John Gill Commentary 1 Samuel 6

And the ark of the Lord was in the country of the Philistines seven months. ] Or "in the field" ^F3 of the Philistines; hence Procopius Gazaeus observes, that none of the cities daring to receive the ark, they left it without under the open air, so thinking they should be delivered from their calamity. But the word is often used for country, and is generally so understood here; the Targum is, "in the cities of the Philistines;" in one or other of them, first for a while in Ashdod, and then for some time in Gath, and last in Ekron, and in all seven months from the time of its being taken;

and it being in wheat harvest when it was returned, (1 Samuel 6:13) , these seven months will carry us back to the beginning of winter, or towards the end of autumn, when the battles between Israel and the Philistines were fought, and the ark was taken. Josephus ^F4 says it was with the Philistines four months only, contrary to the text.

FOOTNOTES:

• F3: (hdvb) (en agrw) , Sept. "in agro", Pagninus, Montanus.
• F4: Antiqu. l. 6. c. 1. sect. 4.

And the Philistines called for the priests and for the
diviners
The one were skilled in the rites and ceremonies of religion, not only of their own, but of other nations, particularly of Israel; and that they were not strangers to the history and affairs of that people is plain from (1 Samuel 6:6) and the other were skilled in judicial astrology, and knowledge of future events, at least as they pretended to; and therefore were both thought fit persons to advise with on the occasion of the ark, and the circumstances they were in through that:

saying, what shall we do to the ark of the Lord ?
shall we send it back to its own land, or not? the Ekronites had moved it might be sent back, and the five lords sent for the priests and diviners to have their advice upon it, whether it was right or not, and what they should do to it, or with it; for if it was advisable to send it back, then another question follows:

tell us wherewith we shall send it to its place ;
whether on men's shoulders, or on horses or asses, or on a carriage; and whether just as it was taken, or with some presents with it.

And they said, if you send away the ark of the God of Israel,
send it not empty
As they perceived they had either resolved upon, or at least were inclined to do; and which they also thought advisable and therefore would have them by no means send it away as it was, but with some presents along with it; for the meaning of this word "empty" is not that they should take care that all that were in it when taken should go with it, and nothing be taken out of it, or it be stripped of its contents; but that some gifts and offerings should be sent along with it: perhaps they might have some notion of, or respect to a law in Israel, (Exodus 23:15) or might say this from a common principle received among Heathens, that deities were to be appeased by gifts ^F5 :

but in any wise return him a trespass offering ;
here again they seem to have some notion of the sorts and kinds of sacrifice among the Israelites; and advise to a trespass offering, to make satisfaction and atonement for the offence they had committed in taking away the ark; and that they should make restoration not only by returning the ark, but by sending an expiatory offering along with it:

then you shall be healed ;
of the disease with which they were smitten; for it seems it still continued on them, at least on many:

and it shall be known to you why his hand is not removed from you ;
which was because the ark was detained by them; but when that should be sent home, and they be healed upon it, then it would be a plain case that the reason why the disease was inflicted and continued was because of that.

FOOTNOTES:

• F5: "Munera crede mihi" Ovid. de arte amandi, l. 3.

Then said they, what shall be the trespass offering which we shall return to him ? &c.] They paid a great deference to their priests and diviners, and were willing to be directed in all things by them; being ignorant of what was most proper in this case, and might be acceptable to the God of Israel:

they answered, five golden emerods, and five golden mice ; &c.] images of these made of gold, as appears from the next verse; the reason of the former is easy, from the above account of the disease they were afflicted with; but of the latter no hint is given before: indeed in the Vulgate Latin and Septuagint versions of (1 Samuel 5:6) is inserted a clause, that ``mice sprung up in the midst of their country;'' which is not in the Hebrew text, nor in the Chaldee paraphrase; yet appears to be a fact from the following verse, that at the same time their bodies were smitten with emerods, their fields were overrun with mice, which destroyed the increase of them; wherefore five golden mice were also ordered as a part of the trespass offering, and five of each were pitched upon:

according to the number of the lords of the Philistines ; &c.] who were five, and so the principalities under them; see (Joshua 13:3)

for one plague was on you all, and on your lords ; &c.] the lords and common people were equally smitten with the emerods, and the several principalities were alike distressed and destroyed with the mice; and therefore the trespass offering, which was a vicarious one for them, was to be according to the number of their princes and their principalities; five emerods for the five princes and their people smitten with emerods, and five mice on account of the five cities and fields adjacent being marred by mice.

