The struggle with the Philistines
The First Book of Samuel (chapters 4, 5 & 6)
4 SO SAMUEL'S WORD HAD AUTHORITY throughout Israel. And the
time came when the Philistines mustered for battle against Israel, and
the Israelites went out to meet them. The Israelites encamped at Eben-
ezer and the Philistines at Aphek. The Philistines drew up their lines facing
the Israelites, and when they joined battle the Israelites were routed
by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand men on the field. When
the army got back to the camp, the elders of Israel asked, 'Why did the
Lord let us be routed today by the Philistines? Let us fetch the Ark of
the Covenant of the Lord from Shiloh to go with us and deliver us from the
power of our enemies.' So the people sent to Shiloh and fetched the Ark
of the Covenant of the Lord of Hosts, who is enthroned upon the cherubim;
Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the Ark. When the
Ark came into the camp all the Israelites greeted it with a great shout, and
the earth rang with the shouting. The Philistines heard the noise and
asked, 'What is this great shouting in the camp of the Hebrews?' When
they knew that the Ark of the Lord had come into the camp, they were
afraid and cried, 'A god has come into the camp. We are lost! No such
thing has ever happened before. We are utterly lost! Who can deliver us
from the power of these mighty gods? These are the very gods who broke
the Egyptians and crushed them in the wilderness. Courage, Philistines,
and act like men, or you will become slaves to the Hebrews as they were
yours. Be men, and fight!' The Philistines then gave battle, and the Israel-
ites were defeated and fled to their homes. It was a great defeat, and thirty
thousand Israelite foot-soldiers perished. The Ark of God was taken, and
Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were killed.
A Benjamite ran from the battlefield and reached Shiloh on the same
day, his clothes rent and dust on his head. When he arrived, Eli was sitting
on a seat by the road to Mizpah, for he was deeply troubled about the Ark
of God. The man entered the city with his news, and all the people cried
out in horror. When Eli heard it, he asked, 'What does this uproar mean?'
The man hurried to Eli and told him. Eli was ninety-eight years old and
sat staring with sightless eyes; so the man said to him, 'I am the man who
has just arrived from the battle; this very day I have escaped from the field.'
Eli asked, 'What is the news, my son?' The runner answered, 'The
Israelites have fled from the Philistines; utter panic has struck the army;
your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are killed, and the Ark of God is
taken.' At the mention of the Ark of God, Eli fell backwards from his seat
by the gate and broke his neck, for he was old and heavy. So he died; he
had been judge over Israel for forty years. His daughter-in-law, the wife
of Phinehas, was with child and near her time, and when she heard of the
capture of the Ark and the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband,
her labour suddenly began and she crouched down and was delivered.
As she lay dying, the women who attended her said, 'Do not be afraid;
you have a son.' But she did not answer or heed what they said. Then they
named the boy Ichabod, saying, 'Glory has departed from Israel' (in
allusion to the capture of the Ark of God and the death of her father-in-
law and her husband); 'Glory has departed from Israel,' they said, because
the Ark of God is taken.'
5 After the Philistines had captured the Ark of God, they brought it
from Eben-ezer to Ashdod; and there they carried it into the temple of
Dagon and set it beside Dagon himself. When the people of Ashdod rose
next morning, there was Dagon fallen face downwards before the Ark of
the Lord; so they took him and put him back in his place. Next morning
when they rose, Dagon had again fallen face downwards before the Ark
of the Lord, with his head and his two hands lying broken off beside his
platform; only Dagon's body remained on it. This is why from that day
to this the priests of Dagon and all who enter the temple of Dagon at Ashdod
do not set foot upon Dagon's platform.
Then the Lord laid a heavy hand upon the people of Ashdod; he threw
them into distress and plagued them with tumours, and their territory
swarmed with rats. There was death and destruction all through the city.
