The Ark among the Philistines

The Philistines captured God’s ark and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. They placed it in the house of Dagon, beside their god. But the next morning Dagon had fallen face down before the ark. They set him back up. On the following morning he had fallen again, and this time his head and hands were cut off. After that, people who came into Dagon’s house in Ashdod did not step on the threshold.

Then the LORD’s hand was heavy on Ashdod and its borders. The people were struck with tumours. The men of Ashdod realised that the ark of the God of Israel must not stay with them, so the Philistine rulers met and sent it to Gath. But in Gath there was great confusion, and the people of the city, both small and great, were struck there too.

So they sent the ark on to Ekron. The people of Ekron cried out in fear, because they thought the ark had been brought there to kill them and their people. The city was filled with deadly panic. Some died, and others were struck with tumours. After seven months in Philistine territory, they called for priests and diviners to ask how the ark should be returned.

The priests and diviners said not to send the ark back empty, but with a trespass offering: five golden tumours and five golden mice, because one plague had come on the five Philistine rulers and their people. They prepared a new cart, tied two milk cows to it, kept the calves at home, placed the ark on the cart, and set the gold objects in a box beside it. They said that if the cows went straight to Beth Shemesh, they would know the LORD had done this.

The cows went straight along the road to Beth Shemesh, lowing as they went and without turning aside. The Philistine rulers followed as far as the border. The people of Beth Shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley when they saw the ark and rejoiced. The cart stopped in the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh by a great stone.

The Levites took down the ark and the box, and the people offered the cows and other sacrifices to the LORD there. The Philistine rulers saw this and returned to Ekron that same day.

But the story did not end with rejoicing. The LORD struck men of Beth Shemesh because they looked into the ark, and many died. The people mourned and said that no one could stand before the LORD, this holy God. Then they sent messengers to Kiriath Jearim, asking its people to come and take the ark up to their town. How does this story show both God’s power and his holiness?