1 Samuel 6:1

THE ARK OF THE COVENANT SENT BACK TO ISRAEL

The Philistines had more than enough of their trophy, the captured ark of the God of Israel. Deadly plague had fallen upon them everywhere the ark was placed; and, in desperation, the five lords of the Philistines decided to return it to Israel.

"The ark of the Lord was in the country of the Philistines seven months. And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners and said, "What shall we do with the ark of the Lord? Tell us with what we shall send it to its place." They said, `If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it empty, but by all means send him a guilt offering, then you will be healed, and it will be known to you why his hand does not turn away from you.'"

As frequently occurs in Biblical narratives, we have here a summary paragraph, followed by the elaboration of the details. This gives a broad outline of what needed to be done, namely, that the ark should not be sent back without a guilt offering and also a promise (later explained as a `perhaps') that they would know if God had afflicted them, or if it was `by chance.'

The priests and the diviners. The priests were the ones in charge of the ceremonies connected with their worship of Dagon, and the diviners were the practitioners of all kinds of superstitious and magical maneuvers that were falsely alleged to reveal future events or answer difficult questions. In ancient times, such deceivers were widely trusted; and even today one cannot fail to be aware that palm readers, phrenologists, fortune-tellers, etc. are still operating in every great city on earth.

The methods employed by diviners included: (1) shaking the arrows; (2) consulting the teraphim; and (3) looking at the liver (Ezekiel 21:21). For further comment on `shaking the arrows,' see our commentary on Ezekiel, pp. 215,216. In this third method, the entrails of some animal were poured out, and the arrangements of different portions were supposed to provide some kind of information to the observers! Willis tells us that other methods included watching the movement of clouds, the flight of birds and the disposition of the stars.[1] There was also, evidently, some ancient version of the modern superstition of being able to read the future by the disposition of the tea leaves in a cup of tea. Joseph's silver cup which was used for divining (Genesis 44:4) was probably utilized for that type of reading the future.

Then you will be healed (1 Samuel 6:3). The meaning of this verse is that, "The hand of God would be heavy upon them so long as they refused the acknowledgement"[2] inherent in the proposed guilt offering.