1 SAMUEL 5

1 And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it from Ebenezer unto Ashdod.

2 When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon.

• According to other passages, after the Philistines defeated the Israeli army, they went on to destroy the city of Shiloh itself (Psalm 78:60-64, Jeremiah 7:12 and 26:9).
• They brought it into the house of Dagon and set it by Dagon: The Philistine god Dagon was represented with a half man, half fish figure, and was said to be the father of Baal.
• The practice of capturing the enemy’s gods was common in ancient Near East warfare and is often mentioned in documents such as the Assyrian royal inscriptions. It was understood that a people whose gods were in enemy hands was completely conquered.
• No doubt, the Philistines were jubilant, and confident in the supposed superiority of their god over the God of Israel. Thus, they bring the ark into Dagon’s temple as a trophy to honor their god.Now, The victory was complete….so they thought.

3 And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the LORD. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again.

• There was Dagon, fallen on his face to the earth before the ark of the Lord. When men and women will not glorify God, God will glorify Himself. You can count on it!
• C.S. Lewis once said something to the effect that it is as impossible for man to strip God of His glory as it would be for a flashlight to outshine the brightness of the noonday sun.
• It is a pretty sad day when a man has to put his god in his place.

4 And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold; only the stump of Dagon was left to him.

• Imagine the horror of the Philistine priests when they entered the temple of Dagon the next morning, and only saw a stump.
• After seeing the superiority of the God of Israel, these Philistine priests had a choice. This was no accident. God in His divine providence had allowed them to witness His power over their idol. They could turn from their weak, inferior god Dagon, and begin serving the mighty, superior Lord of Israel, or, they could choose o ignore the miracle and continue worshipping their false gods.

5 Therefore neither the priests of Dagon, nor any that come into Dagon's house, tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day.

• The temple threshold was considered especially worthy of respect because it separated sacred and common areas. Thus, by refusing to tread on the threshold of Dagon, The Holy Spirit points out to us the humiliation that was felt by the Philistines as a result of this defeat at the hands of Jehovah.
• The “discovery” made by the Philistines is packed with powerful reminders for us tonight as Christians.
• Our God is not only omnipresent, He is omnipotent. He does not need us to defend Him. He commands us to be faithful to Him.

6 But the hand of the LORD was heavy upon them of Ashdod, and he destroyed them, and smote them with emerods, even Ashdod and the coasts thereof.

• The hand of the Lord was heavy on the people of Ashdod: They would not listen when God struck down the statue of Dagon; they just set it up again. When we close our ears and eyes to the things that God is seeking to show us, He often finds another way to speak to us, and we may not like the second way.
• KJV emerods (hemorrhoids). However, some other scholars translate the word tumors.  Emerods; a disease mentioned only here and Deuteronomy 28:27 it was in the hinder parts. It is needless to inquire into the nature of it. It may suffice to know that it was a very sore disease, and not only very vexatious and tormenting, but also pernicious and mortal.” ( Matthew Poole)
• Because of the inclusion of mice (rats) in 6.4,5, some believe that this plaque was the bubonic plaque that was carried by mice or rats that bit these men.

7 And when the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, The ark of the God of Israel shall not abide with us: for his hand is sore upon us, and upon Dagon our god.

8 They sent therefore and gathered all the lords of the Philistines unto them, and said, What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? And they answered, Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried about unto Gath. And they carried the ark of the God of Israel about thither.

• Let the ark of God be carried unto Gath- Instead of submitting to the God of Israel, they decided to get rid of Him. The folly of thinking that we can “get rid” of God. Every single person will have to stand before The True and Living God one day.

9 And it was so, that, after they had carried it about, the hand of the LORD was against the city with a very great destruction: and he smote the men of the city, both small and great, and they had emerods in their secret parts.

• The men in the city of Gath faced the same fate of the men Ashdod.

10 Therefore they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And it came to pass, as the ark of God came to Ekron, that the Ekronites cried out, saying, They have brought about the ark of the God of Israel to us, to slay us and our people.

11 So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines, and said, Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it go again to his own place, that it slay us not, and our people: for there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city; the hand of God was very heavy there.

