061. XL. The Philistine Victories And The Fortunes Of The Ark

§ XL. THE PHILISTINE VICTORIES AND THE FORTUNES OF THE ARK 1 Samuel 4:1 to 1 Samuel 7:2

1. Israel’s defeat. Now in those days the Philistines assembled to make war against Israel, and the battle was hard fought and they slew in the ranks on the field about four thousand men.

2. The second defeat. But when the people returned to the camp, the people sent to Shiloh and took from there the ark of Jehovah of hosts. And when the ark of Jehovah came to the camp, the earth resounded. And when the Philistines knew that the ark of Jehovah had come to the camp, they said, Woe to us! for it has not been thus before; but be men and fight. So the Philistines fought and there was a great slaughter.

3. The ark in the temple of Dagon. Then the Philistines took the ark of Jehovah and brought it to the house of Dagon and set it up by the side of Dagon. And when the Ashdodites arose early the next day and came to the house of Dagon, behold there was Dagon fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of Jehovah. And they raised up Dagon and set him in his place again. But when they arose early on the following morning, behold there was Dagon fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of Jehovah. And the head of Dagon and both his hands were cut off upon the threshold, and only the body of Dagon was left. Therefore the priests of Dagon, and all who enter the house of Dagon, do not tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day, but leap over it.

4. The plague attending the ark. And the hand of Jehovah was heavy upon the Ashdodites, and he destroyed them, and smote them with boils, even Ashdod and its borders. And when the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, the ark of the God of Israel shall not remain with us; for his hand is severe upon us, and Dagon our God. So they sent and gathered all the tyrants of the Philistines to them, and said, What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? And they answered, Let the ark of the God of Israel be brought around to Gath. So they brought the ark of the God of Israel around. But after they had brought it around, the hand of Jehovah was against the city—there was a very great panic—and he smote the men of the city, both young and old, so that boils broke out upon them. Therefore they sent the ark of God to Ekron. But when the ark of God came to Ekron, the Ekronites cried out, saying, They have brought around the ark of the God of Israel to us, to slay us and our people. They sent therefore and gathered together all the tyrants of the Philistines and said, Send away the ark of the God of Israel, that it may go back to its own place and not kill us and our people.

5. Plans for returning the ark. Then the Philistines summoned the priests and the diviners, saying, What shall we do with the ark of Jehovah? Show us how we shall send it to its place. And they said, If you are sending the ark of the God of Israel, you must not send it away empty; but you must return to him a trespass-offering. Then you will be healed, and it shall be made known to you why his hand is not removed from you. Then said they, What shall be the trespass-offering which we shall return to him? And they said, Five golden boils, and five golden mice, corresponding to the number of the tyrants of the Philistines; for one plague was upon you, as well as upon your tyrants. Therefore you shall make images of your boils, and images of your mice that mar the land; and you shall give glory to the God of Israel; perhaps he will lighten his hand from upon you and your gods and your land. Why then will you make your hearts stubborn, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh made their hearts stubborn? Was it not after he had made sport of them, that they let them go, so that they departed? Now, therefore, take and prepare a new cart, and two milch cows upon which the yoke has not come; and fasten the cows to the cart, but you shall leave their calves behind them at home. And take the ark of Jehovah and place it on the cart and put the golden objects, which you are returning to him as a trespass-offering, in a box at its side. Then send it away that it may depart. And see, if it goes on the way to its own border to Bethshemesh, then it is he who hath done us this great harm, but if not, then we shall know that it was not his hand that smote us; it was an accident that befell us.

6. Its restoration to the Hebrews. And the men did so, and took two milch cows and fastened them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home. And they placed the ark of Jehovah on the cart, and the box with the golden mice and the images of their boils. And the cows took a straight course in the direction of Bethshemesh; they went along the highway, lowing as they went, and did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. And the tyrants of the Philistines went after them to the border of Bethshemesh. And the inhabitants of Bethshemesh were harvesting their wheat in the valley. And they lifted up their eyes and saw the ark, and came rejoicing to meet it. And when the cart came into the field of Joshua the Bethshemeshite, it stood still there. And a great stone was there. So they split up the wood of the cart, and offered the cows as a burnt-offering to Jehovah. And when the five tyrants of the Philistines saw it, they returned to Ekron on that day. And a witness is the great stone, by which they set down the ark of Jehovah. To this day it is in the field of Joshua of Bethshemesh.

