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The Cow Goes
Straight to Beth Shemesh, Not Turning Left or Right
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2
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Bible verse : 1 Samuel 6:12
(NIV)
Then
the cows went straight up toward Beth Shemesh,
keeping on the road and lowing all the way;
they did not turn to the right or to the left.
The rulers of the Philistines followed them as far as the border of Beth
Shemesh.
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3
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High Priest Eli, who was a judge
of Israel, and his sons, Hophni and Phinehas, did not practice right faith
before God.
God was not with Israel in the war against the Philistines because of their
sins.
In the end, Israel lost the war and the Ark of the Covenant was taken.
The ark was in the land of the Philistines for 7 months.
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4
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During
the 7 months that the Ark of the Covenant stayed in Philistia, terrible
things happened there. The statue of Dagon fell and shattered into pieces.
Also, boils broke out on the skin of people there, and many people died.
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5
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The
Philistines thought that they should no longer place the ark of God on their
land. They called the fortune-tellers and sorcerers in the Philistines
together and discussed how to return the ark.
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6
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The
Philistine priests and fortune-tellers told their leaders to quickly return
the ark to Israel. They feared that if they persisted in keeping the ark,
they would suffer the same fate as Pharaoh of old Egypt. The leaders of the
Philistines decided to do what they said and return the ark to the land of
Israel.
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7
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They
built a new wagon to carry the ark. And they made a gold guilt offering on
the cart to acknowledge their fault and ask for forgiveness, and put it on
the cart as an offering to God.
The guilt offerings they offered were five gold tumors and five gold rats in
the form of boils on the skin of people in the place where the ark of God was
staying.
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8
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They
got a new cart ready, with two cows that have calved and have never been
yoked.
Hitch the cows to the cart, but took their calves away cowshed and pen them
up.
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9
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They
decided to admit that if these oxen drove the cart right to the land of Israel,
then everything that had happened was God's punishment for them because of
the ark. But if these mother cows did not go the right way because they
wanted to see their calves, they decided to assume that everything that had
happened so far was a coincidence.
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10
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The
cart carrying the ark started while the Philistines watched. But something
amazing happened.
These cows, who had never put on a cart and had just given birth, pulled the
cart and headed for the Land of Israel without straying from the road.
With that, it was proved that what had happened in the land of the
Philistines was what God had done.
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11
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The cart went straight to the
land of Beth Shemesh and stopped by a large rock in the field of a man named
Joshua. When the people of Beth Shemesh saw the return of the ark of God,
they rejoiced greatly.
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12
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People
cut the wood of the cart and slaughtered the oxen and offered them as
sacrifices to God. The Levites set down the ark of God on the rock and the
golden rats and the golden tumors. And they offered sacrifices to God with
joy.
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13
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The five
kings of the Philistines watched all these scenes and were able to confirm
that God had punished them. They then returned to their land.
God revealed what God has done through the oxen pulling the cart.
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14
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However, there were people from
Beth Shemesh who were curious about what the Ark of God looked like. They
made the mistake of looking into the ark of God out of curiosity. God was
angry with them for their wrong actions.
Because of that incident, many Bethshemesh people died on the spot.
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15
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The
people of Bethshemesh were covenant people who served God, but they could not
overcome their curiosity and violated God's law, and were severely punished
and died. They recklessly did what God forbade, and thus covered the glory of
God.
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16
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The
more people serve God, the more they value God's Word and take care of their
hearts and actions in front of God.
That is correct faith. Rather, it is right to keep His word with an attitude
of respecting and fearing God more. However, the people of Beth Shemesh
committed the blasphemous sin of looking into the ark of God out of misguided
curiosity, and were severely punished.
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God
showed that He is the King of the universe and the Lord of all the earth in
the land of Beth Shemesh.
Everyone on earth should exalt God and serve Him. In particular, we who have
received the grace of salvation by sending Jesus to this earth and bestowed
upon us by the love of the cross must serve God with all our hearts, minds,
and lives. We must not fall into the sin of taking the word of God lightly
like the people of Beth Shemesh.
We must always seek the help of the Holy Spirit and live cautiously so that
we can become people of faith who do not do anything that covers the glory of
God under any circumstances.
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(This
is the sample conclusion provided by CTM. Please feel free to change the
conclusion to best suit the listeners of your sermon.)
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