Shmuel Alef 6:8

8 And take the Aron Hashem, and lay it upon the agalah; and put the kelei hazahav, which ye send back to Him for an asham (trespass offering), in a box by the side thereof; and send it away, that it may go.

Shmuel Alef 6:8 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 6:8

And take the ark of the Lord, and lay it upon the cart
Which was dispensed with in these uncircumcised Philistines, there being no other to do this service:

and put the jewels of gold;
or rather "vessels of gold" ^F16; the five golden emerods, and the five golden mice:

which ye return him for a trespass offering, in a coffer by the side
thereof;
in a basket, as the Syriac version: in a scrip, as the Arabic; in a purse, or bag, as Josephus ^F17; which latter is probable enough:

and send it away, that it may go;
that is, set it a going, without any driver or guide; but leave it to take its course of itself to the land of Israel. Josephus ^F18 says it was set in a place where three ways met, that it might take which it might; and the taking of the right way must be a strong evidence of its being under the direction of God.

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FOOTNOTES:

F16 (bhzh ylk) "vasa aurea", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus
F17 Antiqu. l. 6. c. 1. sect. 2.
F18 Antiqu. l. 6. c. 1. sect. 2.

Shmuel Alef 6:8 In-Context

6 Now then why do ye harden levavchem, as the Mitzrayim and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When He had wrought wonderfully among them, did they not send them away, so that they departed?

7 Now therefore make an agalah chadashah (new cart, wagon), and take two milch [milk-yielding] cows, [i.e., nursing cows] on which there hath come no ol (yoke), and hitch the cows to the agalah, and take their calves home, away from them;

8 And take the Aron Hashem, and lay it upon the agalah; and put the kelei hazahav, which ye send back to Him for an asham (trespass offering), in a box by the side thereof; and send it away, that it may go.

9 And see: if it [the Aron Hashem] goeth up by the derech of its own territory [i.e., Eretz Yisroel] toward Beit Shemesh, then He hath done us this ra’ah hagedolah (great disaster); but if not, then we shall know that it is not His Yad that struck us; the evil came upon us mikreh (by chance, by accident).

10 And the anashim did so; and took two milch cows, and hitched them to the agalah, and penned up their calves babayit;