1 Samuel 6:6

_WHEREFORE THEN DO YE HARDEN YOUR HEARTS, AS THE EGYPTIANS AND PHARAOH HARDENED THEIR HEARTS? WHEN HE HAD WROUGHT WONDERFULLY AMONG THEM, DID THEY NOT LET THE PEOPLE GO, AND THEY DEPARTED?_ Wherefore then do ye harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts. The memory of the appalling judgments that had been inflicted on Egypt was not yet obliterated. Whether preserved in written records or in floating tradition, they were still fresh in the minds of men, and being extensively spread, were doubtless the means of diffusing the knowledge and fear of the true God....

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 6:6. _WHEREFORE THEN DO YE HARDEN YOUR HEARTS_] They had heard how God punished the Egyptians, and they are afraid of similar plagues. It appears that they had kept the ark long enough. _DID THEY NOT LET THE PEOPLE GO_] And has he not _wrought_ _wonderfully among us_? And should we not send back his ark?...

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

WHEREFORE THEN DO YE HARDEN YOUR HEARTS, AS THE EGYPTIANS AND PHARAOH HARDENED THEIR HEARTS?.... And would not let Israel go, when their dismission was demanded by Moses and Aaron in the name of the Lord; but was refused from time to time, being given up to judicial blindness and hardness of heart: and it seems by this, that though it was proposed by some to send back the ark, and which the priests and diviners approved of; yet there were some that were against it, who, notwithstanding the plagues inflicted on them, like Pharaoh and the Egyptians hardened their hearts; which story these priests were acquainted with by the tradition of their ancestors, this being a fact then generally known in the world; or by the relation of the Israelites, over whom they had ruled many years, and were conversant with them: WHEN HE HAD WROUGHT WONDERFULLY AMONG THEM: that is, the God of Israel, though t...

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

AS. according as....

_as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts_ A second allusion (cp. ch. 1 Samuel 4:8) to the events of the Exodus. See Exodus 8:15; Exodus 8:32; Exodus 9:34. _when he had wrought wonderfully among them_ Or, WROUGHT HIS WILL UPON THEM. The word is used in Exodus 10:2 (E. V. wrought), and 1 Samuel 31:4 (E. V. abuse). The Sept. renders it by ἐμπαίζειν = mock. But the E. V. may be right here....

_The Decision to Return the Ark. 1 Samuel 6:1-9_ And the ark of the Lord was in the country of the Philistines seven months. 2 And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, What shall we do to the ark of the Lord? tell us wherewith we shall send it to his place. 3 And they said, If ye send away the ark of the God of Israel, send it not empty; but in any wise return him a trespass offering: then ye shall be healed, and it shall be known to you why his hand is not removed from you. 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. 5 Wherefore ye shall make images of your emerods, and images of your mice that mar the land; and ye shal