Scripture: 1 Samuel 5:6-7:17, The idol-worshiping Philistines experience the captured Ark, not as a means of blessing, but as a means of judgment. Not only is their chief god, Dagon, humiliated before the ark, but all the Philistine cities that house the Ark experience the "hand" of the Lord in the form of plague. If we despise the means of God's grace, we, too, stand under God's judgment. After seven months in Philistine territory, the Ark was returned to Israel, but not to Shilohbecause of the desecration there done by Eli's sons. The Ark was returned to the house of Abinadab in Kirath-jearim, nine miles NE of Beth-shemesh. The Ark remained there for twenty years, during which, with Samuel's encouragement, the people of Israel turn to the Lord and cry out for mercy. This marks the beginning of a new era, under the leadership of Samuel the judge, in which the people of Israel subdue the Philistines and have their land restored.