“His daughter-in-law, Pinchas’s wife, was pregnant and near delivery-time. When she heard the news that the ark of God had been captured and that her father-in-law and husband were dead, she went into abnormal labor, bent over and gave birth.”-1 Samuel 4:19
Eli, the High Priest, wasn’t the only one who went into shock and died upon hearing the Ark had been captured.
When his daughter-in-law heard the news she immediately went into premature labor and while giving birth also died.
Fortunately, the child she bore came out healthy…
But the mother would never have the pleasure of raising her young boy and see him grow into manhood.
As was the Hebrew custom, she named her son after the important event of the day.
Unfortunately, the event in question was anything but positive.
As a result, the child was named ICHAVOD.
What does that mean exactly?
It means “Where is the Glory?“
KAVOD is the part that means “glory” and refers to the presence of YAHWEH Himself.
It was the Lord’s glory that manifested above the winged Cherubim of the Ark.
And it was His Glory that filled up the Tent Sanctuary and made it holy.
With the loss of the Ark to Israel’s arch enemy, the resting place for God’s presence was gone…
Which meant the Glory of Israel was gone.
I don’t think there are words to describe the magnitude of what losing the Ark meant to Israel.
The High Priest and his daughter-in-law both keeled over and died in shock because of what happened.
And as far as the rest of the population was concerned…
Their God…
The One who had saved them from bondage in Egypt was gone.
Let me break down the seriousness of this for you in simple terms.
When God’s presence withdrew from Israel…
That meant the Guarantor of Israel’s Covenants had departed…
And if the Guarantor of Israel’s Covenants had departed…
You know what that meant?
Israel no longer possessed any divine right to the land of Canaan anymore!!!
As I just said, there simply ain’t words to describe just how devastating this tragedy was to Israel.
Every element of Israelite society was affected.
Actually, the impact was so catastrophic that some parts of Hebrew society were done away with altogether.
That’s how destructive the loss of the Ark was to Israel.
In Jewish history, it’s considered to be on par with the exile to Babylon…
Or the destruction of Jerusalem.
The takeaway for today is a point that’s already been touched on but bears repeating.
God is no respecter of persons…
Even His own Chosen People…
His righteousness demands that lawlessness and apostasy be punished.
IN ONE DAY, the Lord caused Israel to lose 30,000 men in battle…
IN ONE DAY, the Lord abolished the priesthood…
And…
IN ONE DAY, the Glory of Israel departed.
Once the Ark, which was the symbol of God’s Glory, was removed, the Tabernacle no longer held any purpose or meaning…
It became just another cult site that wasn’t any different than the cultic sites of the heathen.
From this point on, Shiloh would no longer hold any holy significance for Israel.
Alrighty, let’s close on a positive note here…
Just as the Lord reversed the course of Israel’s salvation history in one day, the Scripture informs us He can and will also restore Israel’s glory in one day.
And the inspiring thing is He can do the very same thing with your life!
He can take your life from chaos to calm…
And do it IN ONE DAY!
No matter what sins you may have committed…
No matter how screwed up your life is right now…
No matter how broke and desperate your current circumstances…
In fact, speaking of miraculous restorations happening in ONE DAY…
Isn’t that what happened after God resurrected the nation of Israel from the dead after the holocaust?
That’s right folks.
Israel was reborn as a nation in one day.
That day was May 14th, 1948!!!
I leave you with these inspiring words from the prophet Isaiah.
“Who has ever heard of such things?
Who has ever seen things like this?
Can a country be born in a day,
or a nation be brought forth in a moment?
Yet no sooner is Zion in labor
than she gives birth to her children.
Do I bring to the moment of birth
and not give delivery?” says the LORD.
“Do I close up the womb when
I bring to delivery?” says your God.
“Rejoice with Jerusalem and
be glad for her, all you who love her;
rejoice greatly with her,
all you who mourn over her.”
-Isaiah 66:8-10
NEXT TIME WE BEGIN 1 SAMUEL CHAPTER FIVE
I understand the point you have made, but I believe the title may mislead people, since nowadays we associate the word “salvation” with our ability to be in God’s presence in the afterlife, and not as you are using it here, meaning the representation of the covenant God made with Israel, i.e., the Ark.
I may have some level of disagreement that losing the Ark meant the covenantial relationship between Israel and God was broken, but that would be for another discussion.
As for the salvation we gain through Yeshua, God will never take that away, as you know, but we can throw it away. And, as you point out here, even if we throw it away, God will restore it to us when we repent and change the way we live.
The excellent take-away here is that whatever we break, God can fix.
Yeah you’re right. It seemed like the most appropriate title for this post at the time. When people read the article, it’ll clear things up for them though.