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I. I OBSERVE IT IS HERE SUGGESTED THAT THINGS WHICH ARE GOOD FOR SOME PEOPLE TO HAVE MAY BE QUITE THE OPPOSITE FOR OTHERS. — When the Philistines knew that the ark had been brought into the camp of Israel they were afraid, and said, "God is come into the camp." And no doubt they imagined that in it they had captured a great prize. But the ark of God did not do for the Philistines what it had done for the Israelites. On the contrary, it brought to them only disaster, disease, and destruction. The ark had been a blessing to the Israelites, it was a curse to the Philistines. Now is it not the case that what was true of the ark is also true of many things among us? For example, there is wealth. What a blessing it has been to one generation, but what a curse sometimes to the next! To the father it has been a great comfort, to his thriftless, indolent son, ruination of both body and soul. Not infrequently do we find people regarding money very much in the same light as the Philistines regarded the ark. With not a few money means omnipotence! They will sacrifice health, probity — anything, to get money. And when they have got it: what then? Is it any enjoyment to them? Does it bring comfort? Does it make them happy? No; not in a single instance, where it has been come by in an unjust or unhealthy way. God gave the Israelites the ark, at any rate He put it into their hearts to make it, and it was to them a great blessing; so if God gives a man wealth, or if He puts him into the way of making it, his fortune may be a great blessing to him. But if money does not come in this way, depend upon it we are better without it. And what is true in relation to wealth is equally true with regard to everything else which we do not possess, but which we may covet. Are you inclined sometimes to covet another man's position, and murmur because your lot is so hard and difficult? Let me, then, ask if you have reason to think that your lot is from the Lord? If to this question your only answer is "Yes," then be assured that hard and difficult though it may be, for you it is the best, and if you had your wish, were you somehow to slip into the position you covet, you might not find it "the bed of roses" you expected, and a very short experience in it might make you long very eagerly for the old life. What is more delightful on a wintry day than to walk through a greenhouse, where the plants and flowers luxuriate, as in the warm sunshine of summer? But the greenhouse is suited only for certain plants. There are plants to whom its atmosphere would be death, that need the storm as well as the sunshine, cold as well as heat, frost as well as dew, the wild blest of winter as well as the warm breezes of summer. So if God has not put you in His greenhouse, nor in some shady, sheltered corner of His great garden, but in some spot where you stand exposed to every wind that blows, to the tempest, the biting cold, in a word, to all nature's ruder elements, do not fret or be discouraged. God's purpose is to make you a strong and noble character, and to do this the stern discipline of your life is doubtless needed. So be content with what you have, and with where you are, remembering that if you had your neighbour's things you might, in their possession, be as miserable as the Philistines were all the time the ark was in their country.

II. THE NARRATIVE BEFORE US SUGGESTS THAT GOD IS A JEALOUS GOD. — The Philistines put the ark of the Lord in "the house of Dagon, and set it by the side of Dagon." But when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was on his face again before the ark, and his head and both the palms of his hands were cut off, and lying upon the threshold, and "only the stump of Dagon," the fish part, "was left to him." if there had been a "Dominie Sampson" among those priests, he certainly would have cried out, Prodigious! And it was prodigious in the truest sense, for it was a foreshadowing of God's great law, "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me." God's ark must not be placed side by side with Dagon. Now we Christians, those of us, thank God, who are living in the light of His countenance as well as those who "see men only, as trees walking," have need to take care, lest we also provoke the jealousy of God. We must never place Him or His sacred things on the same level, and side by side, with our own things — Our business, or our family, or any of our earthly belongings. He only is God, and we must place Him above, infinitely above all else. All along the lines of human life the tendency has been in the direction of idolatry. The ancient people of God fell into it, as we know, again and again, and they suffered in consequence. And though "the form changeth," the thing, the evil still liveth. It is right to make the home as snug and comfortable and pleasant as you can, and to take a pride in doing so. But does the home claim as much attention as God, and the things of God claim? Nay, does it claim more? Is it true that your home fills your heart, and that consequently God is shut out of it? Or is it true that it occupies quite as much of its room as God does? Is it in any sense and measure an idol? Then listen to me whilst I tell you what will some day happen. That home will one day fail to delight you. You will see no beauty in the pictures which adorn its walls. You will be unable to find comfort or rest in any part of it. Yes — your home, if you make it your idol, will come to present itself to you in quite as pitiable a light as that in which the Philistines beheld their god. And what about the children? "I am fond of children," said Thomas Binney. "I think them the poetry of the world — the fresh flowers of our hearts and homes." It is well spoken. But how many a sad tale may be told touching the children, for how many of these "fresh flowers" have drooped and died? Yes, and how many parents have had to confess, as they have gazed upon the face of a child cold in death, "Alas, alas, I loved him too well, and the God who gave him, and who has taken him back, too little?" Over all human affections we must build our temple, and in it, we must have only one altar, and only one God — the Lord God of Israel — for remember He is a jealous God. He loves us so much that He can bear no rival.

III. THIS NARRATIVE SUGGESTS THAT AFFLICTION MAY NOT LEAD TO REPENTANCE AND CONVERSION. Apparently the first effect of God's judgments upon them was the same as in the case of Pharaoh, for their priests and diviners charged them, saying, "Wherefore do ye harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts?" Now people often speak as if affliction had a softening tendency; producing, or at any rate, leading up to true repentance, and thorough conversion to God. But this idea has little, if any, good foundation to rest upon. I believe the tendency on the whole to be the opposite. Where there is no grace — where no thought or feeling of the grace of God is entertained in the heart — the tendency of affliction is to sour and harden. There may be exceptions to this rule, but I believe they are few. And this must be said, that afflictions, by themselves, never brought any soul into a state of true repentance. It is not judgment that wins the alien to God, but mercy. David said, "It was good for me that I hays been afflicted," but then David was a child, sad a good child of God. I say all this with a definite, practical object in view, viz., to stir us up to increased zeal in our teachings and preachings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. God's judgments upon Pharaoh did not lead him to repentance; His judgments upon the Philistines did not lead them to repentance; but when Peter and Paul preached the glorious Gospel of the blessed God, the unbelieving Gentile, as well as the unbelieving Jew, was pricked in his heart, and in how many instances savingly converted to God?

(Adam Scott.)

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KJV: And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it from Ebenezer unto Ashdod.

WEB: Now the Philistines had taken the ark of God, and they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.