1 Samuelchapter 6

The Ark Is Returned to Beth-shemesh — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

A.A new cart, two milch kine, and golden tumorsvv. 1-9

1 When the ark of the LORD had been in the land of the Philistines seven months, 2 the Philistines summoned the priests and diviners, saying, “What shall we do with the ark of the LORD? Tell us how to send it back to its place.” 3 They replied, “If you return the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it away empty, but by all means return it to Him with a guilt offering. Then you will be healed, and you will understand why His hand has not been lifted from you.” 4 “What guilt offering should we send back to Him?” asked the Philistines. “Five gold tumors and five gold rats,” they said, “according to the number of rulers of the Philistines, since the same plague has struck both you and your rulers. 5 Make images of your tumors and of the rats that are ravaging the land. Give glory to the God of Israel, and perhaps He will lift His hand from you and your gods and your land. 6 Why harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened theirs? When He afflicted them, did they not send the people on their way as they departed? 7 Now, therefore, prepare one new cart with two milk cows that have never been yoked. Hitch the cows to the cart, but take their calves away and pen them up. 8 Take the ark of the LORD, set it on the cart, and in a chest beside it put the gold objects you are sending Him as a guilt offering. Then send the ark on its way, 9 but keep watching it. If it goes up the road to its homeland, toward Beth-shemesh, it is the LORD who has brought on us this great disaster. But if it does not, then we will know that it was not His hand that punished us and that it happened by chance.”

B.The cows go straight to Beth-shemesh, lowingvv. 10-18

10 So the men did as instructed. They took two milk cows, hitched them to the cart, and penned up their calves. 11 Then they put the ark of the LORD on the cart, along with the chest containing the gold rats and the images of the tumors. 12 And the cows headed straight up the road toward Beth-shemesh, staying on that one highway and lowing as they went, never straying to the right or to the left. The rulers of the Philistines followed behind them to the border of Beth-shemesh. 13 Now the people of Beth-shemesh were harvesting wheat in the valley, and when they looked up and saw the ark, they were overjoyed at the sight. 14 The cart came to the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh and stopped there near a large rock. The people chopped up the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the LORD. 15 And the Levites took down the ark of the LORD and the chest containing the gold objects, and they placed them on the large rock. That day the men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and made sacrifices to the LORD. 16 And when the five rulers of the Philistines saw this, they returned to Ekron that same day. 17 As a guilt offering to the LORD, the Philistines had sent back one gold tumor for each city: Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron. 18 The number of gold rats also corresponded to the number of Philistine cities belonging to the five rulers—the fortified cities and their outlying villages. And the large rock on which they placed the ark of the LORD stands to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh.

C.Who is able to stand before this holy God?vv. 19-21

19 But God struck down some of the people of Beth-shemesh because they looked inside the ark of the LORD. He struck down seventy men, and the people mourned because the LORD had struck them with a great slaughter. 20 The men of Beth-shemesh asked, “Who can stand in the presence of the LORD, this holy God? To whom should the ark go up from here?” 21 So they sent messengers to the people of Kiriath-jearim, saying, “The Philistines have returned the ark of the LORD. Come down and take it up with you.”

Commentary on this chapter: read the Exposition

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Chapter summary

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After seven months the priests advise returning the ark with a trespass-offering of five golden tumors and five golden mice, one per Philistine lord, warning against hardening the heart as Pharaoh hardened his. They devise a test: yoke two milch kine that never bore a yoke, shut up their calves, and watch. The cows go straight up the road to Beth-shemesh, lowing as they go, turning neither to the right hand nor to the left. Judah's harvesters rejoice and offer them. Then men of Beth-shemesh look into the ark and are struck, and they too ask: 'Who is able to stand before Jehovah, this holy God?'

Drawn from Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory, Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary and John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament.

Context

History · Samuel, Nathan, Gad — 1 Samuel overview

A. 1–9 A new cart, two milch kine, and golden tumors
B. 10–18 The cows go straight to Beth-shemesh, lowing
C. 19–21 Who is able to stand before this holy God?

