1 Samuel 6:21

_AND THEY SENT MESSENGERS TO THE INHABITANTS OF KIRJATH-JE'ARIM, SAYING, THE PHILISTINES HAVE BROUGHT AGAIN THE ARK OF THE LORD; COME YE DOWN, AND FETCH IT UP TO YOU._ They sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kirjath-jearim - `the city of woods,' called also Kirjath-baal (Joshua 15:60; Joshua 18:14; 1 Chronicles 13:6). This was the nearest town to Beth-shemesh, and being a place of strength, was a fitter place for the residence of the ark. The inhabitants belonging to the Hivite tetrapolis were the sacred servants of the sanctuary, and therefore the proper parties to whom, in the emergency, the custody of the ark should be committed. What a sad degeneracy for the Levitical house of Aaron in Beth

19-21 It is a great affront to God, for vain men to pry into, and meddle with the secret things which belong not to them, Deuteronomy 29:29; Colossians 2:18. Man was ruined by desiring forbidden knowledge. God will not suffer his ark to be profaned. Be not deceived, God is not mocked. Those that will not fear his goodness, and reverently use the tokens of his grace, shall be made to feel his justice. The number smitten is expressed in an unusual manner in the original, and it is probable that it means 1170. They desire to be rid of the ark. Foolish men run from one extreme to the other. They should rather have asked, How may we have peace with God, and recover his favor? Micah 6:6;...

Verse 1 Samuel 6:21. _TO THE INHABITANTS OF KIRJATH-JEARIM_] They wished the ark away out of their village, but why they sent to this city instead of sending to _Shiloh_, does not appear: probably Shiloh had been destroyed by the Philistines, after the late defeat of Israel. This is most likely, as the ark was never more taken back to that place. IT was a very ancient usage, when a plague or other calamity infested a country, city, c. for the magicians to form an _image_ of the _destroyer_, or of the things on which the plague particularly rested, in gold, silver, ivory, wax, clay, c., under certain configurations of the heavens and to set this up in some proper place, that the evils thus represented might be driven away. These consecrated images were the same that are called _talismans_, or rather _telesms_, among the Asiatics. Mr. Locke calls

KIRJATH-JEARIM - See Joshua 9:17 note. It has been thought that there was a high place at Kirjath-jearim (the hill, 1 Samuel 7:1), the remnant of its old pagan sanctity when it was called Kirjath-Baal, “the city of Baal” (see Joshua 18:14; 2 Samuel 6:2); and that for this reason it was selected as a proper place to send the ark to....

EXPOSITION RESTORATION OF THE ARK TO THE ISRAELITES (1 Samuel 6:1). 1 SAMUEL 6:1, 1 SAMUEL 6:2 THE ARK OF JEHOVAH WAS IN THE COUNTRY—literally, the field, _i.e._ the territory—OF THE PHILISTINES SEVEN MONTHS, during which long time the people wherever the ark was deposited were afflicted in their persons with a most painful malady. The princes determined, therefore, to restore it to Israel, and convened THE PRIESTS AND THE DIVINERS, that they might advise them as to the manner i

AND THEY SENT MESSENGERS TO THE INHABITANTS OF KIRJATHJEARIM,.... Which was a city further on in the tribe of Judah, and lay among some woods, from whence it had its name, and was formerly called Kirjathbaal, from Baal's being worshipped there; of which see Joshua 15:9, they might choose to send hither to fetch the ark from them, because it was at a greater distance from the Philistines, their city Bethshemesh being on the borders of them; and because it might be a place of greater eminence and strength, and besides lay in the way to Shiloh, whereby they might suppose it was intended to be had; unless Shiloh was before this time destroyed: SAYING, THE PHILISTINES HAVE BROUGHT AGAIN THE ARK OF THE LORD; which they doubted not would be good news to them: COME YE DOWN, AND FETCH IT UP TO YOU; but say not one word of the reason of this request, le

CHAPTER S 6:1-7:2 _ 1. The counsel of the Philistines (1 Samuel 6:1)_ 2. The ark at Beth-shemesh (1 Samuel 6:10) 3. The ark at Kirjath-jearim (1 Samuel 6:21; 1 Samuel 7:1) The ark had remained among the Philistines seven months. For them they were months of suffering and deadly destruction. Now they plot to get rid of the ark and of Him whose hand rested so heavily in judgment upon them. The advice of the heathen priests and diviners is that the ark should be sent away with votive offerings of gold, representing that which had plagued them. This was a heathen custom, which has also been adopted and is pract

1 SAMUEL 6:1 TO 1 SAMUEL 7:1. ARK BROUGHT BACK TO BETH-SHEMESH; PLAGUE BREAKS OUT THERE; ARK HOUSED AT KIRIATH-JEARIM. 1 Samuel 6:1 may not belong to the main story; 2 would be a better continuation of 1 Samuel 5:12. At the end of the verse LXX adds And their land swarmed with mice. This would prepare for the mice in 1 Samuel 6:4 f., 1 Samuel 6:11; 1 Samuel 6:18. Possibly these references t

_Kirjath-jearim_ i.e. "_city of forests_," originally belonged to the Gibeonites (Joshua 9:17), and was one of the frontier cities of Judah (Joshua 15:9). The site is probably to be fixed at the modern village of _Kuryet-el-enab_, i.e. "city of the grape," which stands among the hills, 8 or 9 miles N.E. of _Ain Shems_. "A ride over ruined rocky paths, some of the worst in the country, brought us to Kureit-el-Enab, the ancient Kirjath-jearim, in a pleasant valley of olive-groves, abounding in jays and hawks. We dismounted to visit the old Gothic church, said to have been built by the English Crusaders, and still quite perfect, though desecrated by the Moslem villagers to the uses of a cow-shed." Tristram, _Land of Israel_, p. 397. [See however Add. Note IX. p. 245.] Kirjath-jearim was

THE MEN OF BETH-SHEMESH SMITTEN. 1 SAMUEL 6:19-21 19 And he smote the men of Beth-shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the Lord, even he smote of the people fifty thousand and threescore and ten men: and the people lamented, because the Lord had smitten _many_ of the people with a great slaughter. 20 And the men of Beth-shemesh said, Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God? and to whom shall he go up from us? 21 And they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kirjath-jearim, saying, The Philistines have brought again the ark of the Lord; come ye down, _and_ fetch it up to you. _14._ Why did God smite the people of Beth-shemesh? 1 Samuel 6:19 The people of Israel were glad to have the Ark back within their border. They were evidently