1 Samuel 5:1-7:2: Who Can Stand Before This Holy God?

1 Samuel 5:1-7:2: Who Can Stand Before This Holy God?

We’ve been working our way passage by passage through the book of 1 Samuel, and today the next passage we come to is 1 Samuel chapter 5 verse 1 through chapter 7 verse 2, so I’ll be reading a selection of verses from that passage. It says,1 When the Philistines captured the ark of God, they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. 2 Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it into the house of Dagon and set it up beside Dagon. 3 And when the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and put him back in his place. 4 But when they rose early on the next morning, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the Lord, and the head of Dagon and both his hands were lying cut off on the threshold. Only the trunk of Dagon was left to him…. 6 The hand of the Lord was heavy against the people of Ashdod, and he terrified and afflicted them with tumors, both Ashdod and its territory. 7 And when the men of Ashdod saw how things were, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for his hand is hard against us and against Dagon our god.”… 2 And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the Lord? Tell us with what we shall send it to its place.” 3 They said, “If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it empty, but by all means return him a guilt offering.”.… 8 And take the ark of the Lord and place it on the cart and put in a box at its side the figures of gold, which you are returning to him as a guilt offering. Then send it off and let it go its way…. 10 The men did so, and took two milk cows and yoked them to the cart and shut up their calves at home. 11 And they put the ark of the Lord on the cart and the box with the golden mice and the images of their tumors. 12 And the cows went straight in the direction of Beth-shemesh…. 13 Now the people of Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley. And when they lifted up their eyes and saw the ark, they rejoiced to see it. 14 The cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh and stopped there. A great stone was there. And they split up the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. 15 And the Levites took down the ark of the Lord and the box that was beside it, in which were the golden figures, and set them upon the great stone. And the men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices on that day to the Lord…. 19 And he struck some of the men of Beth-shemesh, because they looked upon the ark of the Lord. He struck seventy men of them, and the people mourned because the Lord had struck the people with a great blow. 20 Then the men of Beth-shemesh said, “Who is able to stand before the Lord, this holy God? And to whom shall he go up away from us?” 21 So they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath-jearim, saying, “The Philistines have returned the ark of the Lord. Come down and take it up to you.” 

May God bless the reading of his Word.

Let’s pray: Father, every word we find written in this passage is a priceless treasure because it’s your self-revelation. Thank you that we don’t have to guess about who you are or how we can know you or live in the realm of your blessing. You’ve already told us in your Word. So help us to understand everything we need to understand and be changed in every way we need to be changed through the power of the Holy Spirit. It’s in Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

C.S. Lewis once made an interesting observation about the way many modern people view God. He wrote, “The ancient man approached God…as the accused person approaches his judge. For the modern man the roles are reversed. He is the judge: God is in the dock.” The dock, by the way, is the place in a British courtroom where the accused person sits. Lewis then continues, “[Man] is quite a kindly judge: if God should have a reasonable defense for being the god who permits war, poverty and disease, he is ready to listen to it. The trial may even end in God's acquittal. But the important thing is that man is on the Bench and God in the Dock.” So, essentially, our mindset is one in which we’re standing in judgment over God instead of God standing in judgment over us. We imagine that God has to answer to us instead of us having to answer to him. Yet, of course, that’s the exact opposite of the way the Bible describes our situation. 

And truth be told, I believe this modern idea of God having to answer to us for the way he governs this world is merely one element of a more general mentality that’s unfortunately quite pervasive in our modern culture—a mentality in which people have virtually no concept at all of the holiness of God. It’s not just that they don’t have any regard for the holiness of God—although, by extension, that’s also true. Instead, I’m actually not sure most people even have an understanding or a mental category for God’s holiness, as that concept is taught in the Bible. They don’t even know what it means for God to be holy. 

And that’s a big problem, because the way we view God affects every other aspect of our lives. In fact, I think we can even say that our view of God defines every other aspect of our lives. We ultimately live out who we believe God to be. So, if our view of God is off, the way we live is also going to be off. It’s kind of like the foundation of a house. If you’re building a house and lay a foundation that’s tilted to the side, that entire house is going to be structurally unsound. 

