Irony

The Bible is chock-full of irony. I was just reading one example this afternoon, in 1 Samuel. You have the story of how the Philistines capture the Ark of the Covenant. The Israelites treat it with contempt, thinking it will save them in the battle simply by being there. Even before that, however, I am reminded of the saddest verse in the entire Bible: Judges 2:10, "And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD or the work that he had done for Israel." (ESV)

In 1 Samuel 6, you have the Philistines determining to return the Ark to the Israelites, because of the humiliation of their god Dagon, and also because of the hot-potato situation arising because God chose to plague whichever city had the Ark. They decide to send an offering with the Ark, thus honoring the God of Israel. My study Bible has a note here: "With this announcement, the ark narrative comes almost full circle. It was for Israel's failure to honor the Lord and handle the ark properly that God had removed it from them." In addition, and this is quite ironic, in 1 Sam. 6:6, the Philistines say, "Why should you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? After he had dealt severely with them, did they not send the people away, and they departed?" The uncircumcised Philistines, it appears, knew their history better than the Israelites!

I think it was George Santayana who said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." America as a nation is doing all the things ancient Rome did. We have vomitoriums (represented by anorexia and bulimia), we have abortions, we have the breakdown of the family, we have the contempt for law. We have it all. God is not mocked: whatever a man sows, that will he also reap. The same holds for nations. Let us take warning from this, and rest on God's grace to save us.

In Christ.