This is the Bible Book Club. I'm Heather and I'm Susan and we're in the book of First Samuel.

Welcome to the club.

In the last episode, we began what theologians call the arc narrative. The narrative starts in

Chapter 4th Samuel and it ends in chapter 7.

It is the story of the Philistines victory over Israel and their possession of the Ark of the

covenant.

This was spiritually and politically devastating.

And it was just a very dark time in Israel's history.

The defeat sent a message to Israel that God would not be with

them if they continued to break the covenant of their relationship. And there would be consequences if

they forgot his laws or tried to manipulate God to suit their needs, which is what they had been doing.

One of those consequences was a swift end to the line of Eli. Eli, Hopney, and Phineas had abused

their positions as priests and they were all killed. At, Hopney, and Phineas had abused their positions as priests, and they were all

killed. At the same time, God sent a strong message to the Philistines that they might defeat Israel,

but that didn't mean that they had defeated God. To prove it, God sent the ark on a tour of terror

through Philistia. Okay, so set up for today. When we open in chapter six, the Israelites

have lost the ark and are suffering without the presence of God. While the Philistines have

gained the ark, but they too are suffering with the presence of God. Samuel is nowhere to be seen yet. So here's scene one,

the ark is not a keeper that any of the Philistines want to add to their trophy room. The question is,

how does one get rid of a God without making him angry? Let's find out in chapter six.

When the Ark of the Lord had been in Philistine territory seven months, the Philistines called

for the priest and the diviners and said, what shall we do with the Ark of the Lord? Tell us how

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