"And she named
the child Ichabod, saying, The glory is departed from
Israel: because the ark of God was taken, and because of
her father in law and her husband. And she said, The
glory is departed from Israel; for the ark of God is
taken." (I Samuel 4:21-22).
"And it came to
pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place,
that the cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the
priests could not stand to minister by reason of the
cloud: for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the
Lord." (I Kings 8:10-11).
Ichabod! This
dying widow spoke a good deal of truth when she lamented
the glory that had gone, but she did not speak all the
truth, for she could not foresee what would follow. The
Ark of the Covenant was more than a material emblem: the
Lord's Name and honour were associated with it. Israel
had suffered a great loss, but the Lord was still well
able to look after His own interests and act in jealousy
for His own Name. The subsequent chapter relates His
immediate reaction with regard to that Testimony and that
Name.
Jealousy
and Mercy
If the Ark was taken
into the house of Dagon, then so much the worse for
Dagon. When God's people tried to make selfish use of the
Ark, bringing it out to back them up in their conflict
though their hearts were estranged from the God whose
covenant it represented, they found that the Ark seemed
powerless. It was as if God had no interest in it - did
not care what happened to it. But when the
Philistines presumed to take liberties with that same
Ark, they found, to their cost, that it mattered very
much to the Lord. Dagon, their god, was first humbled,
then smashed to pieces, as the Ark was placed in his
temple. And the Philistines concerned had no doubt about
the supernatural power involved, for it left a lasting
impression of awe upon them all. Jehovah is a jealous
God, and He showed His ability to crush this would-be
rival, Dagon.
If the men of Ashdod
thought that they could trifle with Divine things, they,
too, had to learn a painful lesson. "But the hand of
the Lord was heavy upon them of Ashdod..." (I Sam.
5:6), so that they soon took steps to get rid of this
troublesome Ark. To Israel it seemed powerless, but to
those in Ashdod who trifled with God's glory the power of
Divine judgments was overwhelming. It may be, then, that
some godly Israelites who heard of these events would
take heart, in the realization that God was still God,
jealous in holiness for His great Name; so that, mingled
with their regret at their own sin and failure, there
would come the assurance that He would still take care of
His own interests. His power was the same, even if His
people had failed Him. 'He cannot fail, for He is God!'
The Lord is also great
in mercy. Perhaps Ichabod's mother was so overcome by her
own sorrow that she forgot that most precious part of the
Ark, the Mercy Seat. The longsuffering and grace of God
were represented in an integral part of that Ark of the
Covenant. Even when His people had so badly failed Him,
seeming to throw away all right to a further place in His
purposes, recovery was still possible, because the
holiness of God had also the accompaniment of the
blood-stained Mercy Seat. 'God does not cast off His
people whom He foreknew' (Rom.11:2). He is not only able
to take care of His own interests, but able also to bring
back the glory to an undeserving people. Thank God for
the Mercy Seat. The Ark came back, and more quickly than
might have been thought possible. It needed no army, no
rescuing party, no help at all from the Israelites. God
made His presence felt in such a mighty way that those
who held the Ark were glad to be rid of it, and
themselves arranged for its return to Israel. 'Ichabod'
was not the last word.
Priestly
Intercession
When Phinehas' widow
expired with the pronouncement of "Ichabod",
she was overlooking the fact that God had already laid
His hand on a man who would be the instrument for
bringing back the glory. Samuel had lived in her house.
He must have been always around, and she would know him
and see him often. But he was so small and insignificant
that she would never expect him to influence events. He
was not even a priest. If the High Priest and his two
sons had gone, then it must have seemed that there was no
one left to take responsibility for the interests of the
Lord. So we see Samuel set over against Ichabod. The Lord
had already provided Himself with this instrument of
recovery - so humble and small that men took no account
of him, but so wholly given over to the will of God that
he could provide that priestly intercession which Eli and
his sons had failed to give. Here, then, is a further
cause for wonder. Not only can the Lord look after His
own interests, not only will He in mercy bring back the
glory to His erring people, but even before the disaster
He has provided Himself with the human instrument needed
for the purpose. Eli's daughter-in-law knew nothing of
this. The natural eye could see only tragedy - the
tragedy of the departed glory. Ichabod.
What was the cause of
Israel's tragic failure? In part, at least, it was due to
the failure of the priesthood. We read in the story of
the sad conditions in Eli's household, and we are told
little about Eli himself to suggest that he exerted any
spiritual influence for good in the whole situation. So
it is plain that the priesthood of that day was gravely
at fault. In reality, however, that breakdown was only
the end of a long process, just the last stage in what
had been wrong with the people of God for many years.
