Chapter 21 Return of the Ark of the Covenant

Without the protection of Jehovah, the Ark of the Covenant is just a wooden box, and of course it cannot play the role of warding off disasters.As a result, the Hebrew army was defeated, Eli's two sons were killed, and even the Ark of the Covenant was taken away by the enemy.When Eli heard the news, he sighed and died.Samuel was elected judge. This is the darkest day in Jewish history. "The holy of the holy things" was brought by the Jews from Egypt to Canaan, and is now placed in the temple of the Philistines (this temple was built on the site of the old temple that Samson toppled) .Although the Ark of the Covenant was captured, it still has the power to affect the destiny of the country and the lives of the people.No sooner had the Philistines placed it in the temple than their idol was overturned by invisible hands and smashed to pieces.

The Philistines were terrified, and hurriedly moved the ark to the city of Gath. As a result, the residents of Gath fell ill immediately.Since then, the poor Philistines have been in bad luck. They kept transporting the ark from east to west, and from south to north. The Ark of the Covenant was filled with gold, and it was carried to an ox cart, and the ox was allowed to go wherever he wanted, in the hope that this unlucky thing would be sent out of the country as soon as possible. The ox cart pulled the ark to the east.On a beautiful morning, several Jewish farmers who were going to the fields saw the ox cart carrying the Ark of the Covenant parked in the middle of the road. They hurriedly built an altar, and people from all directions came to worship. the house of Abinadab the rice priest.After many years, until David became king and dreamed of the famous temple, he brought the Ark back to Jerusalem.

The return of the ark seems to indicate that the Jews can live a good life, but people are not satisfied with the judge system. They feel that this form of government is too loose, so they ask Samuel what to do after his death.Samuel also had two sons, but these two sons were like Eli's two sons, and no one wanted them to be heirs. Samuel asked Jehovah what to do. Yahweh said that a king would appear soon, and he was very impatient with the Jewish believers who were always disobedient to his will.The Jews clamored for a king.Well, give them a king.But this king will send their sons to serve as soldiers, and their daughters as servants, and feed his retinue with their wine and food, and take a tenth of all their property, and he will rule the people with an iron fist.

The tribes were very happy when they heard the news.Their ambition is to build a huge empire.Rival Egypt, Babylon and Assyria.They are determined to do whatever it takes.It was not until they were no longer free farmers and shepherds, but slaves to rulers in distant cities, that they realized how precious the freedom they lost when they begged the Lord to make a king.