1 Samuel 6 - Printer Friendly

What does 1 Samuel 6 mean?

Chapter Commentary:

Plague and the panic has been rampant among the Philistine people (1 Samuel 5). The leaders recognize that this is related to their possession of the ark of the Lord that they had captured in a battle with the Israelites seven months prior (1 Samuel 4). The Philistine leaders call for their priests and diviners to ask how best to return the ark to Israel to satisfy Israel's God. Applying their own religious practices to the Lord, the priests insist they must send the ark back with a gift, a guilt offering. That's how they will be healed and know for sure that it is God that is doing this to them (1 Samuel 6:1–3).

A guilt offering meant something different under the religions of Canaan than it did to the Israelites. It was an offering meant to represent the guilt of the people before a god or gods. It was sent away in hopes that it would carry the people's guilt away with it. In this case, the priests told the Philistine leaders they should fashion five mice sculptures out of gold, one for each of the five lords of the Philistines and their cities and territories. According to modern commentators, the mice were intended to represent the tumors that had ravaged the land. Some understand that five golden tumors and five golden mice were made, meaning ten total gold figures. The priests told the Philistine rulers to give glory to God instead of trying to resist Him, as the Pharaoh of Egypt once did in response to plagues from the Lord (1 Samuel 6:4–6).

The priests also gave the Philistine lords instructions on how to deliver the ark in a way that would confirm that the plagues had come from the God of Israel. They were to build a new cart and place the ark on it, along with the guilt offering. Then they should yoke the cart to two untrained milk cows that had been separated from their calves. Then they were to simply let it go and watch. If the cows headed toward Beth-shemesh—Israelite territory—then the plague was truly from the Lord (1 Samuel 6:7–9).

The Philistines do exactly what the priests tell them to do, and the cows head straight for the Israelite border town of Beth-shemesh without even thinking about heading home toward their calves (1 Samuel 6:10–12).

The ark arrives in Beth-shemesh during the wheat harvest. The people working the fields rejoice to see it. The Levites take the ark and the Philistine guilt offering down and place them on a large stone in the field of a man called Joshua. The people use the wood of the cart to offer the milk cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. When the five Philistine lords see this happening from a distance, they head back home (1 Samuel 6:13–16).

The author includes a summary list regarding the golden items and the stone, which serves to conclude the account of the Philistines possession of the ark (1 Samuel 6:17–18).

Then the author picks up the narrative in Beth-shemesh. The Lord is not pleased with the people of Beth-shemesh because of their casual treatment of the ark. The phrasing here suggests they did more than simply look "at" the ark. Given God's anger, it's likely they opened it to look inside. God kills seventy men, and the people mourn. "Who can stand before the holy God?" they ask. They send messengers to the town of Kiriath-jearim, asking the people of that town to take the ark away (1 Samuel 6:19–21).

First Samuel 6:1–18 describes the Philistine plan to send the ark of the Lord back to Israel. They hope to stop the plague and panic with which God d afflicted them (1 Samuel 5). At the advice of their priests and diviners, the Philistines place the ark and a guilt offering of five golden mice and five golden tumors on a new cart pulled by two milk cows. The cows head straight for the Israelite town of Beth-shemesh. There, the rejoicing people offer the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. The Levites living in the town place the ark and the golden images on a large rock. The lords of the Philistines see the sacrifice and return to Ekron.

First Samuel 6:19–21 explains that the ark's return to Israel was not entirely positive. God killed seventy men of Beth-shemesh, the place where the ark had been returned. Though they were celebrating the return of the ark from the Philistines, these men acted carelessly and inappropriately. Their deaths seem to be punishment for profaning the ark, probably by looking inside it. The townspeople recognize God's holiness, so they ask the people in Kiriath-jearim to take the ark.

Chapter Summary:

The Philistine religious leaders advise the five lords of the Philistines to send the ark of the Lord back to Israel with a guilt offering to stop the plague of tumors ravishing their land (1 Samuel 5:6–12). The Philistines place the ark along with five golden mice (or five golden tumors and five golden mice) on a new cart hitched to two untrained milk cows whose calves are shut up at home. The cows head straight for the Israelite border town of Beth-shemesh. There, the people rejoice and offer the cows before the ark as a burnt offering to the Lord. The Lord kills seventy men of the town because the people looked at the ark. Frightened, the people send to Kiriath-jearim and ask them to take the ark.

Chapter Context:

First Samuel 6 finds most of the Philistines convinced that the plague and panic (1 Samuel 5:6–12) are from the Lord. They place the ark of the Lord and a guilt offering of golden mice on a cart pulled by two milk cows. The cows pull the ark straight to the Israelite town of Beth-shemesh, where the rejoicing people offer the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord before the ark. The Lord kills seventy men of the town for looking at (or in) the ark. The people of Beth-shemesh send word to those in another town to take the ark away.

First Samuel introduces the key figures who led Israel after the era of the judges. The books of 1 and 2 Samuel were originally part of a single text, split in certain translations shortly before the birth of Christ. Some of the Bible’s most famous characters are depicted in this book. These including the prophet Samuel, Israel’s first king, Saul, her greatest king, David, and other famous names such as Goliath and Jonathan. By the end of this book, Saul has fallen; the book of 2 Samuel begins with David’s ascension to the throne.

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