7. The ark among the Hebrews. The sons of Jechoniah, however, did not rejoice with the men of Bethshemesh, when they looked upon the ark of Jehovah. So he smote among them seventy men; and the people mourned because Jehovah had smitten the people with a great slaughter. And the men of Bethshemesh said, Who is able to stand before Jehovah this holy God? And to whom shall he go up from us? Then they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath-jearim, saying, The Philistines have brought back the ark of Jehovah. Come down, and bring it up to you. So the men of Kiriath-jearim came, and brought up the ark of Jehovah, and carried it into the house of Abinadab on the hill, and consecrated Eleazar his son to guard the ark of Jehovah. From the time the ark began to abide in Kiriath-jearim, many years passed.

I. The Books of Samuel. The chief record of the events which occurred during the days of Saul and David, is found in the books of Samuel. These, together with the books of Kings, originally constituted a connected history which began with the birth of Samuel and extended to the Babylonian exile. The first book of Samuel contains two general divisions: (1) chapters 1 to 15, which give the history of Samuel and Saul; (2) 16 to 31, which tell of the rise of David and the decline and death of Saul. Second Samuel contains three general divisions. Chapters 1 to 8 deal chiefly with political events during David’s reign, first over Judah and then over all Israel. Chapters 9 to 20 contain David’s family history. Chapters 21 to 24 are an appendix, similar to that found at the end of the book of Judges. They record events (such as the putting to death of the sons of Saul and the achievements of David’s warriors) which transpired during the earlier part of David’s reign over all Israel. Chapters 22 and 23 contain later psalms associated with David. Thus the arrangement in I Samuel is in general chronological; while in II Samuel the material is grouped according to the subject-matter.

II. The Different Records of the Founding of the Kingdom. The oldest account of the founding of the united Hebrew kingdom is taken from an ancient Saul history, which probably comes from the latter part of the tenth century B.C. The extracts from this early source are found in 1 Samuel 9-11, 13, 14, and are adopted as the basis of the present text. They are introduced by extracts from an equally old source, which told of the wars of the Philistines and of the fortunes of the ark. Together these ancient histories form the immediate sequel to the earliest narratives in the book of Judges.

These quotations from the older sources have been supplemented in I Samuel by extracts from what appears to have been originally an independent history, dealing with the boyhood and the work of the prophet Samuel. Like the traditional judges in the book of Judges, Samuel is thought of in this history as a judge ruling over all Israel. His personality completely overshadows that of Saul. Instead of effectively laboring for the establishment of the kingship, as in the older Saul history, Samuel is represented as bitterly opposing it. The point of view is that of Hosea and of the later prophets, who in the light of the sad experience of northern Israel, regarded the institution of the kingship as a fundamental evil. In this later Samuel history, which probably comes from some of the prophetic guilds of Northern Israel and cannot be dated before the eighth century B.C., the victory over the Philistines is won, not by the sword, but by a miracle in response to Samuel’s prayer.

III. The Philistines. In the light of the Egyptian inscription it seems clear that these sturdy foes of the Israelites came from southern Asia Minor. According to Amos 9:7 and Deuteronomy 2:23 their original home was Caphtor. This is doubtless to be identified with the Egyptian Kefto. From the Egyptian inscriptions it also appears that Kefto in ancient times produced works of art which were equal to those of Greece in the Mycenæan age, so that it is a mistake to regard the Philistines or Wanderers as rude barbarians. In his inscriptions Ramses III of the twentieth Egyptian dynasty tells of a great racial movement from the north during the first half of the twelfth century B.C. He states that, “No country could withstand their arms.” They advanced by land and by sea, and nearly succeeded in conquering northern Egypt. A large body of them, however, were turned back and settled on the fertile maritime plain in southwestern Palestine, where they soon built up a strong and highly developed civilization. The rich grain fields furnished the material for commerce, and their geographical position offered ample opportunity for trade with Phoenicia and Egypt.

