Friday, October 26, 2007

Psalm 78:60

He forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh,
the tent He had placed among men,
and delivered His strength into captivity,
and His glory into the enemy's hand.


In the context of the psalm, which gives a run-down of Israel's history, this is obviously a reference to 1 Samuel 4-5 where the ark of the covenant is captured by the Philistines and placed in Dagon's temple.

I noticed too that the psalm makes plain that GOD was the one who delivered that ark into the hands of the Philistines; it wasn't that the Philistines overpowered God's people such that they could capture the Israelite God.

But, hey, we've been doing John at Thursday morning Bible class for the last year. So when I see "tabernacle" and "glory," I'm musing on the first chapter of John's gospel. Is this psalm about Jesus? The Father forsook the tabernacle, that is, the Son that He sent to mankind. On the cross, Jesus (the strength and the glory of God) was delivered into the enemy's hand. If this psalm is about Jesus, and if the capture of the ark was about Jesus too, then a person might even begin to wonder if part of the story is a picture of the descent into hell.

For all outward appearances, both the capture of the ark and the descent into hell were "loser" times for God. But that wasn't the reality. Look at what happened in Dagon's temple. The ark came in. And Dagon fell on his face. Dagon's priests set him upright. Next morning, Dagon was on his face again, with his head and hands broken off. Likewise, when Jesus descended into hell, it wasn't an oopsie that He had to cope with. He chose to be in that position, and it was a triumph for Him. "And every knee shall bow, in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ IS Lord to the glory of God the Father."

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