The following are discussion questions from a weekly study I am leading through the book of 1 Samuel.  We meet each Wednesday evening at the Deer Run Church of Christ.

Here Comes A King:
A Study of the Book of 1 Samuel

Lesson 6 (The Right Thing In The Wrong Place)
1 Samuel 5:1-12

The Text:

1. What did the Philistines capture?  How significant was this?  What did they do with it?
     
2. What did the Philistine people discover when they went to the temple of Dagon in the morning?  What did they do?  What did they find the next morning?
     
3. What was happening to the people of Ashdod?  What was the cause?  What did they decide to do?
     
4. What happened when the Philistines moved the ark to Gath?  What was their solution?
       
5. How did the people of Ekron feel about the ark coming to their city?  Why did they feel this way?  What was happening to them?  What did they decide needed done?

The Application:

1. What are some sacred items in your life?  What makes them sacred?  How would you feel if someone took them?
     
2. Thinking of those sacred items, where do they rate in relation to God?  Are there things/symbols/practices that you rely on that God has/would expose as powerless?   
     
3. How often do you consider the possibility of God’s judgment when things don’t go well?  How hard is it to consider God’s anger directed toward others?  . . . Toward yourself?
       
4. How common is it to simply pass along misfortune to someone else?  Why do we do that?
     
5. What makes it so hard to recognize God’s hand in the midst of hardship?  What is the proper response when we realize bad things are happening as a result of our sin or disrespect of God?  Why is that so hard to do?
    

Next week: 1 Samuel 6:1-7:1
Follow The Cows