1 Samuel 6

SECTION 1. The Birth, Rise, Prophetic Ministry And Judgeship of Samuel (1-12).

This first section of the book covers the life of Samuel from his birth to the setting up of Saul as king in response to the people’s request. The first three chapters deal with the birth and spiritual growth of Samuel. This is then followed in chapter 4 by the Philistine invasion in which the Ark of YHWH of hosts is lost to Israel, something which takes place while Samuel is still a youth. That loss indicates YHWH’s demonstration of the fact that He no longer sees Himself as king over an Israel that has forsaken Him. However, He then goes on to demonstrate His authority over the gods of the Philistines by bringing disaster on them, so that His Ark is restored to Israel by the Philistines, who also pay Him generous tribute. The Ark is then placed with due honour (after a previous unfortunate incident) in the house of Abinadab where it will remain for many years. It is a recognised symbol that YHWH is still present as King over His people, and will therefore, once they turn back to Him, act on their behalf through His appointed deliverers.

This will firstly be through Samuel in this section, then through Saul before he is finally rejected, in the next section, and then through the young David in the final section, until he is outlawed and then exiled as a result of Saul’s activities. As a result of his exile there will be a lull, and the Philistines triumph. But in the second part of the book David will become the Spirit inspired king, the Philistines will be defeated, and then the Ark will be restored for public worship, having been ‘purified’ by its period spent in the house of Abinadab. The Kingship of YHWH has triumphed.

B). The Ark As The Focal Point Of The Kingship Of YHWH (4:1b-7:14).

The emphasis in this subsection is on the Kingship of YHWH as revealed by the Ark which is the symbol of His Kingship. Because of His people’s disobedience and sinfulness as revealed through their priesthood YHWH refuses to act to deliver Israel, and allows the Ark to be taken. But when the Ark is brought to Ashdod the idol Dagon falls before YHWH and is smashed to pieces. Thus even in Ashdod YHWH is revealed as King. Then through plague, and a multiplying of vermin, YHWH brings His judgment on them because of the disrespect that they have shown to the Ark, so that in the end the Philistines recognise that they must return it to Israel along with suitable homage in the form of Gifts.

But those who receive it in Israel also treat it with disrespect, even though they are priests, demonstrating that their hearts are not right towards YHWH, and they too are therefore smitten and punished, and the Ark is then placed in a household where it is respected and honoured, and where it will remain for many years.

The King being therefore once again among His people they learn, after a twenty-year period of mourning during which He is silent, that if they will turn from their idols and seek Him, He will deliver them from the Philistines. And, as a result of the prayers of His prophet Samuel, the Philistines are then driven from the land.

We are not to see the Ark as forgotten. It is its very presence in Israel that evidences the fact that YHWH has not finally deserted His people, and the writer intends us to see its presence as indicating that YHWH is still there as Israel’s King, overseeing their future both for good and bad.

Analysis.

a The Philistines defeat Israel and capture the Ark of God (1 Samuel 4:1-22).

b The Ark of God is taken to Ashdod and the idol Dagon falls before YHWH and is smashed in pieces (1 Samuel 5:1-5).

c The Ark of God brings misery and plague on the Philistines who disrespect it (1 Samuel 5:6-12).

d The Ark of God is returned to Israel with reparations (1 Samuel 6:1-16).

c The Ark of God brings misery on the Israelites who disrespect it (1 Samuel 6:17 to 1 Samuel 7:2).

b The Ark of God is suitably re-established in Israel and they are promised that if they return to YHWH and put away their idolatry they will be delivered from the Philistines (1 Samuel 7:3-4).

a The Ark having been restored, Israel defeat the Philistines through the prayers of Samuel (1 Samuel 7:5-14).

Note that in ‘a’ the Philistines defeat Israel and the Ark of God is defiled, while in the parallel the Ark of God is re-established and Israel defeat the Philistines. In ‘b’ the Ark is taken to Ashdod and the idol Dagon falls before it and is smashed in pieces, and in the parallel, on the restoration of the Ark Israel are called on to denounce their idols. In ‘c’ the Ark bring misery on the Philistines who disrespect it and in the parallel it brings misery on the people of Israel who disrespect it. In ‘d’ the Ark of God returns in triumph to Israel, being duly honoured by the Philistines.

