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1 Samuel 6

ARC · Chapter 6/31

1Havendo pois estado a arca do Senhor na terra dos philisteos sete mezes,

2Os philisteos chamaram os sacerdotes e os adivinhadores, dizendo: Que faremos nós da arca do Senhor? fazei-nos saber com que a tornaremos a enviar ao seu logar.

3Os quaes disseram; Se enviardes a arca do Deus de Israel, não a envieis vazia, porém sem falta lhe enviareis uma offerta para a expiação da culpa: então sereis curados, e se vos fará saber porque a sua mão se não tira de vós.

4Então disseram: Qual é a expiação da culpa que lhe havemos de render? E disseram: Segundo o numero dos principes dos philisteos, cinco hemorrhoidas de oiro e cinco ratos de oiro: porquanto a praga é uma mesma sobre todos vós e sobre todos os vossos principes.

5Fazei pois umas imagens das vossas hemorrhoidas e as imagens dos vossos ratos, que andam destruindo a terra, e dae gloria ao Deus de Israel: porventura alliviará a sua mão de cima de vós, e de cima do vosso deus, e de cima da vossa terra.

6Porque pois endurecereis o vosso coração, como os egypcios e Pharaó endureceram o seu coração? porventura depois de os haver tratado tão mal, os não deixaram ir, e elles não se foram?

7Agora, pois, tomae e fazei-vos um carro novo, e tomae duas vaccas que criem, sobre as quaes não tenha subido o jugo, e atae as vaccas ao carro, e levae os seus bezerros d'após d'ellas a casa.

8Então tomae a arca do Senhor, e ponde-a sobre o carro, e mettei n'um cofre, ao seu lado, as figuras de oiro que lhe haveis de render em expiação da culpa, e assim a enviareis, para que se vá

9Vêde então: se subir pelo caminho do seu termo a Beth-semes, foi elle que nos fez este grande mal; e, se não, saberemos que não nos tocou a sua mão, e que isto nos succedeu por acaso.

10E assim fizeram aquelles homens, e tomaram duas vaccas que criavam, e as ataram ao carro: e os seus bezerros encerraram em casa.

11E pozeram a arca do Senhor sobre o carro, como tambem o cofre com os ratos de oiro e com as imagens das suas hemorrhoidas.

12Então as vaccas se encaminharam direitamente pelo caminho de Beth-semes, e seguiam um mesmo caminho, andando e berrando, sem se desviarem nem para a direita nem para a esquerda: e os principes dos philisteos foram atraz d'ellas, até ao termo de Beth-semes.

13E andavam os de Beth-semes segando a sega do trigo no valle, e, levantando os seus olhos, viram a arca, e, vendo-a, se alegraram.

14E o carro veiu ao campo de Josué, o beth-semita, e parou ali; e ali estava uma grande pedra: e fenderam a madeira do carro, e offereceram as vaccas ao Senhor em holocausto.

15E os levitas descenderam a arca do Senhor, como tambem o cofre que estava junto a ella, em que estavam as obras de oiro, e pozeram-n'os sobre aquella grande pedra: e os homens de Beth-semes offereceram holocaustos, e sacrificaram sacrificios ao Senhor no mesmo dia.

16E, vendo aquillo os cinco principes dos philisteos, voltaram para Ekron no mesmo dia.

17Estas pois são as hemorrhoidas de oiro que enviaram os philisteos ao Senhor em expiação da culpa: por Asdod uma, por Gaza outra, por Askelon outra, por Gath outra, por Ekron outra.

18Como tambem os ratos de oiro, segundo o numero de todas as cidades dos philisteos, pertencentes aos cinco principes, desde as cidades fortes até ás aldeias, e até Abel, a grande pedra sobre a qual pozeram a arca do Senhor, que ainda está até ao dia de hoje no campo de Josué, o beth-semita.

19E feriu o Senhor os homens de Beth-semes, porquanto olharam para dentro da arca do Senhor, até ferir do povo cincoenta mil e setenta homens: então o povo se entristeceu, porquanto o Senhor fizera tão grande estrago entre o povo.

20Então disseram os homens de Beth-semes: Quem poderia estar em pé perante o Senhor, este Deus sancto? e a quem subirá desde nós?

21Enviaram pois mensageiros aos habitantes de Kiriath-jearim, dizendo: Os philisteos remetteram a arca do Senhor; descei, pois, e fazei-a subir para vós.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

After seven months of plagues, the Philistines decide to return the ark to Israel with offerings of gold as a guilt offering, testing whether the cows pulling the cart would go on their own toward Israel—which is what happened.