When Joshua's days were finished, Israel passed into a
period when there was no God-given leadership.
Occasionally judges were raised up by the Lord, and for a
time there was some semblance of order among the people,
but it seldom lasted for very long.
Even more notable was
the lack of priesthood. Only in the last chapters do we
find mention of Levites, and then in the most depraved
and lamentable connections. It would be a true comment on
those times to say that there was no priest in Israel,
just as much as there was no king. Even in the brighter
days, when for a season leaders did arise, bringing
relief and victory to a defeated people, even then there
is no mention of this basic, essential, though often
hidden, serving of the Lord's interests by a ministry of
intercession. The reader passes from the unwholesome
records of Judges into I Samuel (though with the inset of
Ruth), only to find this ominous opening: "And the
two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, priests unto the
Lord, were there" (1:3), which is soon
followed by the further comment: "Now the sons of
Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the Lord"
(2:12). 'Ichabod' indeed! It is always true that,
when there is no vital ministry of intercession, then
there is no glory.
This is the negative
side. But it was not the end. Later the glory came back,
and it came back in very great fullness - "the glory
of the Lord filled the house of the Lord". As we
have already said, this was due to the sovereignty of
God, and also to the greatness of His grace. But it was
also due to the fact that first a prayer ministry had
been provided. Behind it all we find the figure of
Samuel, God's priestly instrument.
It may be objected that
the glory was a long time in coming back. It was.
Samuel's was a long life, and he never lived to see that
day. But patience is an important feature of priestly
ministry - persistence in faith and perseverance in
waiting upon God. These were the secrets of a life which
had such a tremendous influence on the whole course of
the history of God's people; for surely it is no
exaggeration to say that the man who contributed most to
the recovery of the glory was Samuel. Samuel, the
intercessor.
Samuel's
Simplicity
If this is true, then it
must be a profitable study to consider the essential
traits which characterized Samuel. For many of us live
under the shadow of Ichabod. We, too, feel, that the
glory has departed. Although we could easily despair,
there is with us also an inner conviction that the Lord's
desire is to bring the glory back, once more to fill His
spiritual House with His glory. There are many projects
and suggestions that men may offer for the recovery of
this departed glory. They may be right or they may be
wrong, but they do not deal with the root cause or effect
the radical cure. With us, as with Israel, the greatest
need is for a mighty ministry of intercession - if
necessary prolonged like Samuel's, if necessary to extend
beyond our own lifetime as it did beyond his - but a
ministry which will turn all the 'Ichabods' into
'Hallelujahs'.
The first thing to be
noted with regard to Samuel is his simplicity. Samuel was
not a priest. He had no official place in the priestly
order. So far as we know he was never anointed by men nor
ordained by them. It is true that his father was a
Levite, but even so he does not seem to have been engaged
in any Levitical work. People would have regarded him as
a very ordinary boy in a very ordinary family.
Of course he was not
this. One cannot class as ordinary a child who has such a
miraculous entrance into the world as Samuel had. He
himself was an answer to prayer. It would, indeed,
perhaps be correct to say that this mighty ministry of
intercession had its commencement with his mother,
Hannah. This, then, was his beginning - God brought him
in. And this is the way in which every true intercessory
ministry begins: it is initiated by God Himself. This,
surely, was what enabled Samuel to continue through all
the long and testing years: this knowledge that it was no
natural contrivance and no effort of his own, but an act
of God which had brought him into being.
Even so, there was
something very simple about this vessel of God's service.
"The child was young" (1:24). "But Samuel
ministered before the Lord, being a child" (2:18).
"Moreover his mother made him a little robe"
(2:19). All this seems to point to a homely
insignificance, which meant that he was completely
overlooked by Ichabod's mother. What could this feeble
lad contribute to the recovery of the glory? This,
however, is just the one who can serve God in the place
of prayer, weak and despised in himself, but mighty in
intercession. He turned the tide, for God. "The sin
of the young men was very great... men abhorred the
offering of the Lord. But Samuel ministered before
the Lord, being a child, girded with a linen ephod"
(2:17-18). Once again there is a Divine
"But...." And it was a child in all his natural
inadequacy who faced and stemmed the flood of evil and
hopelessness. He stood his ground with the Lord, and in
the end the glory came back. No one need be ashamed of
their simplicity or insufficiency! It seems as though
this was what the Lord was needing, someone small enough
and humble enough to be usable. In Samuel He found just
what He wanted.
