Returning the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord God |
1 Samuel 6:1-21 The Book of 1 Samuel [in Smaller Chunks] |
The Ark of the Lord was in the country of the Philistines 7 months & they called for the priests & the diviners, saying, What shall we do [with] the Ark of the Lord? Tell us [what] we shall [do to] send it [back] to [its] place? |
[1 Samuel 5:6-7 But the hand of the Lord was heavy upon [those] of Ashdod & He destroyed them & [struck] them with [tumors,] even Ashdod & [its coastal territory.] And when the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, The Ark of the God of Israel shall not [stay] with us. For His hand is [heavy] upon us & upon Dagon, our god.] |
They said, If you send away the Ark of the God of Israel, [don’t] send it empty, but return [to] Him a [sin] offering. Then, you shall be healed & it shall be known to you why [God’s] hand isn’t removed from you. |
They said, What shall our [sin] offering be, [that] we shall return to Him? They answered, 5 golden [tumors] & 5 golden mice, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines, for 1 plague of [tumors] was on all [of] you & your lords. |
[For this reason,] you shall make [golden] images of your [tumors] & mice that [harm] the land & shall give glory to the God of Israel, [so perhaps,] He [might] lighten His hand from off [of] you & from off your gods & your land. |
[Why] then do you harden your [stubborn] hearts, [like] the Egyptians & Pharaoh hardened their hearts? [Even] when [the Lord God] had [done wonderful miracles] among [the Egyptians] & didn’t they [still] let [the Israelites] go & they departed? |
Therefore, now make a new cart & take 2 [milk cows that have never been yoked] & tie the [cows] to the cart & [take] their calves home from them. [Put] the Ark of the Lord on the cart & [beside it a chest] with the gold [objects] you [send] to Him as a [sin] offering & send it away, [so] it may go. |
See if it goes up by the [road of God’s] Own coast to Beth Shemesh, then [you will know] if [the Lord God] has this great evil [to] us. But if [the cows don’t go that way,] we’ll know it [wasn’t God’s] hand that [struck us with tumors] & it happened to us [by] chance. |
The men did so & tied the 2 [milk cows] to the cart & shut up their calves at home. And they [put] the Ark of the Lord on the cart & the [chest] with the images of their mice & [tumors] of gold on the cart. |
The [cows] took the cart straight to the [road] of Beth Shemesh & went along the highway [mooing] as they went & [didn’t turn] aside to the right hand or to the left. The Philistine lords [followed] after them to the border of Beth Shemesh. |
[Those of] Beth Shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley & they lifted up their eyes & saw the Ark & rejoiced to see it. The cart came into the field of Joshua, a Beth Shemite, & stood there [where] there was a [large rock.] |
They [cut] the wood [from] the cart & offered the [cows as] a burnt offering to the Lord. The Levites took down the Ark of the Lord & the [chest] that was with it [that had the gold images] were & [they] put them on the [large rock.] |
And the men of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings & sacrifices to the Lord the same day. When the 5 Philistine lords [saw this,] they returned to Ekron the same day. |
These are the golden [tumors] the Philistines returned as a [sin] offering to the Lord: 1 for Ashdod, 1 for. Gaza, 1 for Askelon [a.k.a. Ashkelon,] 1 for Gath & 1 for Ekron. |
The golden mice were according to the number of the Philistine cities, both fenced & country villages that [belonged] to the 5 lords, even [as far as] the large rock] of Abel, [where] they [put] down the Ark of the Lord. |
The [large rock] remains to this day in the field of Joshua, the Beth Shemite. [The Lord God killed] the men of Beth Shemesh [who] looked into the Ark of the Lord & [killed] 50,070 men. |
The people [of Beth Shemesh mourned,] because the Lord had [killed] many of the people with a [large] slaughter. The men of Beth Shemesh said, Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God? To whom shall [the Lord God] go up from us? |
They sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kirjath Jearim, saying, The Philistines have [returned] the Ark of the Lord. Come down & take it up to you. |