Dismantling Magical Thinking
1 Samuel 4:1-11 - Thursday, January 11, 2024, 1st Week in Ordinary Time
Once I saw a cartoon that pictured a man standing by his car. His plate number was JN316 - John 3:16, there was a small cross inside and at the back a sticker with a well-known symbol of fish. The man was wearing a hat and a t-shirt with biblical passages and at the bottom was a message from the cartoonist: "Wearing all those things does not make you a Christian".
The main subject of our story today is the Ark of the Covenant. The Israelites lost twice in the fight against the Philistines and not even the presence of the Ark prevented their defeat. Most wars are won by those who possess better guns and more well-trained troops than their adversary. But, in the imagination of the ancients, war did not only involve people but also gods. And so, the Israelites are asking, "Why has the Lord put us to rout today before the Philistines?" (1 Sam 4:3) and the Philistines are trambling at the news that "God came to the camp" of their enemies (1 Sam 4:7).
The overall narrative from the Book of Judges to the Second Kings is written from the perspective of the national tragedy of 586 BC when the temple was burned, Jerusalem was destroyed and the Davidic dynasty was brought to an end. Why did the Lord allow that to happen? Was the Lord weaker than the gods of Babylon? The answer given by the authors and editors is straightforward. No, the Lord was not weaker but the people were wicked. The defeat was a punishment for the sins and a lesson for the future.
"Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD here from Shiloh, that [it] or [He] may come among us and save us from the power of our enemies” (1 Sam 4:3). The personal pronoun in this verse is translated in different English versions either as "it" referring to the Ark or as "He" referring to the Lord. This ambiguity reveals to us the magical thinking of the ancient people that the authors of this narrative wanted to dismantle. "The ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts, who is enthroned on the cherubim" (1 Sam 4:4) was the most holy object in Israel but it was still just an object.
In our world wars are lost because of the unmatching power of one side of the conflict. In the biblical world, Israel loses in battles because God decided so. And not even the presence of the most holy object can change the outcome of the battle. The Lord cannot be manipulated to our bidding. The two priests who were in charge of the Ark, Hophni and Phinehas, were "worthless men" and their sin "was very great in the sight of the LORD" (1 Sam 2:12,17). And that was the cause of that crushing defeat. And when the entire leadership of Israel became like the "rulers of Sodom" and the entire people like the "people of Gomorrah" (Is 1:10) then not even the presence of the Temple of the Lord could prevent the national tragedy (see Jer 7:1-15).