1 Samuel 6:21 - Printer Friendly

ESV: So they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath-jearim, saying, “The Philistines have returned the ark of the LORD. Come down and take it up to you.”

NIV: Then 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 to your town.'

NASB: So they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath-jearim, saying, 'The Philistines have brought back the ark of the Lord; come down and take it up to yourselves.'

CSB: They sent messengers to the residents of Kiriath-jearim, saying, "The Philistines have returned the ark of the Lord. Come down and get it."

NLT: So they sent messengers to the people at Kiriath-jearim and told them, 'The Philistines have returned the Ark of the Lord. Come here and get it!'

KJV: And they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kirjathjearim, saying, The Philistines have brought again the ark of the LORD; come ye down, and fetch it up to you.

NKJV: So they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kirjath Jearim, saying, “The Philistines have brought back the ark of the Lord; come down and take it up with you.”

What started as rejoicing at receiving the ark of God back from the Philistines (1 Samuel 6:14–15) ended in mourning. The people of Beth-shemesh violated God's holiness in their treatment of the ark (1 Samuel 6:19; Numbers 4:20). The Lord killed seventy men of the city, causing the people to wonder who could even be near to such a holy God (1 Samuel 6:20).

Urgent to get the ark of the Lord out of their town, the people send word to those in another town, Kiriath-jearim, to get it. Kiriath-jearim was farther up the Sorek Valley, but nearby to Beth-shemesh. Why that town? It's possible the one who was consecrated to guard the ark there was descended from the original priest of Israel, Aaron (1 Samuel 7:1). Perhaps this made him a logical choice to take charge of caring for the ark.

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.

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.