142

THE ARK.

XCVIII.

JHE ARK,

HE kine drew the ark in
the cart to Bethshemesh.
The people there were
very busy reaping: for it
was harvest time. They

heard something coming, and looked

up, to see what it was. What did

they see? The cart drawn by the

 

kine, without a driver, coming to |

them along the road; and when
they looked into the cart, there they
saw the holy ark of God, which
they had lost so long. Then the
people in Bethshemesh rejoiced very
much. The cart came close to
them, and the kine stood still; and
the Levites took out the ark, and
put it upon a large stone. Then
they cut up the cart for wood, and
offered the kine in joyful sacrifice to
God who had sent them His holy
ark again. The lords of the Philis-
tines, who followed the cart, saw all
this, and wondered, and returned to
their own country.

But a sad thing happened to
Bethshemesh that day. The people
were very pleased to have the ark
again; but some of them forgot
what a holy thing it was, and they
went to it, and looked into it, very
irreverently, without remembering
that God had commanded them to
honor it, and only allowed the Le-
vites to touch it. The men of Beth-
shemesh made God angry; and he
smote them; and 50,070 people
died.

The people ‘were very much

frightened when they saw so many.

 

of their friends dead, and said,
“Who can stand before this holy
Lord God?” ‘Then they sent to
Kirjath-jearim, and asked the people
there to come and take the ark
away. The men of Kirjath-jearim
were glad to have it; and. they
brought it to the house of a man
named Abinadab, and he conse-
crated his son to keep it; and it
stayed there many years.

The Israelites now began to be
sorry for their sins, and they cried
to the Lord. God had punished
them very much, and taken away
the ark from them; but now they
wanted to have God’s blessing again,
because they felt they could not be
happy without it.

None can be happy without God’s
love and blessing. We have not
the ark now to be with us, as it.
used to be with Israel, and we do
not want it. We have Jesus Christ,
and He is always with us, to bless
us, if we are His people.

When the Israelites began to cry
about their sins, they had a kind
friend to teach them what to do.
Who was that friend? Samuel; he
was now a man, and God’s love and
blessing were still upon him. God
taught him to speak to His people
Israel. Samuel said, “Do you wish
to serve God in truth, and to have
his blessing again? If you do, you
must put away your idols, and turn
to God, and serve Him alone.”
Then the Israelites attended to
Samuel, and put away their idols,