09 Return of the Ark

Chapter 6 provides the account of how the Philistines went about returning the ark to Israel.

They only decided to return the ark after they endured seven months of intense judgments, as the hand of the Lord was against them.

1 Plan to Return the Ark

The Philistine leaders hoped that by returning the ark, God; would then remove His hand of judgment:

1 Samuel 6:1-6

They Philistines had originally looked upon the capturing of the ark as a victory, but now it had become a great burden.

Through it all, we see the unloving, and unrepentant hearts of the Philistines, which in many ways reflects the heart of sinful, unsaved man.

However, even as the Philistines determined to return the ark, since they didn’t know the Lord and His ways, they determined their own course of action and methods.

This is a picture of how man will often fashion religion in a vain attempt to satisfy God.

So, we see the Philistines fashioning representations of the tumors and rats which plagued them in the judgements. They then placed golden images of those plagues into the ark, hoping the Lord would be appeased.

While the Scripture hadn’t mentioned the rats as being part of the judgements, we see from this passage, they indeed had an involvement in the plagues.

Finally, they were recognizing that they had offended God, and they understood they needed to satisfy His wrath.

2 Implementing the Plan

As the Philistines were ignorant of God and His ways, they determined a plan and then executed it:

1 Samuel 6:7-9

The Philistines made the unusual choice of placing the ark in a cart, pulled by two milk cows (animals not bred to be beasts of burden).

They also had the cows’ calves remain in Philistia, so that they would not be a distraction to the cows.

But in every instance, what the Philistines were doing, was contrary to God’s Law for how the ark was to be transported.

We also see that Philistines weren’t completely convinced that they’d been facing God’s judgments, but were still leaving open the possibility, that it was just “chance”.

Sadly, this is not unlike the attitude of many today.

3 The Ark Returns to Israel

1 Samuel 6:10-12

The Lord allowed the Philistines plans to succeed, not because He endorsed it, but because it served His purpose – to return the ark to its rightful place.

While the Philistines were ignorant of the things of the Lord, He expects much more from His people:

Luke 12:48

The Philistines were amazed that the cows were headed directly on the road toward Israel, never turning to the left or the right.

4 The Ark in Israel

To their jot and amazement, those in the Israelite town of Beth Shemesh saw the cows pulling the heart containing the ark:

1 Samuel 6:13-21

The Israelites were so overjoyed, they sacrificed to the Lord, sacrificing the cows.

• But that itself was wrong, as they were not following the Lord’s ways concerning sacrifice.
• They also opened the ark, which was unlawful for anyone to do, including the Levites.

In doing these things, the Israelites who knew God’s righteous demand, were clearly at fault, and brought judgment upon themselves.

Over fifty thousand Israelites were slain due to the sins of the people.

The ark was then taken to the town of Kiriath Jearim, where it would remain for quite a while.