• The hand of God was very heavy there. What dictates theprovidential hand of God is in many respects a mystery to mortals. But this much we do know tonight.
• John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
• Ps 31:15 My times are in thy hand. Times is in the plural beloved…that means good times, bad times, fruitful times, barren times…..in all times, God is good.   

12 And the men that died not were smitten with the emerods: and the cry of the city went up to heaven.

• This was not a cry of godly sorrow, but a cry of agony over the consequences of sin.

1 SAMUEL 6

1 And the ark of the LORD was in the country of the Philistines seven months.

2 And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, What shall we do to the ark of the LORD? tell us wherewith we shall send it to his place.

• When the Philistines first captured the Ark of the Covenant, they thought it was a great victory. They put it in the temple of their god Dagon as a trophy, with the message that their god was greater than the Lord. But because God glorified Himself in the temple of Dagon, then by striking the Philistines with plagues in whatever city the ark would come to rest, the Philistines began to regard the ark as “bad luck,” and not as a victory trophy.

3 And they said, If ye send away the ark of the God of Israel, send it not empty; but in any wise return him a trespass offering: then ye shall be healed, and it shall be known to you why his hand is not removed from you.

• The Philistine priests knew enough to know they have offended the Lord God, thus they suggest that the ark be returned with a trespass offering.

4 Then said they, What shall be the trespass offering which we shall return to him? They answered, Five golden emerods, and five golden mice, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines: for one plague was on you all, and on your lords.

5 Wherefore ye shall make images of your emerods, and images of your mice that mar the land; and ye shall give glory unto the God of Israel: peradventure he will lighten his hand from off you, and from off your gods, and from off your land.

• We know the plague involved emerods (tumors 1 Samuel 5:6, 9, 12). We had not been told in 1 Samuel 5 that the plague involved mice. The exact relationship between the tumors and the mice is difficult to determine.
• As I mentioned in chapter 5, some think the tumors were the result of the bubonic plague that was carried by mice or rats. But somehow they conclude that if they make golden images of these emerods and mice, God would lift His heavy hand that was upon them.
• Sinners who are ignorant of, or who reject the way of acceptance which God has provided through Jesus Christ, devise various methods of their own tp purchase His favor that cannot be bought.
• Give glory to the God of Israel- The Philistines are admitting that the God of Israel is judging their gods, and has power and authority over their land as well. They are confessing with their mouths that He is the Almighty God, yet they will not humble their heats before Him and worship Him as Lord. Sound familiar?

6 Wherefore then do ye harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? when he had wrought wonderfully among them, did they not let the people go, and they departed?

• Why then harden ye your hearts? The Philistines were quite aware of the Exodus story. Here, they even know that the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts. Every time the Egyptians hardened their heart against God, it got worse.  So learn from them.  It is always wise to learn from history. 
• No good comes when anyone hardens their heart against the Lord. Job asked the question, who has hardened his heart against The Lord and prospered (Job 9.4)? Beloved, it isn’t wise to harden your heart against the Lord.
• Hosea 10:12 speaks to our hardened, fallow hearts: Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, till He comes and rains righteousness on you.
• Is there an area or areas in your life where you are hardening your heart against the Lord and His providential dealings with you? An area of tension or discomfort or distress? Listen to the record of history…..in hard times, do not harden your heart.

7 Now therefore make a new cart, and take two milch kine (cows), on which there hath come no yoke, and tie the kine to the cart, and bring their calves home from them (away from them):

8 And take the ark of the LORD, and lay it upon the cart; and put the jewels of gold, which ye return him for a trespass offering, in a coffer (box) by the side thereof; and send it away, that it may go.

9 And see, if it goeth up by the way of his own coast to Bethshemesh, then he hath done us this great evil: but if not, then we shall know that it is not his hand that smote us: it was a chance that happened to us.

