Today we begin 1 Samuel Chapter 6.
For the Complete Jewish Bible, click HERE.
For the King James Version, click HERE.
“And the ark of the Lord was in the country
of the Philistines seven months.”
I believe the Lord speaks to me through the number 7.
When I’m concerned about something in my life, the number 7 in some form will make an appearance in my life…
Whether its a sign I happen to glance up at…
The number of the train car I’m taking on the way to work…
Or even the table number I’m assigned to when I visit a new restaurant for the first time.
I called these appearances of 7 “winks from the Lord”.
As if He’s winking at me with a number 7 and telling me everything is going to be okay, so not to worry.
I know this sounds like silly superstition…
And maybe it is.
But I choose to believe otherwise.
Besides, the appearance of the number 7 has happened to me so consistently in so many uncanny ways that it goes beyond being coincidental.
And Biblically speaking, number 7 is the foundation of the Word of God.
It appears seven hundred and thirty-five times in the Bible.
It symbolizes the oneness of God and his authority over all creatures of the earth…
Plus, it’s the number of perfection and completeness.
And that’s the sense the number is used when we’re told the Ark of God had been in the Philistines’ possession for 7 months.
Here 7 months indicates that all the Lord intended to do to the Philistines He did…
And mostly because of their stubborn refusal to take the action needed to rid their nation of the plagues during that 7 month period.
Onward.
In verse 2, we’re told the Philistine leadership (meaning the 5 kings of the Philistine pentapolis) approached the priests and diviners about what to do to get rid of the Ark in their midst.
And keep in mind, the topic of discussion was not IF they should get rid of the Ark…
But HOW to get rid of that darn thing…
And in a way that would be respectful to the Lord so He would stop the plagues He was inflicting upon them.
Interestingly, what we’re gonna find as we move forward in chapter 6 is the instructions given closely followed the Levitical Torah laws on how to deal the Israel’s God when a trespass was committed.
We’ll pick this up the next time we meet.
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