1 Samuel 6:11

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible. 1 Samuel 6:1 INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 6 In this chapter we are told the Philistines advised with their priests what to do with the ark, and wherewith to send it home, 1 Samuel 6:1 whose advice was to send with it a trespass offering, golden images of emerods and mice, and to put it on a new cart, and the images in a coffer on the side of the ark, and draw it with two cows, 1 Samuel 6:3, and gave them a token whereby they might know whether they had been smitten by the God of Israel or not, 1 Samuel 6:9 which advice they took, and acted in all things according to it; and the lords of the Philistines accompanied the ark to the border of Bethshemesh, 1 Samuel 6:10, where they of Bethshemesh received it with joy, and offered the kine for a burnt offering to the Lord, and the Levites took care of the ark and presents in it, and the lords of the Philistines returned home, 1 Samuel 6:13, but they of Bethshemesh looking into the ark were smitten of God, upon which they sent to the men of Kirjathjearim to fetch it from them, 1 Samuel 6:19. Ver. 1. And the ark of the Lord was in the country of the Philistines seven months. Or "in the field" {c} of the Philistines; hence Procopius Gazaeus observes, that none of the cities daring to receive the ark, they left it without under the open air, so thinking they should be delivered from their calamity.

6:10-18 These two kine knew their owner, their great Owner, whom Hophin and Phinehas knew not. God's providence takes notice even of brute creatures, and serves its own purposes by them. When the reapers saw the ark, they rejoiced; their joy for that was greater than the joy of harvest. The return of the ark, and the revival of holy ordinances, after days of restraint and trouble, are matters of great joy.

And they laid the ark of the Lord upon the cart,.... Perhaps the same men that made the cart; however they were the Philistines, yet were not punished for touching it, as Uzzah was, though an Israelite, 2 Samuel 6:6 . and the coffer with the mice of gold, and the images of their emerods; which coffer was placed in a purse or bag hung at the side of the ark, with the golden mice and emerods in it.

9-12. 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.

The God of Israel actually did what the idolatrous priests hardly considered possible. When the Philistines, in accordance with the advice given them by their priests, had placed the ark of the covenant and the expiatory gifts upon the cart to which the two cows were harnessed, "the cows went straight forward on the way to Bethshemesh; they went along a road going and lowing (i.e., lowing the whole time), and turned not to the right or to the left; and the princes of the Philistines went behind them to the territory of Bethshemesh." בּדּרך ישּׁרנה, lit., "they were straight in the way," i.e., they went straight along the road. The form ישּׁרנה for יישׁרנה is the imperf. Kal, third pers. plur. fem., with the preformative י instead of ת, as in Genesis 30:38 (see Ges. 47, Anm. 3; Ewald, 191, b.). Bethshemesh, the present Ain-shems, was a priests' city on the border of Judah and Dan (see at Joshua 15:10 ).

[Bible] 6:6. Why do you harden your hearts, as Egypt and Pharao hardened their hearts? did not he, after he was struck, then let them go, and they departed? 6:7. Now, therefore, take and make a new cart: and two kine that have calved, on which there hath come no yoke, tie to the cart, and shut up their calves at home. 6:8. And you shall take the ark of the Lord, and lay it on the cart, and the vessels of gold, which you have paid him for sin, you shall put into a little box at the side thereof: and send it away, that it may go. 6:9. And you shall look: and if it go up by the way of his own coasts, towards Bethsames, then he hath done us this great evil: but if not, we shall know that it is not his hand hath touched us, but it hath happened by chance. 6:10. They did therefore in this manner: and taking two kine, that had sucking calves, they yoked them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home. 6:11. And they laid the ark of God upon the cart, and the little box that had in it the golden mice, and the likeness of the emerods. 6:12. And the kine took the straight way, that leadeth to Bethsames, and they went along the way, lowing as they went: and turned not aside neither to the right hand nor to the left: and the lords of the Philistines followed them as far as the borders of Bethsames. 6:13. Now the Bethsamites were reaping wheat in the valley: and lifting up their eyes, they saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it. 6:14. And the cart came into the field of Josue, a Bethsamite, and stood there. And there was a great stone, and they cut in pieces the wood of the cart, and laid the kine upon it a holocaust to the Lord. 6:15. And the Levites took down the ark of God, and the little box that was at the side of it, wherein were the vessels of gold, and they put them upon the great stone. The men also of Bethsames offered holocausts, and sacrificed victims that day to the Lord. 6:16. And the five princes of the Philistines saw, and they returned to Accaron the same day.

1 Samuel 6:2 . What shall we do to the ark of the Lord? — Hebrew, Jehovah. They never termed it the ark of Jehovah till this time: but now they seem to have been struck with some apprehension that Jehovah, the God of Israel, was above all gods. Tell us wherewith we shall send it, &c. — They did not call the priests and diviners together, to be resolved whether they should send it home or not, (for upon that point they seem to have been resolved already, 1 Samuel 6:11 ,) but in what manner it should be sent, and whether accompanied with any presents, to obtain the favour of him whose ark it was.

3 . send it not empty ] Cp. Exodus 23:15 . All religions regard offering as a necessary part of worship. in any wise ] i.e. “at all events,” “certainly.” Wise means “way of acting,” “manner,” “mode.” return him a trespass offering ] A satisfaction or compensation in return for the injury done him by the removal of the Ark. it shall be known to you ] If the removal of the plague followed the restoration of the Ark with due propitiation, they would know for certain that its detention was the cause of the continuance of the plague. They were not yet convinced that their misfortune was more than “a chance” ( 1 Samuel 6:9 ).