The Ark of GOD remained in the territory of the Philistines seven months.aSeptuagint continues “and mice invaded their fields”; cf. vv. 4, 5, 18, and note at 5.6.
Then the Philistines summoned the priests and the diviners and asked, “What shall we do about the Ark of GOD? Tell us with what we shall send it off to its own place.”
They answered, “If you are going to send the Ark of the God of Israel away, do not send it away without anything; you must also pay an indemnity. Then you will be healed, and he will be made known to you; otherwise his hand will not turn away from you.”bhe will be made known … from you Or “and you will know why his hand would not turn away from you.” Meaning of Heb. uncertain.
They asked, “What is the indemnity that we should pay?” They answered, “Five golden hemorrhoids and five golden mice, corresponding to the number of lords of the Philistines; for the same plague struck all of youcyou Heb. “them.” and your lords.
You shall make figures of your hemorrhoids and of the mice that are ravaging your land; thus you shall honor the God of Israel, and perhaps the burden upon you and your gods and your land will be lightened.dthe burden upon you…will be lightened Lit. “he will lighten his hand from upon you”; cf. Exod. 18.22 and 1 Kings 12.10.
Don’t harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts. As you know, when he made a mockery of them, they had to let IsraeleIsrael Heb. “them.” go, and they departed.
Therefore, get a new cart ready and two milch cows that have not borne a yoke; harness the cows to the cart, but take back indoors the calves that follow them.
Take the Ark of GOD and place it on the cart; and put next to it in a chest the gold objects you are paying as indemnity. Send it off, and let it go its own way.
Then watch: If it goes up the road to Beth-shemesh, to this territory, we will know that he has inflicted this great harm on us. But if not, we shall know that it was not his hand that struck us; it just happened to us by chance.”
The PhilistinesfThe Philistines Heb. “Those involved”; cf. v. 2. did so. They took two milch cows and harnessed them to the cart, and shut up their calves indoors.
The cows went straight ahead along the road to Beth-shemesh. They went along a single highroad, lowing as they went, and turning off neither to the right nor to the left; and the lords of the Philistines walked behind them as far as the border of Beth-shemesh.
The people of Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley. They looked up and saw the Ark, and they rejoiced when they saw it.gwhen they saw it Septuagint reads “As they met it.”
The cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh and it stopped there. They split up the wood of the cart and presented the cows as a burnt offering to GOD. A large stone was there;
and the Levites took down the Ark of GOD and the chest beside it containing the gold objects and placed them on the large stone. Then the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh presented burnt offerings and other sacrifices to GOD that day.
Word-by-Word Analysis
והלוים
97
הורידו
231
אתארון
658
יהוה
26
ואתהארגז
623
אשראתו
908
אשרבו
509
כליזהב
74
וישמו
362
אלהאבן
89
הגדולה
53
ואנשי
367
ביתשמש
1052
העלו
111
עלות
506
ויזבחו
39
זבחים
67
ביום
58
ההוא
17
ליהוה
56
I Samuel 6:16
Gematria: 2631
וחמשהסרניפלשתיםראווישבועקרוןביוםההואס
The five lords of the Philistines saw this and returned the same day to Ekron.
The following were the golden hemorrhoids that the Philistines paid as an indemnity to GOD: For Ashdod, one; for Gaza, one; for Ashkelon, one; for Gath, one; for Ekron, one.
hMeaning of vv. 18 and 19 uncertain in part. As for the golden mice, their number accorded with all the Philistine towns that belonged to the five lords—both fortified towns and unwalled villages, as far asivillages, as far as Emendation yields “villages, as witness there is.” the great stonejstone Reading ʼeben with some Heb. mss., Septuagint, and Targum; most mss. and editions ʼabel, “meadow [?].” on which the Ark of GOD was set down, to this day, in the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh.
[GOD] struck at the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh because they looked into the Ark of GOD—striking down seventy from among the people [and] fifty thousand.kthey looked … fifty thousand Force of Heb. uncertain. The people mourned, for a great slaughter had been inflicted upon the population.
And the people of Beth-shemeshlthe people of Beth-shemesh Cf. note at 5.7. asked, “Who can stand in attendance on the ETERNAL, this holy God? And to whom shall this go up from us?”
They sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath-jearim to say, “The Philistines have sent back the Ark of GOD. Come down and take it into your keeping.”