Joy in the Morning

Scripture: 1 Samuel 5

Sermon: Joy in the Morning^[1]

Topics: humor, Easter, joy, hemorrhoids, idols

Preached: July 18, 2021

Rev. Mike Abma

Preamble

This is the 3^rd sermon in a mini-summer series on the beginning of 1 Samuel.

We last looked a 1 Samuel 4 a couple of weeks ago — a very dark chapter.

Israel brings the Ark of the Covenant into battle with the Philistines,

and they get clobbered.

* The Israelite army is defeated

* the high priest’s sons, Hophni and Phinehas, die

* even the high priest himself, Eli, dies

* and Phinehas’s wife dies giving birth

Most devastating of all, the Ark of the Covenant is captured by the Philistines.

No wonder Phinehas’ wife, in her dying breath asked

“Where is the glory” – I chabod — in Hebrew.

She even made this question the name of her newborn son.

Against that dark background, we have 1 Samuel 5

As we read it, it will be helpful to listen to it as if you were a citizen of the recently defeated Israelite nation.

1 Samuel 5

When the Philistines captured the ark of God, they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod; ²then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it into the house of Dagon and placed it beside Dagon. ³When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon, fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and put him back in his place. 

⁴But when they rose early on the next morning, Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord, and the head of Dagon and both his hands were lying cut off upon the threshold; only the trunk of Dagon was left to him. ⁵This is why the priests of Dagon and all who enter the house of Dagon do not step on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day.

6 The hand of the Lord was heavy upon the people of Ashdod, and he terrified and struck them with tumours, both in Ashdod and in its territory. ⁷And when the inhabitants of Ashdod saw how things were, they said, ‘The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us; for his hand is heavy on us and on our god Dagon.’ ⁸So 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?’

The inhabitants of Gath replied, ‘Let the ark of God be moved on to us.’ So they moved the ark of the God of Israel to Gath. ⁹But after they had brought it to Gath, the hand of the Lord was against the city, causing a very great panic; he struck the inhabitants of the city, both young and old, so that tumours broke out on them.

 ¹⁰So they sent the ark of the God of Israel to Ekron. But when the ark of God came to Ekron, the people of Ekron cried out, ‘Why have they brought across to us the ark of the God of Israel to kill us and our people?’ ¹¹They 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; ¹²those who did not die were stricken with tumours, and the cry of the city went up to heaven.

This is the Word of the Lord

Thanks be to God

INTRODUCTION

At the beginning of 1 Samuel 5, the Philistines are understandably jubilant.

They just had won one of their biggest and best military victories.

Just before the battle, they were nervous.

They were afraid of Israel’s God.

They had heard what Israel’s God had done for them.

But now…. . now they had won!

They lived in an age of, “to the winner go the spoils.”

It is a bit like the game of RISK, if you know that game.

RISK is a military strategy board game – the point is to take over the world.

And if you happen to wipe an opponent out, you get all their resources as your own.

That is more or less how it was back then.

The Philistines had wiped Israel out in battle, and now they got Israel’s captured resources as their own.

From the Philistine point of view,

they not only had Dagon, their own god,

but now they had Israel’s God too.

It was not just a war-trophy – it was also an asset.

So they parked the Ark of the Covenant alongside Dagon –

Not below, not under, not before —

but alongside Dagon.

In their minds, two gods were better than one.

This was a night of weeping for Israel,

but it was a night of celebration for the Philistines.

THEN MORNING COMES

Then morning comes.

In spite of all their partying,

we are told they come to Dagon’s temple early in the morning.

Lo and Behold, something weird has happened.

Dagon is lying face down before the Ark of the Covenant.

William Tyndale, in the first English translation of the Bible back in the 1530’s.

translated it this way:

“And look, Dagon lay groveling on the ground before the Ark of the Covenant.”

Maybe this is a bit of a loose translation, but it is to the point.

The Dagon priests quickly set Dagon back up before anyone noticed.

But the very next morning – incidentally on the third day after the battle —

they again find Dagon flat on his face before the Ark

But this time Dagon is missing his head or his arms.

This is not a weird Raiders-of-the-Lost-Ark thing going on here.

The Ark of the Covenant

has no radio-active glow,

no pulsing power.

In fact, the Ark of the Covenant

does not move,

does not make a sound,

seemingly does nothing.

And yet, there is Dagon, flat on his face.

Can you imagine an Israelite listening to this story?

They would be giddy with glee.

They would think that this is hilarious.

What a surprise!

What an unexpected hilarious surprise!

Dagon – flat on his face!

HUMOR and IDOLS

In many ways, this chapter is part of a long Biblical tradition that pokes fun of idols.

Read Jeremiah 10.

There the prophet goes on and on about how idols

are completely useless:

they can’t speak;

they can’t move;

they can’t walk;

They need to be hauled around;

They are not only helpless – they are worthless!

Isaiah 44 says the same thing – idols make no sense.

You take a hunk of wood.

Half of it you use to throw in the fire to make your meal.

And with the other half you make an idol and bow down to it.

How dumb is that?

(That, by the way, is my own paraphrase – a bit of a loose translation,

but it is to the point.)

And the point of the beginning of 1 Samuel 5

is that we can’t help but smile at poor helpless Dagon.

HUMOR and HEMORRHOIDS

The humor of this chapter continues.

