1 Samuel 6:19

1 Samuel 6:19 . Because they had looked into the ark — Which God had forbidden, not only to the common people, but to the sons of Levi also, Numbers 4:20 . But the people, having now an opportunity which they had not had before, were moved with a vehement curiosity to see the contents of the ark, forgetting the divine prohibition and their duty. Perhaps they were desirous to see whether the Philistines had taken out the tables of the covenant; or to have a view of such an ancient, sacred monument, written with God’s own hand. Even he smote of the people — In and near Beth-shemesh, and coming from all parts on this occasion. Fifty thousand threescore and ten men — This translation is made by an unaccountable transposition of the words; which, in the Hebrew, lie exactly thus. He smote of the people threescore and ten men, fifty thousand men; the most probable sense of which is this: He smote threescore and ten men, fifty out of a thousand men. That is, God was so merciful as not to slay all that were guilty, but only seventy of them, observing this proportion, that out of a thousand offenders he smote only fifty persons, or a twentieth part. And this interpretation is very easy, by only supplying the letter מ mem before אל Š eleph, a thousand, making the sense to be, out of a thousand. And there are many passages of Scripture where this particle is manifestly wanting to make out the true meaning. This translation was long ago proposed by Bochart, and approved by Dr.

Waterland, who renders the passage, He smote of the people threescore and ten men out of fifty thousand: which, he says, “is a juster rendering of the Hebrew, and is well defended by Le Clerc upon the place.” Josephus, it must be observed, mentions only seventy Beth-shemites as smitten on this occasion; Antiq., book 6, cap. 2. And Dr. Kennicott appeals to three Hebrew MSS., in confirmation of this sense of the clause. A great slaughter — It was a great slaughter, considering the smallness of this place, probably only a village.

Verse 19. - He emote the men of Beth-shemesh, etc. In this verse also the text is undoubtedly corrupt. The Septuagint ascribes the sin not to all the people, but to "the sons of Jeconiah, who were not glad when they saw the ark, and he smote them." But as this reading is not supported by the other versions we may pass it by. The numbers, however, are evidently wrong. Fifty thousand men would imply a population of 250,000 people, whereas Jerusalem itself in its palmiest days never had a population of even 70,000. There were no large cities among the Israelites, but a scattered population living upon their fields, and with a few small walled towns here and there to protect them and their cattle in any sudden emergency. Kennicott, however, has satisfactorily explained the mistake. In the old way of denoting numbers by the letters of the alphabet an ain = 70 had been mistaken for a nun with two dots = 50,000. The Syriac has 5000, that is, a nun with one dot. We must add that the Hebrew is not fifty thousand and threescore and ten men, but "seventy men, fifty thousand men," without any article between, and with the smaller number first, contrary to Hebrew rule. The occasion of the calamity was probably as follows: - As the news of the return of the ark spread from mouth to mouth, the people flocked together to take part in the sacrifice. which would of course be followed by a feast.

Heated thereat by wine, perhaps, and merriment, they lost all sense of reverence, and encouraged one another to look into the ark and examine its contents, though the words need not absolutely mean more than that "they looked at the ark." Even so the men of Beth-shemesh, as a city of priests, must have known that death was the penalty of unhallowed gazing at holy things ( Numbers 4:20 ), and it is more than probable that those who were smitten were priests, because in them it would be a heinous sin; for it was a repetition of that contempt for religion and its symbols which had been condemned so sternly in Eli's sons. The mere seeing of the ark was no sin, and had given the people only joy (ver. 13), but as soon as they had received it the priests ought to have covered it with a vail ( Numbers 4:5 ). To leave it without a vail was neglectful, to pry into it was sacrilege. Because Jehovah had smitten many of the people, etc. This clause should be translated, "because Jehovah had smitten the people with a great smiting." The sudden death even of seventy men in an agricultural district, especially if they were the heads of the priestly families there, would be a great and terrible calamity, enough to fill the whole place with grief. 1 Samuel 6:19

1 Samuel 6:19 to 1 Samuel 7:1 . The Penalty of Irreverence. Removal of the Ark to Kirjath-jearim 19 . because they had looked into the ark ] Better, because they had gazed upon the ark. The rendering of the E. V. follows the explanation given by Rabbinic commentators, but the expression used signifies rather “to gaze upon with profane curiosity.” The priests of Beth-shemesh must have known that even the Levites were forbidden to look upon the furniture of the Holy of Holies upon pain of death ( Numbers 4:19-20 ), but instead of hastening to cover it with befitting reverence, they left it exposed to the public gaze, and brought down a judgment which was intended to vindicate the holiness of Jehovah. Certainly they were not punished for the unavoidable sight of the Ark as it approached them, at which they justly rejoiced ( 1 Samuel 6:13 ). It seems not improbable, however, that there is some corruption in the Heb. text here.

