1 Samuel 6

1 Samuel 6

Poole writes that regarding the Philistines' mishandling of the Ark - God winked at it in them, both because they were ignorant of God’s law to the contrary, and because they had no Levites to carry it upon their shoulders. and put the articles of gold which you return to Him as a guilt offering in a box by its side. Then send it away that it may go - They are sending the Ark away but they also presumed by this maneuver to be sending Israel's deity away. 1 Samuel 6:9 "Watch, if it goes up by the way of its own territory to Beth-shemesh, then He has done us this great evil. But if not, then we will know that it was not His hand that struck us; it happened to us by chance." Beth shemesh: Jos 15:10 21:16 he: Am 3:6 we will know: 1Sa 6:3 not his hand: Isa 26:11 by chance: 2Sa 1:6 Ec 9:11 Lu 10:31 Ark from Ekron to Beth-Shemesh TEST TO SEE IF PLAGUE WAS YAHWEH OR CHANCE Watch, if it goes up by the way of its own territory to Beth-shemesh, then He has done us this great evil - Fulfillment of this "if...then" clause would be evidence that Yahweh (He) was the cause of the evil. But if not, then we will know that it was not His hand (yad - hand is keyword in 1Sa 4-7 = 13x/13v) that struck us; it happened to us by chance. - If the cows did not go to Beth-shemesh on their own, then it was not God Who caused the evil. Normally nursing cows would head for their calves, not Beth-Shemesh. In a way they are putting God to the test, because He is only One Who could cause the milk cows to go to Beth-Shemesh. On the other hand, if they go to Beth-Shemesh then is clear God caused the plague and thus the pagans receive a proper opinion of the power of Yahweh. In other words He would be glorified before these pagans. Bergen - If a team of cows that had never been trained or yoked could work together to pull the cart straight for a stretch of several miles, all the while ignoring their maternal instincts to respond to the cries of their unweaned calves, then Yahweh would indeed be accepted as the source of “this great disaster.” However, if the cows failed to pull the cart “as far as the border of Beth Shemesh,” then the whole series of recent Philistine catastrophes would be understood to have happened “by chance” (v. 9). (Borrow 1 & 2 Samuel - New American Commentary)