Not only that, in order to have a right view of God, we have to understand what it means for God to be holy. In fact, as numerous theologians have pointed out, God’s holiness is absolutely central to who he is and fundamental to all of his other attributes. In other words, holiness isn’t just one attribute—or characteristic—among many the attributes of God. Instead, holiness is an essential aspect of all of God’s attributes. The love of God is holy love, the wisdom of God is holy wisdom, the power of God is holy power, the grace of God is holy grace, the justice of God is holy justice, the goodness of God is holy goodness, and on and on we could go. 

As the Puritan theologian Thomas Brooks once said, “Holiness in angels and saints is…a quality, but in God it is His essence.” Again, “Holiness in angels and saints is…a quality, but in God it is His essence.” All this to say that it’s of critical importance for us to have a proper view of God’s holiness. 

And I believe our main passage today here in 1 Samuel is immensely helpful in that regard. It not only helps us understand more about God’s holiness but also shows us, in a very memorable way, that God’s holiness demands our reverence. And that’s the main idea of this passage. God’s holiness demands our reverence. 

Now, you may recall from last week that the Israelites did something very foolish in chapter 4. They tried to use the ark of God as a good luck charm to help them defeat the Philistines in battle. The ark was basically a fancy box, overlaid with pure gold, that contained the original tablets God gave to Moses with the Ten Commandments on them as well as a few other items from Israel’s wilderness wanderings. The ark was also unspeakably holy because it was where God’s glorious presence was manifested among the Israelites. Even though God’s present everywhere in the universe, his presence was manifested in a unique way upon the ark. So, surely, the Israelites thought, with the ark in their midst, victory over the Philistines was guaranteed. 

However, things didn’t exactly go according to plan. The Philistines actually ended up defeating the Israelites and capturing the ark. And that’s where we pick up the story in 1 Samuel 5:1-4. It says, 1 When the Philistines captured the ark of God, they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. 2 Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it into the house of Dagon and set it up beside Dagon. 3 And when the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and put him back in his place. 4 But when they rose early on the next morning, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the Lord, and the head of Dagon and both his hands were lying cut off on the threshold. Only the trunk of Dagon was left to him. 

So, the Philistines are undoubtedly celebrating their massive victory over the Israelites and their capture of the ark of God. And in order to highlight the supposed supremacy of their god Dagon over the God of the Israelites, the Philistines put the ark of God next to the idolatrous statue of Dagon in Dagon’s temple. However, Dagon apparently has some trouble staying upright during the night. And when the Philistines enter his temple the next morning, they discover that Dagon has fallen facedown before the ark of God. So, since Dagon apparently isn’t able get back up again without some assistance, they have to help the poor guy get back up. 

However, the next day, it’s even worse. Dagon is not only facedown before the ark of God again, but his head and hands are cut off and lying beside him. The point, of course, is that the God of Israel is the only true God and is infinitely superior to Dagon or any other pagan deity. 

Yet, I find it intriguing that verse 5 records the Philistines continuing to worship Dagon as if he were real and as if he had real power to help them. Isn’t that interesting? Instead of turning to the God of Israel—whose supremacy had just been clearly demonstrated—the Philistines continue giving their allegiance and devotion to Dagon—who couldn’t even get back up again when he was knocked down. 

Yet, when you think about it, that’s actually not all that different from the way many people today put their trust in a variety of earthly things and look to those things as their ultimate source of security. The most common example is when people find their ultimate security in their bank account or 401(k) and act as though the wealth they’ve accumulated guarantees them safety and stability and happiness. In doing this, they fail to recognize that everything they’ve accumulated can vanish in an instant. So, it’s just as foolish for us to put our trust in earthly wealth as it was for the Philistines to put their trust in Dagon. 

The same could also be said of those today who find their ultimate security in a relationship, in their career, in their status in society, in their physical abilities, in their attractiveness, in their intelligence, in their accomplishments, or in any other earthly thing that we’re so often tempted to put our trust in. In reality, only God is able to provide for us the security we’re searching for. So, be honest with yourself: are you looking to God for ultimate security or are you looking elsewhere—to an earthly idol, essentially, that you think is able to take care of you? If your ultimate confidence is in anything other than God, you’re going to be disappointed. 