When the men of Ashdod saw this, they said, "The Ar of the God of
Israel shall not stay here, for he has laid a heavy hand upon us and upon
Dagon our god.' So they sent and called all the Philistine princes together
to ask what should be done with the Ark. They said, 'Let the Ark of the
God of Israel be taken across to Gath.' They took it there, and after its
arrival the hand of the Lord caused great havoc in the city; he plagued
everybody, high and low alike, with the tumours which broke out. Then
they sent the Ark of God on to Ekron. When the Ark reached Ekron, the
people cried, 'They have brought the Ark of the God of Israel over to us,
to kill us and our families.' So they summoned all the Philistine princes and
said, 'Send the Ark of the God of Israel away; let it go back to its own place,
or it will be the death of us all.' There was death and destruction all through
the city; for the hand of God lay heavy upon it. Even those who did not die
were plagued with tumours; the cry of the city went up to heaven.
6 When the Ark of the Lord had been in their territory for seven months,
the Philistines summoned the priests and soothsayers and asked, 'What
shall we do with the Ark of the Lord? Tell us how we ought to send it
back to its own place.' They answered, 'If you send the Ark of the God of
Israel back, do not let it go without a gift, but send it back with a gift for
him by way of indemnity; then you will be healed and restored to favour;
there is no reason why his hand should not be lifted from you.' When they
were asked, 'What gift shall we send back to him?', they answered, 'Send
five tumours modelled in gold and five gold rats, one for each of the
Philistine princes, for the same plague afflicted all of you and your princes.
Make models of your tumours and of the rats which are ravaging the land,
and give honour to the God of Israel; perhaps he will relax the pressure of
his hand on you, on your god, and on your land. Why should you be stub-
born like Pharaoh and the Egyptians? Remember how this god made
sport of them until they let Israel go. Now make a new wagon ready with
two milch-cows which have never been yoked; harness the cows to the
wagon, and take their calves from them and drive them back to their stalls.
Then take the Ark of the Lord and put it on the wagon, place in a casket,
beside it, the gold offerings that you are sending to him as an indemnity,
and let it go where it will. Watch it: if it goes up towards its own territory
to Beth-shemesh, then it is the Lord who has done us this great injury;
but if not, then we shall know that his hand has not touched us, but we
have been the victims of chance.'
The men did this. They took two milch-cows and harnessed them to a
wagon, shutting up their calves in the stall, and they place the Ark of the
Lord on the wagon together with the casket, the gold rats, and the models
of their haemorrhoids. Then the cows went straight in the direction of
Beth-shemesh; they kept to the same road, lowing as they went and turning
neither right nor left, while the Philistine princes followed them as far as
the territory of Beth-shemesh. Now the people of Beth-shemesh were
harvesting their wheat in the Vale, and when they looked up and saw the
Ark they rejoiced at the sight of it. The wagon came to the farm of Joshua
of Beth-shemesh and halted there. Close by stood a great stone; so they
chopped up the wood of the wagon and offered the cows as a whole-
offering to the Lord. Then the Levites lifted down the Ark of the Lord
and the casket containing the gold offerings, and laid them on the great
stone; and the men of Beth-shemesh offered whole-offerings and shared-
offerings that day to the Lord. The five princes of the Philistines watched
all this, and returned to Ekron the same day.
These golden haemorrhoids which the Philistines sent back as a gift of
indemnity to the Lord were for Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and
Ekron, one for each city. The Gold rats were for all the towns of the Philis-
tines governed by the five princes, both fortified towns and open settle-
ments. The great stone where they deposited the Ark of the Lord stands
witness on the farm of Joshua of Beth-shemesh to this very day.
But the sons of Jeconiah did not rejoice with the rest of the men of
Beth-shemesh when they welcomed the Ark of the Lord, and he struck
down seventy of them. The people mourned because the Lord had struck
them so heavy a blow, and the men of Beth-shemesh said, 'No one is safe
in the presence of the Lord, this holy God. To whom can we send it, to
be rid of him?' So they sent this message to the inhabitants of Kiriath-
jearim: 'The Philistines have returned the Ark of the Lord; come down
and take charge of it.' Then the men of Kiriath-jearim came and took the
Ark of the Lord away; they brought it into the house of Abinadab on the
hill and consecrated his son Eleazar as its custodian.
The New English Bible (with Apocrypha)
Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, 1970
Posted Apr 29, 2018, 5:39 AM UTC
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