The valley of Beth-shemesh at wheat harvest: gold fields across a broad valley floor between low rounded hills, reapers small and bent at their work, a pale road climbing into the valley from the west, and the little town on its low hill, under a calm early-summer sky.

The Book of

1 Samuel 6

Seven months of plague. A guilt offering of gold, two milk cows, a new cart, and no one driving.

21 verses≈ 5 minBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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Where we are

1–7SamuelA boy who listenedChapter 6
8–15SaulA king like the nations
16–20David risesThe LORD looks at the heart
21–27David huntedThe anointed one waits
28–31Saul fallsEndor and Gilboa

The Ark Returned to Israel

When the ark of the LORD had been in the land of the Philistines seven months,

The Philistines

the Philistines summoned the priests and diviners, saying, “What shall we do with the ark of the LORD? Tell us how to send it back to its place.”

The priests and diviners

They replied, “If you return the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it away empty, but by all means return it to Him with a guilt offering. Then you will be healed, and you will understand why His hand has not been lifted from you.”

The Philistines

“What guilt offering should we send back to Him?” asked the Philistines.

The priests and diviners

“Five gold tumors and five gold rats,” they said, “according to the number of rulers of the Philistines, since the same plague has struck both you and your rulers.

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The priests and diviners

The priests and diviners

Make images of your tumors and of the rats that are ravaging the land. Give glory to the God of Israel, and perhaps He will lift His hand from you and your gods and your land.

Why harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened theirs? When He afflicted them, did they not send the people out so they could go on their way?

The priests and diviners

Question

Quick question

The Philistines’ priests set up a test that went against everything a mother cow would do.

What did the Philistines do with the two milk cows’ calves?

So the men did as instructed. They took two milk cows, hitched them to the cart, and penned up their calves. Then they put the ark of the LORD on the cart, along with the chest containing the gold rats and the images of the tumors.

Seen from behind and above, two milk cows draw a new cart carrying the gold ark straight up a dusty road into the hills, heads lifted, lowing, while Philistine rulers in robes walk far behind.

And the cows headed straight up the road toward Beth-shemesh, staying on that one highway and lowing as they went, never straying to the right or to the left. The rulers of the Philistines followed behind them to the border of Beth-shemesh.

Now the people of Beth-shemesh were harvesting wheat in the valley, and when they looked up and saw the ark, they were overjoyed at the sight.

Evening in a reaped field: the gold ark and a plain wooden chest rest on a great flat gray rock, Levites in white linen standing back with hands raised, and a column of smoke rising from a fire of broken cart planks nearby, under a calm evening sky.

The cart came to the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh and stopped there near a large rock. The people chopped up the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the LORD. And the Levites took down the ark of the LORD and the chest containing the gold objects, and they placed them on the large rock. That day the men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and made sacrifices to the LORD.

And when the five rulers of the Philistines saw this, they returned to Ekron that same day.

0:29

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Pray

No one was driving

No Israelite went to fetch the ark. God brought His presence home Himself, steering two cows that should have turned back to their calves. Thank Him that He steers what you cannot. Ask Him for a heart as glad as Beth-shemesh’s when they “looked up and saw the ark.”

Stylised map · locations approximate

On the map

Where the ark went

The ark went from Shiloh to Israel’s camp at Ebenezer, near Aphek. The Philistines took it to Ashdod, then Gath, then Ekron. Seven months later two cows brought it up the valley to Beth-shemesh, and from there it went up to Kiriath-jearim. Gaza and Ashkelon, the other two Philistine cities, sent gold too. Gath’s site is probable; Ebenezer’s, near Aphek, is uncertain.

As a guilt offering to the LORD, the Philistines had sent back one gold tumor for each city: Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron. The number of gold rats also corresponded to the number of Philistine cities belonging to the five rulers—the fortified cities and their outlying villages. And the large rock on which they placed the ark of the LORD stands to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh.

But God struck down some of the people of Beth-shemesh because they looked inside the ark of the LORD. He struck down seventy men, and the people mourned because the LORD had struck them with a great slaughter.

1 Samuel 6:20

The men of Beth-shemesh

The men of Beth-shemesh

So they sent messengers to the people of Kiriath-jearim, saying, “The Philistines have returned the ark of the LORD. Come down and take it up with you.”

Reflect

“Who can stand in the presence of the LORD?”

The men of Beth-shemesh asked it in fear, and sent God away. Scripture gives a better answer: God Himself makes a way for sinners to come near, through Jesus. Write what it means to you that you may come near to the holy God, and what keeps you at a distance.

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1 Samuel 6

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A verse to carry with you

Who can stand in the presence of the LORD, this holy God?

1 Samuel 6:20

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