Divided loyalties and its remedy (1 Sam 7:2-6)

Problems may be divided into three categories. Some are only distant dots on the horizon, minor irritants that are too small to worry about. Others are big enough to notice, but not to move us to action. Finally, there are those sufficiently large to fill our horizon so that there is no avoiding them anymore. For twenty years, Israel laments (or the unusual Hebrew word may mean ‘yearn’) for the Lord (1 Sam 7:2). The ark is in their territory, but as they have realised by now, this physical object does not guarantee God’s presence or success (cf. 1 Sam 4:3, 10-11). The Lord cannot be summoned as if He were at our beck and call. Israel feels their loss and is saddened by it yet do nothing. It takes twenty years and Samuel’s confrontation (1 Sam 7:3) for the people to move into action.

What may surprise us is that Israel worshipped other gods besides the Lord, while pining away for their own God. How is this possible? In the ancient world, exclusive worship of one god was unheard of (outside Israel). It was common practice to worship any and every god that could potentially help in coping with life. Gods were not seen as sovereign and all-powerful, so it made sense for worshippers to hedge their bets and give honour to a number of deities that offered support in different areas (rain, fertility of the land, of people, etc.). Since this worship of a multiplicity of gods was the cultural norm, it would not have felt wrong for Israel to do so. The effect of cultural influences should not be underestimated. The more widespread and common certain beliefs and practices are, the less we may feel that they are wrong, even if the Bible says so, simply because we are exposed to them all the time. In our age, the sexual norms of the Western world are a case in point.

Nevertheless, Samuel pinpoints for Israel the reason for this noticeable absence of God in their lives: He requires exclusive devotion (v.3 cf. Exod 20:3; Deut 6:4) because He alone is God. This is the moment when things fall into place for Israel and they get rid of their idols (1 Sam 7:4). Baal was a storm god who brought rain in Canaanite thinking and Astarte or Asherah was a fertility goddess (Ashtaroth is the plural here). Removing these and placing full reliance in the Lord was a courageous step. After all, what if these gods revenged themselves when their worship was abandoned? As so often, the issue for Israel, as well as for Christians today, is not a complete lack of service for God but a kind of in-between stage of divided loyalties. We, like Israel, are pulled in many directions by our desires for fulfilment. Some today hold on to superstitions, lucky days, numbers or charms to ensure nothing bad happens to them, even if they say they don’t really believe in these. Others’ devotion to the Lord may be compromised by a lukewarm attitude, an unwillingness to commit wholeheartedly to doing God’s will.

Israel then gathers to confess their sin (1 Sam 7:5-6). Fasting at such times was common practice in the ancient world. It was a way of saying that the issue at hand was more important than one’s essential needs. Pouring out water is a ritual whose meaning is no longer clear to us and it is not practised elsewhere in the Bible. Possibly it was indicating going without water and had the same function as fasting. Today, many think of repentance as feelings of remorse, but the basic meaning of the Hebrew word ‘to repent’ (shuv) is ‘to turn’, i.e. from evil and towards God. Of course, we may grieve for the hurt we have caused others, but as our story makes clear, the genuineness of repentance is demonstrated by an acknowledgement of sin (confession) and changed actions and attitude.

If you enjoyed this post, please share it with others.