Explanation

The test devised by the Philistine priests and diviners—using cows with newborn calves, going against their maternal instinct to stay near their young, to see if they would head toward Israel on their own—was an attempt to determine, within the knowledge of the time, whether the plagues were truly caused by the God of Israel or were mere coincidence. The fact that the cows went straight ahead, lowing (against their nature), all the way to Beth-shemesh convinced even the pagan Philistines themselves of the power of the Hebrew God. The death of the men of Beth-shemesh for looking inside the ark (v.19) reinforces that even the people of Israel, upon recovering the sacred object, needed to treat it with fear and reverence, not with profane curiosity.

Fun facts

  • The gold offerings shaped like tumors and mice (v.4-5) followed an ancient practice sometimes called 'votive homeopathic magic,' in which replicas of the problem were offered to the offended god as a way of asking for healing—a practice documented in various ancient Mediterranean cultures.
  • The number of dead at Beth-shemesh (v.19) varies among ancient manuscripts, with some Hebrew texts preserving the exact number as 'seventy men, fifty thousand men,' a textual problem that scholars attribute to a copying error over the centuries of transmission.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. 1 Samuel 6:1Seven months of repeated plagues, city after city, is how long it takes the Philistines to finally decide to return the ark — it was not a quick decision.
  2. 1 Samuel 6:2Priests and diviners were the religious experts consulted in this kind of crisis — the same kind of adviser also appears in the Egyptian court in stories like Joseph’s.
  3. 1 Samuel 6:3Sending an offering along with the ark, instead of returning it empty, reflects a common ancient logic: appeasing the offended god with a gift, the way one makes peace with someone wronged.
  4. 1 Samuel 6:4Five golden replicas for each of the five Philistine lords, representing the five main cities, shows that the guilt was seen as collective, belonging to the whole Philistine nation, not just the city that suffered first.
  5. 1 Samuel 6:5Making gold images of their own sores and of the mice ravaging the land was a common ancient practice called imitative magic: representing the harm in order to symbolically hand it back to the god responsible and obtain healing.
  6. 1 Samuel 6:6The Philistine diviners themselves cite the story of the Exodus as a warning: hardening one’s heart against this God, as Pharaoh did, only prolongs the suffering without changing the final outcome.
  7. 1 Samuel 6:7Using cows that had never been placed under a yoke and forcibly separating them from their calves was the perfect test: animal instinct would drive those cows to return and nurse, not head off alone down a strange road. If they went straight to Israel pulling the cart, only God could be guiding them.
  8. 1 Samuel 6:8The detailed plan here sets up the test in the next verse: placing the ark and the offering on a cart pulled by cows with no human driver, to see whether they go on their own all the way to Israel.
  9. 1 Samuel 6:9The test with the cows was designed to eliminate any doubt: only divine intervention could explain cows just separated from their calves choosing, on their own, the right road into Israelite territory.
  10. 1 Samuel 6:10The Philistines carry out exactly the test agreed on — separating the cows from their own calves was the hardest part, since animal instinct would pull them back home.
  11. 1 Samuel 6:11The gold replicas of the mice and the sores went along with the ark as the symbolic payment of guilt agreed on at the start of the chapter.
  12. 1 Samuel 6:12The cows keep “lowing” — a sign of distress at being separated from their own calves — but even so they go straight to Beth-shemesh without turning aside: exactly the outcome that would prove, beyond doubt, the hand of God behind it.
  13. 1 Samuel 6:13The harvest scene, an everyday and peaceful task, is interrupted by the unexpected arrival of the ark — the contrast between the routine of the field and the supernatural event heightens the surprise.
  14. 1 Samuel 6:14Using the cart’s own wood as firewood for the sacrifice, and the cows that pulled it as the offering, was a practical and symbolic way of consuming everything that had touched the ark on its journey back.
  15. 1 Samuel 6:15It is the Levites, not just any local resident, who handle the ark here — a care that contrasts with the disaster at the end of the chapter, when ordinary people look inside it without that same reverence.
  16. 1 Samuel 6:16The Philistine lords personally witness the outcome of the test before heading home — proof that there had been no trickery or coincidence mattered enough to them to see it with their own eyes.
  17. 1 Samuel 6:17The list names the five main cities of the Philistine confederation — the same group that appears repeatedly in the Old Testament as the core of Philistine territory.
  18. 1 Samuel 6:18Mentioning that the stone “remaineth unto this day” is another example of the narrator anchoring the story to a physical landmark that readers of his own time could still visit.
  19. 1 Samuel 6:19Fifty thousand and seventy men killed for looking inside the ark is a huge number for a small town like Beth-shemesh — many translators and scholars think it is an ancient copying error and that the original number was only seventy. Either way, the episode shows the ark as something dangerous to treat with too much familiarity.
  20. 1 Samuel 6:20After the shock of mass death, the question from the people of Beth-shemesh is sincere: they recognize that the ark is too holy to keep nearby without risk, and they are already looking for where to send it.
  21. 1 Samuel 6:21Kirjath-jearim will guard the ark for the next twenty years, counted at the start of chapter 7, until David finally brings it to Jerusalem much later in 2 Samuel.

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