The repetition “and he smote,” “even he smote,” is somewhat strange, and the Sept. has the following entirely different reading, which may possibly represent an earlier text. “And the sons of Jechonias rejoiced not among the men of Bethsamus because they saw the ark of the Lord: and he smote among them, &c.” i.e. either from indifference or irreligion they took no part in the general rejoicing and were punished for their impiety. fifty thousand and threescore and ten men ] It is generally agreed that there is some mistake in the text here. ( a ) The anomalous order of the numerals in the Hebrew (70 men 50,000 men), and the absence of the conjunction and mark corruption, ( b ) The village of Beth-shemesh cannot possibly have contained such a number of inhabitants. It seems best with Josephus and some Heb. MSS. to omit 50,000 altogether. Possibly the number was originally expressed by a letter used as a numerical sign, and explained once rightly and once wrongly in marginal notes, both of which eventually crept into the text. “A like instance of the intrusion of a number into the text is found in Nehemiah 7:70 , where the number 500 is erroneously added to the 30 (or 33) Priests’ garments given by Nehemiah, to make up 100 with the 67 given by the congregation. See Ezra 2:69 , and Nehemiah 7:72 .” Speaker’s Comm . p. 274. Many explanations of the passage with the retention of the number 50,000 have been attempted.

And he smote the men of Bethshemesh, because they {k} had looked into the ark of the LORD, even he smote of the people fifty thousand and threescore and ten men: and the people lamented, because the LORD had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter. (k) For it was not lawful for anyone either to touch or to see it, only to Aaron and his sons Nu 4:15,20.

Fifty thousand and three score and ten - Read "three" score and "ten", omitting "fifty thousand", which appears to have crept into the text from the margin. It is not improbable that in their festive rejoicing priests, Levites, and people may have fallen into intemperance, and hence, into presumptuous irreverence (compare Leviticus 10:1 , Leviticus 10:9 ). God had just vindicated His own honor against the Philistines; it must now be seen that He would be sanctified in them that come near Him Leviticus 10:3 . It is obvious to observe how the doctrine of atonement, and its necessity in the case of sinners, is taught in this and similar lessons as to the awesome HOLINESS of God.

(19) They had looked into the ark. —Some commentators consider that the words here should be rendered, “because they had looked at the Ark” with a foolish irreverent staring, which dishonoured the holiness of the sacred mercy-seat; but it is better far to preserve the rendering of our English Version, which is also the favourite Rabbinical explanation of the original. It seems probable that the chief men of the city, most of whom were priests and Levites, after the festive rejoicings which accompanied the sacrificial feast celebrating the Ark’s joyful return, heated with wine, lost all sense of reverence, and determined to use this opportunity of gazing into that sacred chest of which they had heard so much, and into which no profane eye in Israel had ever peered, since the golden Cover—on which the glory of the Eternal loved to rest—had sealed up the sacred treasures in the wilderness. Perhaps they wished to see those grey Sinai tablets on which the finger of God had traced His ten solemn commandments; perhaps they excused themselves by a desire to learn if the Philistines had violated the secrets of the holy chest. Even he smote of the people fifty thousand and threescore and ten men.—Here it is perfectly clear that the present Hebrew text, which the English Version literally renders, is corrupt. The system of writing letters for numbers, as we have seen, constantly has occasioned great discrepancies in the several versions, &c.

Here the arrangement of the letters which express this enormous number is quite unusual, and taken by itself would be sufficient to excite grave doubts as to the accuracy of this text. The number of stricken ones, 50,070, is simply inconceivable. Beth-shemesh was never a large or important place; there were, in fact, no great cities in Israel, the population was always a scattered one, the people living generally on their farms. Dean Payne Smith computes the population of Jerusalem in its best days as under 70,000. The various versions, LXX., Chaldee, &c, vary in their rendering of these astounding figures. Josephus, Antt. vi. 1, § 4, in his account of this occurrence speaks of the smitten as numbering seventy. This is probably the correct number. A strange reading, which the LXX. inserts here, deserves to be quoted; it is another proof of the uncertainty of the text at the close of this sixth chapter: “And the children of Jechoniah among the Beth-shemites were not pleased with the men of Beth-shemesh because they saw the Ark, and he smote them, &c.” Erdmann, in Lange, is inclined to believe the LXX.