61 And the ark of Jehovah is in the field of the Philistines seven months, 2 and the Philistines call for priests and for diviners, saying, 'What do we do to the ark of Jehovah? let us know wherewith we send it to its place?' 3 And they say, 'If ye are sending away the ark of the God of Israel, ye do not send it away empty; for ye do certainly send back to Him a guilt-offering; then ye are healed, and it hath been known to you why His hand doth not turn aside from you.' 4 And they say, 'What 'is' the guilt-offering which we send back to Him?' and they say, 'The number of the princes of the Philistines—five golden emerods, and five golden mice—for one plague 'is' to you all, and to your princes, 5 and ye have made images of your emerods, and images of your mice that are corrupting the land, and have given honour to the God of Israel; it may be He doth lighten His hand from off you, and from off your gods, and from off your land; 6 and why do ye harden your heart as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their heart? do they not—when He hath rolled Himself upon them—send them away, and they go? 7 'And now, take and make one new cart, and two suckling kine, on which a yoke hath not gone up, and ye have bound the kine in the cart, and caused their young ones to turn back from after them to the house, 8 and ye have taken the ark of Jehovah, and put it on the cart, and the vessels of gold which ye have returned to Him—a guilt-offering—ye put in a coffer on its side, and have sent it away, and it hath gone; 9 and ye have seen, if the way of its own border it goeth up to Beth-Shemesh—He hath done to us this great evil; and if not, then we have known that His hand hath not come against us; an accident it hath been to us.'
Matthew Henry's Commentary on 1 Samuel 6:1-9
Commentary on 1 Samuel 6:1-9
(Read 1 Samuel 6:1-9)
Seven months the Philistines were punished with the presence of the ark; so long it was a plague to them, because they would not send it home sooner. Sinners lengthen out their own miseries by refusing to part with their sins. The Israelites made no effort to recover the ark. Alas! where shall we find concern for religion prevail above all other matters? In times of public calamity we fear for ourselves, for our families, and for our country; but who cares for the ark of God? We are favoured with the gospel, but it is treated with neglect or contempt. We need not wonder if it should be taken from us; to many persons this, though the heavies of calamities, would occasion no grief. There are multitudes whom any profession would please as well as that of Christianity. But there are those who value the house, the word, and the ministry of God above their richest possessions, who dread the loss of these blessings more than death. How willing bad men are to shift off their convictions, and when they are in trouble, to believe it is a chance that happens; and that the rod has no voice which they should hear or heed!