1S7-1: Do You Possess The Credentials To Stand Before A Holy, Just And Perfect God?

Today we begin 1 Samuel Chapter 7.

For the Complete Jewish Bible, click HERE.

For the King James Version, click HERE.

“So the men of Kiryat-Ye‘arim came and brought back the ark of Adonai. They took it to the home of Avinadav on the hill and appointed his son El‘azar to guard the ark of Adonai.“-1 Samuel 7:1

So when we last left off, the Ark had finally been returned to Hebrew territory…

But not without terrible consequences…

At Beit-Lemesh where the Ark was returned, the Levites living there had no idea how to handle the ark…

As a result, a good 70 of them were killed on the spot.

Finally, it was decided the Ark would be sent to a place called KIRYAT-YE’ARIM.

In Hebrew, this literally means the “City of Forests”.

Let’s talk about this place for a second.

Geographically speaking, this area was about a 2 days journey from BEIT-SHEMESH or about 8 miles northeast of Jerusalem.

Now here’s what’s interesting.

During Samuel’s time, this area was not called KIRYAT-YE-ARIM.

It was called KIRYAT-BAAL.

That’s right.

It was named after the pagan deity BAAL.

So right off the bat, we know this place was an ancient “high place” of worship to the gods.

Keep in mind that in those days, the gods of one nation were always warring against the gods of another.

When one nation conquered another, they would take over the worship centers of their enemy’s religion and destroy their gods and worship items.

They would then perform some kind of ritual purification ceremony before installing their own gods.

That’s exactly what happened at KIRYAT-YE’ARIM.

And most likely this mountaintop had seen a number of pagan gods and their temples come and go over the years.

So at one time BAAL was worshipped there.

But then the priests and Levites of Israel came in, conquered the place and set up worship to YAHWEH.

So this is one reason why the Levites at Beit-Shemesh were insisting the Ark be sent to KIRYAT-YE-ARIM.

However, what about the guy named Eleazar and his father Avinadav who were appointed to guard the Ark?

Were these two authorized Levite Priests?

Later Biblical genealogies actually show they were.

In fact, not only was Avinadav’s son Eleazar a priest…

But later he would have two more sons Uzzah and Ahio who would also become priests.

So this answers the question the Levites of Beit-Shemesh posed in Chapter 6.

“Who can stand before Adonai, this holy God?”

There can be no doubt the house of AVINADAV was recognized as the official Levitical Priesthood at this time.