Spread the hot potato

Tuesday February 22, 2022

Spread the hot potato

They sent for and gathered together all the princes of the Philistines, and said, What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel ? The princes answered: Let the ark of the God of Israel be brought to Gath. And there they brought the ark of the God of Israel. 1 Samuel 5.8

When you have just cooked a potato, it stays very hot for quite a while. Difficult to keep it in hand for peeling, you have to drop it or pass it to someone else. In business, when faced with a complication, you get rid of it by “passing it on” to someone else.

The incident recounted in the suggested reading took place during the time of the Judges, a time when Israel had no king and everyone did as he saw fit (Judges 21:25). In conflict with the Philistines, Israel will use God's chest as a "lucky charm" to defeat their enemies. Result : defeat of the Israelites, capture of the chest by the Philistines (1 Samuel 4.10-11). Because of the misfortunes that befall them, the chest passes successively from city to city among the Philistines (1 Samuel 5.1, 6-12), to finally return to Israel, moved from place to place. But God does not allow himself to be manipulated, either by his people or by his enemies. Everyone will learn this the hard way : we do not treat the Eternal as an idol that we use, that we “pass on” and then get rid of. Our God is holy and almighty.

Jean Michel Guerche

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Proposed reading : 1st book of Samuel, chapters 6 chapter 7, verse 1.

Source (Live Today)