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C. B. STEPHENSON

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 26, 1916

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 93, No. 53.

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C. B. STEPHENSON

By C. B. Stephenson

Ichabod

C. B. STEPHENSON

It was indeed a sad experience which caused Eli’s daughter-in-law to name her son Ichabod—the glory is departed from Israel. The Israelites were at war with the Philistines, and Eli, the priest, anxiously awaited the outcome. He sat by the roadside so he would be easily found by the expected messenger.
Soon the messenger arrived with the sad word that the battle was lost, thirty thousand men were slain, the army of Israel was in utter confusion, and among the slain were Eli’s two sons. The priest seemed to survive the shock of this information, but when the messenger added, “The ark of God is taken,” it was too much for him. “He fell from off the seat backward, . . . and his neck brake.”
Eli realized what the taking of the ark meant. He understood that God had thus signified that he would no longer fight for Israel. Because of their sins, he had given them over to their enemies until they should learn that he would not claim them as his special chosen people unless they lived in accordance with his will.
When the news of the death of her husband, and also of her father-in-law, reached the wife of Phinehas, she gave birth to a son, and when she was dying, she named the child Ichabod—“the glory is departed from Israel: for the ark of God is taken.” 1 Sam. 4:19-22. The name of this boy would be a continual reminder of that sad day when Israel was beaten by the enemy and the ark of God was taken.
To Eli, the defeated army was evidence that God had forsaken his people because of their sins. God cannot protect even those who profess his name if they do not manifest his character. If he did, the people would be encouraged to continue in sin. With all of God’s people, his law will be their delight. David said, “O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.” Again, “I delight to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy law is within my heart.”
In the ancient sanctuary service, the ark, which contained the holy law, was kept in the most holy place. That which made the ark holy was the law which it contained. Paul said, “The law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.” Rom. 7:12. When this holy law is written in the heart of man, he, too, becomes holy. Heb. 8:10. To reject the law, then, is to refuse the holiness of God.
When a church repudiates the law, it is evident that that church cannot expect the blessing of God to rest upon it. A lawless church is an inglorious church. The place on earth most like heaven is where the principles of the law of heaven are the most nearly conformed to, and the place most unlike heaven is where the opposite conditions prevail; therefore God’s church must have God’s holy law as its rule of faith and practice.
The modern belief that the ten commandments were abolished, nailed to the cross, and therefore are not binding in this dispensation, is dangerous. It sends the ark away by choice, which is quite as bad as to have it taken by the Philistines. The result is the same,—Ichabod, the glory is departed. This Philistine error has taken the ark away, with the result that the church is becoming more and more like the world. The standard of heaven has been dismissed, and there is nothing to distinguish between the holy and the profane. Babylon is fallen. Rev. 14:8.
The world will soon find that it cannot ignore this holy command. It is far better to accept it than to send it away—away from the heart. It will come back again sometime. We shall meet it again in the judgment day. We should love this blessed expression of God’s will, and, like Eli, grieve when we see men so conducting themselves that God must depart from them.
Salvation is an individual experience. No one can be saved by the experience of another. As the Lord must leave an apostate body, so will he leave the individual who rejects his law, and then the sad name must apply to him,—Ichabod, the glorious opportunity to be saved has passed. The death of Eli and of his daughter-in-law was associated with the departure of the law; so death will come to all who do not have the law abiding in the heart. We may have it written there by the Holy Spirit. The ark containing the letter may be taken away, but the law cannot be taken from the heart. It is our meditation all the day.