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The History of the De-Emphasis Of The New Birth

Compiled By Robert Wurtz II (used with permission)

Section XV - The “Glory Departed”

ICHABOD

And the man said unto Eli, I am he that came out of the army, and I fled to day out of the army. And he said, What is there done, my son? And the messenger answered and said, Israel is fled before the Philistines, and there hath been also a great slaughter among the people, and thy two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God is taken. And it came to pass, when he made mention of the ark of God, that he fell from off the seat backward by the side of the gate, and his neck brake, and he died: for he was an old man, and heavy. And he had judged Israel forty years. And his daughter in law, Phinehas’ wife, was with child, near to be delivered: and when she heard the tidings that the ark of God was taken, and that her father in law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and travailed; for her pains came upon her. And about the time of her death the women that stood by her said unto her, Fear not; for thou hast born a son. But she answered not, neither did she regard it. 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.

There are times in reading the scriptures that the words take hold upon the heart in such a way that the immediate response it to weep bitterly. This passage is one of those. I should suppose to say that among all the pages of the sacred book, that this one is among the more tear stained.
Unlike the days of Lot who was worn down afflicted and tormented at the filthy conversation of the wicked, we have a heightened sense of alarm and terror, the likes of which should strike fear in every man.

When I was a young boy I had an uncle who was an alcoholic. He looked into my eyes and in a moment of sobriety, perhaps brought on by years of reflection, made a most disturbing statement. “Son”, he said, “When you stop talking, its over.” He repeated himself with even more certainty as if he had come to a revelation of when the relationship with his former wife had died; “When you stop TALKING, its OVER!” He stated again. For years I never knew what he meant, but I kept that saying in my heart.
There is nothing more devestating than for God to stop speaking to a people. As some have said and so it is, there is a little white page that seperates the Old and New Testament in your bible, perhaps another page that ought to be tear stained. For in that page we might say is a 400 year memorial to God’s silence in Israel. It is almost unimaginable.
For Eli and his sons, the time of their departure was at hand. They had finished their course. But unlike Paul the apostle they leave us with quite a different story.

Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
I Corinthians 10:11

There comes a time when the worship has been divided for so long, that God makes His exit and leaves a people to themselves and their enemies. And his daughter in law, Phinehas’ wife, was with child, near to be delivered…. This should have been one of the happiest moments in this womans life. I think of the many women of scripture that begged God for a man child. Just a few years before, Samuel’s mother came bofore the Lord weeping to herself and to God that she had no man child. But the all too real terror of the news far outstripped any rejoicing and we read, and when she heard the tidings that the ark of God was taken, and that her father in law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and travailed; for her pains came upon her. And about the time of her death the women that stood by her said unto her, Fear not; for thou hast born a son. But she answered not, neither did she regard it.
Would to God that the fear of the Lord had come over His people in our times and they had learned from this passage. Here is a woman who falls over in labor in the throws of birth and death and yet the most troubling thing to her is not her own life, but that the Lord had departed Israel. The worst of nightmares that every strolled across the fevered mind cannot compare to the terror and empitness of the departed Savior. I cannot think of anything more solemn than this, 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.

THE HOLY RELEGATED TO THE SUPERSTITIOUS

And when the people were come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, Wherefore hath Jehovah smitten us to-day before the Philistines? Let us fetch the ark of the covenant of Jehovah out of Shiloh unto us, that it may come among us, and save us out of the hand of our enemies. So the people sent to Shiloh; and they brought from thence the ark of the covenant of Jehovah of hosts, who sitteth above the cherubim: and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.
I Samuel 4:3, 4

