So That He May Go With Us And Save Us

1 Samuel 3:18-4:4 – So Samuel told him everything, hiding nothing from him. Then Eli said, “He is the Lord; let him do what is good in his eyes.” The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up, and he let none of Samuel’s words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba recognized that Samuel was attested as a prophet of the Lord. The Lord continued to appear at Shiloh, and there he revealed himself to Samuel through his word. And Samuel’s word came to all Israel. Now the Israelites went out to fight against the Philistines. The Israelites camped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines at Aphek. The Philistines deployed their forces to meet Israel, and as the battle spread, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand of them on the battlefield. When the soldiers returned to camp, the elders of Israel asked, “Why did the Lord bring defeat on us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the Lord’s covenant from Shiloh, so that he may go with us and save us from the hand of our enemies.” So the people sent men to Shiloh, and they brought back the ark of the covenant of the Lord Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim. And Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.

Joshua 3:2-3,17 – After three days the officers went throughout the camp, giving orders to the people: “When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the Levitical priests carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it…The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stopped in the middle of the Jordan and stood on dry ground, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.

Genesis 3:24 – After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

Exodus 25:17 – “Make an atonement cover of pure gold—two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide.

1 Samuel 2:12 – Eli’s sons were scoundrels; they had no regard for the Lord.

Application:

• ·         The ark of the covenant was the most sacred of the tabernacle furnishings. Since it signified the Lord’s throne, the Lord Himself went into the Jordan ahead of His people as He led them into the land of rest.
• ·         “The priests who carried the ark…stood on dry ground” signified that the Lord Himself remained in the place of danger—under the threat of the waters of judgment—until all Israel had crossed the Jordan.
• ·         Cherubim were similar to the statues of winged figures that stood guard at the entrances to palaces and temples in ancient Mesopotamia.
• ·         That God’s symbolic throne was capped with an atonement cover signified His great mercy toward His people—only such a God can be revered.
• ·         In Old Testament usage, to “know” the Lord is not just intellectual or theoretical recognition. It is to enter into fellowship with Him and acknowledge His claims on one’s life.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV