Commentary - 1 Samuel 6:17-18

Bird's-eye view

In this brief but potent passage, we are witness to the conclusion of a divine object lesson delivered to the Philistines. Having been afflicted with tumors and overrun with mice after sacrilegiously capturing the Ark of Yahweh, these pagans are now making restitution. This is not the story of a great revival in Philistia, but it is a powerful testimony to the absolute sovereignty of the God of Israel. Even His most defiant enemies are compelled to acknowledge His power. The Philistines, acting on the advice of their priests and diviners, return the Ark with a guilt offering, specifically crafted to represent their afflictions. This act, though steeped in pagan superstition, is an involuntary confession of Yahweh's supremacy. The passage serves to demonstrate that God's glory will be recognized, one way or another. He does not need our permission to be God, and His enemies will either bend the knee in faith or have their knees broken in fear.

The offering itself, golden tumors and golden mice, is a picture of propitiation. They are trying to buy off the anger of a deity they have offended. While their theology is faulty, their predicament is real, and their response is a shadow of a deeper truth. Sin brings corruption and death, and an offering is required to atone for it. The stone mentioned at the end stands as a silent, enduring witness to this entire episode, a memorial to the day God vindicated His own holiness in the midst of a pagan land. This event sets the stage for the Ark's return to Israel and the subsequent lessons God would teach His own people about His unapproachable holiness.

Outline

Context In 1 Samuel

This passage concludes the narrative of the Ark's captivity among the Philistines, which began in chapter 4. Israel, treating the Ark like a talisman, brought it into battle and lost it, along with the sons of Eli. This was a devastating judgment on the corrupt priesthood and a faithless generation. However, God did not abandon His glory. In chapter 5, the Ark wreaks havoc in Philistia, toppling the idol of Dagon and striking the people with tumors. Chapter 6 details the Philistines' desperate attempt to rid themselves of this terrifying divine presence. Our text provides the specific inventory of their guilt offering and establishes a permanent marker for the event. This episode is a hinge in the book of 1 Samuel. It demonstrates that while God will certainly judge His own disobedient people, He is also the sovereign Lord over all nations, and His holiness is not to be trifled with by anyone.

Verse by Verse Commentary

17 Now these are the golden tumors which the Philistines returned for a guilt offering to Yahweh: one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath, one for Ekron;

The text begins with an inventory, a tally sheet of reparations. The Philistines are not sending a generic gift; they are sending a very specific tribute. These are "golden tumors." They have fashioned idols of their own plague. This is what terrified sinners do when they have no gospel. They try to manage the judgment. They take the very instrument of their misery, in this case, the tumors, and they attempt to turn it into an object of appeasement. It is a superstitious act, to be sure, but it is also a confession. They are admitting, "This is what your God did to us." God has a way of making his enemies testify against themselves. He will wring a confession out of them, even if it is a confession made in terror.

They return it as a "guilt offering to Yahweh." The Philistines are borrowing from the religious vocabulary of Israel, or at least a universal concept of appeasing an offended deity. A guilt offering, in the Mosaic law, was for sins of desecration, for trespassing against holy things. How appropriate. The Philistines had trespassed against the holiest object in Israel, the very footstool of God. Their offering acknowledges their guilt. They know they are in the wrong. This is not repentance in the sense of turning to Yahweh in faith and love. It is the terrified response of a burglar who has broken into the wrong house and is now trying to put everything back, hoping to avoid prosecution. But in doing so, they acknowledge the true owner of the house.

The list of the five cities, the major centers of the Philistine pentapolis, is significant. Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, Ekron. This was not a localized problem; it was a national humiliation. Each of the five lords had to swallow his pride and send a golden tumor. The judgment was comprehensive, and so the confession had to be as well. God did not just strike one city; He brought the entire nation to its knees. This is a reminder that God's sovereignty is not limited by geography or political boundaries. The gods of the Philistines were regional deities, but the God of Israel is the God of the whole earth.

18a and the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, both of fortified cities and of country villages.

The offering continues with "the golden mice." The earlier part of the chapter tells us that the land was swarming with mice, another aspect of the plague. So they make golden mice. Again, they are memorializing their judgment. But notice the scope here. It is "according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines." This goes beyond the five capital cities. The offering represents everyone, from the "fortified cities" down to the "country villages." No one was exempt from this plague, and so no one is exempt from the offering. The mighty lord in his walled city and the simple farmer in his village were both under the heavy hand of God.

This is a crucial point about the nature of God's rule. He is Lord of all. There is no corner of creation where His writ does not run. The Philistines, in their paganism, understood this in a practical way that many modern Christians fail to grasp. They knew that this plague was from a specific God and that a specific response was required from everyone. They did not chalk it up to bad luck or poor sanitation. They knew they had a controversy with a deity, and that deity had a very long reach. The golden mice, representing every town and village, are a confession that the whole land belongs to Yahweh, and the whole land had been judged by Him.

18b The large stone on which they set the ark of Yahweh is a witness to this day in the field of Joshua the Beth-shemite.

The narrative concludes by pointing to a landmark. After the cows brought the cart to Beth-shemesh, the Levites took down the Ark and placed it on a "large stone." The author of 1 Samuel, writing sometime later, notes that this stone "is a witness to this day." History matters. God acts in time and space, and He leaves evidence. This stone was not just a convenient place to set the Ark; it became a monument, a memorial. It was a silent preacher in the field of a man named Joshua. For generations, an Israelite father could walk with his son through that field, point to that rock, and say, "That is where the Ark of God came back from the land of the Philistines. That is the stone that testifies to the power of our God to humble His enemies."

The world is full of such witnesses, if we have eyes to see them. Creation itself is a witness. The empty tomb is a witness. And here, a simple, large stone in a field becomes a witness. It testifies that God's glory cannot be successfully held captive by His enemies. It testifies that even pagans, in their fear, can be made to declare the truth of God's power. And it testifies that God is faithful to His people, even when they are unfaithful to Him. He brought the Ark back, not because Israel deserved it, but because His own name and glory were at stake. That stone is a witness to the fact that God will always, always vindicate His own holiness.

Application

There are several points of application for us here. First, we must recognize the absolute and inescapable sovereignty of God. The Philistines did not want to glorify Yahweh, but they did. They were compelled to. This should give us great confidence. The enemies of God in our own day may mock and rage, but God is not mocked. He will get His glory, either through their willing worship or their terrified restitution. Every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Some will do so in joy, others in abject terror, but all will do so.

Second, we see a picture of false repentance. The Philistines were sorry, but they were only sorry they got caught. They were trying to appease God's wrath, not embrace His fellowship. They sent away the symbol of His presence as fast as they could. This is a warning to us. True repentance is not just about trying to get out of trouble. It is not about making golden idols of our sins to try and buy God off. True repentance is turning from our sin and running to God, not away from Him. The Philistines sent the Ark away; the true penitent draws near to the throne of grace, because the true guilt offering has already been made for us in the person of Jesus Christ.

Finally, we are reminded of the importance of bearing witness. That great stone stood in a field for generations, telling a story. We are called to be living stones, witnesses to the return of the King. We are to tell the story of how God, in His great power, rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into His own kingdom. The world may not understand our theology, just as the Philistines did not understand the intricacies of the Levitical law. But they can understand power, they can understand judgment, and they can understand mercy. Let us, like that great stone, be a faithful witness to the mighty acts of our God, who humbles the proud and exalts the humble.