2 Samuel 4-7 This is such an interesting sequence of events.  Samuel has become Israel's prophet and judge.  Eli and his sons are still the priests, but God is about to bring judgement on them for their sinfulness.

Israel goes into battle against the Philistines and they are losing badly. The elders decide that they should bring the ark of the Lord from Shiloh, so that "it may come among us and deliver us from the power of our enemies." ( v3)   Amazing how ignorant they were about God and about His holy temple!  So, they send people to get the ark and Hophni and Phinehas came along.  When the ark entered the camp of the Israelites, there was a great shout and the noise reached the Philistines.   The Philistines "were afraid"!  They had more fear of God's Presence than the people of God did!
However, they decided to be courageous and fight, so they did, defeating Israel and killing 30,000 of Israel's soldiers.  Not only that, but they took the ark of God.  Hophni and Phinehas both died also.

When Eli was told that his sons were dead and that he ark was taken, he fell backwards and broke his neck. When Phinehas' wife heard that her husband was dead and that the ark was taken, she delivered her baby and died also. Her last words were to call her son Ichabod, " The glory has departed from Israel, because the ark of God was taken and because of her father-in-law and her husband." ( v21-22)

Chapter 5 is great!  The Philistines bring the ark of God into the "house of Dagon".  When they came in the next morning the idol was on its face before the Ark.  They picked it up, but the next day the same thing happened. This time the head and the palms of the idol were broken off.  The Lord began to smite the villagers with tumors.  So they sent the ark to Gath.  The people in Gath began to experience confusion and tumors broke out on the men of the city.  So, they sent the ark to Ekron.  The Ekronites would have nothing to do with this, so they decided to send the ark back to Israel!

The ark was placed on a wagon hitched to two cows and sent down the road.  It headed straight to Beth-shemesh. The Levites took the ark and offered the cows as burnt offerings.  However, some of the men of Beth-shemesh decided to take it upon themselves to look into the ark. The Lord struck down 50,070 men because of this sinful behavior.  They still were ignorant and rebellious against the Laws of God.  The people of Beth-shemesh contacted the people of Kiriath-jearim, who came down and took the ark to the house of Abinadab.   They chose Eleazar, Abinadab's son to be the priest and consecrated him.  The ark remained there until David came to bring the ark to Jerusalem.

These events brought Israel back to the Lord.  Samuel spoke these words, " If you return to the Lord with all your heart, remove the foreign gods.. .and direct your hearts to the Lord and serve Him alone;  He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines." ( 7:3)  Israel agreed to do this.  They removed the idols, they gathered together to pray and fast at Mizpah.   The Philistines came up against them, but as they drew near, "The Lord thundered with a great thunder on that day against the Philistines and confused them, so that they were routed before Israel."  ( 7:10)

Samuel returned to Ramah, his hometown.  He built an altar to the Lord there.  From there he would travel to  Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah to judge Israel each year.

God is holy and He never changes.  People are still foolish and ignorant of Who God is and what His Word says. Where there is no fear of God, no honor given to Him, the Creator and Ruler of Heaven and earth, the wrath of God is revealed.  ( Romans 1).  Ungodliness, unrighteousness, suppression of the truth, denial of the evidence clearly seen in creation... leave men with no excuse.   God's judgement is clearly seen in our day, just as it was in the times of Samuel and Paul -
"God gave them over to the lusts of their hearts to impurity." ( Romans 1:24) - which leads to dishonored bodies.
"God gave them over to degrading passions..." (Romans 1:26) - which leads to unnatural and indecent relationships.
"... God gave them over to a depraved mind." (Romans 1:28) - which leads to "unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice, they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful... worthy of death." (Romans 1:29-32)

Father in heaven, You are holy, holy, holy!  May we never fail to honor You or forget Your Greatness.  Your desire if for us to be holy as You are holy and You have made a way for us by sending Your Son, Jesus Christ to redeem us.  Through Him we are declared righteous.. such amazing mercy and grace!  Praise and worship and thanksgiving we give to You , for You are God alone.
Lead us in Your paths, write Your Word on our hearts, be glorified in all that we do in Your Name.
We commit our ways to You Lord, we trust in You also, so that You will "bring forth Your righteousness as the light." Psalms 37:5.  We delight in You.  We rest in You.  And we wait patiently for You, by the power of Your Spirit.  Grant to us the desires of our hearts we ask in Jesus' Name. Amen.