1 Samuel 6:1-21 | The Way of Scripture

1 Samuel 6:1-21

How does the ark return, and why does joy turn to fear?

Berean Standard Bible

1 When the ark of the LORD had been in the land of the Philistines seven months, 2 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.” 3 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.” 4 “What guilt offering should we send back to Him?” asked the Philistines. “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. 5 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. 6 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?
7 Now, therefore, prepare one new cart with two milk cows that have never been yoked. Hitch the cows to the cart, but take their calves away and pen them up. 8 Take the ark of the LORD, set it on the cart, and in a chest beside it put the gold objects you are sending back to Him as a guilt offering. Then send the ark on its way, 9 but keep watching it. If it goes up the road to its homeland, toward Beth-shemesh, it is the LORD who has brought on us this great disaster. But if it does not, then we will know that it was not His hand that punished us and that it happened by chance.” 10 So the men did as instructed. They took two milk cows, hitched them to the cart, and penned up their calves. 11 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. 12 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.
13 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. 14 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. 15 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. 16 And when the five rulers of the Philistines saw this, they returned to Ekron that same day. 17 As a guilt offering to the LORD, the Philistines had sent back one gold tumor for each city: Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron. 18 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.
19 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. 20 The men of Beth-shemesh asked, “Who can stand in the presence of the LORD, this holy God? To whom should the ark go up from here?” 21 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.”

What is the context?

After seven months, the Philistines ask their priests and diviners how to return the ark. The advisers call for a guilt offering of gold images representing the tumors and rats that have afflicted the people and land. They urge the rulers to honor Israel’s God and not repeat Pharaoh’s hardening. These are the advisers’ proposals, not instructions given by God in this scene.

The proposed test concerns the source of their suffering. Two milk cows that have never pulled under a yoke are hitched to a new cart, while their calves are kept behind. If the cows go toward Beth-shemesh, the advisers say this will identify the LORD’s hand rather than chance. The cows go straight there, lowing as they travel, with the rulers following to observe.

The people harvesting at Beth-shemesh rejoice. The cart stops in Joshua’s field by a large rock. Levites unload the ark and the gold objects; the cart becomes firewood, and the cows are offered to the LORD. The passage identifies Joshua as the field’s owner, without identifying him as the first person to see the ark or as the priest officiating.

The celebration is followed by judgment when people look inside the ark. The BSB records seventy deaths. The people mourn and ask who can stand before this holy God, then request that Kiriath-jearim receive the ark. Its return has brought genuine joy, but it has not removed the need to treat God as holy.

How is this passage commonly understood?

Wesley and Henry see the cows’ journey as God directing events rather than a lucky return. Wesley emphasizes the contrast between their route and the pull of their calves at home. Henry contrasts their obedience to their Creator with the earlier failures of Eli’s sons. The account’s observed route supports the test the Philistines proposed; it does not make every detail of their theology or ritual a command for Israel.

The number in verse 19 has prompted different explanations in older commentaries. Gill discusses the larger number found in his translation but gives serious attention to seventy deaths. Henry also recognizes a difficulty in the older wording. This is a textual question, rather than a necessary difference between denominations; the passage above follows the checked BSB reading.

Wesley and Henry understand the closing request to remove the ark as an inadequate response to wrongdoing: the people need to seek peace with God rather than only distance from the object. Numbers 4:5–6, 15, 17–20 also supplies the earlier distinction between preparing the holy objects, carrying them, touching them and looking at them. The rules do not treat every Levite as a priest or permit every carrier to touch an uncovered holy object.

Where does this fit in God's plan?

The ark returns before the following chapter describes Israel putting away its idols. This sequence brings together God’s initiative and the need for a fitting response. A wider statement of God acting for people before they have made themselves worthy appears in Romans 5:6–11: Christ dies for sinners and brings reconciliation through His death.

The connection is a shared theme of undeserved divine action, rather than proof that every object in Joshua’s field has a hidden meaning. Hebrews 12:22–29 holds access to God through Jesus together with gratitude, reverence and a warning against refusing God’s voice. Grace and God’s holiness belong together in that larger account.

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