1 Samuel 6:1-21

Israel’s First King

1 Samuel

Helen Pocock

Chapter 6

The *Philistines return the *ark of God to *Israel

v1 The *Philistines had the *ark of the Lord in their country for 7 months. v2 Then they called for their priests and men who work magic. The *Philistines asked them, ‘What shall we do with the *ark of the Lord? Tell us how to send it back to its home’.

v3 The priests answered, ‘Send the *ark of God back to *Israel. However, you must not send it back without an *offering. You must send an *offering to God because you are guilty. Then you will get well. You will learn why God punished you’.

v4 The *Philistines asked, ‘What *offering should we sent to God?’

The priests and men who work magic replied, ‘You should send 5 models of *tumours and 5 models of *rats. Make them from gold. You should make 5 models of each because you have 5 rulers. The disease has affected your rulers as well as your people. v5 Make models of the *tumours and the *rats that are destroying your country. And give honour to the God of *Israel. Maybe then he will stop punishing you and your *gods. v6 Do not be like the people from the country of Egypt and Pharaoh their king. They would not change their decision and obey God. God punished them greatly until they let the *Israelites leave Egypt.

v7 You must make a new cart. Get two cows that have just given birth to baby cows. You must use cows that no one has ever tied to a cart before. Tie them to the cart. Then take their baby cows away from them. v8 Put the *ark of the Lord on the cart. Put the gold models in a box. These are your *offerings to God because you are guilty. Put the box next to the *ark on the cart. Then send the cart away. v9 But keep watching the cart. The *ark came from *Israel. The cart may go to the town of Beth Shemesh in *Israel. If so, this shows that the *Lord sent this great disease. If the cart does not go there, then the *Lord has not punished us. We shall know that our disease happened by chance’.

The *Philistines now knew that the *ark belonged to the God of *Israel (verse 2). They stole the *ark but they did not steal the God of *Israel. God had caused them trouble. Now they wanted to send the *ark back to *Israel. But they needed to do it in the proper way. They wanted to stop any more trouble. They did not know how to do this. So, they asked their priests and men who work magic. These were the experts of their religion.

Verses 3-6 answer the question ‘What shall we do with the *ark?’ First, the *Philistines had to confess that they were guilty. God’s punishment was killing their people. They wanted to send the *ark back. But they did not know how to stop God’s punishment. They made models of the *tumours and the *rats. They sent them to God and confessed that they were guilty. They agreed that the God of *Israel was more powerful than their *god. Perhaps the *Philistines believed that the real *tumours and *rats would go away with the models. The *Philistines had 5 main towns (see verse 17). Each town had a ruler. The *ark went to only 3 towns, but all the *Philistines were guilty. So they made models for each town.

The priests and men of magic knew that the God of *Israel was powerful. They remembered how he had punished the people of Egypt. When they did not obey him, God punished them more. The *Philistines were afraid and wanted to honour God.

Verses 7-9 explain how the *Philistines sent the *ark back home. They did not want someone to take the *ark directly to *Israel. Instead, they wanted God to direct it. They were afraid of God. But they were not certain that their troubles came from him. So they wanted to find out. When a cow gives birth, she does not want to leave her baby cow. So, if the cows went away, God sent them. The town of Beth Shemesh was the *Israelite town that was nearest to the *Philistines.

v10 So the *Philistines did this. They took two cows that had just given birth. They tied them to a cart. They took away their baby cows and put the baby cows in a building. v11 They put the *ark of God on the cart. Then they put the box next to the *ark. The box contained the gold models of the *rats and the *tumours. v12 The cows went straight towards Beth Shemesh. They kept on the road and did not turn to the right or the left. All the way, they made a lot of noise. The *Philistine rulers followed them all the way to the edge of Beth Shemesh.

v13 The people of Beth Shemesh were in the valley harvesting their wheat. They looked and saw the *ark of the Lord. They were very happy. v14-15 The cows pulled the cart into a field. The field belonged to Joshua who lived in Beth Shemesh. The cows stopped next to a large rock. The *Levites took the *ark of the Lord off the cart. They put the *ark on the large rock. They also put the box, which contained the gold models, on the rock. The people from Beth Shemesh cut up the wooden cart and made a fire with it. Then they killed the cows. They burnt them on the fire as an *offering to the *Lord. That day they offered whole cows as *burnt offerings. They gave *sacrifices to the *Lord. v16 When the 5 *Philistine rulers saw this, they returned to Ekron.

