1And the ark of Jehovah will be in the field of Philisteim seven months. 2And Philisteim will call for the priests and for the diviners, saying, What shall we do to the ark of Jehovah? make known to us in what we shall send it to its place? 3And they will say, If sending away the ark of the God of Israel, ye shall not send it away empty; for turning back, ye shall turn back a trespass: then ye shall be healed and we shall make known to you why his hand shall not be removed from you. 4And they will say, What the trespass that we shall turn back to him? And they will say, The number of the princes of Philisteim, five gold tumors, and five gold mice: for one smiting upon them all and upon your princes. 5And make likenesses of your tumors, and likenesses of your mice destroying the land; and give glory to the God of Israel: perhaps he will lighten his hand from off you, and from off your gods, and from off your land. 6And why shall ye make your hearts heavy, as Egypt and Pharaoh made their heart heavy? Did he not then do wonders among them, and they will send them away, and they will go? 7And now take and make one new wagon, and two heifers giving milk, which a yoke came not up upon them, and make fast the heifers upon the wagon, and turn back their young from after them to the house. 8And take the ark of Jehovah and set it upon the wagon; and the vessels of gold which ye turned back to him ye shall put a trespass in a box from its side; and send it, and it went. 9And see if it shall go up the way of its bound to the House of the Sun, it did to us this great evil: and if not we shall know that not his hand struck upon us; it was a chance to us. 10And the men did so, and they will take two heifers giving milk, and they will make them fast to the wagon, and they shut up their young in the house. 11And they set the ark of Jehovah into the wagon, and the box, and the mice of gold, and the likenesses of the tumors. 12And the heifers will look about in the way, upon the way of the House of the Sun, in one highway they went going, and they lowed, and they turned not to the right and to the left; and the princes of Philisteim went after them, even to the bound of the House of the Sun. 13And the House of the Sun reaping the harvest of wheat in the valley: and they will lift up their eyes and see the ark, and they will rejoice to see. 14And the wagon came into the field of Joshua of the House of the Sun, and it will stand there; and there a great stone: and they will cleave asunder the wood of the wagon, and the heifers they brought up a burnt-offering to Jehovah. 15And the Levites brought down the ark of Jehovah, and the coffer that was with it, which in it the vessels of gold, and put upon the great stone: and the men of the House of the Sun brought up burnt-offerings and sacrificed sacrifices in that day to Jehovah. 16And the five princes of Philisteim saw, and they will turn back to Ekron in that day. 17And these the tumors of gold which Philisteim turned back a trespass to Jehovah; for Ashdod one, for Gaza one, for Ashkelon one, for Gath one, for Ekron one. 18And the mice of gold, the number of all the cities of Philisteim, to the five princes from the fortified city, even to the village of the countryman, and even to the great meadow which they put upon it the ark of Jehovah, even to this day in the field of Joshua of the House of the Sun. 19And he will strike upon the men of the House of the Sun, for they saw in the ark of Jehovah, and he will strike upon the people seventy men, and fifty thousand men: and the people will mourn because Jehovah smote among the people a great smiting. 20And the men of the House of the Sun will say, Who shall be able to stand before Jehovah this holy God? and to whom shall it go up from us? 21And they will send messengers to the inhabitants of the City of Forests, saying, Philisteim turned back the ark of Jehovah; come down, bring it up to you.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 THE PHILISTINES COUNSEL HOW TO SEND BACK THE ARK. (
1Sam 6:1-9)
the ark . . . was in the country of the Philistines seven months--Notwithstanding the calamities which its presence had brought on the country and the people, the Philistine lords were unwilling to relinquish such a prize, and tried every means to retain it with peace and safety, but in vain.
2 the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners--The designed restoration of the ark was not, it seems, universally approved of, and many doubts were expressed whether the prevailing pestilence was really a judgment of Heaven. The priests and diviners united all parties by recommending a course which would enable them easily to discriminate the true character of the calamities, and at the same time to propitiate the incensed Deity for any acts of disrespect which might have been shown to His ark.
4 Five golden emerods--Votive or thank offerings were commonly made by the heathen in prayer for, or gratitude after, deliverance from lingering or dangerous disorders, in the form of metallic (generally silver) models or images of the diseased parts of the body. This is common still in Roman Catholic countries, as well as in the temples of the Hindus and other modern heathen.
five golden mice--This animal is supposed by some to be the jerboa or jumping mouse of Syria and Egypt [BOCHART]; by others, to be the short-tailed field mouse, which often swarms in prodigious numbers and commits great ravages in the cultivated fields of Palestine.
