Throughout the life of Israel, God allowed distressed and troubled times to try to cause Israel to see that they needed to turn back to the Lord. Prosperity typically keeps people from looking to God. So God would take away that prosperity and would allow his people to be oppressed so that they would turn their eyes upward. God returned to Israel as seen in the ark of the covenant leaving the land of the Philistines and coming back to Israel. God revealed his own glory to Israel and to the Philistines, showing everyone that you do not carry God. God is self-sufficient and does not need anything. However, when the ark of the covenant returned, the people in Beth-shemesh looked into the ark and God struck those people dead. The people then asked a very important question. Who is able to stand before the Lord, this holy God (6:20)? The people of Kiriath-jearim take the ark of the Lord and keep it in the house of Abinadab for 20 years. For 20 years the presence of the Lord is pictured as tucked away and hidden in Israel. Shiloh has been destroyed and it appears that God is not with his people. 1 Samuel 7 is going to teach what we need to be able to be in a relationship with this holy God…
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