1-9 After seven months the Philistines take counsel how to send back the ark 10-18 They bring it on a new cart with an offering unto Beth- shemesh 19,20 The people are smitten for looking into the ark 21 They send to them of Kirjath-jearim to fetch it

A.M. 2864 B.C. 1140 An. Ex. Is. 351
the ark 1Sa 5:1,3,10,11 Ps 78:61

2 And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, What shall we do to the ark of the LORD? tell us wherewith we shall send it to his place.

called Ge 41:8 Ex 7:11 Isa 47:12,13 Da 2:2 5:7 Mt 2:4

wherewith Mic 6:6-9

3 And they said, If ye send away the ark of the God of Israel, send it not empty; but in any wise return him a trespass offering: then ye shall be healed, and it shall be known to you why his hand is not removed from you.

empty Ex 23:15 34:20 De 16:16

a trespass Le 5:6,15-19 6:6 7:1-7

know 1Sa 6:9 5:7,9,11 Job 10:2 34:31,32

4 Then said they, What shall be the trespass offering which we shall return to him? They answered, Five golden emerods, and five golden mice, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines: for one plague was on you all, and on your lords.

Five golden 1Sa 6:5,17,18 5:6,9 Ex 12:35 Jos 13:3 Jud 3:3

you all [heb] them

5 Wherefore ye shall make images of your emerods, and images of your mice that mar the land; and ye shall give glory unto the God of Israel: peradventure he will lighten his hand from off you, and from off your gods, and from off your land.

mice? Bochart has collected many curious accounts relative to the terrible devastations made by these mischievous animals. William, Archbishop of Tyre, records, that in the beginning of the twelfth century, a penitential council was held at Naplouse, where five and twenty canons were framed for the correction of the manners of the inhabitants of the Christian kingdom of Jerusalem, who they apprehended had provoked to bring upon them the calamities of earthquakes, war, and famine. This last he ascribes to locusts and devouring mice, which had for four years together so destroyed the fruits of the earth as to cause an almost total failure of their crops. It was customary for the ancient heathen to offer to their gods such monuments of their deliverance as represented the evils from which they had been rescued; and Tavernier informs us, that among the Indians, when a pilgrim goes to one of the pagodas for a cure, he brings the figure of the member affected, made of gold, silver, or copper, according to his circumstances, when he offers to his god. Ex 8:5,17,24 10:14,15 Joe 1:4-7 2:25

give glory Jos 7:19 Ps 18:44 66:3 Isa 42:21 Jer 3:13 13:16 Mal 2:2 Joh 9:24 Re 11:13 16:9

lighten 1Sa 5:6,11 Ps 32:4 39:10

off your 1Sa 5:3,4,7 Ex 12:12 Nu 33:4 Isa 19:1

6 Wherefore then do ye harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? when he had wrought wonderfully among them, did they not let the people go, and they departed?

harden Job 9:4 Ps 95:8 Ro 2:5 Heb 3:13

the Egyptians Ex 7:13 8:15 9:16,34 10:3 14:17,23 15:14-16

wonderfully. or, reproachfully
did they not Ex 12:31-33

the people [heb] them

7 Now therefore make a new cart, and take two milch kine, on which there hath come no yoke, and tie the kine to the cart, and bring their calves home from them:

new cart 2Sa 6:3 1Ch 13:7

on which Nu 19:2

8 And take the ark of the LORD, and lay it upon the cart; and put the jewels of gold, which ye return him for a trespass offering, in a coffer by the side thereof; and send it away, that it may go.

jewels 1Sa 6:4,5

9 And see, if it goeth up by the way of his own coast to Bethshemesh, then he hath done us this great evil: but if not, then we shall know that it is not his hand that smote us: it was a chance that happened to us.

