1 Samuel 6:1-11

The Ark Returned to Israel

1 Now the ark of the LORD had been in the country of the Philistines seven months.

2 And ¹the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, "What shall we do with the ark of the LORD? Tell us how we shall send it to its place."

3 They said, "If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, ²do not send it empty; but you shall surely ³return to Him a guilt offering. Then you will be healed and it will be known to you why His hand is not removed from you."

4 Then they said, "What shall be the guilt offering which we shall return to Him?" And they said, "Five golden ⁴tumors and five golden mice ⁵according to the number of the lords of the Philistines, for one plague was on all of you and on your lords.

5 "So you shall make likenesses of your tumors and likenesses of your mice that ravage the land, and ⁶you shall give glory to the God of Israel; perhaps ⁷He will ease His hand from you, ⁸your gods, and your land.

6 "Why then do you harden your hearts ⁹as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When He had severely dealt with them, ¹⁰did they not allow the people to go, and they departed?

7 "Now therefore, take and ¹¹prepare a new cart and two milch cows on which there ¹²has never been a yoke; and hitch the cows to the cart and take their calves home, away from them.

8 "Take the ark of the LORD and place it on the cart; and put ¹³the articles of gold which you return to Him as ¹⁴a guilt offering in a box by its side. Then send it away that it may go.

9 "Watch, if it goes up by the way of its own territory to ¹⁵Beth-shemesh, then He has done us this great evil. But if not, then ¹⁶we will know that it was not His hand that struck us; it happened to us by chance."

10 Then the men did so, and took two milch cows and hitched them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home.

11 They put the ark of the LORD on the cart, and the box with the golden mice and the likenesses of their tumors.

Read Chapter Compare

1 Samuel 6:1-11 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 6

In this chapter we are told the Philistines advised with their priests what to do with the ark, and wherewith to send it home, 1Sa 6:1,2 whose advice was to send with it a trespass offering, golden images of emerods and mice, and to put it on a new cart, and the images in a coffer on the side of the ark, and draw it with two cows, 1Sa 6:3-8, and gave them a token whereby they might know whether they had been smitten by the God of Israel or not, 1Sa 6:9 which advice they took, and acted in all things according to it; and the lords of the Philistines accompanied the ark to the border of Bethshemesh, 1Sa 6:10-12, where they of Bethshemesh received it with joy, and offered the kine for a burnt offering to the Lord, and the Levites took care of the ark and presents in it, and the lords of the Philistines returned home, 1Sa 6:13-18, but they of Bethshemesh looking into the ark were smitten of God, upon which they sent to the men of Kirjathjearim to fetch it from them, 1Sa 6:19-21.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 16

1. Genesis 41:8; Exodus 7:11; Isaiah 2:6
2. Exodus 23:15; Deuteronomy 16:16
3. Leviticus 5:15, 16
4. 1 Sam 5:6, 9, 12; 1 Samuel 6:17
5. Joshua 13:3; Judges 3:3; 1 Samuel 6:17, 18
6. Joshua 7:19; 1 Chronicles 16:28, 29; Isaiah 42:12; Jeremiah 13:16; John 9:24; Revelation 14:7
7. 1 Samuel 5:6, 11
8. 1 Sam 5:3, 4, 7
9. Exodus 7:13; Exodus 8:15, 32; Exodus 9:34; Exodus 14:17
10. Exodus 12:31
11. 2 Samuel 6:3
12. Numbers 19:2; Deuteronomy 21:3, 4
13. 1 Samuel 6:4, 5
14. 1 Samuel 6:3
15. Joshua 15:10; Joshua 21:16
16. 1 Samuel 6:3

Footnotes 4

[a]. Lit "field"
[b]. Or "with what"
[c]. Lit "them"
[d]. Lit "them"