Sāmǔĕrjìshàng 5:8

8 Jiù dǎfa rén qù qǐng Fēilìshì de zhòng shǒulǐng lái jùjí , wèn tāmen shuō , wǒmen xiàng Yǐsèliè shén de yuē guì yīngdāng zĕnyàng xíng ne . tāmen huídá shuō , kĕyǐ jiāng Yǐsèliè shén de yuē guì yùn dào Jiātè qù . yúshì jiāng Yǐsèliè shén de yuē guì yùn dào nàli qù .

Sāmǔĕrjìshàng 5:8 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 5:8

They sent therefore and gathered all the lords of the
Philistines unto them
The other four lords, for there were five with this; see ( Joshua 13:3 ) ,

and said, what shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?
they no doubt told them what they and their idol had suffered on account of it, and the resolution they were come to that it should be no longer with them; and therefore desire to know what must be done with it, whether they should return it to the people of Israel, or dispose of it somewhere else; it is probable some might be for the former, but the greater part were not, and were for keeping it in their possession somewhere or another:

and they answered, let the ark of the God of Israel be carried about
unto Gath;
which was another of the five principalities of the Philistines, and not far from Ashdod; according to Jerom ^F24, it is included in the remnant of Ashdod, ( Jeremiah 25:20 ) and according to Bunting

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FOOTNOTES:

F25 but four miles from it. The Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions make this to be the answer of the men of Gath, the one reading it,

``and they of Gath said, let the ark of God come to us;''

and the other,

``they of Gath answered, let the ark of the God of Israel be carried about;''

for they suspected, as Procopius Gazaeus observes, that the destruction did not come from God, but was a disease arising from some pestilential cause. They perhaps imagined it was in the air in and about Ashdod, or that though the situation of the ark was not liked, in another place it might be otherwise, and more agreeable:

and they carried the ark of the God of Israel about thither;
they seem not to carry it directly to the place, but carried it in a round about way, as if they had a mind to give it an airing, before they fixed it any where.

F24 Comment. in Hierem. c. 25. fol. 151. B.
F25 Travels of the Patriarchs p. 123.

Sāmǔĕrjìshàng 5:8 In-Context

6 Yēhéhuá de shǒu chóngchóng jiā zaì Yàshítū rénshēn shàng , baìhuaì tāmen , shǐ tāmen shēng zhì chuāng . Yàshítū hé Yàshítū de sì jìng dōu shì rúcǐ .

7 Yà shí tū rén jiàn zhè guāngjǐng , jiù shuō , Yǐsèliè shén de yuē guì bùkĕ liú zaì wǒmen zhèlǐ , yīnwei tāde shǒu chóngchóng jiā zaì wǒmen hé wǒmen shén dà gún de shēnshang .

8 Jiù dǎfa rén qù qǐng Fēilìshì de zhòng shǒulǐng lái jùjí , wèn tāmen shuō , wǒmen xiàng Yǐsèliè shén de yuē guì yīngdāng zĕnyàng xíng ne . tāmen huídá shuō , kĕyǐ jiāng Yǐsèliè shén de yuē guì yùn dào Jiātè qù . yúshì jiāng Yǐsèliè shén de yuē guì yùn dào nàli qù .

9 Yùn dào zhī hòu , Yēhéhuá de shǒu gōngjī nà chéng , shǐ nà chéng de rén dàdà jīnghuāng , wúlùn dà xiǎo dōu shēng zhì chuāng .

10 Tāmen jiù bǎ shén de yuē guì sòng dào Yǐgélún . shén de yuē guì dào le , Yǐgélún rén jiù hǎn nāng qǐlai shuō , tāmen jiāng Yǐsèliè shén de yuē guì yùn dào wǒmen zhèlǐ , yào haì wǒmen hé wǒmen de zhòng mín .