Beth-shemesh Jos 15:10 21:16

he. or, it Am 3:6

we shall 1Sa 6:3

not his hand Isa 26:11

a chance 2Sa 1:6 1:6 Ec 9:11 Lu 10:31

10 And the men did so; and took two milch kine, and tied them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home:

11 And they laid the ark of the LORD upon the cart, and the coffer with the mice of gold and the images of their emerods.

they laid 2Sa 6:3 1Ch 13:7 15:13-15

12 And the kine took the straight way to the way of Bethshemesh, and went along the highway, lowing as they went, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left; and the lords of the Philistines went after them unto the border of Bethshemesh.

13 And they of Bethshemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley: and they lifted up their eyes, and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it.

14 And the cart came into the field of Joshua, a Bethshemite, and stood there, where there was a great stone: and they clave the wood of the cart, and offered the kine a burnt offering unto the LORD.

offered 1Sa 7:9-17 11:5 20:29 Ex 20:24 Jud 6:26 21:4 2Sa 24:18,22,25 1Ki 18:30-38

15 And the Levites took down the ark of the LORD, and the coffer that was with it, wherein the jewels of gold were, and put them on the great stone: and the men of Bethshemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices the same day unto the LORD.

16 And when the five lords of the Philistines had seen it, they returned to Ekron the same day.

the five 1Sa 6:4,12 Jos 13:3 Jud 3:3 16:5,23-30

they returned 1Sa 5:10

17 And these are the golden emerods which the Philistines returned for a trespass offering unto the LORD; for Ashdod one, for Gaza one, for Askelon one, for Gath one, for Ekron one;

these 1Sa 6:4

Ashdod 1Sa 5:1 2Ch 26:6 Jer 25:20 Zec 9:6

Gaza Jud 16:1,21 Am 1:7,8

Askelon Jud 1:18 Zec 9:5

Gath 1Sa 5:8 2Sa 1:20 21:22 Am 6:2

Ekron 1Sa 5:10 2Ki 1:2 Am 1:8

18 And the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, both of fenced cities, and of country villages, even unto the great stone of Abel, whereon they set down the ark of the LORD: which stone remaineth unto this day in the field of Joshua, the Bethshemite.

the five lords 1Sa 6:16 Jos 13:3

great stone of. or, great stone

19 And he smote the men of Bethshemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the LORD, even he smote of the people fifty thousand and threescore and ten men: and the people lamented, because the LORD had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter.

he smote Ex 19:21 Le 10:1-3 Nu 4:4,5,15,20 De 29:29 2Sa 6:7 1Ch 13:9,10 Col 2:18 1Pe 4:17

fifty thousand As it is very improbable that the village of Beth-shemesh should contain, or be capable of employing, 50,070 men in the fields at wheat harvest, much less that they could all peep into the ark, and from the uncommon manner in which it is expressed in the original, it is generally allowed that there is some corruption in the text, or that some explanatory word is omitted. The Hebrew is {shiven ish, chasmishim aileph ish}, literally, `seventy men, fifty thousand men:' so LXX (). Vulgate, septuaginta viros, et quinquagint millia plebis, `70 (chief) men.' But the Syriac, chamsho alphin weshivin gavrin, `5000 and 70 men;' with which the Arabic agrees; while Josephus has only () seventy men; and three reputable MSS of Dr. Kennicott's also omits `50,000 men.' Some learned men, however, would render, by supplying () mem, `70 men; fifty out of a thousand; ' which supposes about 1400 present, and that a twentieth part were slain.

20 And the men of Bethshemesh said, Who is able to stand before this holy LORD God? and to whom shall he go up from us?

1Sa 5:8-12 Nu 17:12,13 2Sa 6:7,9 1Ch 13:11-13 Ps 76:7 Mal 3:2 Lu 5:8 8:37

21 And they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kirjathjearim, saying, The Philistines have brought again the ark of the LORD; come ye down, and fetch it up to you.

Kirjath-jearim Jos 18:14 Jud 18:12 1Ch 13:5,6 Ps 78:60 Jer 7:12,14