And he smote the men of Bethshemesh
That is, God smote them, though they had received the ark with
such expressions of joy, and had offered sacrifices on account of
it; yet sinning in one particular after mentioned, which was
highly resented, they were smitten by him with a thunderbolt, as
Josephus says F26:
because they had looked into the ark of the
Lord;
which was forbidden the Levites, ( Numbers 4:20
) out of curiosity these men opened the ark, to see whether the
Philistines had taken anything out of it, or put anything into
it; and this, when in the tabernacle, being only to be seen by
the high priest; and supposing they should never have the like
opportunity again, to look upon the tables of the law which were
in it, took it; and the rather they might be emboldened to this
action, since it had been in the hands of the uncircumcised
Philistines, who had profaned it; and as yet not restored to its
pristine purity, holiness, and place:
even he smote of the people fifty thousand and seventy
men;
but as Bethshemesh was but a small place, a village, as Josephus
F1 calls it, and it seems not likely
that there should be such a number of persons in it, and
especially that should look into the ark; or that God, who is
good and merciful, should destroy so large a number for this
offence, however he might think fit to make an example of some,
it is thought that the case was not as our version represents it.
Some who think there were so many slain, yet distinguish them,
seventy of the elders of the people, and 50,000 of the
congregation, or common people, as the Targum; which accounts not
for the difficulty at all: others think that only seventy of the
men of Bethshemesh died, and that 50,000 were such as flocked out
of the country on this occasion; but as this was on the same day
the ark came into those parts, it can hardly be thought that so
great a number should be got together so soon; and still less
that they should all of them open the ark, and look into it.
Abarbinel is of opinion that only seventy men of Bethshemesh were
slain, and that the other 50,000 were the Philistines that died
on account of the ark while it was among them; and reads the
words, "with the men of Bethshemesh he smote--even he smote of
the people seventy"; that is, of the men of Bethshemesh; 50,000,
that is, of the Philistines, and so this gives the sum of all
that died on account of the ark, both while it was in the hands
of the Philistines, and when returned to Bethshemesh, which is
not an improbable sense: but others, and perhaps more truly,
think that only seventy persons were smitten with death; for the
order in which this account is given is different from all others
in the Hebrew text, the lesser number being put first with a
considerable distinguishing accent upon it, whereas the greater
number is always expressed first; it stands thus, "of the people
seventy men; 50,000 men": 5000, according to the Syriac and
Arabic versions. Josephus F2 is express for it that only
seventy men were slain, and so some of the ancient Jews
F3; who say that these seventy were
equal to 50,000, because of their superior excellency and
dignity, as Ben Gersom observes, being the priests of the Lord,
or the sanhedrim; but Bochart's F4 sense seems to be preferable
to all others, that there is a defect of the particle
(m) , "out of"; and so to
be read, either seventy men out of fifty thousand; that out of
the 50,000 that flocked on this occasion from various parts,
seventy were smitten for the reason before given; or rather
seventy men, fifty out of 1000 men; that is, a twentieth part of
the number of them, so that, out of 1400, seventy men were struck
with death for their curiosity F5. Something of this story
seems to be retained by tradition among the Heathens; we are told
F6 that when Troy was taken an ark was
found, in which was the image of Bacchus; which being opened by
Eurypylus, he was struck with madness as soon as he saw the
image:
and the people lamented, because the Lord had smitten
[many] of the
people with a great slaughter;
I see no occasion for the supplement "many"; it was a great
slaughter, if we consider the awful manner in which it was made,
by thunder and lightning, as may be supposed; however, by an
immediate stroke from heaven; and the persons on whom it was
made, men of a sacred character, priests and Levites; and a great
number, considering it was but a small city. Hence the place was
called Abel, which signifies weeping, mourning, lamentation, (
1 Samuel
6:18 ) .