HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 619
1 SAM UEL 6
page 249
The messenger rushed over to Eli, 15 who was
ninety-eight years old and blind. 16 He said to
Eli, “I have just come from the battlefield—I was
there this very day.”
“What happened, my son?” Eli demanded.
17 “Israel has been defeated by the Philistines,” the messenger replied. “The people have
been slaughtered, and your two sons, Hophni
and Phinehas, were also killed. And the Ark of
God has been captured.”
18 When the messenger mentioned what had
happened to the Ark of God, Eli fell backward
from his seat beside the gate. He broke his neck
and died, for he was old and overweight. He had
been Israel’s judge for forty years.
19 Eli’s daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas,
was pregnant and near her time of delivery.
When she heard that the Ark of God had been
captured and that her father-in-law and husband were dead, she went into labor and gave
birth. 20 She died in childbirth, but before she
passed away the midwives tried to encourage
her. “Don’t be afraid,” they said. “You have a
baby boy!” But she did not answer or pay attention to them.
21 She named the child Ichabod (which means
“Where is the glory?”), for she said, “Israel’s
glory is gone.” She named him this because the
Ark of God had been captured and because her
father-in-law and husband were dead. 22 Then
she said, “The glory has departed from Israel,
for the Ark of God has been captured.”
The Ark in Philistia
After the Philistines captured the Ark of
God, they took it from the battleground at
Ebenezer to the town of Ashdod. 2 They carried
the Ark of God into the temple of Dagon and
placed it beside an idol of Dagon. 3 But when
the citizens of Ashdod went to see it the next
morning, Dagon had fallen with his face to the
ground in front of the Ark of the Lord! So they
took Dagon and put him in his place again. 4 But
the next morning the same thing happened—
Dagon had fallen face down before the Ark of
the Lord again. This time his head and hands
had broken off and were lying in the doorway.
Only the trunk of his body was left intact. 5 That
is why to this day neither the priests of Dagon
nor anyone who enters the temple of Dagon in
Ashdod will step on its threshold.
6 Then the Lord’s heavy hand struck the
people of Ashdod and the nearby villages with
a plague of tumors.* 7 When the people realized what was happening, they cried out, “We
can’t keep the Ark of the God of Israel here any
longer! He is against us! We will all be destroyed
along with Dagon, our god.” 8 So they called
5
5:6 Greek version and Latin Vulgate read tumors; and rats
appeared in their land, and death and destruction were
throughout the city. 5:11 Or he.
together the rulers of the Philistine towns and
asked, “What should we do with the Ark of the
God of Israel?”
The rulers discussed it and replied, “Move
it to the town of Gath.” So they moved the Ark
of the God of Israel to Gath. 9 But when the Ark
arrived at Gath, the Lord’s heavy hand fell on
its men, young and old; he struck them with a
plague of tumors, and there was a great panic.
10 So they sent the Ark of God to the town
of Ekron, but when the people of Ekron saw it
coming they cried out, “They are bringing the
Ark of the God of Israel here to kill us, too!”
11 The people summoned the Philistine rulers
again and begged them, “Please send the Ark of
the God of Israel back to its own country, or it*
will kill us all.” For the deadly plague from God
had already begun, and great fear was sweeping
across the town. 12 Those who didn’t die were afflicted with tumors; and the cry from the town
rose to heaven.
The Philistines Return the Ark
The Ark of the Lord remained in Philistine
territory seven months in all. 2 Then the Philistines called in their priests and diviners and
asked them, “What should we do about the Ark
of the Lord? Tell us how to return it to its own
country.”
3 “Send the Ark of the God of Israel back with
a gift,” they were told. “Send a guilt offering so
the plague will stop. Then, if you are healed,
you will know it was his hand that caused the
plague.”
4 “What sort of guilt offering should we send?”
they asked.
And they were told, “Since the plague has
struck both you and your five rulers, make five
gold tumors and five gold rats, just like those
that have ravaged your land. 5 Make these things
to show honor to the God of Israel. Perhaps then
he will stop afflicting you, your gods, and your
land. 6 Don’t be stubborn and rebellious as Pharaoh and the Egyptians were. By the time God
was finished with them, they were eager to let
Israel go.
7 “Now build a new cart, and find two cows
that have just given birth to calves. Make sure
the cows have never been yoked to a cart.
Hitch the cows to the cart, but shut their calves
away from them in a pen. 8 Put the Ark of the
Lord on the cart, and beside it place a chest containing the gold rats and gold tumors you are
sending as a guilt offering. Then let the cows go
wherever they want. 9 If they cross the border of
our land and go to Beth-shemesh, we will know
it was the Lord who brought this great disaster
upon us. If they don’t, we will know it was not
his hand that caused the plague. It came simply
by chance.”
10 So these instructions were carried out. Two
6