“And you shall make response before the Lord your God, ‘A wandering Aramean was my father.’”
—Genesis 26:5
When the Philistines captured the ark of God, they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.
—1 Samuel 5:1
And David remained in the strongholds in the wilderness, in the hill country of the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God did not give him into his hand.
—1 Samuel 23:14
“I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent for my dwelling.”
—2 Samuel 7:6
And being found in human form, [Jesus] humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
—Philipppians 2:8
The Lord called Abram in Haran to leave his country and family and go to a place he had never seen. Then, in Canaan, He called Abram to “walk through the length and breadth of the land”.
The Lord called Moses from domestic life as a shepherd to go back to Egypt, endure threats and hostility, and then decades of leading grumpy ex-slaves as they wandered in the wilderness.
The Lord was with David in his rise from shepherd to warrier to commander. He directed Samuel to anoint David as king to replace Saul, but then allowed David to be driven into exile from his own land and family by an insanely jealous Saul.
The Lord allowed Israel to be defeated and taken into exile, far from the land promised to Abraham and his descendants.
And yet...
In the middle of all that, He allowed the ark of the covenant, the physical symbol of His nearness to His people, to be taken prisoner and carried to Ashdod. He could have simply dropped them in their tracks and ended the theft on the spot. Instead, the ark went into exile and then was returned.
We know full well that the ark was a representation; it was not the Lord Himself. But there seems to be a foreshadowing here, a kind of physically-acted-out prophecy.
Because, in Bethlehem centuries later, the Lord emptied Himself to take on flesh and blood and be born as a helpless infant. Already in a form of exile from His home, He went on to suffer exile to Egypt, threats and hostility, and finally the worst exile of all. And then He returned.
And then He returned.
Neither Ashdod nor the grave could hold Him.
The Lord Himself endured exile; He can comfort His exiled people.
The Instruction of Ashdod, Part 4
Hear my cry, O God,
listen to my prayer;
from the end of the earth I call to you
when my heart is faint.
—Psalm 61:1-2a
“And you shall make response before the Lord your God, ‘A wandering Aramean was my father.’”
—Genesis 26:5
When the Philistines captured the ark of God, they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.
—1 Samuel 5:1
And David remained in the strongholds in the wilderness, in the hill country of the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God did not give him into his hand.
—1 Samuel 23:14
“I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent for my dwelling.”
—2 Samuel 7:6
And being found in human form, [Jesus] humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
—Philipppians 2:8
The Lord called Abram in Haran to leave his country and family and go to a place he had never seen. Then, in Canaan, He called Abram to “walk through the length and breadth of the land”.
The Lord called Moses from domestic life as a shepherd to go back to Egypt, endure threats and hostility, and then decades of leading grumpy ex-slaves as they wandered in the wilderness.
The Lord was with David in his rise from shepherd to warrier to commander. He directed Samuel to anoint David as king to replace Saul, but then allowed David to be driven into exile from his own land and family by an insanely jealous Saul.
The Lord allowed Israel to be defeated and taken into exile, far from the land promised to Abraham and his descendants.
And yet...
In the middle of all that, He allowed the ark of the covenant, the physical symbol of His nearness to His people, to be taken prisoner and carried to Ashdod. He could have simply dropped them in their tracks and ended the theft on the spot. Instead, the ark went into exile and then was returned.
We know full well that the ark was a representation; it was not the Lord Himself. But there seems to be a foreshadowing here, a kind of physically-acted-out prophecy.
Because, in Bethlehem centuries later, the Lord emptied Himself to take on flesh and blood and be born as a helpless infant. Already in a form of exile from His home, He went on to suffer exile to Egypt, threats and hostility, and finally the worst exile of all. And then He returned.
And then He returned.
Neither Ashdod nor the grave could hold Him.
The Lord Himself endured exile; He can comfort His exiled people.