I Samuel 5:1-7:2
Dear RTB’ers,
The Israeli elders in yesterday’s battle with the Philistines had presumed that the ark had “magical” powers – that simply having the ark beside them in battle would bring victory. Just as they were wrong in their presumption, the leaders in the Philistine city of Ashdod had imagined that their god, Dagon had been responsible for their victory over Israel (i.e., over the Israeli God) and were showing off the ark as a representation of that victory, a sort of “trophy case”, if you will: Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it into the house of Dagon and set it up beside Dagon. (v. 5:2) Sadly for them, Dagon was a false god and had no special powers, whereas the God of Israel, the true God could easily topple Dagon in the middle of the night with no one else around. Long story short – the Philistine leaders needed to send the ark back to where it belonged.
An interesting bit of farm detail here – the Philistine priests and diviners ordered a cart and two milk cows to haul the cart, but to take the calves away from the cows: Now then, take and prepare a new cart and two milk cows on which there has never come a yoke, and yoke the cows to the cart, but take their calves home, away from them. (v. 6:7) This was a wise move on the part of the priests and diviners; they set up the ultimate test for the powers of the God of Israel and His influence over the ark and the animals. Have you ever seen a cow when she is first separated from her calf? She will move to be as close to the calf as possible and will moo (low) almost nonstop as she mourns that separation. So, in spite of being yoked to the cart, the cows’ natural inclination would be to turn back toward their calves. The fact that they went straight toward Beth-shemesh proved the power of the God of Israel: And the cows went straight in the direction of Beth-shemesh along one highway, lowing as they went. They turned neither to the right nor to the left… (v. 6:12a). Yes, the God of Israel is Lord over ALL the earth, cows included!!
So now we have the ark back in Israeli hands, And the men of Kiriath-jearim came and took up the ark of the Lord and brought it to the house of Abinadab on the hill. (v. 7:1a) Note that it did not go back to Shiloh, from where it originally came (see I Samuel 4:4.), so it’s not really where it belongs. Where will it end up? Looking ahead, And they carried the ark of God on a new cart and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. And Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were driving the new cart, with the ark of God, and Ahio went before the ark. (II Samuel 6:3-4) Tickler alert: these two verses do not tell the whole story. Go to those verses and read on! You’ll enjoy the rest of that story!
Blessings!
Fred