After reading 1 Samuel 4 & 5 I was left thinking the Philistines were perhaps a bit mentally challenged. So they beat the Israelite army and ran off with the Ark of the Covenant and took it home. They're thinking, "Cool. Now we have two gods. Let's stick him in our temple with our other god." Then they come back to find the statue of their god bowing down in front of the Ark and eventually broken and left on the threshold of the door. Then God afflicts them with "devastation" and tumors as well. And all they come up with is: let's get rid of this ark and this god.
Did anyone stop to think, hey, this God is more real and more powerful than that statue we've been worshiping. Maybe it's time for a change. So they were willing to add him to their temple as a second-stringer, but not willing to engage with God when the hard truth became apparent. Instead they just wanted him out of there so they could go back to the status quo, back to their comfort zone. The paradigm shift of changing their beliefs was more than they could handle. So they just wanted it to go away. Not such an uncommon attitude I suppose.
Thoughts?
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