Study Desk

Be brave, Philistines. Fight like men. In the past they were our slaves, so fight like men or you will become their slaves."

So the Philistines fought very hard and defeated the Israelites. The Israelite soldiers ran away and went home. It was a terrible defeat for Israel. 30,000 Israelite soldiers were killed.

Eli was worried about the Holy Box, so he was sitting there by the city gate waiting and watching when the Benjamite man came into Shiloh and told the bad news. All the people in town began to cry loudly.

Eli was 98 years old. He was blind, so he could not see what was happening, but he could hear the loud noise of the people crying. Eli asked, "Why are the people making this loud noise?" The Benjamite man ran to Eli and told him what happened.

When the Benjamite man mentioned God's Holy Box, Eli fell backward off his chair near the gate and broke his neck. Eli was old and fat, so he died. He had led Israel for 20 years.

The people of Ashdod called the five Philistine rulers together and asked them, "What must we do with the Holy Box of the God of Israel?" The rulers answered, "Move the Holy Box of the God of Israel to Gath." So the Philistines moved God's Holy Box.

So the Philistines sent God's Holy Box to Ekron. But when God's Holy Box came into Ekron, the people of Ekron complained. They said, "Why are you bringing the Box of the God of Israel to our city Ekron? Do you want to kill us and our people?"

The priests and magicians answered, "If you send back the Holy Box of the God of Israel, don't send it away empty. You must offer gifts to the God of Israel. Then you will be healed. You must do this so that God will stop punishing you."

The Philistines asked, "What kind of gifts should we send for Israel's God to forgive us?" The priests and magicians answered, "There are five Philistine leaders, one leader for each city. All of you and your leaders had the same problems. So you must make five gold models to look like five tumors. And you must make five gold models to look like five mice.

So make models of the tumors and models of the mice that are ruining the country. Give these gold models to the God of Israel as payment. Then maybe the God of Israel will stop punishing you, your gods, and your land.

"You must build a new wagon and get two cows that have just had calves. These must be cows that have never worked in the fields. Tie the cows to the wagon so that they can pull it. Then take the calves back home and put them in their pen. Don't let them follow their mothers.

But no priests were there to lead the celebration when the men of Beth Shemesh saw the Lord 's Holy Box. So the Lord killed 70 men from Beth Shemesh. The people of Beth Shemesh cried loudly because of this hard punishment.

So the Israelites threw away their statues of Baal and Ashtoreth. The Israelites served only the Lord .

The Israelites met together at Mizpah. They got water and poured it out before the Lord . In this way they began a time of fasting. They did not eat any food that day, and they confessed their sins. They said, "We have sinned against the Lord ." So Samuel served as a judge of Israel at Mizpah.

The Philistines came closer and closer to fight the Israelites while Samuel offered the sacrifice. But then, the Lord caused a loud clap of thunder to hit near the Philistines. The thunder scared the Philistines, and they became confused, so the Israelites defeated them in battle.

So all the elders of Israel met together and went to Ramah to meet with Samuel.

So the elders asked for a king to lead them. Samuel thought this was a bad idea, so he prayed to the Lord .

So listen to the people and do what they say. But give them a warning. Tell the people what a king will do to them. Tell them how a king rules people."

Those people asked for a king. So Samuel told them everything the Lord said.

One day Kish's donkeys got lost. So he said to his son Saul, "Take one of the servants and go look for the donkeys."