1 Samuele 5:11 Commento

It is now time to enquire what has become of the ark of God; we cannot but think that we shall hear more of that sacred treasure. I should have thought the next news would have been that all Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, had gathered together as one man, with a resolution to bring it back, or die in the attempt; but we find not any motion made of that kind, so little was there of zeal or courage left among them. Nay, we do not find that they desired a treaty with the Philistines about the ransom of it, or offered any thing in lieu of it. "It is gone, and let it go." Many have softness enough to lament the loss of the ark that have not hardiness enough to take one step towards the recovery of it, any more than Israel here. If the ark will help itself it may, for they will not help it. Unworthy they were of the name of Israelites that could thus tamely part with the glory of Israel. God would therefore take the work into his own hands and plead his own cause, since men would not appear for him. We are told in this chapter, I. How the Philistines triumphed over the ark (Sa1 5:1, Sa1 5:2), and, II. How the ark triumphed over the Philistines, 1. Over Dagon their god (Sa1 5:3-5). 2. Over the Philistines themselves, who were sorely plagued with emerods, and made weary of the ark; the men of Ashdod first (Sa1 5:6, Sa1 5:7), then the men of Gath (Sa1 5:8, Sa1 5:9), and lastly those of Ekron, which forced them at length upon a resolution to send the ark back to the land of Israel; for when God judgeth he will overcome.

INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 5 This chapter relates how that the ark being brought by the Philistines to Ashdod, and placed in the temple of their idol, that fell down before it, Sa1 5:1, that the hand of the Lord was upon the men of Ashdod, and smote them with emerods, Sa1 5:6 and being carried to Gath, the men of Gath were smitten likewise with the same, Sa1 5:8, and after that the men of Ekron, whither it also was carried, Sa1 5:10.

So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines,.... As the men of Ashdod had done before on the same account, Sa1 5:8. and said, send away the ark of the God of Israel; as these lords were united in their government, and made one common cause of it against Israel, one could not dispose of this capture without the consent of the rest; otherwise the lord of Ekron, with his princes, were clearly in it that it was right and best to send it away out of any of their principalities: and let it go again to its own place; to the land of Israel and Shiloh there, though to that it never returned more: that it slay us not, and our people; that is, all of them, for great numbers had been slain already, as follows: for there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city; a mortal disease went through the whole city, and swept away a multitude of people: the hand of God was very heavy there; it seems by the expression to haste been heavier on the inhabitants of this city than upon those of Ashdod and Gath, which made them the more pressing to get rid of the ark.

