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1Samuel 5.10 “Therefore they sent the ark of God to Ekron. So it was, as the ark of God came to Ekron, that the Ekronites cried out, saying, ‘They have brought the ark of the God of Israel to us, to kill us and our people!'” [/pull_quote_center]
The Philistines captured the Ark in ignorance, not realizing the enormity of their error. And God began to deal with them beginning with their god, Dagon. The Bible says that the hand of the Lord was heavy on the people of Ashdod, and He ravaged them and struck them with tumors, both Ashdod and its territory.
When the men of Ashdod saw how it was, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for His hand is harsh toward us and Dagon our god.” So they carried the ark of the God of Israel away to Gath, and there too, the hand of the Lord was against the city with a very great destruction; and He struck the men of the city, both small and great, and tumors broke out on them.
From Gath, they sent the ark of God to Ekron. It was in Ekron that they cried out, “They have brought the ark of the God of Israel to us, to kill us and our people!” While the Ark was in the land of the Philistines the Bible says “there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city; the hand of God was very heavy there. And the men who did not die were stricken with the tumors, and the cry of the city went up to heaven.”
When the Israelites went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another people, God permitted no one to do them wrong; He rebuked kings for their sakes, saying, Do not touch My anointed ones, and do My prophets no harm! Ask Abimelech, when he took Abraham’s wife, God immediately closed up the wombs of all the women in his house! Brothers and sisters, we are the apple of His eyes! Hallelujah!
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