We are working our way backwards in this story that we might come to the root of what happened in Israel at this juncture in thier history. I wish to point out how low the leaders had sunk in their attempt to twist God’s arm into fighting for them, against their enemies, in the midst of their rebellion. It is important to realize that it is the presence of God that was gone. When the glory departs, the voice of God departs. When the voice of God departs man has little to stand on and act on but mere superstitions.
What is it when men try to act in faith when God has not spoken? It is superstition. What is it when God has not given direction and yet the wicked attempt to step out in faith? It is superstition. The sons of Eli called to remembrance the glory days of Israel when they had gone after God in the wilderness and He drove their enemies out before them. Some would call this faith, but this is presumption. This is logical deductions drawn from proof texts (Tozer). This is taking hold of a past move of God and trying to transport it to the present. Again, this is not faith. Why? Why is this not faith? Because God has not spoken. It is not the method or the measures, it is our response to God’s instructions.
Let’s take this a step farther and ask the question, who was hearing from God? You will recall that Samuel as a young boy was lying in bed and God called out to him three times. With Eli in the other room, God chose to speak to the child in the bed. And the child Samuel ministered unto Jehovah before Eli. And the word of Jehovah was precious in those days; there was no frequent vision. (I Samuel 3 ASV) The word of the LORD is always precious, but in this case it was rare; like a ‘drought’ or famine of hearing the words of the LORD, every word was precious. Why had it come to this?
Why? Perhaps it was because Eli was in the well established habit of not listening to God and responding rightly to what God had said. He had chosen his sons over the LORD. His sons were wicked beyond measure. And the sin of the young men was very great before Jehovah; for the men despised the offering of Jehovah. (I Samuel 2:17 ASV) On top of that, fornicating with the women that did service at the door of the tent of meeting. Eli heard of all these things. So God sent a word to Eli, one of those ‘precious’ words. The prophet reminds Eli of the priestly function of Israel and then states:

Wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice and at mine offering, which I have commanded in my habitation, and honorest thy sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel my people?

There is a word that you may want to have in your vocubulary if it is not already and it is the word, ‘High-handedness’. Israel left Egypt and came out with a ‘high-hand’. In modern terms it is like unto a man driving at a high rate of speed in a large 4X4 with an arm out the window with his fist in the air. Now turn that around for a moment and imagine that the sons of Eli were treating the things of God with high-handed contempt.

And Jehovah said to Samuel, Behold, I will do a thing in Israel, at which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle. In that day I will perform against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from the beginning even unto the end. For I have told him that I will judge his house for ever, for the iniquity which he knew, because his sons did bring a curse upon themselves, and he restrained them not.
I Samuel 3:11-13

Before we leave this section I want to look at a curious statement made by Eli. It happens that Eli asked Samuel what God had said, And Samuel told him every whit, and hid nothing from him. And he (Eli) said, It is Jehovah: let him do what seemeth him good. No call for mercy. No begging God for another chance. No turning away from the sin. No anything. No weeping. No shock and wonder…, It is Jehovah: let him do what seemeth him good. Perhaps he realized he deserved the sentence. But, all he had to do was earlier on repent of allowing such blatant wickedness to go on with his sons. All he had to do was restrain them in their folly.
Israel lost 4000 men in the battle that followed. And when the people were come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, Wherefore hath Jehovah smitten us to-day before the Philistines? All Israel knew the sin that was in the camp. Notice that they DID NOT inquire of the LORD as to what to do before they acted. When Joshua lost a battle he set his face to seek the LORD as to what happened. What was it? SIN in the camp. Now consider the awesomeness of this; A man and his family died before the Lord by burning for taking a Babylonian garment and some other items. Yet THESE men had taken their sin and rebellion to a new level.
So without a word from God; without any direction from God, the very symbol of the authority of God (the Ark) was taken up by the people and thrust into the battle. This is an absolute contradiction. Why not seek the Lord? Why not inquire of Him? Why not respond to the prophets that had brought those ‘precious’ words in a time of no open vision? What says the scriptures?

Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you. Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD: They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
Proverbs 1

This entry was posted on Monday, August 25th, 2008 at 7:58 pm and is filed under Evangelism, The Betrayal of the Ages, Theocracy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.