v17 The *Philistines were guilty. So they sent the gold models of the *tumours as a gift to the *Lord. They sent one for each of their 5 towns. The names of these towns are Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath and Ekron. v18 The *Philistines also sent 5 gold models of *rats. They made one model for each of the 5 towns and the 5 rulers. Each town had walls round it to protect it. Each town included the country villages round it. The large rock that the *Israelites put the *ark on is still there. It is in the field that belongs to Joshua from Beth Shemesh.

v19 But some of the men from Beth Shemesh looked inside the *ark. Therefore, God killed 70 of them. The people were very sad because God punished so many men. v20 The men of Beth Shemesh said, ‘When God is present, people can not remain in his company. God is a holy God. Where can we send the *ark to from here?’

v21 So they sent people to Kiriath Jearim with a message. They said, ‘The *Philistines have returned the *ark of the Lord. Come and get the *ark from us. Take it to your town’.

Philistines ~ the Israelites’ main enemies at that time. They lived on the west side of the country of Israel.

Israelites ~ the people of Israel; the people who speak the Hebrew language.
Israel ~ the group of people that God chose. Israel is the name of all the people from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Israel is also the name of the land that God gave to the people of Israel.
Hebrew ~ the language of the Israelite people. A Hebrew is an Israelite person.
Israel ~ the group of people that God chose. Israel is the name of all the people from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Israel is also the name of the land that God gave to the people of Israel.
offering ~ a gift for God (or false gods) from the priest and people; an Israelite’s gift to God.

gods ~ gods with a small ‘g’ are all the false gods.
Israelites ~ the people of Israel; the people who speak the Hebrew language.
Israel ~ the group of people that God chose. Israel is the name of all the people from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Israel is also the name of the land that God gave to the people of Israel.
Hebrew ~ the language of the Israelite people. A Hebrew is an Israelite person.
tumour ~ a type of spot or lump. It grows very big in a person’s body or under his or her skin.
rat ~ an animal like a big mouse.
gods ~ gods with a small ‘g’ are all the false gods.
Israelites ~ the people of Israel; the people who speak the Hebrew language.

Israel ~ the group of people that God chose. Israel is the name of all the people from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Israel is also the name of the land that God gave to the people of Israel.
Hebrew ~ the language of the Israelite people. A Hebrew is an Israelite person.
Lord ~ the name of God in the Bible. The special name of God that he announced only to the Israelites (Genesis 3:13-15). It links God with his covenant (promise) to them.

Israelites ~ the people of Israel; the people who speak the Hebrew language.
Israel ~ the group of people that God chose. Israel is the name of all the people from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Israel is also the name of the land that God gave to the people of Israel.
Hebrew ~ the language of the Israelite people. A Hebrew is an Israelite person.
Levites ~ men who came from the tribe of Levi. They worked in the house of the Lord and they helped the priests. They did not own any land.

tribe ~ a family from one man. The first Israelites were the 12 sons of Jacob. The family of each son became a tribe.
Lord ~ the name of God in the Bible. The special name of God that he announced only to the Israelites (Genesis 3:13-15). It links God with his covenant (promise) to them.
Israelites ~ the people of Israel; the people who speak the Hebrew language.
Israel ~ the group of people that God chose. Israel is the name of all the people from the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Israel is also the name of the land that God gave to the people of Israel.
Hebrew ~ the language of the Israelite people. A Hebrew is an Israelite person.
sacrifice ~ to give something to God, usually an animal, grain or wine; to ask God to forgive sins as the priest killed an animal. This sacrifice was a special animal. The priests killed and burned it on the altar.

sin ~ when people do things against God or other people; when people do not obey the commands of God; the things that people do that are wrong or evil.
altar ~ a table, where the priests burned animals and gave other gifts as a sacrifice to God or false gods.