1 Samuel 6:1-21
The Ark Returned to Israel
1 Now the ark of the LORD was in the country of the Philistines seven months. 2 And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, “What shall we do with the ark of the LORD? Tell us how we should send it to its place.”
3 So they said, “If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it empty; but by all means return it to Him with a trespass offering. Then you will be healed, and it will be known to you why His hand is not removed from you.”
4 Then they said, “What is the trespass offering which we shall return to Him?”
They answered, “Five golden tumors and five golden rats, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines. For the same plague was on all of you and on your lords. 5 Therefore you shall make images of your tumors and images of your rats that ravage the land, and you shall give glory to the God of Israel; perhaps He will lighten His hand from you, from your gods, and from your land. 6 Why then do you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When He did mighty things among them, did they not let the people go, that they might depart? 7 Now therefore, make a new cart, take two milk cows which have never been yoked, and hitch the cows to the cart; and take their calves home, away from them. 8 Then take the ark of the LORD and set it on the cart; and put the articles of gold which you are returning to Him as a trespass offering in a chest by its side. Then send it away, and let it go. 9 And watch: if it goes up the road to its own territory, to Beth Shemesh, then He has done us this great evil. But if not, then we shall know that it is not His hand that struck us—it happened to us by chance.”
10 Then the men did so; they took two milk cows and hitched them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home. 11 And they set the ark of the LORD on the cart, and the chest with the gold rats and the images of their tumors. 12 Then the cows headed straight for the road to Beth Shemesh, and went along the highway, lowing as they went, and did not turn aside to the right hand or the left. And the lords of the Philistines went after them to the border of Beth Shemesh.
13 Now the people of Beth Shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley; and they lifted their eyes and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it. 14 Then the cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh, and stood there; a large stone was there. So they split the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the LORD. 15 The Levites took down the ark of the LORD and the chest that was with it, in which were the articles of gold, and put them on the large stone. Then the men of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings and made sacrifices the same day to the LORD. 16 So when the five lords of the Philistines had seen it, they returned to Ekron the same day.
17 These are the golden tumors which the Philistines returned as a trespass offering to the LORD: one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath, one for Ekron; 18 and the golden rats, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, both fortified cities and country villages, even as far as the large stone of Abel on which they set the ark of the LORD, which stone remains to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh.
19 Then He struck the men of Beth Shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the LORD. He struck fifty thousand and seventy men of the people, and the people lamented because the LORD had struck the people with a great slaughter.
The Ark at Kirjath Jearim
20 And the men of Beth Shemesh said, “Who is able to stand before this holy LORD God? And to whom shall it go up from us?” 21 So they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kirjath Jearim, saying, “The Philistines have brought back the ark of the LORD; come down and take it up with you.”
After the Ark sat for seven months among the unbelieving Philistines, the very Ark where the words of God were stored and His presence on the mercy seat came to the high priests of God’s people, they desperately sought how to rid themselves of it and the resulting plagues on them for taking and keeping it from its holy place. They devised a plan to send the ark of the God of Israel to Him with a trespass offering that they might be relieved from their suffering and appease Him for mercy on them. They put it on a cart with their offerings to test if all that transpired was from the LORD for stealing and holding on to it as if they could get the power and victory merely from possessing it. They would set it loose on its own and see whether the cows would take it; if it headed back to Israel, then they would have their confirmation. It did, heading in a straight path, not turning to the left or right until it stopped at Beth Shemesh. The Philistines returned home with relief but those of Beth Shemesh made the error of looking into the Ark (Exodus 19:21, Numbers 4:15, 20) and suffered the penalty of trying to obtain the presence of the Holy for themselves, for the LORD struck the people with a great slaughter for this dishonoring act. After this, the people of Beth Shemesh said, “Who is able to stand before this holy LORD God?” And they sought to find out just where it should be sent by sending word to Kirjath Jearim for instructions. They asked them to please come and take it back before more died for their error. It was not the power of a wooden box encased in gold that they feared, but the wrath of a holy God whose word and presence were represented there in physical appearance of the spiritual reality. Who can stand (Malachi 3:2, 1 Peter 5:12, Jude 1:24, 25) before the LORD? Only those redeemed by the Lamb and reconciled to God through the great High Priest, Jesus Christ, can stand firm without fear (Romans 5:2, Hebrews 4:16) before His throne of grace.
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