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They said, "If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, don`t send it empty; but by all means return him a trespass-offering: then you shall be healed, and it shall be known to you why his hand is not removed from you."
Verse Takeaways
1
A Misguided View of God
The Philistine priests advised sending a gift, viewing the God of Israel through their own pagan lens. Commentators explain they saw Him as a powerful but capricious local deity who needed to be appeased, much like their own gods. They understood His power to punish but not His true nature or the depth of their offense, highlighting the difference between superstitious appeasement and true repentance.
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Book Overview
1 Samuel
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4
18th Century
Presbyterian
Send it not empty - See the marginal references. The pagan idea of appeasing the gods with gifts, and the scriptural idea of expressing peni…
19th Century
Anglican
Send it not empty. —The advice was to propitiate with gifts the powerful Hebrew Deity, whom they imagined was offended and angry a…
17th Century
Reformed Baptist
And they said, if you send away the ark of the God of Israel, send it not empty As th…
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For seven months, the Philistines were punished with the presence of the ark; it was a plague to them for all that time because they would not send…
