1 Samuel 4-6

Israel fights the Philistines and takes the ark along to win.  It doesn't work.  Eli's sons die; Eli falls dead when he hears of the ark's capture.  Eli's son's wife dies in childbirth the same day, naming her child Ichabod "the glory has departed."

God afflicts the Philistines with tumors wherever the ark goes for 7 months.  Dagon falls broken before the ark.  THey send it back with offerings showing their belief that their afflictions were from Yahweh, God of Israel.  It winds up in Beth-Shemesh, but some of them look into the ark and die.

How this is about Jesus

• The ark was a portable temple at the time, and Jesus is the living temple now.  In Jesus' day and now, we are tempted to USE Jesus to get our agenda done.
• Even Gentiles acknowledged the divine source of Jesus' works.

Application
Don't treat Jesus or religious objects like magic charms.
Set your heart on seeing God honored among people (4:13, 18).
Do not pry irreverently into the things of God (6:19).