1 Samuel 6:1 - Meaning and Application

The opening words of the chapter tell us how long the ark stayed in captivity. It was in Philistine territory for seven months. The Hebrew phrase can also mean “in the open country of the Philistines,” and some think that, after the ark had been tried in all their cities and proved a plague everywhere, they finally sent it out into the fields. Then mice came up in large numbers and destroyed the nearly ripe crops and ruined the land. That judgment is mentioned in (1 Samuel 6:5), though it was not named in the previous chapter.

Either way, God was teaching them that wherever they carried the ark, as long as they kept it captive, it would bring a curse. “You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the field” (Deuteronomy 28:16). Still, most understand the phrase as it is usually translated, “the country of the Philistines.”

Seven months passed while Israel suffered the loss of the ark, the special sign of God’s presence. How empty the tabernacle must have seemed without it. How deserted the holy city must have felt, and how like a wilderness the holy land appeared. It was surely a sad time for the faithful among them, especially for Samuel. Yet they had this comfort, and so do we when we lose the blessing of public worship: wherever the ark is, the Lord is in his holy temple, the Lord’s throne is in heaven, and by faith and prayer we can still come to him with confidence there. We may be near to God even when the ark is far away.

For seven months the Philistines were punished by the ark’s presence, because they would not send it back sooner. Sinners often make their own troubles last longer by stubbornly refusing to give up their sins. Pharaoh’s stubborn heart would have brought fewer plagues if he had let Israel go earlier. At last, though, they decide that the ark must be sent back. There is no other choice, because they know they are ruined if they keep it.

The priests and diviners are consulted about this matter (1 Samuel 6:2). They were thought to know both wisdom and worship, including how to make amends to a god who had been offended. Since Israel lived nearby and was known for its religious laws and practices, the Philistines likely wanted to learn what Israel’s God required. So they ask, “What shall we do with the ark of the Lord?” People in every nation have respected their priests as the ones whose lips preserve knowledge. The Philistines had their diviners, and we should also seek wise instruction from those who know how to come before the Lord and bow before the Most High God.

The advice they give is detailed and seems to be unanimous. It is surprising they did not offer it on their own, as a duty to their country, before being asked. First, they insist that the ark must be sent back, and they point to Pharaoh and the Egyptians as an example (1 Samuel 6:6). Some may have wanted to keep it a little longer and test it again, but the priests answer them with a warning: “Why harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened theirs?” They knew the history of Moses and could quote lessons from it. We should make the same good use of God’s judgments on stubborn sinners. They warn us not to harden our hearts the way those people did. It is much cheaper to learn from someone else’s experience than from our own. Since the Egyptians were finally forced to let Israel go, the Philistines should yield in time and let the ark go.

Second, they say that when the ark is sent back, it must go with a trespass-offering (1 Samuel 6:3). Whatever their other gods were like, they knew the God of Israel was a jealous God, strict about sin offerings and trespass offerings among his people. Since they had seen how deeply he was offended by holding his ark captive, they concluded that they must return it with an offering for guilt. They did not think they could be healed on any other terms. Wounded justice calls for satisfaction. Natural reason could see that much. But when they tried to decide what that satisfaction should look like, they showed foolish thinking. Still, anyone who has, by deliberate sin, trapped the truth in wrongdoing, as the Philistines trapped the ark (Romans 1:18), may rightly see that peace with the God they have injured can come only through a sin offering. And we know there is only one who can take away sin.

Third, they say this offering should confess the punishment of their sin and shame them before God (1 Samuel 6:5). They must make images of the tumors, the swollen sores with which they had been struck. By doing this, they would keep the shame of that painful disease in view by their own act (Psalm 78:66). They were also to make images of the mice that had ruined the land, admitting the mighty power of the God of Israel, who could humble them even in the day of their success by small and weak-looking creatures. These images were to be made of gold, the most valuable metal, showing that they were willing to buy peace with the God of Israel at any cost, and would not think it paid too dearly with gold, with fine gold.

The golden images of the tumors were to be five in number, matching the number of the Philistine rulers, who were likely all afflicted and willing to own it. The golden mice were also advised to be five, but since the whole land had been infested, it seems they later sent more of them, according to the number of the fortified cities and the country villages (1 Samuel 6:18). Their priests reminded them that the plague had fallen on them all. None of them could blame the others, because they were all guilty, and that was plain from the fact that they were all struck. Their plan to offer a trespass-offering for their offense fit with what God had revealed at that time, but using such items as the offering was far from the law of Moses. In that law it is clear throughout that blood, not gold, makes atonement for the soul.

Fourth, they encourage the Philistines to expect that this will really remove the plague: “You will be healed” (1 Samuel 6:3). It seems the sickness had stubbornly resisted every remedy their doctors had tried.

So they said, “Send the ark back, and then it will be known why his hand has not been lifted from you.” In other words, they thought this would show whether their suffering came from holding on to the ark. If that was the cause, then giving it back should bring relief.

God has sometimes led his people to test this same kind of thing, to see whether turning back to him would also bring help. “Prove me now,” says the Lord of hosts (Malachi 3:10; Haggai 2:18, 2:19). Even so, they spoke cautiously. They said, “Perhaps he will lighten his hand against you” (1 Samuel 6:5). They were starting to think the judgment really came from God, though they were not sure the trouble would end right away when the ark was returned. Still, that was the best path toward mercy. Remove the cause, and the effect will likely stop.

They also set up one more test to see whether it was truly the hand of the God of Israel that had struck them. The ark had to be placed on a new cart, pulled by two milk cows with calves still nursing them (1 Samuel 6:7). These cows were not used to pulling carts, and they would naturally want to go home. They would be drawn both by the barn where they were fed and by their calves, and they did not know the road to Israel at all. No one was to guide or drive them. By all ordinary reasoning, they should have gone back to their calves.

Yet if the God of Israel, after all the other wonders he had done, did not perform one more, and lead these cows by unseen power toward the land of Israel, especially to Beth-shemesh, then the Philistines would take back their earlier belief. They would say it was not God’s hand at work, but only a chance event (1 Samuel 6:8, 1 Samuel 6:9). In this way, these uncircumcised Philistines asked to have God’s power put on trial after already insulting him in other ways. Would they have accepted such a test for the honor of Dagon, their god? See how eager wicked people are to push away the thought that God’s hand is against them. When trouble comes, they want to call it chance. If they do, then the warning in the rod is lost on them.