I SAMUEL 4-6

The Ark

a. Israel brings ark into battle (4:1b-4)

    b. Philistines fear ark, Israel defeated, two sons of Eli killed (4:5-11)

        c. News brought to Eli, he falls back and breaks neck (4:12-18)

            d. The glory departs from Israel (4:19-22)

        c'. Ark brought to house of Dagon, statue falls forward and breaks off head and hands (5:1-5)

    b'. Philistines panicked by ark, plague kills many (5:6-11)

a'. Philistines bring ark back to Israel (6:1-12)

I Samuel 4:1b-4

4:2 The numbers in this story, and in other battle narratives in the OT, are pretty high. The most usual explanation is that the Hebrew word translated “thousand” may also mean a “company of troops.”

4:3-4 Just as we do today, when all else fails, call on God for help as a last desperate measure. There were no OT laws addressing the use of the ark in battle, but back in Numbers 10:33-36 it mentions that whenever the people in the wilderness set out for the day, the ark would lead the procession and Moses would say, “Arise, O LORD, let your enemies be scattered, and your foes flee before you.”

This perhaps grew to the superstitious view held during time of Judges on the magical power of ark. What is the difference between religion and magic? (Who is in charge.)

(a) What was in the ark (all related to the Exodus) and (b) what do these items symbolize?

Manna: God's provision and mercy

Aaron's Rod: God's might and power. 23^rd Psalm: “Thy rod (club-like weapon) and thy staff they comfort me.”

Tablets of the law: God's holiness, justice and judgment

The people were relying on God's protection and strength but ignoring his commandments.

I Samuel 4:5-18

4:18 Eli keels over dead, not when he hears about the slaughter or the death of his sons, but when he hears that the ark of the covenant has been captured. WHY? The first news wasn't a surprise since God had prophesied that his children would be killed. Another possibility: theologically he was still God-centered, even if he failed to live out the consequences of his theology.

I Samuel 4:19-22

Eli's daughter-in-law gives birth to a boy she names Ichabod (no glory): Remember Ichabod Crane in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, who had no guts and got no glory. One commentator remarked, “The manifest presence of God mediated through the ark had gone into exile.” But “spiritual awareness still existed in Israel, not least among the women.”

I Samuel 5:1-5

5:1 Dagon was the corn god and father of Baal. His temple in Gaza was the one Samson had destroyed earlier. It may look like God was defeated because his people had suffered defeat, but here we see that isn't the case. Our temptation today to associate the two. Even in the political realm, I have known Christians who act as if it is the end of the world and God has lost if their particular candidate is defeated.

5:3 Face down as if he is bowing to the ark. Notice the helplessness of the god; he needs to be propped up again.

5:4 God treats the idol like a conquered enemy (see 17:51 where David cut off Goliath's head).

5:5 Two interpretations: (a) It is the pedestal on which the idol stood – one can't come into direct contact with a god. This was true of the ark also as we know from later scriptures.

(b) Philistines had the superstitious custom of skipping over the threshold to avoid misfortune. Zephaniah 1:9 says that God will punish those who follow this pagan practice. The belief was that supernatural beings congregate there and at any other border. Recall Jacob, who saw the vision of angels on a ladder to heaven as soon as he passed out of Jewish territory, and then right before he entered it again he encountered a hostile angel who wrestled with him. This may be where we get the custom of carrying the bride over the threshold. Customs such as this or not stepping on a crack in the sidewalk are all really examples of syncretism, believing in God and pagan customs at the same time.

I Samuel 5:6-12

5:6 tumors – swollen lymph glands caused by bubonic plague. LXX includes the presence of mice also.

5:8 Lords of Philistines were rulers of five cities – independent but could unite against a common enemy.

I Samuel 6:1-9

6:1 This is the same question they asked in 5:8 but this time they go to the religious leaders, not the political leaders. Religion is the last resort for the Philistines just as it was for the Jews.

6:3-4 Even though only three cities were mentioned in the previous chapter, it is obvious that all five cities were afflicted. They sent the ark from one to the other like a hot potato. A form of sympathetic magic is employed – not a guilt offering in the Jewish sense.

6:5 The Philistines probably did not understand the role of mice in spreading plague but were worried about loss of food-stocks (Dagon – god of crops).

6:7 new cart – In other words, one that wasn't polluted with secular use. One commentator I read connected this with Jesus being buried in a new tomb, but I think that a much closer parallel is when Jesus entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey that no one had ridden before. The cows were intended for sacrificial use (v.14). This is similar to provisions in Deuteronomy 21:3 and Numbers 19:2. Milk cows would have never pulled a cart before and therefore would not follow any particular path.

6:9 Beth-Shemesh is just inside Israelite territory and near where Samson pulled down the temple to Dagon.

Read 6:10-16

6:12 There is an unsure meaning here. It probably means “the cows made straight for.”

Or the milch-cows are mooing since they are unable to give their calves milk – a allusion to Hannah mourning the loss of Samuel to her after he was weaned?

Later sages in Talmud translated “the cows broke into song.” And here was their song:

"Be exalted, be exalted acacia-ark.

Loom high in your great beauty.

Overlaid with embroidered gold.

Glorious in the shrine of the Temple.

Majestic with many ornaments."

In any case, the fact that the cows headed for Israelite territory rather than back to their calves indicated that God was behind the events.

6:15 contradicts rules in Numbers forbidding anyone but priests from touching the ark. It probably should read “levitical priests.”

Jump to I Samuel 6:18b-7:1

6:18b “To this day” indicates the book was written or edited sometime after the events.

6:19 There are two translation issues in this verse. Compare translations. 70 died – additional 50,000 (in Heb.) is probably not correct. Hebrew has “and he killed some of the people of Beth-Shemesh, because they looked into the ark.” That is not in LXX. The law broken is found in Numbers 4:20.

6:19-21 Contrast the attitude of the people of Beth-shemesh in I Samuel 6:13-15 and 6:19-21. What kind of God do we expect: a tame one that will do our bidding and keep us from all harm, or one who demands something out of us? This is similar to the aftermath of the Ananias and Sapphira story where the people were afraid to be near the Apostles afterward.

6:21 The city is in the direction of Shiloh. They couldn't return the ark to Shiloh, since it was now in ruins. This same story is basically replayed later when David goes to move the ark to Jerusalem. Everyone is joyful until Uzzah touches the ark and is killed. At that point David is afraid to take the ark any further. They house it with Obededom the Gittite for three months. When he is blessed by God, David decides it is safe to move it to Jerusalem.