Top cross-references8 chapters ▾

1 Samuel 55 verses
- 1 Samuel 5:3When the people of Ashdod got up early the next morning, there was Dagon, fallen on his face before the ark of the LORD. So they took Dagon and returned him to his place.
- 1 Samuel 5:6Now the hand of the LORD was heavy on the people of Ashdod and its vicinity, ravaging them and afflicting them with tumors.
- 1 Samuel 5:8So they called together all the rulers of the Philistines and asked, “What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?” “It must be moved to Gath,” they replied. So they carried away the ark of the God of Israel.
- 1 Samuel 5:10So they sent the ark of God to Ekron, but as it arrived, the Ekronites cried out, “They have brought us the ark of the God of Israel in order to kill us and our people!”
- 1 Samuel 5:11Then the Ekronites assembled all the rulers of the Philistines and said, “Send away the ark of the God of Israel. It must return to its place, so that it will not kill us and our people!” For a deadly confusion had pervaded the city; the hand of God was heavy upon it.
- Read 1 Samuel 5 →
1 Samuel 65 verses
- 1 Samuel 6:3They replied, “If you return the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it away empty, but by all means return it to Him with a guilt offering. Then you will be healed, and you will understand why His hand has not been lifted from you.”
- 1 Samuel 6:4“What guilt offering should we send back to Him?” asked the Philistines. “Five gold tumors and five gold rats,” they said, “according to the number of rulers of the Philistines, since the same plague has struck both you and your rulers.
- 1 Samuel 6:9but keep watching it. If it goes up the road to its homeland, toward Beth-shemesh, it is the LORD who has brought on us this great disaster. But if it does not, then we will know that it was not His hand that punished us and that it happened by chance.”
- 1 Samuel 6:14The cart came to the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh and stopped there near a large rock. The people chopped up the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the LORD.
- 1 Samuel 6:17As a guilt offering to the LORD, the Philistines had sent back one gold tumor for each city: Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron.
- Read 1 Samuel 6 →
2 Samuel 62 verses
- 2 Samuel 6:3They set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were guiding the new cart,
- 2 Samuel 6:9That day David feared the LORD and asked, “How can the ark of the LORD ever come to me?”
- Read 2 Samuel 6 →
1 Chronicles 132 verses
- 1 Chronicles 13:5So David assembled all Israel, from the River Shihor in Egypt to Lebo-hamath, to bring the ark of God from Kiriath-jearim.
- 1 Chronicles 13:7So they carried the ark of God from the house of Abinadab on a new cart, with Uzzah and Ahio guiding the cart.
- Read 1 Chronicles 13 →

4 more chapters this one speaks with

Exodus 72 verses
- Exodus 7:11But Pharaoh called the wise men and sorcerers and magicians of Egypt, and they also did the same things by their magic arts.
- Exodus 7:13Still, Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had said.
- Read Exodus 7 →
2 Samuel 12 verses
- 2 Samuel 1:6“I happened to be on Mount Gilboa,” he replied, “and there was Saul, leaning on his spear, with the chariots and the cavalry closing in on him.
- 2 Samuel 1:20Tell it not in Gath; proclaim it not in the streets of Ashkelon, lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, and the daughters of the uncircumcised exult.
- Read 2 Samuel 1 →
2 Samuel 242 verses
- 2 Samuel 24:18And that day Gad came to David and said to him, “Go up and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.”
- 2 Samuel 24:22Araunah said to David, “My lord the king may take whatever seems good and offer it up. Here are the oxen for a burnt offering and the threshing sledges and ox yokes for the wood.
- Read 2 Samuel 24 →
Numbers 42 verses
- Numbers 4:15When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the holy objects and all their equipment, as soon as the camp is ready to move, the Kohathites shall come and do the carrying. But they must not touch the holy objects, or they will die. These are the transportation duties of the Kohathites regarding the Tent of Meeting.
- Numbers 4:20But the Kohathites are not to go in and look at the holy objects, even for a moment, or they will die.”
- Read Numbers 4 →

Cross-references from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge and OpenBible.info.