The Uncontainable God Text: 1 Samuel 5:6-12
Introduction: A God Who Won't Be Managed
We live in an age that wants a manageable God. We want a God who fits neatly into our schedules, a God who blesses our plans, a God who can be stored in a tidy box labeled "spirituality" and brought out on Sundays for an hour or so. We want a God who is convenient. We want a God who is, above all else, safe. We want a mascot, not a monarch. We want a teddy bear, not a consuming fire.
The Philistines in our text had a similar problem. They had just won what they thought was a great military victory over Israel, and as was the custom, they took Israel's god as a trophy of war. They brought the Ark of the Covenant, the very footstool of Yahweh, into the temple of their fish-god, Dagon, and set it down as a spoil of war. They thought they had captured and contained the God of Israel. They thought they could put Him on a shelf next to their own impotent idols.
What they learned, and what we must learn, is that the living God will not be managed. He will not be contained, controlled, or domesticated. His presence among His enemies is not a sign of His defeat, but rather the beachhead of His invasion. The Philistines thought they were bringing a trophy into their city, but they were actually signing their own death warrant. They were wheeling the divine equivalent of a nuclear reactor into their town square, and they were about to discover the terrible, glorious, and lethal reality of unmediated holiness.
This passage is a stark reminder that God is not a good luck charm to be manipulated, but a holy King to be feared. When God shows up, things happen. Idols fall, plagues break out, and men are brought to their knees, one way or another. The question for us is not whether we can manage God, but whether we will bow to Him.
The Text
Now the hand of Yahweh was glorious against the Ashdodites, and He made them desolate and struck them with tumors, both Ashdod and its territories.
Thus the men of Ashdod saw that it was so and said, "The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for His hand is severe on us and on Dagon our god."
So they sent and gathered all the lords of the Philistines to them and said, "What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?" And they said, "Let the ark of the God of Israel be brought around to Gath." And they brought the ark of the God of Israel around.
Now it happened after they had brought it around, that the hand of Yahweh was against the city with very great confusion; and He struck the men of the city, both young and old, so that tumors broke out on them.
So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And as the ark of God came to Ekron the Ekronites cried out, saying, "They have brought the ark of the God of Israel around to us, to put us and our people to death."
They sent therefore and gathered all the lords of the Philistines and said, "Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it return to its own place, so that it will not put us and our people to death." For there was a deadly confusion throughout the city; the hand of God was very glorious there.
Now the men who did not die were struck with tumors and the cry of the city went up to heaven.
(1 Samuel 5:6-12 LSB)
The Heavy Hand of God (v. 6-8)
Our passage picks up right after Dagon has been thoroughly humiliated, twice found prostrate before the Ark. The Philistines, slow learners, prop their god back up. But God is not finished. He now turns His attention from their idol to the idolaters themselves.
"Now the hand of Yahweh was glorious against the Ashdodites, and He made them desolate and struck them with tumors, both Ashdod and its territories." (1 Samuel 5:6)
The translation "glorious" here can also be rendered "heavy." The glory of God, when it rests upon those in rebellion, is a crushing weight. It is not a gentle, ethereal glow; it is a judgment. God's holiness is like fire. For the believer, it is a refining and warming fire. For the unbeliever, it is a consuming and destroying fire. God strikes them with tumors, likely a reference to the bubonic plague, given the mention of mice in the next chapter. This is not random chance. This is the direct, surgical, and heavy hand of a holy God.
The Philistines, to their credit, connect the dots faster than many modern secularists.
"The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for His hand is severe on us and on Dagon our god." (1 Samuel 5:7)
They have a correct diagnosis. They identify the source of the problem: the God of Israel. They see that His hand is against them and their god. But their solution is pure pagan pragmatism. They don't repent. They don't fall on their faces and worship Yahweh. They hold a committee meeting.
"So they sent and gathered all the lords of the Philistines to them and said, 'What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?' And they said, 'Let the ark of the God of Israel be brought around to Gath.'" (1 Samuel 5:8)
Their solution is not submission, but relocation. They treat the presence of God like a toxic waste spill. "Let's just move it to the next county over." This is the essence of foolishness. They think the problem is geographical. They believe they can solve a divine crisis with a zoning change. They are trying to manage the Almighty, to find a place where His holiness won't be quite so troublesome. This is the same impulse that leads men today to try to confine God to the church building, to keep Him out of the public square, out of the science lab, and out of the bedroom. But God does not do zoning.
The Traveling Judgment (v. 9-10)
The Philistines' brilliant plan, as you might expect, backfires spectacularly. They send the Ark to Gath, and the judgment follows it.
