Leadership Spill in Philistia!
0 comments | Posted by Steven Layson on 27 Jun 2010 in From Steve's Study ::
The big news of this week (apart from the elimination of the Socceroos) has been the leadership spill in the Federal Labor party. Kevin Rudd started the week happily ensconced as Prime Minister, but now he’s been replaced by Julia Gillard – Australia’s first female Prime Minister. Our prayers are with her, that she would lead our nation with justice and wisdom.
Leadership spills are nothing new of course. In fact, today’s bible reading (1 Samuel 5) describes what must be one of the first. The Philistines lived close by the Israelites in the Promised Land and there was continual friction between the two nations. The Israelites went out to meet the Philistines in battle in 1 Samuel 4 and were soundly defeated. Indeed, even when they took the Ark of the Covenant with them, the battle went against them and the Ark was captured. And this is where the leadership spill takes place.
The Philistines worshipped the god “Dagon”, for whom they had a temple in the city of Ashdod. Surely this victory was a sign that their god was far superior to that of the Israelites. To make the point, they brought the Ark to the temple of their god as a sign that he had been vanquished.
However that night their god was overthrown (much like last Thursday morning). When they came to the temple the next day, Dagon was lying facedown as if falling down to worship the Ark. The same thing happened the next night with the added indignity of having had his arms and head broken off. To make matters worse, the people of Ashdod began getting sick and dying. They realized their god was no match for the Israelite God and so they passed the Ark on to a nearby town. Two more Philistine towns suffered in this way before they realized that the power of the True God.
There are so many “gods” around in our world today & many people believe it doesn’t matter which one you follow – one leader is as good as any other. However, in the end, there can only be one True God, and his leadership can never be overthrown.
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