Wherefore you shall make images of your emerods
Which some take to be images of the five cities; others of a man at large with the disease in his back parts; others of that part of the body of a man only, in a circular form, in which the disease was, and expressing that; but the text is plain for the disease only, as high large tumours: though Maimonides ^F6 says of these images, that the word is attributed to them, not because of their external form, but because of their spiritual virtue and influence; whereby the damage or disease of the emerods in the hinder parts were removed. He seems to take them to be a sort of talismans, which were images of a disease or noxious creature a country was infected with, made under some celestial influence to remove it; and Tavernier ^F7 relates, as Bishop Patrick observes, that it is a practice with the Indians to this day, that when any pilgrim goes to a pagoda for the cure of any disease, he brings the figure of the member affected, made either of gold, silver, or copper, according to his quality, which he offers to his god.

There is a tradition among the Heathens, which seems to be borrowed from this history, and serves to establish the credit of it; the Athenians not receiving Bacchus and his rites with due honour, he was angry with them, and smote them with a disease in their private parts, which was incurable. On which they consulted the oracle, which advised them in order to be rid of the disease to receive the god with all honour and respect; which order the Athenians obeyed, and made images of the several parts, privately and publicly, and with these honoured the god in memory of the disease ^F8 : both the disease and cure are here plainly pointed at:

and images of your mice that mar the land ;
that devoured the fruits of it, as these creatures in many instances have been known to do; and particularly in Palestine, the country of the Philistines, where in some places their fields were sometimes almost deserted because of the abundance of them; and were it not for a sort of birds that devoured them, the inhabitants could not sow their seed ^F9 :

the Boeotians sacrificed to Apollo Pornopion (which signifies a mouse), to save their country from them ^F11 ;

Aristotle ^F12 reports of field mice, that they sometimes increase to such incredible numbers, that scarce any of the corn of the field is left by them; and so soon consumed, that some husbandmen, having appointed their labourers to cut down their corn on one day, coming to it the next day, in order to cut it down, have found it all consumed;

Pliny ^F13 speaks of field mice destroying the harvest;

Aelianus ^F14 relates such an incursion of field mice into some parts of Italy, as obliged the inhabitants to leave the country, and which destroyed the corn fields and plants, as if they had been consumed by heat or cold, or any unseasonable weather; and not only seeds were gnawn, but roots cut up;

so the Abderites ^F15 were obliged to leave their country because of mice and frogs:

and you shall give glory to the God of Israel ;
by sending these images as monuments of their shameful and painful disease, and of the ruin of their fields; owning that it was the hand of the Lord that smote their bodies with emerods, and filled their fields with mice which devoured them; seeking and asking pardoning of him by the trespass offering they sent him:

peradventure he will lighten his hand from you :
abate the violence of the disease, and at length entirely remove it:

and from your gods ;
not Dagon only, but others seem to have suffered, wherever the ark came: for the Philistines had other deities; besides Dagon at Ashdod, there were Baalzebub at Ekron, and Marnas at Gaza, and Derceto at Ashkelon; and perhaps another at Gath, though unknown; and besides the gods suffered, or however their priests, by the number of men that died, and by the fruits of the earth being destroyed; which must in course lessen their revenues: and from off your land; the fruits of which were destroyed by mice.

FOOTNOTES:

• F6: Moreh Nevochim, par. 1. c. 1.
• F7: Travels, p. 92.
• F8: Scholia in Aristoph. Acharnen. Act ii. Scen. 1. p. 383, 384. Edit. Genev. 1607.
• F9: Magini Geograph. par. 2. fol. 241.
• F11: Alex. ab Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 1. c. 13.
• F12: Hist. Animal. l. 6. c. 37. "----saepe exiguus mus" Virgil, Georg. l. 1. v. 181, 182.
• F13: Nat. Hist. l. 10. c. 65.
• F14: De Animal. l. 17. c. 41.
• F15: Justin. l. 15. c. 2.