1 Samuel6chapter 6

1 Samuel 6:10-14

“You are aware, then, that when the ark of the testimony was seized by the enemies of Ashdod, and a terrible and incurable malady had broken out among them, they resolved to place it on a cart to which they yoked cows that had recently calved, for the purpose of ascertaining by trial whether or not they had been plagued by God's power on account of the ark, and if God wished it to be taken back to the place from which it had been carried away.”

1 Samuel 6:10-11

“Thus the ark that was carried into the land of the Philistines, a trophy of their victory, carried back with it trophies of its own, and lasting monuments of the disgrace of the Philistines. Note, God will be no loser in his glory, at last, by the successes of the church's enemies against his ark, but will get himself honour from those that seek to do dishonour to him.”

1 Samuel 6:11

“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, 2Sa 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.”

1 Samuel 6:12

“Lowing as they went - Calling for their calves. To the right hand or to the left - Some think they were placed where two roads met; one going to Ekron, the other to Beth-shemesh. It is possible that they were put in such circumstances as these for the greater certainty of the affair: to have turned from their own homes, from their calves and known pasture, and to have taken the road to a strange country, must argue supernatural influence.”

1 Samuel 6:12

“Loving - Testifying at once both their natural and vehement inclination to their calves, and the supernatural power which over-ruled them to a contrary course. The lords went - To prevent all imposture, and to get assurance of the truth of the event. All which circumstances tended to the greater illustration of God's glory.”

1 Samuel 6:12

“They went on lowing for their young ones, by which it appeared that they had not forgotten them, but that nature was sensible of the grievance of going from them; the power of the God of nature therefore appeared so much the greater, in overruling one of the strongest instincts of nature.”

1 Samuel 6:13

“Some observe that the returning ark found the men of Beth-shemesh, not idling or sporting in the streets of the city, but busy, reaping their corn in their fields, and well employed. Thus the tidings of the birth of Christ were brought to the shepherds when they were keeping their flock by night.”

1 Samuel 6:14

“22. If Bethshemesh is interpreted as "house of the sun," the house of the sun is the heavenly city. Here Joshua the Bethshemite signifies the Redeemer of the human race not so much by type as by his very name and dignity. For Joshua is called "savior" in our language. And the Lord says of himself: "The Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10). Hence it is also that Joseph is promised in a dream through the angel: "He shall save his people from their sins" (Matt. 1:21).”

1 Samuel 6:14

“And the cart came into the field of Joshua, a Bethshemite,.... In that part of the valley where they were reaping wheat which belonged to him, whom we nowhere else read; whether a priest or Levite, which is not improbable, since this was a city of the Levites, or a common Israelite, is not certain: and stood there where there was a great stone; afterwards called the great stone of Abel, 1Sa 6:”

1 Samuel 6:14

“They clave the wood of the cart - Both the cart and the cattle having been thus employed, could no longer be devoted to any secular services; therefore the cattle were sacrificed, and the cart was broken up for fuel to consume the sacrifice.”

1 Samuel 6:15

“The word “Levites” here probably means priests Exo 4:14, sons of Levi, since Bethshemesh was one of the cities of the priests Jos 21:13-16. The burnt offering of the kine was not in any sense the offering of the men of Bethshemesh, but rather of the Philistine lords to whom the cart and the kine belonged. But the Bethshemites themselves, in token of their gratitude for such a signal mercy, now offered both burnt offerings and sacrifices, probably peace offerings, and doubtless feasted together with great joy and gladness (see 1Ki 8:62-66; Ezr 6:16-17).”

1 Samuel 6:15

“And, the case being extraordinary, the law for offering at the altar in the court of the tabernacle was dispensed with, and the more easily because Shiloh was now dismantled; God himself had forsaken it, and the ark, which was its chief glory, they had with them here.”

1 Samuel 6:16

“And when the five lords of the Philistines had seen it,.... Observed all that was done, how the kine performed their journey, drew the cart in which the ark was straight to Bethshemesh, stopped in a field near it, where it was received joyfully by the people, and sacrifices offered on account of it: they returned to Ekron the same day; as they might very well, since it was but twelve miles from Bethshemesh.”

1 Samuel 6:17

“And these are the golden emerods, which the Philistines returned for a trespass offering unto the Lord,.... Along with the ark: for Ashdod one, for Gaza one, for Ashkelon, one, for Gath one, for Ekron one; which were the five principalities of the Philistines that belonged to the five lords before mentioned; and each of these were at the expense of a golden emerod, and sent it along with the ark to make atonement for the offence they had been guilty of in taking and detaining it.”

1 Samuel 6:18

“Abel - This is mentioned as the utmost border of the Philistines territory, to which the plague of mice extended. And this place is here called Abel, by anticipation from the great mourning mentioned in the following verse. It is desirable, to see the ark in its habitation, in all the circumstances of solemnity.”

1 Samuel 6:18

“Their proposal to offer a trespass-offering for their offence was conformable enough to divine revelation at that time; but to send such things as these for trespass-offerings was very foreign, and showed them grossly ignorant of the methods of reconciliation appointed by the law of Moses; for there it appears all along that it is blood, and not gold, that makes atonement for the soul.”

1 Samuel 6:19

“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 Lev 10:1, Lev 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 Lev 10:”

1 Samuel 6:19

“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 Nu 4:18-22).”

1 Samuel 6:19

“Be not deceived, God is not mocked. Those that will not fear his goodness, and reverently use the tokens of his grace, shall be made to feel his justice, and sink under the tokens of his displeasure. Those that pry into what is forbidden, and come too near to holy fire, will find it is at their peril.”

1 Samuel 6:20

“Who is able to stand - Why this exclamation? They knew that God had forbidden any to touch his ark but the priests and Levites; but they endeavored to throw that blame on God, as a Being hard to be pleased, which belonged solely to themselves.”

1 Samuel 6:20

“But thus, when the word of God works with terror on sinners' consciences, they, instead of taking the blame and shame to themselves, quarrel with the word, and put it from them, Jer. vi.”

1 Samuel 6:20

“This they infer from that tremendous judgment, "Who is able to stand before the God of the ark?" To stand before God to worship him (blessed be his name) is not impossible; we are through Christ invited, encouraged, and enabled to do it, but to stand before God to contend with him we are not able.”

1 Samuel 6:21

“Kirjath-jearim - See Jos 9:17 note. It has been thought that there was a high place at Kirjath-jearim (the hill, 1Sa 7:1), the remnant of its old pagan sanctity when it was called Kirjath-Baal, “the city of Baal” (see Jos 18:14; 2Sa 6:2); and that for this reason it was selected as a proper place to send the ark to.”

1 Samuel 6:21

“It lay in the way from Beth-shemesh to Shiloh, so that when they sent to them to fetch it, we may suppose, they intended that the elders of Shiloh should fetch it thence, but God intended otherwise. Thus was it sent from town to town, and no care taken of it by the public, a sign that there was no king in Israel.”