1 Samuel 6:10 - Printer Friendly

ESV: The men did so, and took two milk cows and yoked them to the cart and shut up their calves at home.

NIV: So they did this. They took two such cows and hitched them to the cart and penned up their calves.

NASB: Then the men did so: they took two milk cows and hitched them to the cart, and shut in their calves at home.

CSB: The men did this: They took two milk cows, hitched them to the cart, and confined their calves in the pen.

NLT: So these instructions were carried out. Two cows were hitched to the cart, and their newborn calves were shut up in a pen.

KJV: And the men did so; and took two milch kine, and tied them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home:

NKJV: Then the men did so; they took two milk cows and hitched them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home.

Now the Philistines do what their priests and diviners have suggested (1 Samuel 6:2–9). They carry out their instructions exactly, hoping to send the captured ark of the Lord away from the territory of the Philistines and back to the Israelites. Their desperate hope is this will finally bring the plague and the panic that has struck the nation to an end (1 Samuel 5:6–12).

They select two milk cows that have never been yoked or harnessed to anything and tie them to a new, freshly constructed cart (1 Samuel 6:7). They take the calves away from the milk cows and confine the young cows to their home. Normally, untrained milk cows would be eager to return home to their calves. If the milk cows instead go toward Israel, without any human intervention, the Philistines will assume the Lord God of Israel is directing the cows to return the ark to His people (1 Samuel 6:9).

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.

Accessed 4/29/2024 1:13:26 PM