Chapter 6.

The Ark of God Is Returned to Israel With Due Tributes and Reparations (1 Samuel 6:1-16 ).

Having determined to return the Ark to Israel the Philistines had a problem. How were they going to propitiate the God of Israel for what they had done in bringing His Ark to Philistia? They wanted to ensure that they did not antagonise Him further. So they consulted their own priests and diviners.

The solution was that they would return the Ark with a trespass ( or ‘guilt’) offering, admitting that they had trespassed and making compensation. If healing then took place in the land it would indicate that it was YHWH Who had done it.

But the question then was, what would be a suitable offering? Their solution is interesting in indicating the common customs that were shared in the Ancient Near East. The golden tumours and the golden rodents were an indication that they recognised that the tumours and the rodents in their land had been sent by YHWH, and acted as a plea that they be removed from the land in the same way as these golden replicas were being. We can compare how when the earlier Israelites had been judged by having poisonous snakes sent among them, their remedy was to make a replica of the snakes in gold and offer it to YHWH in recognition of the fact that their judgment had come from Him. Then whoever looked to it as something that was now the possession of YHWH lived. That replica was still in the Tabernacle to that day. Similarly it was the custom in India for a pilgrim who visited a pagoda seeking healing to take with him a gift offering of gold, shaped into the fashion of the diseased part, indicating their recognition that their disease had been inflicted by the gods.

The next thing was to take a new, unused cart and attach to it two milch cows which had never been under the yoke, and use them to bear the Ark. This would then make them the possession of YHWH, as the Israelites recognised when they used them for sacrificial purposes. For the use of a new cart compare 2 Samuel 18:18. For the use of beasts never before under the yoke as a kind of offering compare Numbers 19:2; Deuteronomy 21:3-4.

The final test would then be whether two cows who had never borne the yoke, and whose calves had been taken from them, would willingly pull the cart and head straight for an Israelite town. If they did this it would be a sign that YHWH wanted His Ark to return home. On the other hand if they returned to where they expected their calves to be, or refused to draw the cart, it would indicate that no god was involved at all.

Analysis.

a And the Ark of YHWH was in the country of the Philistines seven months. And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, “What shall we do with the Ark of YHWH? Show us by what method we shall send it to its place” (1 Samuel 6:1-2).

b And they said, “If you send away the Ark of the God of Israel, do not send it empty; but whatever you do return Him a trespass-offering. Then you will be healed, and it will be known to you why His hand is not removed from you” (1 Samuel 6:3).

c Then said they, “What shall be the trespass-offering which we shall return to him?” And they said, “Five golden tumours/boils, and five golden rodents, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines; for one plague was on you all, and on your lords” (1 Samuel 6:4).

d For this reason you shall make images of your tumours, and images of your rodents that mar the land; and you shall 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” (1 Samuel 6:5).

e “Why then do you harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When He had wrought wonderfully among them, did they not let the people go, and they departed?” (1 Samuel 6:6).

f “Now therefore take and prepare for you a new cart, and two milch cows, on which there has come no yoke; and tie the cows to the cart, and bring their calves home from them, and take the ark of YHWH, and lay it on the cart; and put the jewels of gold, which you return him for a trespass-offering, in a container by its side, and send it away, that it may go” (1 Samuel 6:7-8).

g “And watch. If it goes up by the way of its own border to Beth-shemesh, then He has done us this great evil, but if not, then we will know that it is not His hand that smote us. It was a chance that happened to us” (1 Samuel 6:9).

f And the men did so, and took two milch cows, and tied them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home, and they put the ark of YHWH on the cart, and the container with the rodents of gold and the images of their tumours/boils (1 Samuel 6:10-11).

e ‘And the cows took the direct way by the way to Beth-shemesh. They went along the highway, lowing as they went, and did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left; and the lords of the Philistines went after them to the border of Beth-shemesh (1 Samuel 6:12).

d And they who were of Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley, and they lifted up their eyes, and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it (1 Samuel 6:13).

c And the cart came into the field of Joshua the Beth-shemite, and stood there, where there was a great stone: and they split the wood of the cart, and offered up the cows for a burnt-offering to YHWH (1 Samuel 6:14).

b And the Levites took down the ark of YHWH, and the container that was with it, in which the jewels of gold were, and put them on the great stone, and the men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt-offerings and sacrificed sacrifices the same day to YHWH (1 Samuel 6:15).

a And when the five lords of the Philistines had seen it, they returned to Ekron the same day (1 Samuel 6:16).

