Paul Kretzmann Commentary - 1 Samuel 5:8 - 5:12

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Paul Kretzmann Commentary - 1 Samuel 5:8 - 5:12


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The Ark in Gath and Ekron

v. 8. They sent, therefore, and gathered all the lords of the Philistines,
the heads of their five city-states, unto them and said, What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? As eager as they were to have the ark in their city as a trophy of their great victory, so eager were they now to get rid of the unlucky piece of furniture. And they answered, Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried about unto Gath. The princes of the Philistines intended to make an experiment, in order to determine whether the misfortunes which struck Ashdod were really to be attributed to the ark or were the result of chance. And they carried the ark of the God of Israel about thither, farther to the east.

v. 9. And it was so that, after they had carried it about,
caused it to be taken in the indicated direction, to this second city, the hand of the Lord was against the city with a very great destruction, disquietude, consternation taking hold upon all the inhabitants, a feeling of impending disaster; and He smote the men of the city, both small and great, and they had emerods in their secret parts, they were plagued with the same eruption of boils as the people of Ashdod had been, and the boils apparently broke open, causing painful ulcers.

v. 10. Therefore they sent the ark of God to Ekron,
the chief city in the northwestern part of the Philistine country. And it came to pass, as the ark of God came to Ekron, by the command of the Philistine chiefs, that the Ekronites cried out, for they had been informed of the plague which had struck Ashdod and Gath, saying, They have brought about the ark of the God of Israel to us to slay us and our people. But their protest was ignored, and the ark was brought into their city.

v. 11. So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines,
for a second conference, and said, Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it go again to his own place, that it slay us not and our people. The plague was not only generally prevalent, but also especially malignant, the effects being exceptionally deadly; for there was a deadly destruction, a consternation of terror on account of the sudden death of so many people, throughout all the city; the hand of God was very heavy there, the severity of the plague here reached its greatest height.

v. 12. And the men that died not were smitten with the emerods,
being extremely ill with the boil-sickness; and the cry of the city went up to heaven, for the Philistines were forced to acknowledge that in this place the almighty hand of the God of Israel was revealed. Thus the Lord revenged the sacrilege of the heathen in laying their hands upon the ark consecrated to Him. When unbelievers presume to attack the Word of God, to blaspheme and persecute the Word of Salvation, and, in addition, refuse to bow under the chastening hand of God, He often visits them with very severe plagues and terrors.