5 give glory unto the God of Israel--By these propitiatory presents, the Philistines would acknowledge His power and make reparation for the injury done to His ark.
lighten his hand . . . from off your gods--Elohim for god.
6 Wherefore then do ye harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts?--The memory of the appalling judgments that had been inflicted on Egypt was not yet obliterated. Whether preserved in written records, or in floating tradition, they were still fresh in the minds of men, and being extensively spread, were doubtless the means of diffusing the knowledge and fear of the true God.
7 make a new cart--Their object in making a new one for the purpose seems to have been not only for cleanliness and neatness, but from an impression that there would have been an impropriety in using one that had been applied to meaner or more common services. It appears to have been a covered wagon (see on
2Sam 6:3).
two milch kine--Such untrained heifers, wanton and vagrant, would pursue no certain and regular path, like those accustomed to the yoke, and therefore were most unlikely of their own spontaneous motion to prosecute the direct road to the land of Israel.
bring their calves home from them--The strong natural affection of the dams might be supposed to stimulate their return homewards, rather than direct their steps in a foreign country.
8 take the ark of the Lord, and lay it upon the cart--This mode of carrying the sacred symbol was forbidden; but the ignorance of the Philistines made the indignity excusable (see on
2Sam 6:6).
put the jewels . . . in a coffer by the side thereof--The way of securing treasure in the East is still in a chest, chained to the house wall or some solid part of the furniture.
9 Beth-shemesh--that is, "house of the sun," now Ain Shems [ROBINSON], a city of priests in Judah, in the southeast border of Dan, lying in a beautiful and extensive valley. JOSEPHUS says they were set a-going near a place where the road divided into two--the one leading back to Ekron, where were their calves, and the other to Beth-shemesh. Their frequent lowings attested their ardent longing for their young, and at the same time the supernatural influence that controlled their movements in a contrary direction.
12 the lords of the Philistines went after them--to give their tribute of homage, to prevent imposture, and to obtain the most reliable evidence of the truth. The result of this journey tended to their own deeper humiliation, and the greater illustration of God's glory.
14 and they clave--that is, the Beth-shemites, in an irrepressible outburst of joy.
offered the kine--Though contrary to the requirements of the law (
Lev 1:3;
Lev 22:19), these animals might properly be offered, as consecrated by God Himself; and though not beside the tabernacle, there were many instances of sacrifices offered by prophets and holy men on extraordinary occasions in other places.
17 And these are the golden emerods . . . and the mice--There were five representative images of the emerods, corresponding to the five principal cities of the Philistines. But the number of the golden mice must have been greater, for they were sent from the walled towns as well as the country villages.
18 unto the great stone of Abel--Abel, or Aben, means "stone," so that without resorting to italics, the reading should be, "the great stone."
19 he smote the men of Beth-shemesh, because they had looked into the ark--In the ecstasy of delight at seeing the return of the ark, the Beth-shemesh reapers pried into it beneath the wagon cover; and instead of covering it up again, as a sacred utensil, they let it remain exposed to common inspection, wishing it to be seen, in order that all might enjoy the triumph of seeing the votive offerings presented to it, and gratify curiosity with the sight of the sacred shrine. This was the offense of those Israelites (Levites, as well as common people), who had treated the ark with less reverence than the Philistines themselves.
he smote of the people fifty thousand and threescore and ten men--Beth-shemesh being only a village, this translation must be erroneous, and should be, "he smote fifty out of a thousand," being only fourteen hundred in all who indulged this curiosity. God, instead of decimating, according to an ancient usage, slew only a twentieth part; that is, according to JOSEPHUS, seventy out of fourteen hundred (see
Num 4:18-
Num 4:22).
21 Kirjath-jearim--"the city of woods," also called Kirjath-baal (
Josh 15:60;
Josh 18:14;
1Chr 13:6-7). This was the nearest town to Beth-shemesh; and being a place of strength, it was a more fitting place for the residence of the ark. Beth-shemesh being in a low plain, and Kirjath-jearim on a hill, explains the message, "Come ye down, and fetch it up to you."