1 Samuel 6:10 - Meaning and Application

Here we are told how the Philistines sent the ark away, and how Israel received it. The Philistines were as glad to be rid of it as they had once been eager to seize it. God had brought his people out of slavery in Egypt, and now he brought the ark out of captivity in a way that showed his power, just as Egypt was glad when Israel left (Psalm 105:38).

They got no ransom for it, though they had hoped for a rich payment, even more than a king’s ransom. In that sense, their greed came to nothing. They even sent gold gifts with it, as the Egyptians had once given gifts to the Israelites so they would leave. The ark had gone into Philistine land as a sign of victory, but it came back with trophies of its own, as lasting marks of Philistine shame. God will not lose honor in the end because his enemies have harmed his ark or his church. He will turn their attempts to disgrace him into a way of showing his glory.

The cows carried the ark straight to Beth-shemesh, the nearest city in Israel and a city of priests, and they did not turn aside. This showed God’s power over animals in a striking way. These cattle were not trained for the yoke, yet they walked steadily forward without a driver, leaving their homes and their calves behind. They kept going the straight road, did not wander into the fields to feed, and did not turn back to their young. They lowed for their calves as they went, so it was clear their nature still felt the pain of separation, which made God’s rule over them even more amazing.

Dr. Lightfoot says these two cows knew their true owner, the great Owner whom even Israel had not honored well (Isaiah 1:3). The ark came home this way to shame Israel’s dullness, since they had made no effort to bring it back. God’s providence works through even the motions of brute creatures, and he uses them to carry out his purposes. The Philistine rulers followed behind with their attendants, amazed at the power of the God of Israel. Those who had expected to march in triumph over the ark were instead made to follow after it like servants.

The men of Beth-shemesh were out reaping their wheat harvest when the ark arrived. They were busy with their own work and had not been thinking about the ark at all. If they had cared enough to ask, they might have had advance notice and gone out to meet it. Instead, they were as careless as people who spend money on their own houses while letting God’s house lie in ruin. Still, God delivered his church in his own time, even when enemies opposed it and friends neglected it.

Some have noticed that the ark found the men of Beth-shemesh at work, not idle in the streets. That fits the way God often shows kindness to those who are industrious. The shepherds heard of Christ’s birth while they were watching their flock at night. Idle people are easy targets for the devil’s temptations, while God often visits working people with his favor. The same unseen hand that guided the cows brought the ark into the field of Joshua. Some think it stopped there because Joshua was a good man and God meant to honor him. More likely, it stopped there because of the great stone in that field, which was a suitable place to set the ark.

When the reapers saw the ark, they rejoiced, and their joy was greater than the joy of harvest itself. They left their work to welcome it. When the Lord brought back the ark from captivity, they felt like people waking from a dream, and their mouths were filled with laughter (Psalm 126:1-2). They had not shown enough zeal to rescue or ransom it, but when it came home, they welcomed it gladly. The return of the ark, and the return of holy worship after long trouble and restraint, must have brought great joy to every faithful Israelite.

They offered the cows as a burnt offering to God and used the wood of the cart for the fire. The Philistines may have meant these animals and the cart to be part of their guilt offering, to make amends for their sin (1 Samuel 6:3, 7). In any case, the men of Beth-shemesh treated them as fitting for this use, because it would never be right to use them for ordinary work again. A cart that had carried the sacred sign of God’s presence should never carry anything common afterward. And since the cows had been guided so directly by heaven, God had, as it were, already claimed them. They were his servants, and so they became his sacrifice. Though burnt offerings were normally male animals, God no doubt accepted these as well, because the case was unusual.

They then set the ark, along with the chest of gold gifts from the Philistines, on the great stone in the open field. It was a poor and cold resting place for the ark of the Lord, but still far better than being in Dagon’s temple or in Philistine hands. We should want to see the ark among God’s people with all due honor and beauty, but it is better to have it on a great stone in the field than not have it at all. The worth of God’s appointed worship should not seem smaller to us because it is carried out in a humble place.

The burning of the cart and the cows may have shown their hope that the ark would never again be taken out of Israel. The setting of the ark on the great stone may have shown their hope that it would now stand on a firm foundation again. The church is built on a rock.

They also offered sacrifices of thanksgiving to God, some think on the great stone, though more likely on an altar of earth made for that purpose (1 Samuel 6:15). Because this was an extraordinary situation, the usual law requiring sacrifice at the tabernacle altar was set aside. That was made easier because Shiloh had now been left empty, since God himself had departed from it, and the ark, its chief glory, was now with them there.

Beth-shemesh, though it was in Dan’s territory, belonged to Judah. So this accidental arrival of the ark there was a sign that, in time, God had meant it to be settled there. When God rejected the tabernacle of Joseph, he chose the tribe of Judah (Psalm 78:67-68). Beth-shemesh was one of the towns assigned from Judah’s land to Aaron’s descendants, the priests (Joshua 21:16). Where else should the ark go except to a priestly city? It was good that men of that holy office were ready there. They are called Levites in 1 Samuel 6:15, but they seem to have been priests, both to lift down the ark and to offer the sacrifices.

The Philistine rulers returned to Ekron, likely deeply affected by what they had seen of God’s glory and Israel’s devotion. Yet they were not turned away from Dagon, their idol, as people seldom change their gods, even when those gods are no gods at all (Jeremiah 2:11). They could not help seeing that the God of Israel was holy and worthy of reverence, but they still clung to Baal-zebub, Ekron’s god, as if he were at least as good. They held to him because he was their own god.

The account also notes that the great stone stayed in the same place, and it is there to this day (1 Samuel 6:18). It remained as a lasting memorial of this great event, and it helped support the story passed down to later generations. Parents could point to it and tell their children, “This is the stone where the ark of God was set when it came back from the Philistines, something never to be forgotten.”