Then moving forward in the chapter, the ark of God continues causing problems for the Philistines in the subsequent verses. Verse 6 tells us that, “The hand of the Lord was heavy against the people of Ashdod, and he terrified and afflicted them with tumors, both Ashdod and its territory.” So, the people of Ashdod, which was the city of the Philistines to which the ark had been brought, are afflicted with what this verse refers to as “tumors.” Although we don’t know exactly what these tumors were, many scholars have theorized that this was an outbreak of bubonic plague in the city. And the result is that the people of the city are understandably “terrified.” 

Verses 8-11 then tell us, 8 So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?” They answered, “Let the ark of the God of Israel be brought around to Gath.” So they brought the ark of the God of Israel there. 9 But after they had brought it around, the hand of the Lord was against the city, causing a very great panic, and he afflicted the men of the city, both young and old, so that tumors broke out on them. 10 So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. But as soon as the ark of God came to Ekron, the people of Ekron cried out, “They have brought around to us the ark of the God of Israel to kill us and our people.” 11 They sent therefore and gathered together 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, that it may not kill us and our people.” For there was a deathly panic throughout the whole city. The hand of God was very heavy there. 

So, basically, wherever the ark of the Lord is brought in the land of the Philistines, it causes a terrible panic and brings a deadly plague. As a result, the Philistines decide that, you know, it might just be a good idea to return the ark of God to Israel. So, chapter 6 records the leaders of the Philistines having a brainstorming session with their religious advisors and ultimately deciding to put the ark of God on a cart—with plenty of gold as an offering to the God of Israel—and sending the ark, along with the gold, to the land of Israel with the hope that God will relent from his judgments upon them. 

The cows that are pulling this cart then take it—all on their own—to the Israelite city of Beth-shemesh. We then read in verses 13-15, 13 Now the people of Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley. And when they lifted up their eyes and saw the ark, they rejoiced to see it. 14 The cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh and stopped there. A great stone was there. And they split up the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. 15 And the Levites took down the ark of the Lord and the box that was beside it, in which were the golden figures, and set them upon the great stone. And the men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices on that day to the Lord. 

However, as this is happening, some of these Israelites unfortunately get a little carried away in their celebration, and they make the fatal mistake of trying to peer inside the ark of God. So, verse 19 tells how God responds. It says, “And he struck some of the men of Beth-shemesh, because they looked upon the ark of the Lord. He struck seventy men of them, and the people mourned because the Lord had struck the people with a great blow.” By the way, even though the ESV states that they “looked upon” the ark, virtually every other translation says that they “looked into” the ark. It seems they just got a little too curious for their own good and actually tried looking inside the ark of God—an act that was expressly forbidden in the law God had given to Moses. So, God responds by striking them dead on the spot. 

Verse 20 then tells us, Then the men of Beth-shemesh said, “Who is able to stand before the Lord, this holy God? And to whom shall he go up away from us?” And that encapsulates the theme that runs throughout these two chapters. “Who is able to stand before the Lord, this holy God?” The holiness of God is a reality that some of the men of Beth-shemesh apparently forgot about when they foolishly tried to look into the ark. Yet God’s holiness is clearly demonstrated in his decisive response to their foolishness. And we see from this occurrence—as well as from the judgments of God upon the Philistines in the previous chapter—our main idea that God’s holiness demands our reverence. That’s the theme that runs throughout these two chapters. God’s holiness demands our reverence. 

And I’d like to take some time this morning and examine the meaning of the word “holy” used here in verse 20 when the Israelites ask, “Who is able to stand before the Lord, this holy God?” What does it mean for God to be holy? And I believe this question is all the more important given the fact that the vast majority of people in our own society lack a proper regard for the holiness of God. Like the foolish men of Beth-shemesh, most people today have very little regard for God’s holiness. So, first of all, what does it mean to say that God’s holy? 

Well, it can actually mean two things. The more familiar meaning of the word “holy” is the idea of moral purity. God’s absolutely pure and righteous and is the sum of all moral perfection and is not in the least tainted by sin. That’s one meaning of holiness. 