Five walled cities, each with its independent ruler, yet bound together in a strong confederacy, ruled ancient Philistia. Ekron and Gath in the north-east were closest to the territory of the Hebrews; Ashdod, Askelon and Gaza in the south-west lay close to the sea. While the Hebrews were still struggling for homes in the uplands of central Canaan, the Philistines had already established a powerful kingdom, which extended from the sea to the western headlands of Canaan, and from a point opposite Joppa to the southern wilderness and the borders of Egypt.

IV. The Defeat of the Hebrews and the Loss of the Ark. In the limited territory of Palestine it was inevitable that the two great waves of immigration, represented by the Philistines and the Hebrews, should ultimately come into open conflict. The stories of Samson suggest the preliminary skirmishes, which took place during the latter part of the period of settlement. The western headlands of Judah, with their narrow, rocky valleys, were adapted only to border warfare. The broader valleys of central Canaan offered the natural way of approach of Philistia. Hence, when the Philistines rallied their forces to attack and subjugate the Hebrews, the decisive battles were fought in the western borders of Ephraim and Manasseh. The first engagement revealed the weakness of the Hebrews. They apparently rallied in considerable numbers; but doubtless, as in the days of Deborah, the distant tribes were not represented. Moreover, they lacked a leader to unite them. The inevitable result was that they were ignominiously beaten by the well-organized Philistines. In their extremity the Hebrews brought from Shiloh, north-east of Shechem, the ark of Jehovah. In their march through the wilderness they had borne with them this symbol of Jehovah’s presence. In their conflicts with the hostile Arab tribes, the feeling that Jehovah was in their midst and that they were fighting for him, had strengthened their courage, kindled their zeal, and guided them on to repeated victories (cf. § XXVII). It was natural, therefore, that at this great crisis they should bear the ark into battle, just as the Philistines, in a later engagement with the Hebrews, carried with them the images of their gods (§ XLIX 3). The popular faith in the ancient symbol was shattered, for the Hebrews suffered another signal defeat. Following up their victory, the Philistines established their rule over the Hebrews in central Canaan. It was apparently at this time that Shiloh was destroyed and disappeared from Hebrew history. Saddest of all, the ark itself was captured and borne in triumph by the Philistines to one of the temples of their gods. To the minds of the Israelites this overwhelming series of disasters seemed to mean, either that Jehovah was weaker than the gods of their foes, or else that he did not care to deliver his people. The crisis involved not only the independence, but also the faith of the Hebrew race.

V. The Ark Among the Philistines. The story of the ark shows traces of popular interpretation and embellishment; but clearly underlying it is the fact, that while the ark was in the hands of the Philistines a great pestilence attacked them. Sanitary conditions, which are never good in the East, are especially bad on the Philistine plain. Like Egypt, it is the home of contagious diseases. Being on the great highway which ran from north to south, it is especially open to plagues of every kind. The complete ignorance of the ancients regarding the real nature of contagious diseases left them an easy prey to its ravages. The story indicates, not only that the contagion was carried from city to city by those who bore the ark, but also suggests the nature of the disease. The golden tumors, or boils, which were sent back by the Philistines to appease the god of the Hebrews were, in accordance with ancient usage, intended to represent the peculiar form of the malady which had attacked them. This would appear to have been none other than the dread bubonic plague. Even the Hebrews themselves, who were later exposed to the contagion, were also fatally affected.

Thus again, by perfectly natural means, but with an opportuneness which clearly reveals the hand of God, the faith of the Hebrews was strengthened, and through the hardships of Philistine oppression the way was prepared for the next step forward in the development of the Hebrew nation.