The Philistines Return the Ark
1 Samuel 6:1-12 NLT
The Philistines Return the Ark
6:1 The Ark of the Lord remained in Philistine territory seven months in all. 2 Then the Philistines called in their priests and diviners and asked them, “What should we do about the Ark of the Lord? Tell us how to return it to its own country.”
3 “Send the Ark of the God of Israel back with a gift,” they were told. “Send a guilt offering so the plague will stop. Then, if you are healed, you will know it was his hand that caused the plague.”
4 “What sort of guilt offering should we send?” they asked.
And they were told, “Since the plague has struck both you and your five rulers, make five gold tumors and five gold rats, just like those that have ravaged your land. 5 Make these things to show honor to the God of Israel. Perhaps then he will stop afflicting you, your gods, and your land. 6 Don’t be stubborn and rebellious as Pharaoh and the Egyptians were. By the time God was finished with them, they were eager to let Israel go.
7 “Now build a new cart, and find two cows that have just given birth to calves. Make sure the cows have never been yoked to a cart. Hitch the cows to the cart, but shut their calves away from them in a pen. 8 Put the Ark of the Lord on the cart, and beside it place a chest containing the gold rats and gold tumors you are sending as a guilt offering. Then let the cows go wherever they want. 9 If they cross the border of our land and go to Beth-shemesh, we will know it was the Lord who brought this great disaster upon us. If they don’t, we will know it was not his hand that caused the plague. It came simply by chance.”
10 So these instructions were carried out. Two cows were hitched to the cart, and their newborn calves were shut up in a pen. 11 Then the Ark of the Lord and the chest containing the gold rats and gold tumors were placed on the cart. 12 And sure enough, without veering off in other directions, the cows went straight along the road toward Beth-shemesh, lowing as they went. The Philistine rulers followed them as far as the border of Beth-shemesh.
Examine the Scriptures
1 Samuel 6:1-12 NLT
The Philistines Return the Ark
6:1 The Ark of the Lord remained in Philistine territory seven months in all.
Refer to a map showing the travels of the Ark of the Lord.
2 Then the Philistines called in their priests and diviners (soothsayers, fortunetellers, magicians, omen readers, those who practice evil magic)
- Don’t assume that the Philistines were ignorant, weak, and “godless”.
Don’t assume that your enemy is ignorant, weak, and “godless”.
The Philistines were a powerful sea people who settled in the coastal strip in SW Palestine.
The Philistines were intensely religious.
The Philistines had a powerful military, due in part to their control of the iron industry.
The Philistines were politically well organized.
The Philistines had a strong economy.
- The Philistines did some things right. They called in the experts. They “called in their priests and diviners”.
Proverbs 15:22 NLT
22 Plans go wrong for lack of advice;
many advisers bring success.
Proverbs 11:14 NLT
14 Without wise leadership, a nation falls;
there is safety in having many advisers.
- The Philistines did many things wrong.
The Philistines practiced divination.
Divination defined:
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, Divination is “the art or practice that seeks to foresee or foretell future events or discover hidden knowledge usually by the interpretation of omens or by the aid of supernatural powers.”
Divination is a pagan counterpart of prophecy.
Genuine prophecy is by the Spirit of God.
Inspirational divination is by demonic power.
God spoke strongly against the use of divination.
Deuteronomy 18:10-14 NLT
10 For example, never sacrifice your son or daughter as a burnt offering. And do not let your people practice fortune-telling, or use sorcery, or interpret omens, or engage in witchcraft, 11 or cast spells, or function as mediums or psychics, or call forth the spirits of the dead. 12 Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord. It is because the other nations have done these detestable things that the Lord your God will drive them out ahead of you. 13 But you must be blameless before the Lord your God. 14 The nations you are about to displace consult sorcerers and fortune-tellers, but the Lord your God forbids you to do such things.”
The Philistines were known for their practice of sorcery.
Isaiah 2:6 NLT
6 For the Lord has rejected his people,
the descendants of Jacob,
because they have filled their land with practices from the East
and with sorcerers, as the Philistines do.
They have made alliances with pagans.
- Divination is a pagan counterpart of prophecy. Inspirational divination is by demonic power.
(Then the Philistines called in their priests and diviners -phrase repeated from above)
and asked them, “What should we do about the Ark of the Lord?
The Philistines believed that they had offended the Israelite God.
The Philistines were beginning to see a need to “respect” the ark of the Lord.
Tell us how to return it to its own country.”
After seeing their god Dagon being humiliated and after suffering the painful and deadly consequences of God’s plagues, the Philistines decided to return the Ark of the Lord to Israel.
