God doesn’t need saving by us.  We need saving by him.  God doesn’t need us to build his kingdom he could do it without us.  But in the gospel he invites us to know him, he pays all our debt of sin and takes all the just judgment we deserve as Jesus takes our place.  That’s the good news of God’s grace to us if we repent and believe.

So the first thing Israel and we need to know about God from 1 Samuel 5v1-7v2 is that God alone is God. The second is that God doesn’t need saving.

So the ark of God is sent from Ashdod to Gath, but again God breaks out against the people, so it’s sent to Ekron and the people cry out in fear.  (6v1-2)After 7 months the Philistines want to get rid of the ark.  God is not conquered, not under their or their gods control, God is a threat.

But they want to be sure it wasn’t all just coincidence.  So they engineer a test that stacks the deck against God.  They take 2 cows who’ve never learned to work yoked together and would naturally pull against each other, who’ve just had calves and would naturally want to stay with their calves, yoke them together to a cart with the Ark and their gold guilt offering to try to appease God.  If the cows go to Israel against all odds then the Philistines will know it’s God, if not then it was all just coincidence.

The cows (1 Samuel 6v11-12)head straight back to Israel without stopping or turning aside, lowing all the way.  The leaders of the Philistines watch it all, even the sacrifice and joy in Beth Shemesh.  They’re left in no doubt it wasn’t coincidence, God was against them.

What did Israel do to get the ark back?  Nothing.  No daring SAS raid, no negotiations, prisoner swaps or trade deals.  It’s all God.  God did not and does not need saving.  Dagon needed help to be lifted back onto his plinth but God saves himself by overpowering and plundering his enemy without his people lifting a finger.

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