But there’s also another meaning that’s more foundational. To say that God’s holy means that he’s utterly distinct from everything else. There’ no one like him. Hannah actually spoke of God’s holiness in this sense back in 1 Samuel 2:2 when she said, “There is none holy like the Lord: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God.”

Also, in the book of Exodus, when Moses asked God how he should describe him to Pharaoh and what his name was, do you know what God said in Exodus 3:14? “I am who I am.” The reason God said that is because that’s the only way he could describe the essence of his being to Moses. The only person to whom he could compare himself was…himself. Because there’s no one like him. That’s why a few chapters later, in Exodus 15:11, Moses praises God by saying, “Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?” The answer, of course, is that there’s none like him.

When one of my sons was around three years old or so, I remember him asking me what a horse was. And I explained it to him in the best way I could think of on the spot. I told him that a horse is kind of like a big doggie that you can ride on. Now I’m sure any zoologist could absolutely rip that statement apart and explain to me a thousand and one ways in which horses and dogs are quite different. But, for the purpose of describing a horse to my three-year-old, comparing a horse to a dog seemed like a good idea. They’re both animals and walk on four legs and have a longer nose and a tail. They look sort of similar. And the reason I made a comparison like that was because that’s the way our minds work. We learn new things by relating them to things we already know. So, my son could think to himself, “Okay, I’ve never seen a horse before, but I have seen a doggie. So, in order to understand what a horse is like, I can just picture a really big doggie since a horse is similar.” 

However, that doesn’t work when it comes to God. Because as soon as you say, “God is like this or that,” there’s a sense in which you’re already wrong…because, in reality, he’s not like anything you’ve ever seen. He’s entirely “other” than all that you’ve ever known. That’s what it means for God to be holy. 

One preacher named Paul Washer writes, “The distinction between God and the rest of His creation is not merely quantitative (the same, but greater), but qualitative (God is a completely different being)….The most splendid angel that stands in the presence of God is no more truly like God than the smallest worm that crawls upon the earth.” So, it’s not as if God is essentially like us but just a lot higher and greater. Instead, there’s a very real sense in which he’s not like us at all. He’s qualitatively different rather than merely quantitatively different and is in a class all his own.  

And as I said at the beginning, God’s holiness is fundamental to all of this other attributes. It’s the essence of who God is. This is why, in Isaiah 6:3, the mighty seraphim—or angels—in heaven praise God by declaring, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts!” Notice the repetition of the word “holy.” It’s mentioned not once but three times. And there’s an important reason for that.

You see, when we as modern-day English speakers want to emphasize something, there are several ways for us to do that. We could use bold font, italics, underlining, or an exclamation mark. Nowadays, I suppose we can even use emojis. But when an Israelite—or, in this verse, a seraph—wanted to emphasize something, they’d do that through repetition. So that’s why we read about Jesus, in the New Testament, starting many of his teachings with the famous introductory clause, “Truly, truly I say to you.” That was his favorite way to let his audience know that he was about to say something really important. And there are several other examples of people in the Bible repeating words for emphasis as well. 

However, here in Isaiah 6, we find something truly extraordinary. As a theologian named R. C. Sproul points out, this passage says not just that God is holy. It doesn’t even say that God is holy, holy. No, it says that God is holy, holy, holy. Think about that. The Bible never speaks of any of God’s other attributes in that way. Nowhere do we read that God is “love, love, love” or “wise, wise, wise” or “powerful, powerful, powerful.” The only attribute of God that’s emphasized to this degree is that God is “holy, holy, holy.” 

And one notable effect that God’s holiness has on us is that it makes us profoundly uncomfortable. Notice back in our main passage that the Israelites are fearful of God’s holiness and want to create a comfortable amount of distance between themselves and the ark of God. As we’ve already seen, their first response to the dramatic demonstration of God’s holiness is to ask, “Who is able to stand before the Lord, this holy God?” Yet notice what they ask immediately after that: “And to whom shall he go up away from us?” The next verse, verse 21, then states, So they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath-jearim, saying, “The Philistines have returned the ark of the Lord. Come down and take it up to you.” In other words, please help us get this thing out of here! 