The Philistine leaders sensed that there was a right way and a wrong way to handle the ark.
The Philistines were very “religious” and wanted to do things correctly.
They asked their “advisors” how to do this.
The question arises. Did God expect the Philistines to treat the Ark with the same respect that he demanded of the Israelites? We really don’t know.
One soured answered the question this way.
It is likely that the Philistines out of respect, fear, or pragmatism carried the ark the “proper” way.
- The question arises: Did God expect the Philistines to treat the Ark with the same respect that he demanded of the Israelites? We really don’t know.
3 “Send the Ark of the God of Israel back with a gift,” they were told. “Send a guilt offering so the plague will stop.
A Philistine guilt offering would have been a payment to a deity in an attempt to avert his wrath.
- This offering was both an acknowledgement of guilt and compensation of their trespass of dishonoring the God of Israel.
This was a part of the Philistine’s religious tradition.
Then, if you are healed, you will know it was his hand that caused the plague.”
4 “What sort of guilt offering should we send?” they asked.
And they were told, “Since the plague has struck both you and your five rulers, make five gold tumors and five gold rats, just like those that have ravaged your land.
The five gold tumors represented the tumors inflicted on the people.
The five gold rats represented the carriers of the plague.
Five, representing the five Philistines cities.
The images of tumors and rats was a symbolic admission of their guilt along with the hope that the evil that had fallen upon them would be removed.
5 Make these things to show honor to the God of Israel.
Here the Philistine priests and diviners were instructing the Philistine leaders to show honor to the God of Israel.
Perhaps then he will stop afflicting you, your gods, and your land.
- The Philistine priests and diviners instructed the Philistine leaders to show honor to the God of Israel.
6 Don’t be stubborn and rebellious as Pharaoh and the Egyptians were. By the time God was finished with them, they were eager to let Israel go.
The Philistine priests and diviners knew about the events of the exodus.
Exodus 10:1-2 NLT
1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Return to Pharaoh and make your demands again. I have made him and his officials stubborn so I can display my miraculous signs among them. 2 I’ve also done it so you can tell your children and grandchildren about how I made a mockery of the Egyptians and about the signs I displayed among them—and so you will know that I am the Lord.”
The Philistine army had defeated the Israelite army, but they now realized that their real enemy was most likely the God of the Israelites.
- The Philistine priests and diviners warned the Philistine leaders not to be stubborn and rebellious like Pharaoh and the Egyptians had been.
7 “Now build a new cart,
It would have been a sign of honor and respect to use a new cart.
The Philistines may have thought it would be disrespectful to use a cart to transport the Ark of the Lord that had been used for some other purpose.
The Philistines most like did not know:
Numbers 7:9 NLT
9 But he gave none of the wagons or oxen to the Kohathite division, since they were required to carry the sacred objects of the Tabernacle on their shoulders.
and find two cows that have just given birth to calves.
The Philistines wanted to know without a doubt that this was the work of the God of Israel, and not something that “came simply by chance.” (see verse 9)
The maternal nature of these cows would normally cause them to stay close to their calves.
Make sure the cows have never been yoked to a cart.
Untrained cows would not know how to work together as a team to pull a cart.
Hitch the cows to the cart, but shut their calves away from them in a pen. 8 Put the Ark of the Lord on the cart, and beside it place a chest containing the gold rats and gold tumors you are sending as a guilt offering. Then let the cows go wherever they want. 9 If they cross the border of our land and go to Beth-shemesh,
The Israelite city closest to the Philistine city of Ekron.
we will know it was the Lord who brought this great disaster upon us. If they don’t, we will know it was not his hand that caused the plague. It came simply by chance.”
- The Philistines wanted to know if it was the Lord who caused the plague or if it came simply by chance.
10 So these instructions were carried out. Two cows were hitched to the cart, and their newborn calves were shut up in a pen.
11 Then the Ark of the Lord and the chest containing the gold rats and gold tumors were placed on the cart.
12 And sure enough, without veering off in other directions, the cows went straight along the road toward Beth-shemesh, lowing as they went.
“Without veering off in other directions.”
“Lowing as they went.”
Moaning from the instinctive unwillingness to leave their calves behind.
Cows moo to seek their herd mates, calf or mother; say they are hungry; call for a partner when they are wishing to mate; raise alarm to warn their herd mates of potential danger.
- “Without veering off in other directions, the cows went straight along the road toward Beth-shemesh,” was a clear sign of God’s hand at work.
The Philistine rulers followed them as far as the border of Beth-shemesh.
