1 Samuel 6:5 - Printer Friendly

ESV: So you must make images of your tumors and images of your mice that ravage the land, and give glory to the God of Israel. Perhaps he will lighten his hand from off you and your gods and your land.

NIV: Make models of the tumors and of the rats that are destroying the country, and give glory to Israel’s god. Perhaps he will lift his hand from you and your gods and your land.

NASB: So you shall make likenesses of your tumors and likenesses of your mice that are ruining the land, and you shall give glory to the God of Israel; perhaps He will lighten His hand from you, your gods, and your land.

CSB: Make images of your tumors and of your mice that are destroying the land. Give glory to Israel’s God, and perhaps he will stop oppressing you, your gods, and your land.

NLT: Make these things to show honor to the God of Israel. Perhaps then he will stop afflicting you, your gods, and your land.

KJV: Wherefore ye shall make images of your emerods, and images of your mice that mar the land; and ye shall give glory unto the God of Israel: peradventure he will lighten his hand from off you, and from off your gods, and from off your land.

NKJV: Therefore you shall make images of your tumors and images of your rats that ravage the land, and you shall give glory to the God of Israel; perhaps He will lighten His hand from you, from your gods, and from your land.

Commentators differ on the best reading of the text in these verses. Either the priests instructed the leaders to make five golden tumors and five golden mice—ten objects altogether—or they told them to make five golden mice to represent the tumors that had ravaged the nation (1 Samuel 5:6–12). Scholars suggest vermin may have spread a disease like bubonic plague, which causes large swollen growths. Others believe the connection to mice is merely symbolic. Either option is possible, and neither changes the meaning of the incident.

In addition, the priests now tell the leaders of the Philistines to give glory to the God of Israel. The Philistines may have resisted glorifying Israel's God, in general, but their theology left room for the worship of many gods and offering sacrifices to any god thought to be afflicting them in some way. In truth, God deserved to be glorified by the Philistines both for who He is and also because He had demonstrated His absolute power over even their own bodies.

The priests stop short of saying that this will stop the plague. Instead, they offer the leaders of the Philistines only a "perhaps," unsure if this will cause the God of Israel to ease judgment on them and their gods. One of the reasons God stated for the plagues on Egypt was to judge the Egyptian gods (Exodus 12:12). He also demonstrated His power over the Philistines' god Dagon (1 Samuel 5:1–5). Clearly the truth is that there is no other god besides the Lord God of Israel. One of the ways God demonstrates this is to show those who worship false gods that He is greater.

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.

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.

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.