"Now it happened after they had brought it around, that the hand of Yahweh was against the city with very great confusion; and He struck the men of the city, both young and old, so that tumors broke out on them." (1 Samuel 5:9)
God will not be shuffled around. He is not a localized, territorial deity like Dagon. He is the Lord of heaven and earth. So He simply reapplies the pressure, this time even harder. The judgment in Gath is accompanied by a "very great confusion," a panic. And it is comprehensive, striking "both young and old." God's judgment is no respecter of persons. When a society is under the heavy hand of God, everyone suffers.
The men of Gath, having seen what happened in Ashdod and now experiencing it firsthand, decide they have had enough. They pass the buck, or in this case, the Ark.
"So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And as the ark of God came to Ekron the Ekronites cried out, saying, 'They have brought the ark of the God of Israel around to us, to put us and our people to death.'" (1 Samuel 5:10)
By the time the Ark gets to Ekron, its reputation has preceded it. The Ekronites don't even wait for the tumors to show up. They see the Ark coming and they immediately understand it as a death sentence. These pagans have a more robust theology of the holiness of God than many modern evangelicals. They understand that the presence of this God among unholy people who have defied Him is lethal. They see the pattern: where the Ark goes, death follows. They are terrified, and rightly so.
The Counsel of Desperation (v. 11-12)
The Ekronites' panic leads to the first sensible suggestion the Philistine lords have had yet.
"They sent therefore and gathered all the lords of the Philistines and said, 'Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it return to its own place, so that it will not put us and our people to death.'" (1 Samuel 5:11)
Notice their reasoning. It is still entirely self-preservation. There is no repentance here, no worship. It is the terrified cry of a people who have finally realized they cannot win a fight against the God of Israel. They don't want to worship Him; they just want Him to go away so the dying will stop. The text drives the point home: "For there was a deadly confusion throughout the city; the hand of God was very glorious there." Again, that heavy, crushing glory.
The final verse gives us a grim summary of the situation.
"Now the men who did not die were struck with tumors and the cry of the city went up to heaven." (1 Samuel 5:12)
The options in Ekron were twofold: you either died, or you got tumors. And the entire city cried out in agony. Their cry "went up to heaven," a phrase that ironically echoes the cries of God's own people when they are oppressed. The Philistines, who thought they were conquerors, are now reduced to a state of utter, helpless misery under the hand of the God they thought they had conquered.
The Ark We Can't Get Rid Of
This is a fascinating historical account, but it is more than that. It is a permanent lesson about the nature of God. The Philistines' problem is the world's problem. They tried to possess God on their own terms, and it destroyed them. Then they tried to get rid of God, to send Him back to "His own place," so they could be left alone.
This is the story of the world's reaction to Jesus Christ. Jesus is the ultimate reality to which the Ark pointed. He is God's presence in the flesh, Immanuel, God with us. And when He came, His presence caused a "very great confusion." His holiness exposed the sin and rebellion of men. His presence was a judgment on the proud and a comfort to the humble. The religious leaders of His day, like the lords of the Philistines, tried to manage Him. When they couldn't manage Him, they tried to get rid of Him.
They sent Him from the High Priest to Pilate, from Pilate to Herod, and back again. They tried to shuffle Him around, hoping someone else would deal with the problem. Finally, they sent Him to the cross, thinking they could send Him out of the world for good. They wanted to "send away the ark of the God of Israel... so that it will not put us and our people to death." They thought that by killing Jesus, they were saving themselves.
But they made the same mistake the Philistines made. You cannot get rid of the living God. They put the Ark of God's presence in a tomb, but on the third day, the glory of God broke out. And now, the resurrected Christ is Lord of all. His presence fills the earth. You cannot send Him away. You either bow to Him or you are broken by Him.
The hand of God is still heavy upon the nations that reject His Son. The confusion, the plagues of judgment, the cries of misery that go up to heaven, these are all around us. The world is full of men trying to solve their God problem with committee meetings and political solutions. But there is only one solution. It is not relocation, but repentance.
For the believer, this story is a profound comfort. The same holy presence that was a deadly plague to the Philistines is life and health to us. Why? Because of the cross. In Christ, the consuming fire of God's holiness becomes the warming fire of His love. In Christ, the heavy hand of judgment becomes the gracious hand of blessing. We do not need to fear the Ark, because our High Priest has gone before us into the holy place, and He has made a way for us to draw near with confidence. The only safe place in a world under the heavy hand of a holy God is to be found in the shadow of His cross.