This request reminds me of the time Jesus demonstrated his holiness and awesome power by casting a large number of demons out of a man they were inhabiting and into a nearby herd of pigs, which resulted in the pigs rushing down a steep bank and into the sea. And you’d think that the people of the area would be glad that the demons were no longer a threat to them and were no longer afflicting anyone in the area. However, Matthew 8:34 states, “And behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him, they begged him to leave their region.” The holiness of Jesus and the power he possessed over the demonic made them so uncomfortable that they begged him to leave. 

Similarly, in Luke 5, after Peter and his companions had been fishing all night without catching anything, Jesus told them to cast their nets one more time. And when they did, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. Verse 7 then states that “They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.” So, you’d think that Peter would be thrilled that he’d just caught enough fish to support his family for a very long time. However, that’s actually not Peter’s response. Verse 8 tells us, But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”

You see, the reason God’s holiness makes us so uncomfortable is ultimately because it reveals our sin. Peter realized that he was indeed “a sinful man.” The brilliant light of God’s holiness exposes the fact that we’re profoundly unholy. 

It’s kind of like when you get home late in the evening and it’s dark and you turn on the light in your living room. Before you turn on the light, the room might look pretty clean. You might be able to see well enough to confirm that there isn’t a giant pile of laundry in the middle of the floor or random pieces of clutter strewn all over the place. So, you might think the room’s clean. But then, when you turn on the light, you might very well discover that the room actually isn’t clean at all. Maybe your dog has urinated right in the middle of the floor, or maybe your teenager didn’t wipe their feet when they came in and tracked mud all across the carpet. These kinds of things weren’t visible at first but are now very visible because you’ve turned on the light. 

Similarly, when we’re confronted with the light of God’s perfect holiness, it exposes us for what we are: sinful creatures who are corrupt and depraved to the very core of our being. You know, Karl Marx famously wrote that “religion is the opiate of the masses.” But I’d like to not only disagree with that statement but also argue the opposite. It would seem—in the case of Christianity, at least—that it’s not some sort of opiate that dulls our senses or causes us to sleep but rather a dazzling light that awakens us to our true condition before a holy God. 

And we immediately sense what the Israelites sensed in 1 Samuel 6:20: “Who is able to stand before the Lord, this holy God?” The answer, of course, is no one. No one is able to stand before a God of such holiness. To the contrary, God’s holiness means that he has zero tolerance for our sin and will punish us for our sin in hell for all eternity. So, what can we do? 

Well, thankfully, God’s provided a way for us to be rescued from the punishment our sins deserve. In his mercy, God the Father sent his own Son Jesus to come to this earth as a man, live a perfectly holy life, and then voluntarily die on the cross in order to make atonement for our sins. Jesus suffered the full force of God’s holy and righteous wrath against sin so we wouldn’t have to. He was then raised from the dead as a demonstration that the Father had indeed accepted his sacrifice as payment for our sins. It’s a message we call the gospel. 

As a result, if we’ll turn away from our sins and put our full confidence exclusively in Jesus to rescue us, that’s exactly what he’ll do. He’ll forgive us for all of our sins and make us holy in his sight. In the words of Colossians 1:21-22, 21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he [Jesus] has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him. So, through Jesus and what he’s accomplished on our behalf, that can be our new status and standing in the eyes of God—“holy and blameless and above reproach.”

So, it’s true that God, in his absolute holiness, requires absolute holiness in order to enter his presence in heaven. Yet, the good news of the gospel is that God himself provides the holiness he requires—and he does so through Jesus. Jesus alone imparts to us the holiness that’s required to enter heaven.  

As a result, we’ll one day be able to do what the Israelites were forbidden from doing. As we’ve seen in our main passage, God struck dead seventy men of Beth-shemesh for daring to look upon his holiness. But one day, those of us who have put our trust in Jesus will be able to behold the holiness of God in all its fullness. 

In Revelation 22:3-4, we read this regarding our eternal future: 3 No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. Although Israelites of Beth-shemesh were struck dead for daring to have even a peek into the ark of God, we’ll one day be able to gaze upon the very face of God and bask in the glory of his holiness for all eternity.