Note that in ‘a’ the Philistines wanted to know how they could satisfactorily return the Ark, and in the parallel they were satisfied that they had succeeded. In ‘b’ they were informed that they must return a trespass offering, and in the parallel the offering is put on the great stone, and burnt offerings and sacrifices were offered to YHWH. In ‘c’ whatever they did they must send a trespass offering, and in the parallel their cart and milch cows are offered as a burnt offering to YHWH. In ‘d’ the Philistines were to give glory to the God of Israel, and in the parallel the Israelites rejoiced before God at the return of the Ark. In ‘e’ reference is made to the fact that Israel had to let God’s people go, and in the parallel the Philistines let God’s Ark go. In ‘f’ the Philistines were told how to send off the Ark in a new cart with unyoked milch cows, with the golden treasure on the cart, and in the parallel they do precisely that. Centrally in ‘h’ the successful operation will reveal that it was truly YHWH Who had smitten them.

The Ark of God Brings Misery On The Israelites Who Disrespect It (1 Samuel 6:17 to 1 Samuel 7:2 ).

The rejoicing of Israel turned to lamentation as a result of the irreverent behaviour of the priests who had grown careless in respect of holy things, due no doubt to the influence of the two sons of Eli. The trophies sent by the Philistines and the Ark of YHWH were set down on the great stone, but it became a ‘stone of lamentation’ (Abel) when instead of fulfilling their duty and covering the Ark, which they knew should not have been exposed to public gaze (see Numbers 4:5), they stood and stared at it in its uncovered state. The result was that seventy men died, of whom fifty were chief men. (It may be that they went too close and thus became flea infected although no mention is made of plague). The result was that all the people ‘lamented (abel). Their rejoicing had become lamentation.

So they talked together and decided to call on the principle town of the area to send men to fetch the Ark of YHWH, and it was taken to the house of Abinadab on the hill, and there it was put under the care of Eleazar his son who was sanctified for the task, where it remained for over twenty years, while the voice of YHWH was silent. And the whole nation lamented after YHWH. They were slowly being brought to see how deeply they had failed Him.

Analysis.

a And these are the golden tumours which the Philistines returned for a trespass-offering to YHWH: for Ashdod one, for Gaza one, for Ashkelon one, for Gath one, for Ekron one, and the golden rodents, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, both of fortified cities and of country villages, even to the great stone of lamentation (or ‘Abel’), on which they set down the ark of YHWH, which stone remains to this day in the field of Joshua the Beth-shemite (1 Samuel 6:17-18).

b And He smote of the men of Beth-shemesh, because they had gazed irreverently at the ark of YHWH. He smote of the people seventy men, fifty of them chief men, and the people mourned (abel) , because YHWH had smitten the people with a great slaughter (1 Samuel 6:19).

c And the men of Beth-shemesh said, “Who is able to stand before YHWH, this holy God? and to whom shall He go up from us?” And they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath-yearim, saying, “The Philistines have brought back the ark of YHWH, you come down, and fetch it up to you” (1 Samuel 6:20-21).

b And the men of Kiriath-yearim came, and fetched up the ark of YHWH, and brought it into the house of Abinadab in the hill, and sanctified Eleazar his son to keep the ark of YHWH (1 Samuel 7:1).

a And it came about, from the day that the ark abode in Kiriath-yearim, that the time was long; for it was twenty years, and all the house of Israel lamented after YHWH (1 Samuel 7:2).

Note that in ‘a’ the great stone is called ‘the great Abel’, the stone of great lamentation, and in the parallel the people lament (nahah) after YHWH. In ‘b’ the Ark is treated with irreverence, and in the parallel it is treated with great reverence. In ‘c’ they ask what they are to do with the Ark now that they have been faced up with their error and then answer their own question