The people of the Philistines were desperate to do something, and they had to get rid of the ark (v1-6), and so, after seven terrible months, after taking advice of their priests and diviners, who said, “If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it empty; but by all means return it to Him with a trespass offering. Then you will be healed, and it will be known to you why His hand is not removed from you.”
The object which they thought was a trophy of their victory had become a great liability and a disaster. We cannot defeat God, nor ‘play around’ with His Word.
Their pagan priests knew that they needed to show some sort of repentance by returning it with a trespass offering, so, they suggested five golden tumours and five golden rats. Five was apparently the number of the lords of the Philistines for the plague and destructive infestation had affected everyone. Chapter 5 doesn’t tell us that there were rats but some think that the plague was carried by rats, hence the golden rats. These pagan leaders even thought that the God of Israel might be gentle with them, for they remembered how He had hardened the hearts of the Egyptians, and how God had done mighty things to get Pharaoh to let the people go.
It is interesting that the Philistines recognised Almighty God, but He wasn’t their God and they preferred to continue to worship their puny gods. They thought that they could appease God in some way, and He would excuse them for their deeds. How foolish can you be? And yet, it still happens today for many know there is a God, but He is not worshiped by them, He is not their God. People think that they can come to God on their terms, perhaps do a few good works to satisfy Him, but God can only be approached on His terms. It is by grace alone, faith alone and through Christ alone, and His finished work on the cross.
The minds of the Philistines were in overdrive to decide how they could get rid of the ark. They came up with the decision (v7-9) to make a new cart and take two milk cows which had never been yoked, take away their calves and hitch the cows to the cart. Then they were to put the ark on the cart together with the articles of gold in a chest by its side, send it away and let it go. Then they were to watch – “If the cart goes up the road to its own territory, to Beth Shemesh, then He (God) has done us this great evil, but if not, then we shall know that it is not His hand that struck us; it was by chance that this happened to us.” (v9)
They still didn’t take this too seriously. Yes, they had to get rid, but how? To the Philistines it was like drawing lots or turning cards – I wonder if they even put bets on it! Milk cows should not be drawing carts and if they removed their calves, the cows, instinctively should go to them. So, they were really asking God for a sign, a miracle, to show that He had caused the calamity. Remember that only the Levites could ‘carry’ the ark by the poles made for it. I assume that they didn’t take the poles when they took the ark, or if they did, they didn’t consider them important. God was being very merciful to them because, whoever touched the ark itself would die (see Exodus 25), and I guess He allowed them to handle it and put it on the cart because they were ignorant of His law.
Amazingly, the cows headed straight for Beth Shemesh (v10-12). This was no accident. How did they know which way to go? Only by God’s leading. This was not by chance, but people prefer to believe such things rather than attribute happenings to God.
There is no doubt that this was a miracle for two cows, which had never pulled a cart to walk around 10 miles to a place they would have never been before, leaving their calves behind, without turning aside or feeling the need to turn back, even to feed their calves. God’s purpose was being played out in a most unlikely way. They went on their way and stopped in the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh as they were reaping the harvest, and the people of Beth Shemesh rejoiced (v13-15). The Levites took down the ark (they were allowed to touch it) and put it on a rock. They chopped up the cart and used it as firewood and sacrificed the cows as a burnt offering to The LORD.
God knew their hearts and these circumstances were not the normal, but God was being honoured by their actions. I say this because they should not have offered such sacrifice and burnt offering. Leviticus 1 tells us that only a male animal could be offered, these two cows were females. It is vital that what we do before The Lord is out of a pure heart, and not religious ritual or tradition. These people of Beth Shemesh were rejoicing in The LORD because the ark had been returned to Israel from being in a place where it should not have been.
We clearly have to be careful in our worship of God and we must be sure that our hearts are right before Him. God doesn’t expect us to be what we are not, nor to use what we have not got, but it does not excuse flippancy, nor ungodly acts.
Meanwhile back among the Philistines, the lords had seen the cart disappear and go straight to Beth Shemesh. They had obviously tracked it down along its journey (v16-18). They tracked it as far as the rock in the field of Joshua where the ark was placed. The five Philistine lords watched all this and returned home to Ekron to tell the story, leaving the inescapable conclusion That God had been judging them. It was a miracle, and one wonders if they were convinced or not. We are not told that they turned to The LORD as a result. Many people today say that if they see a miracle they will believe, but the Bible is full of miracles but not many believed as a result. Seeing is not necessarily believing but believing is seeing.
Calamity then struck the men of Beth Shemesh. The LORD struck down 50,070 men (some Hebrew manuscripts say 70 men and 50 yoke of oxen; or out of 50,000 men God struck 70), whichever is correct – …”. the people lamented because the LORD had struck the people with a great slaughter.”(v19)
Why was this? The men touched the ark and looked into it. How important it was to be careful to obey The Lord. They acted correctly in the Levites taking it off the cart and smashing up the cart and burning it, but evidently the seventy ordinary men (not Levites) got curious and touched it and looked inside – something they were not permitted to do. Being Israelites, they should have known better.
The men of Beth Shemesh were eager to get rid of the ark and they called for the men of Kiriath Jearim to come and collect it (v20, 21) They said it had been returned to them by the Philistines and invited the people of Kiriath Jearim to come and collect it. Why did they want to get rid of it? “Who is able to stand before The Holy LORD God?” The presence of our Holy Lord produces a mixture of joy, awe and fear. If the curious men had not been disobedient, they might have been able, but it doesn’t say much for the people when they failed to recognize and remember that God is a Holy God and they needed to be obedient and worship Him. If they had they would have received the blessing rather than the anger of God.
Sadly, the holiness of God made them totally afraid and rather than get closer to Him, they wanted to get further away. The problem was not on God’s part but on theirs. God wants us to be holy, (1 Peter 1:16). He wants us to come closer, not further away.
We are not told why they called for the people of Kirjath Jearim, whether they were more holy and would treat the ark better, or whether they had a grudge against them and wanted to cause them problems.
