1 Samuel 6:1-21
The Ark Returned to Israel
1 When the ark of the Lord had been in Philistine territory seven months, 2 the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the Lord? Tell us how we should send it back to its place.”
3 They answered, “If you return the ark of the god of Israel, do not send it back to him without a gift; by all means send a guilt offering to him. Then you will be healed, and you will know why his hand has not been lifted from you.”
4 The Philistines asked, “What guilt offering should we send to him?”
They replied, “Five gold tumors and five gold rats, according to the number of the Philistine rulers, because the same plague has struck both you and your rulers. 5 Make models of the tumors and of the rats that are destroying the country, and give glory to Israel’s god. Perhaps he will lift his hand from you and your gods and your land. 6 Why do you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh did? When Israel’s god dealt harshly with them, did they not send the Israelites out so they could go on their way?
7 “Now then, get a new cart ready, with two cows that have calved and 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 and put it on the cart, and in a chest beside it put the gold objects you are sending back to him as a guilt offering. Send it on its way, 9 but keep watching it. If it goes up to its own territory, toward Beth Shemesh, then the Lord has brought this great disaster on us. But if it does not, then we will know that it was not his hand that struck us but that it happened to us by chance.”
10 So they did this. They took two such cows and hitched them to the cart and penned up their calves. 11 They placed the ark of the Lord on the cart and along with it the chest containing the gold rats and the models of the tumors. 12 Then the cows went straight up toward Beth Shemesh, keeping on the road and lowing all the way; they did not turn to the right or to the left. The rulers of the Philistines followed them as far as the border of Beth Shemesh.
13 Now the people of Beth Shemesh were harvesting their wheat in the valley, and when they looked up and saw the ark, they rejoiced at the sight. 14 The cart came to the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh, and there it stopped beside a large rock. The people chopped up the wood of the cart and sacrificed the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. 15 The Levites took down the ark of the Lord, together with the chest containing the gold objects, and placed them on the large rock. On that day the people of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings and made sacrifices to the Lord. 16 The five rulers of the Philistines saw all this and then returned that same day to Ekron.
17 These are the gold tumors the Philistines sent as a guilt offering to the Lord—one each for Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath and Ekron. 18 And the number of the gold rats was according to the number of Philistine towns belonging to the five rulers—the fortified towns with their country villages. The large rock on which the Levites set the ark of the Lord is a witness to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh.
19 But God struck down some of the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh, putting seventy[a] of them to death because they looked into the ark of the Lord. The people mourned because of the heavy blow the Lord had dealt them. 20 And the people of Beth Shemesh asked, “Who can stand in the presence of the Lord, this holy God? To whom will the ark go up from here?”
21 Then 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 to your town.”
The Philistines kept the Ark of the Covenant in their land for seven months...The Philistines called their priests and magicians and said, “What must we do with the Lord’s Box?...Tell us how to send it back home.”...The priests and magicians answered, “If you send back the Holy Box of the God of Israel, don’t send it away empty...You must offer gifts to the God of Israel...Then you will be healed...You must do this so that God will stop punishing you.”...The Philistines asked, “What kind of gifts should we send for Israel’s God to forgive us?”...The priests and magicians answered, “There are five Philistine leaders, one leader for each city...All of you and your leaders had the same problems...So you must make five gold models to look like five tumors...And you must make five gold models to look like five mice...So make models of the tumors and models of the mice that are ruining the country...Give these gold models to the God of Israel as payment...Then maybe the God of Israel will stop punishing you, your gods, and your land...Don’t be stubborn like Pharaoh and the Egyptians...God punished the Egyptians...That is why the Egyptians let the Israelites leave Egypt...“You must build a new wagon and get two cows that have just had calves...These must be cows that have never worked in the fields...Tie the cows to the wagon so that they can pull it...Then take the calves back home and put them in their pen...Don’t let them follow their mothers...Put the LORD’s Holy Box on the wagon...You must put the golden models in the bag beside the Box...They are your gifts for God to forgive your sins...Send the wagon straight on its way...Watch the wagon...If the wagon goes toward Beth Shemesh in Israel’s own land, then it is their God who has given us this great sickness...But if the cows don’t go straight to Beth Shemesh, we will know it was not their God who brought this sickness to us...It was just one of those things that sometimes happen.”...The Philistines did what the priests and magicians said...They found two cows that had just had calves and tied them to the wagon...But they kept the calves at home in a pen...
Then the Philistines put the LORD’s Holy Box on the wagon along with the bag with the golden models of the tumors and mice...The cows went straight to Beth Shemesh...The cows stayed on the road, mooing all the way...They did not turn right or left...The Philistine rulers followed the cows as far as the city limits of Beth Shemesh...The people of Beth Shemesh were harvesting their wheat in the valley...They looked up and saw the Ark of the Covenant...They were very happy to see it again...They ran to get it...The wagon came to the field that belonged to Joshua of Beth Shemesh and stopped there near a large rock...Some Levites took down the Ark of the Covenant and the bag that had the golden models...The Levites put the Ark of the Covenant and the bag that was with it on the large rock...The people of Beth Shemesh cut up the wagon and killed the cows...That day, they sacrificed the cows as burnt offerings to the LORD...The five Philistine rulers watched the people of Beth Shemesh do this and then went back to Ekron that same day...In this way the Philistines sent golden models of tumors as gifts for their sins to the LORD...They sent one golden model of a tumor for each of the Philistine towns of Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron...The Philistines also sent golden models of mice...The number of these golden mice was the same number as the towns that belonged to the five Philistine rulers...These towns had walls around them, and each town had villages around it...The people of Beth Shemesh put the Ark of the Covenant on a rock...That rock is still in the field of Joshua from Beth Shemesh...But no priests were there to lead the celebration when the men of Beth Shemesh saw the Ark of the Covenant...So the LORD killed 70 men from Beth Shemesh...The people of Beth Shemesh cried loudly because of this hard punishment...They wanted to know where they should put the Ark of the Covenant...There was a priest at Kiriath Jearim. The people of Beth Shemesh sent messengers to the people of Kiriath Jearim....The messengers told the priest and people that the Philistines had brought back the Ark of the Covenant...They ask them to come down and take it to their city...