11. The satraps, as we have said, are understood as the holy preachers. The Ekronites, who are interpreted as "barren," designate the unconvertible Gentiles. These indeed gave the preachers the counsel of releasing the ark, so that if they refused their own salvation from the divine preaching, they would not stand in the way of the faithful who were journeying toward the eternal homeland with the sacraments of faith. For the place of the ark, that is, of the divine sacraments, is recognized to be there where whatever is now said about almighty God through the mystery of the Scriptures is afterward revealed to us in open knowledge. For he knew the proper place of the ark who said: "We see now through a mirror in an enigma, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I shall know, just as I also have been known" (1 Cor. 13:12). The counsel of the satraps, therefore, was to allow the ark of God to return to its own place: so that, namely, those who bore no fruit of faith from the preaching of the word would at least release it to those who would prepare for themselves from it a fruit in eternity. Rightly, therefore, those who accept the counsel of sending back the ark are called Ekronites. For the Ekronites are interpreted as "barren." Because indeed from the truth of the faith they had heard, they had produced no fruit of belief or of good work, they were barren. Therefore the princes gave the counsel of removing the ark, but from barren ones—so that the seed of the word of God, which could not germinate in the worst soil, might be preserved for the best soil, which from this labor of winter would bring forth a hundredfold fruit of summer in everlasting life. And they immediately show the reason for releasing the ark, when the preachers add: (Verse 11) "Lest it kill us together with our people." 12. The Ekronites cried out: They have sent the ark of God to us, to kill us and our people. The satraps give counsel, saying: Send away the ark of the God of Israel, that it may not kill us with our people. Who is the people about whom the satraps, that is, the princes, say: that it may not kill us with our people? Who is the people, if not the Christian people? The princes therefore say, Send away the ark of the God of Israel, that it may return to its place. As if to say this: What you fear dying from, do not forbid us from exercising for the merit of eternal life. But as for what they add: That it may not kill us with our people, the hearts of the reprobate Gentiles are indeed confounded in their error by this response, since those men affirmed they would escape death from the very thing from which the others trembled to die. The holy preachers also take away the ark of God: because when spiritual things are disclosed to despisers, it leads to the condemnation of the indiscriminate preacher, if those same divine mysteries are abandoned not to be imitated by the faithless, but to be mocked and shut away. For the command to transfer the ark was laid down not so much by the satraps as by the Lord of the satraps, who said: Do not give what is holy to dogs, nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they turn and trample them under their feet (Matt. 7:6). Hence he says again: If they persecute you in one city, flee to another (Matt. 10:23). They therefore take away the ark lest they die: because they hide spiritual things from despisers, lest those who rashly bring them forth be punished for their indiscretion on account of the contempt of those people. But because the ark is commanded to be sent away from the Ekronites, this surely implies what I stated before: that at the time of persecution, the exhortation of the holy preachers was made so that they themselves might believe; but sometimes, so that if they themselves would not receive the word of life, they would not obstruct those who would receive it; and if they themselves, out of fear of torments, would not seize the way of salvation, they would not be an impediment to those who had not ceased hastening toward the heavenly kingdoms despite threats and punishments. There follows: (Verse 12.) For there was a fear of death in every city, and the hand of the Lord was exceedingly heavy. How this is to be understood with regard to the outward persecution has been explained above. There follows: (Verse 12.) The men also who had not died were struck in the more secret part of their buttocks: and the wailing of each city ascended to heaven.

They sent therefore, and gathered all the satraps of the Philistines, etc. Many believers of the nations today, though not in words, say: Abandon the faith, and let it return to the children of Israel, so that at last, having cut us off, they may be grafted according to nature into their own olive tree. For it is better that the ignorant perish, than to be condemned for the transgression of faith, which we cannot keep, along with other sins.

The Philistines set up the ark in the temple of Dagon at Ashdod; whose image is found next morning prostrate before it, broken in pieces, Sa1 5:1-5. The Philistines are also smitten with a sore disease, Sa1 5:6. The people of Ashdod refuse to let the ark stay with them; and the lords of the Philistines, with whom they consulted, order it to be carried to Gath, Sa1 5:7, Sa1 5:8. They do so; and God smites the inhabitants of that city, young and old, with the same disease, Sa1 5:9. They send the ark to Ekron, and a heavy destruction fags upon that city, and they resolve to send it back to Shiloh, Sa1 5:10-12.

Send away the ark - It appears that it had been received at Ekron, for there was a deadly destruction through the whole city. They therefore concluded that the ark should be sent back to Shiloh.

THE PHILISTINES BRING THE ARK INTO THE HOUSE OF DAGON. (Sa1 5:1-2) Ashdod--or Azotus, one of the five Philistine satrapies, and a place of great strength. It was an inland town, thirty-four miles north of Gaza, now called Esdud.

they sent--that is, the magistrates of Ekron.

Humiliation of the Philistines by Means of the Ark of the Covenant - 1 Samuel 5-7:1 Whilst the Israelites were mourning over the loss of the ark of God, the Philistines were also to derive no pleasure from their booty, but rather to learn that the God of Israel, who had given up to them His greatest sanctuary to humble His own degenerate nation, was the only true God, beside Whom there were no other gods. Not only was the principal deity of the Philistines thrown down into the dust and dashed to pieces by the glory of Jehovah; but the Philistines themselves were so smitten, that their princes were compelled to send back the ark into the land of Israel, together with a trespass-offering, to appease the wrath of God, which pressed so heavily upon them.