The Ark Returned To Israel. And the cows went straight toward Beth-shemesh along the highway, lowing as they went, and did not turn away to the right or the left. And the Philistine lords (governors) followed them to the border of Beth-shemesh. 1Sa 6:12
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE MONARCHY
INTRODUCTION
The authorship of these books cannot be determined, but there is abundant evidence that they embody the report of eye-witnesses. Some of the more prominent characters in the scenes described are name as writers in 1Ch_29:29.
The First Book of Samuel records the rise of a new political and spiritual order represented by the kings and the prophets. The establishment of the monarchy, with Saul as the first king, is an epochal event in the development of Israel’s national life.
Of no less importance is the appearance of the “schools of the prophets” under the leadership of Samuel. In these institutions we see the beginning of the movement which made Israel spiritually supreme among the nations.
I. FROM THE BIRTH OF SAMUEL TO THE ANOINTING OF SAUL, I Samuel 1-8
7. The Return of the Ark to Israel, 1Sa_6:1-21; 1Sa_7:1-17
11. What wrong estimate did the Philistines have of Israel’s God?
THE ARK RETURNED TO ISRAEL
Now the ark of the LORD had been in the country of the Philistines for seven months.
And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners (seers), saying, “What shall we do with the ark of the LORD? Let us know how we can send it back to its place.”
They said, “If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it empty [without a gift]; but be sure to return [it] to Him [together with] a guilt offering. Then you will be healed, and it will be known to you why His hand is not removed from you.”
Then they said, “What shall the guilt offering be which we shall return to Him?” They answered, “Five golden tumors and five golden mice, according to the number of the lords (governors) of the Philistines, for one plague was on all of you and on your lords.
“So you shall make replicas of your tumors and of your mice that ravage the land, and give glory to the God of Israel; perhaps He will lighten His hand [of judgment] on you and your gods and your land.
“Why then do you harden your hearts [allowing pride to cause your downfall] just as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When He had severely dealt with them and mocked them, did they not allow the people [of Israel] to go, and they departed?
“Now then, make a new cart and prepare two milk cows on which a yoke has never been placed; and hitch the cows to the cart and take their calves back home, away from them.
“Then take the ark of the LORD and put it on the cart; and put the articles of gold which you are returning to Him as a guilt offering in a box beside it. Then send it away [without a driver].
“But watch, if it goes up by the way of its own territory to Beth-shemesh, then [you will know that] He has done us this great evil. But if not, then we will know that it was not His hand that struck us; this disaster happened to us by chance.”
And the men did so, and took two milk cows and hitched them to the cart, and corralled their calves at home.
They put the ark of the LORD on the cart, and the box containing the golden mice and the replicas of their tumors.
And the cows went straight toward Beth-shemesh along the highway, lowing as they went, and did not turn away to the right or the left. And the Philistine lords (governors) followed them to the border of Beth-shemesh.
RETURNED WITH A TRESPASS-OFFERING
There is reason to suppose that when the Philistines got possession of the Ark, they destroyed Shiloh. See Psa_78:60; Psa_78:64; Jer_26:9. They could not imagine how to rid themselves of the sacred emblem, which brought only destruction in its train, until they had consulted the priests. These priests appear to have been well acquainted with the previous history of the Israelites, though centuries had passed since the passage of the Red Sea. How ignorantly men think of God! He is not their enemy, but the enemy of their sin.
What a striking illustration is afforded by these lowing kine! Their maternal instincts yearned for their young, detained behind; but they were urged forward by a supernatural impulse. So the missionary may leave wife and child, that he may carry the Gospel to the heathen; so the slum-worker may abandon all that others hold dear, in order to change some wretched district into a city of God. Our weak heart clings, but the love of Christ constrains us, and we go forward, urged by a divine and overmastering motive.
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