We are told that the hand of the Lord was heavy upon the Philistine city of Ashdod.

There is an interesting thing about the Hebrew word for “heavy.”

That Hebrew word heavy is actually the same root word as the word “glory.”

So where the last chapter,

Chapter 4 ends with the question

I Kabod – Where is the Glory?

Here in Chapter 5

we see that the Glory has not disappeared.

The Glory is alive and well and on the Loose.

And the result is that the citizens of Ashdod are afflicted with tumors.

Again, there is an interesting thing about that Hebrew word for tumors.

The Hebrew word is rare.

The Hebrew word is tricky to translate.

The Jewish scholar, Robert Altar, writes that many manuscripts

translate the word as Hemorrhoids.^[2]

Yes, hemorrhoids.

Now, if you do not know what hemorrhoids are – blessed are you.

You have never been so afflicted.

But for all of you who know what hemorrhoids are,

well, you have to admit, it is kind of funny.

And for the Philistines – a tad bit humiliating and embarrassing.

Suddenly the Song of Hannah in chapter 2 is starting to come true:

The exalted are being humbled.

And the humble are being exalted – or at least entertained.

A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES

The Philistines were actually a Confederacy of 5 independent cities.

An emergency meeting is called for the leaders of each city.

Again, the humor continues

because they look like a Confederacy of Dunces.

The city of Ashdod describes what has been happening

and what does the city of Gath say?

“Oh, we’ll take the Ark!”

And, Lo and Behold

more holy hemorrhoids in the city of Gath!

So what does Gath do?

They send the Ark down the road to the next Philistine city of Ekron.

And the people of Ekron are shouting,

“No, no, don’t send it here!”

The Confederacy of Dunces^[3] have set in motion

a game of “holy hot potato.”

The chapter ends with a restating of the reality

that the hand of God was heavy (kabod) upon them.

Where is the Glory? I Kabod?

The Glory of God had not disappeared.

The Light had not been extinguished.

Hope had not been swallowed by Despair.

For God – and the power of God – was on the Loose.

EASTER RESONANCES

I cannot read this chapter without thinking of the New Testament.

The dark defeat of 1 Samuel 4 is so much like Good Friday –

when everything seems lost, and it looks like death has won.

1 Samuel 5 is like Easter morning.

Everyone thought

that Jesus was in the dark and quiet tomb,

defeated by Death.

But Lo and Behold,

Death had to bow before Jesus,

for surprisingly,

unexpectedly,

Jesus had arisen,

and his glory – his resurrection glory – was on the Loose.

That is the core of the gospel: Good Friday despair, then Easter joy.

How can we not smile,

How can we not laugh,

How can our hearts not be filled with a certain irrepressible joy.

God has made possible the impossible.

Hope lives on:

Weeping may last for the night

But Joy comes in the morning (Psalm 30:5).

HILARITY OF THE GOSPEL

There is something hilarious about the gospel we proclaim.

There is something hilarious about this Ark of the Covenant,

this rather small wooden box,

only about 4 feet by 3 feet

quietly sitting there in a Philistine temple, motionless,

And yet, revealing the glory of God.

There is something hilarious about what Pastor Bryant preached on last week,

that the great, mighty Kingdom of God is like what?

A teeny, tiny seemingly powerless seed.

There is something hilarious about how

a dark, cramped, 1^st century tomb

holding a dead body,

becomes the birthplace of the new creation –

the foundation of all our hopes.

There is something hilarious about how

little old you and little old me —

And even tiny little baby Elsa here —

all of us, small as we are, insignificant as we are,

And yet…and yet

We hold the seed, we hold the treasure

We hold the mighty power and glory

of the eternal kingdom of God within us,

hidden in our hearts.

CONCLUSION

I know there is more than enough

to get us down.

I know there is more than enough

to get us discouraged.

I know that there are more than enough

troubles in the world

to make us anxious and even afraid.

I know that there are more than enough

troubles within the church

to cause us to despair.

I know that there are more than enough

troubles in our own personal lives

to cause us to weep through the night.

And yet….and yet

Though weeping may last the night

There is joy in the morning (Psalm 30:5)

This is not simply optimism.

This is not simply a cheery attitude.

This is not simply looking on the bright side of life.

No, this is a living hope that is planted within us.

This is a living hope that is rooted

in the surprising

but also the sure and certain

resurrection of Jesus Christ.

It is this living hope

that opens us up to joy –

surprising joy, glorious joy,

the joy that comes with knowing

that we may be in the middle of labor pains right now,

but a new creation,

a glorious new creation

that began with Christ’s resurrection

is coming to birth.

Yes, weeping may remain for the night,

But joy….surprising joy, glorious joy

comes in the morning.

AMEN

PRAYER

Dear Lord, in some ways you are invisible, and silent,

and perhaps easy to overlook,

And yet, we know that you are the Almighty One,

And your power, your resurrection power,

Is renewing all things.

And so, we praise your name

And commit to telling your mighty deeds

From one generation to the next.

Amen

1. “Joy in the Morning” is also the name of the chapter in Walter Brueggemann’s Ichabod Toward Home: The Journey of God’s Glory, which deals with 1 Samuel 5. ↑

2. See Robert Alter, The David Story: A Translation with Commentary on 1-2 Samuel, p.28. ↑

3. A Confederacy of Dunces is the title of a well-known comedic novel by John Kennedy Toole. ↑