• This is an experiment to discover whether the cause of the Philistines’ troubles was a natural event (coincidence, v. 9) or a supernatural one (it is he who has done us this great harm, v. 9). Untrained milk cows could not pull a cart together well, and if they went anywhere, it would be home to their calves. Therefore, if they pulled the cart uphill toward Israel, it must be the work of the Lord. ESV Study Bible
• Take the ark of God and place it upon the cart- God never wanted the ark to be transported by a cart. To avoid being touched by human hands, God commanded that the ark was to be carried by the poles that were set in it (Numbers 4:15).  The poles were to remain inserted in the rings, and to be the source of contact with the ark. Apart from touching the poles, it was forbidden to touch the ark of the Covenant (Exodus 25:12-15).
• In 2 Samuel 6:6-7, Uzzah touched the ark to keep it from falling off a cart, and God struck him dead. Other than acknowledging again the providence of God, we can only speculate as to the exact reason why God did not strike these men down who placed the ark on this cart.

10 And the men did so; and took two milch kine, and tied them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home:

11 And they laid the ark of the LORD upon the cart, and the coffer with the mice of gold and the images of their emerods.

12 And the kine took the straight way to the way of Bethshemesh, and went along the highway, lowing as they went, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left; and the lords of the Philistines went after them unto the border of Bethshemesh.

• The cows should have headed back for their Philistine homes out of concern for their young calves. But they headed straight for the road to Beth Shemesh.
• Lowing as they went- The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament on the ancient Hebrew word ga-ah, translated lowing: “This root indicates an intense aversion which is expressed often in punitive or adverse action.” In other words, The God of all creation overpowered the instinctive nature of the cows. Why? I believe it was because he wanted to demonstrate again His sovereign power to these pagan people for the purpose of bringing them to repentance.
• What a miracle! Two cows who had never pulled a cart before, either alone or together. No driver leads them, yet they leave home, and march the ten miles or so to a city they had never been to. They leave their own calves behind, and go straight on a certain road, with never a wrong turn, never a stop, never turning aside into the fields to feed themselves, never turning back to feed their own calves. David Guzik

13 And they of Bethshemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley: and they lifted up their eyes, and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it.

• Rejoiced to see it: What joy! They would have felt something like the disciples felt on the day they saw the resurrected Jesus, because they would have felt they had received God back to them from the dead.

14 And the cart came into the field of Joshua, a Bethshemite, and stood there, where there was a great stone: and they clave the wood of the cart, and offered the kine a burnt offering unto the LORD.

• After being guided for some ten miles from the Philistine city, without stopping or going to one side or the other, now the ark stops in Israelite land that belonged to a man by the name of Joshua, who was a Bethshemite.

15 And the Levites took down the ark of the LORD, and the coffer that was with it, wherein the jewels of gold were, and put them on the great stone: and the men of Bethshemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices the same day unto the LORD.

• The Levites took down the ark of the Lord: The Israelites were careful to let the Levites handle the ark, as was commanded by the law (Numbers 4:1-6, 15). Beth Shemesh was a priestly city (Joshua 21:16), so there were priests on hand.

16 And when the five lords of the Philistines had seen it, they returned to Ekron the same day.

17 And these are the golden emerods which the Philistines returned for a trespass offering unto the LORD; for Ashdod one, for Gaza one, for Askelon one, for Gath one, for Ekron one;

18 And the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, both of fenced cities, and of country villages, even unto the great stone of Abel, whereon they set down the ark of the LORD: which stone remaineth unto this day in the field of Joshua, the Bethshemite.

• The great stone of Abel, is the place where the Ark of the Covenant was placed when it was returned to Israelite territory.

19 And he smote the men of Bethshemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the LORD, even he smote of the people fifty thousand and threescore and ten men: and the people lamented, because the LORD had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter.

• The ark was only to be touched and handled by specific Levites from the family of Kohath, and even they were commanded to not touch the ark itself (Numbers 4:15). The men of Beth Shemesh sinned by not only touching the ark, but also looking into it inappropriately.
• The Hebrew grammar can mean that out of fifty thousand men, God struck seventy of them.“We cannot come to any other conclusion than that the number 50,000 is neither correct nor genuine, but a gloss which has crept into the text through some oversight.” (Keil and Delitszch)

20 And the men of Bethshemesh said, Who is able to stand before this holy LORD God? and to whom shall he go up from us?

21 And they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kirjathjearim, saying, The Philistines have brought again the ark of the LORD; come ye down, and fetch it up to you.

• The men of Beth Shemesh had offended the holiness of the Lord. Now, they know the Lord is holy, but it doesn’t make them want to be closer to God; it makes them want to distance themselves from God.