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1 Samuel 7

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1 And the men of Cariathiarim came and fetched up the ark of the Lord and carried it into the house of Abinadab in Gabaa: and they sanctified Eleazar his son, to keep the ark of the Lord.

2 And it came to pass, that from the day the ark of the Lord abode in Cariathiarim days were multiplied, (for it was now the twentieth year,) and all the house of Israel rested following the Lord.

3 And Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying: If you turn to the Lord with all your heart, put away the strange gods from among you, Baalim and Astaroth: and prepare your hearts unto the Lord, and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.

4 Then the children of Israel put away Baalim and Astaroth, and served the Lord only.

5 And Samuel said: Gather all Israel to Masphath, that I may pray to the Lord for you.

6 And they gathered together to Masphath: and they drew water, and poured it out before the Lord, and they fasted on that day, and they said there: We have sinned against the Lord. And Samuel judged the children of Israel in Masphath.

7 And the Philistines heard that the children of Israel were gathered together to Masphath, and the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the children of Israel heard this, they were afraid of the Philistines.

8 And they said to Samuel: Cease not to cry to the Lord our God for us, that he may save us out of the hand of the Philistines.

9 And Samuel took a sucking lamb, and offered it whole for a holocaust to the Lord: and Samuel cried to the Lord for Israel, and the Lord heard him.

10 And it came to pass, when Samuel was offering the holocaust, the Philistines began the battle against Israel: but the Lord thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and terrified them, and they were overthrown before the face of Israel.

11 And the men of Israel going out of Masphath pursued after the Philistines, and made slaughter of them till they came under Bethchar.

12 And Samuel took a stone, and laid it between Masphath and Sen: and he called the place, the stone of help. And he said: Thus far the Lord hath helped us.

13 And the Philistines were humbled, and they did not come any more into the borders of Israel. And the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines, all the days of Samuel.

14 And the cities, which the Philistines had taken from Israel, were restored to Israel, from Accaron to Geth, and their borders: and he delivered Israel from the hand of the Philistines, and there was peace between Israel and the Amorrhites.

15 And Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life:

16 And he went every year about to Bethel and to Galgal and to Masphath, and he judged Israel in the aforesaid places.

17 And he returned to Ramatha, for there was his house, and there he judged Israel: he built also there an altar to the Lord.

   

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Ark

  
Depiction of Noah sending off a dove from the ark by DREUX, Jean;   MASTER of Margaret of York;   HENNECART, Jean

The third ark represents the third or inmost heaven where the angels are closest to the Lord, and the Lord Himself is represented by the two tables of stone which had on them His law, written by His finger. For this reason it was the most holy possession that the children of Israel had and it had power to affect the Jordan river and to discomfit Israel's enemies. It was kept in the closed part of the tabernacle where only Moses and Aaron could go. From the ark in its chamber the holiness rested in a lower degree in the outer room of the tabernacle, which represented the second or middle heaven, and in an even lower degree in the courtyard, inside the curtain fence, which represented the first or outer heaven.The ark for Moses, made of rushes was also sealed inside and out. Moses represents the Lord's Word, and because he was then an infant, our first ideas about the holiness of the Word when we are very young. So it isn't a solid and lasting structure, but a crude one because our young ideas are so unformed as yet. It also represents the first ideas of the Word in the mind of JesusAt the time of Noah the very first church, represented by Adam, had come to its end, and a new one had to be opened by the Lord. The minds of the people that were in that church are represented by the ark, and all the animals represented loves and affections, both good and bad, that those people had. The minds of these people were not the same as those of the people of the former church. The old selfish will inherited from their ancestors is represented by the gopher wood from which the basic ark was built, but which was sealed off inside and out by the bitumin. Their ancestors, the Adamites, didn't have this "sealing off" and so couldn't divide what they knew from what they desired. Noah and his family represent the ruling loves and the wish to follow the Lord. The ark keeps the flood of falsities from drowning those minds, and the door and window represent the hearing and seeing of truth from the doctrines that remained from the Adamic church. And so, held safe, they could use those principles, learned from doctrine, to form a conscience, which if followed would allow the Lord to build a new will for good in the mind. This separation of the will and understanding that can be made in the mind still reflects today the way we are, and still allows us to build a conscience, despite our own selfish will.There are three arks mentioned in the Word, the ark of Noah, the ark of bulrushes for the baby Moses, and the ark of the covenant in the tabernacle. All three of these represent the human mind at some point in its development