1 Samuel 5:11

11 miserunt itaque et congregaverunt omnes satrapas Philisthinorum qui dixerunt dimittite arcam Dei Israhel et revertatur in locum suum et non interficiat nos cum populo nostro

1 Samuel 5:11 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 5:11

So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the
Philistines
As the men of Ashdod had done before on the same account, ( 1 Samuel 5:8 )

and said, send away the ark of the God of Israel;
as these lords were united in their government, and made one common cause of it against Israel, one could not dispose of this capture without the consent of the rest; otherwise the lord of Ekron, with his princes, were clearly in it that it was right and best to send it away out of any of their principalities:

and let it go again to its own place;
to the land of Israel and Shiloh there, though to that it never returned more:

that it slay us not, and our people;
that is, all of them, for great numbers had been slain already, as follows:

for there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city;
a mortal disease went through the whole city, and swept away a multitude of people:

the hand of God was very heavy there;
it seems by the expression to haste been heavier on the inhabitants of this city than upon those of Ashdod and Gath, which made them the more pressing to get rid of the ark.

1 Samuel 5:11 In-Context

9 illis autem circumducentibus eam fiebat manus Dei per singulas civitates interfectionis magnae nimis et percutiebat viros uniuscuiusque urbis a parvo usque ad maiorem et conputrescebant prominentes extales eorum

10 miserunt ergo arcam Dei in Accaron cumque venisset arca Dei in Accaron exclamaverunt Accaronitae dicentes adduxerunt ad nos arcam Dei Israhel ut interficiat nos et populum nostrum

11 miserunt itaque et congregaverunt omnes satrapas Philisthinorum qui dixerunt dimittite arcam Dei Israhel et revertatur in locum suum et non interficiat nos cum populo nostro

12 fiebat enim pavor mortis in singulis urbibus et gravissima valde manus Dei viri quoque qui mortui non fuerant percutiebantur in secretiori parte natium et ascendebat ululatus uniuscuiusque civitatis in caelum