1 Samuel 6:4

_THEN SAID THEY, WHAT SHALL BE THE TRESPASS OFFERING WHICH WE SHALL RETURN TO HIM? THEY ANSWERED, FIVE GOLDEN EMERODS, AND FIVE GOLDEN MICE, ACCORDING TO THE NUMBER OF THE LORDS OF THE PHILISTINES: FOR ONE PLAGUE WAS ON YOU ALL, AND ON YOUR LORDS._ Five golden emerods. Votive or thank offerings were commonly made by the pagan in prayer for, or gratitude after, deliverance from lingering or dangerous disorders, in the form of metallic (generally silver) models or images of the diseased parts of the body. This is common still in Roman Catholic countries, as well as in the temples of the Hindus and other modern pagan. FIVE GOLDEN MICE. This animal is supposed by some to be the jerboa, or jumping mouse of Syria and Egypt (Bochart); by others, to be the short-tailed field-mouse, which often swarms in prodigious numbers, and commits great ravages in the cultivated fields of Palestine. Images...

1-9 Seven months the Philistines were punished with the presence of the ark; so long it was a plague to them, because they would not send it home sooner. Sinners lengthen out their own miseries by refusing to part with their sins. The Israelites made no effort to recover the ark. Alas! where shall we find concern for religion prevail above all other matters? In times of public calamity we fear for ourselves, for our families, and for our country; but who cares for the ark of God? We are favoured with the gospel, but it is treated with neglect or contempt. We need not wonder if it should be taken from us; to many persons this, though the heavies of calamities, would occasion no grief. There are multitudes whom any profession would please as well as that of Christianity. But there are those who value the house, the word, and the ministry of God above their richest possessions, who dread t...

Verse 1 Samuel 6:4. _FIVE GOLDEN EMERODS, AND FIVE GOLDEN MICE_] _One_ for each satrapy. The _emerods_ had afflicted their bodies; the _mice_ had marred their land. Both, they considered, as sent by God; and, making an image of each, and sending them as a trespass-offering, they acknowledged this. See at the end....

It was a prevalent custom in pagan antiquity to make offerings to the gods expressive of the particular mercy received. Thus, those saved from shipwreck offered pictures of the shipwreck, etc., and the custom still exists among Christians in certain countries. The plague of the mice is analogous to that of the frogs in Egypt. The destructive power of field-mice was very great....

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

THEN SAID THEY, WHAT SHALL BE THE TRESPASS OFFERING WHICH WE SHALL RETURN TO HIM?.... 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; 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 sm

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

EMERODS. See note on 1 Samuel 5:6,: i.e. models of them in gold; of which, modern "votive offerings "are the lineal descendants. Compare 1 Samuel 6:5. LORDS. See note on Joshua 13:3....

_emerods_ Or, boils. See note on ch. 1 Samuel 5:6. _according to the number of the lords of the Philistines_ The number of the confederate cities was naturally chosen to represent the whole people....