not his hand that punished us—it was just something that happened to us by chance. (1 Samuel 6:7-9)

 

They placed the ark and the offering on an ox cart but instead of trained oxen, they hitched up two untrained milk cows, weaning their calves at the same time. Normally, a cow will wait by the fence lowing for her calf with it bellowing right back, but the cows abandoned their calves, pulled the cart right along the road without any human guidance or direction and went straight on the correct road to the Israelite city of Beth-shemesh. Because only God could have caused the cows to act against their nature to fulfill such a task, this was taken by the Philistines as a sign that it was indeed Yahweh who had punished them and that he had accepted their sacrifice and would no longer trouble them. Even though golden objects was not an appropriate sacrifice, God was gracious to them. There is no evidence that they came to be worshippers of the one true God at that time. They simply acknowledged him as Israel’s God, but never as their own. Because they were pagans who worshipped a fish god associated with the nearby sea, they likely came to recognize Yahweh as God over the land and animals or a localized deity. In time however, the world would come to know that he is Lord of sky and sea, the whole earth and all that is in it. 

John wrote the following about Jesus:

 

He himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours, but also for those of the whole world.

 

Jesus died to atone for the sins of the whole world. People from all nations can be saved.

 

Conclusion

 

Sadly, Israel had still not learned to respect the Ark of God’s Presence. The people of Beth-shemesh rejoiced at the ark’s arrival and even offered the cows as a sacrifice, burning the wood from the cart, but they failed to show the reverence due to the Presence of God.

 

God struck down the people of Beth-shemesh because they looked inside the ark of the LORD. He struck down seventy persons. The people mourned because the LORD struck them with a great slaughter. The people of Beth-shemesh asked, “Who is able to stand in the presence of the LORD this holy God? (1 Samuel 6:19-20)

 

God had given specific instructions for handling his ark which involved never touching or opening it. Because they were unworthy to enter his presence, many people died. The ark was sent off to the city of Kiriath-jearim to the home of Abinadab where it remained for 20 years. But before they sent it away, the people did finally ask the right question.

 

“Who is able to stand in the presence of the LORD this holy God?

 

God is holy. He is entirely separate and different from us, altogether good and perfect in every way. He cannot abide with evil and evil cannot enter his presence without being destroyed. The Ark of the Covenant was kept behind a curtain in the tabernacle and later in the temple and the priests would have to start a smoky offering of incense and sprinkle an offering of blood over the mercy seat as a covering for their sin before entering. When Jesus died on the cross, the curtain was torn in two from top to bottom. In the same way that sacrifices were necessary to appease God’s wrath against sin and to atone for guilt under the Old Covenant, under the New Covenant, Jesus has already provided the sacrifice that atones for our sin and allows us access to God’s Presence. We have direct access to the Father through the Son and we no longer have to fear to enter into his Presence. For those who are in Christ, there is no longer a fear of judgement. But for unbelievers, judgement awaits. We need to be forgiven of our sins and put into a right relationship with God. The only way that a person can be worthy to enter into God’s Presence is by salvation through Jesus Christ.

 

I gave this lesson an attention grabbing title, but a more proper name for the piece is:

 

Who Can Stand in the Presence of the LORD?

 

The answer is one who has been forgiven, remade, justified and declared righteous in Jesus Christ.