Samuel's
Teachability
Furthermore Samuel was
willing to be taught. His first uttered prayer, the
introduction to a long and fruitful life of intercession
in the secret place, was just the childlike request:
"Speak; for Thy servant heareth" (3:10). The
secret of a true ministry of intercession is to have an
open ear to the Lord. The first utterance must come from
Him, not from us; our speaking to Him can only have value
when it is preceded by His first speaking to us. Great
stress is laid on Samuel's growing up, itself an
important spiritual matter; and as he grew it is stated
that "the Lord appeared again in Shiloh: for the
Lord revealed Himself to Samuel..." (3:21). It is
not said that prayer became mighty in Shiloh, or that
Samuel broke through to God in prayer. No, the emphasis
is on God's side; He revealed Himself again, because He
had found a young man who, in spite of his youth, was
ready to be shown the will of the Lord, and to maintain
his first attitude of the bended knee and the listening
ear.
And as he grew old he
still retained that sensitiveness to the Lord. He mistook
Jesse's eldest son for the man to be appointed king; he
went so far as to conclude, "Surely the Lord's
anointed is before Him" (16:6); but he did not act
rashly. God was able to check him, to correct him, and to
show him how not to exercise natural judgment - "as
man seeth" - but to receive Divine guidance. What a
contrast to the blind and set old man, Eli! It is a great
mercy, and an indispensable condition for a fruitful
prayer life, that a man should always have his heart
attuned to the voice of the Spirit.
Samuel's
Heart Purity
The third great secret
of Samuel's power in the secret place was the unblemished
purity of his life. Did his mother know the corrupt
influences to which he would be subject among Eli's sons?
If she did, she must have been a woman of remarkable
faith, to commit her young lad to live in Shiloh, in
those evil days. Her faith was vindicated. It is quite
evident that Samuel was never tainted by the evil all
around him. It was a miracle, to keep pure in that
atmosphere, and God did the miracle. There can be no
power without purity.
Later on in his life,
when Samuel was dealing with the matter of Saul's
appointment as king, he was able to issue an open
challenge concerning his procedure from his youth until
this advanced time when he was old and gray-headed, and
with one accord the people testified to his integrity
(12:1-5). If it was a miracle that the boy Samuel
should be kept pure, how much greater was the miracle of
maintained purity of spirit, during years when he could
very easily have made some personal profit out of his
position. It was this which gave him his unique standing
before men as well as before God - he could claim to be
free from impurity in his daily walk.
Saul's reign brought him
nothing but sorrow. Yet, just as he had meekly accepted
being set aside at Saul's appointment, so he remained
with an unoffended spirit through all the heartbreak of
that unhappy reign. He reproved Saul, but he still
mourned and prayed for him. He allowed no bitterness of
spirit, nor did he of his own choice seek an alternative.
He returned to his place of quiet at Ramah, to continue
his ministry of intercession, until, by the urging of the
Lord, he went to Bethlehem to anoint David.
These, then, were the
features of God's man of prayer - Simplicity,
Teachability and Purity. And this was the man who brought
back the glory and reversed the verdict of 'Ichabod'.
Samuel
Spanned the Gap
There may be some who
doubt whether Samuel did, in fact, play such a vital part
in spanning this gap between the departure of the glory
and the full recovery in Solomon's Temple. Apart from the
actual narrative, there is an indication of what both God
and men thought of the part he played, in the titles
given to the two historical books which tell the story.
Up to I Samuel 25:1, it can be argued that Samuel was
only one of the principal characters. Then he dies, and
is no longer on the scene. Yet, in spite of that, both
books are called by his name - First Samuel and Second
Samuel - though originally, we are told, they were
treated as one single book. Who gave the title of
"Samuel"? We do not know. But it is singularly
appropriate, as many have pointed out. It was Samuel's
influence and Samuel's ministry, largely in the unseen
realm, that reversed the tragic experience of 'Ichabod'
and brought in the fullness of the glory. Where are the
Samuels today? Surely they are as greatly needed in our
day as he was in his.
When Saul turned against
Samuel, we are told that the prophet returned to his home
at Ramah (15:34). And Ramah, so they say, means 'heights'.
Earlier on he had built an altar at Ramah (7:17). How
much Israel owed, and how much David and Solomon
owed, to this man whose home was in the heights by
the altar!
Harry Foster