The Superstitious Man's Bargain Text: 1 Samuel 6:17-18
Introduction: When God Invades Pagan Territory
We live in an age that prides itself on its sophistication, its supposed enlightenment. We think of paganism as something ancient, something involving crude idols and primitive rituals. But paganism is alive and well; it has simply changed its clothes. The modern pagan doesn't bow to a stone image of Dagon, but he does bow to the idols of autonomous reason, sexual liberation, and the all-powerful state. And at the root, the operating system is exactly the same: a desperate attempt to manage, manipulate, and appease the divine on one's own terms.
The story of the Ark of the Covenant among the Philistines is a glorious disruption of this pagan mindset. For seven months, the manifest presence of the living God, the God of Israel, has been a hot potato in the hands of His enemies. They stole it thinking they had captured Israel's God, like a rival mascot. They placed it in the temple of Dagon as a trophy, only to find their fish-god repeatedly prostrate and broken before it. God then afflicted them with tumors, or emerods, and a plague of mice, driving the Ark from city to city, leaving a trail of death and disease in its wake. The Philistines, these hard-headed military men, have been thoroughly routed, not by an Israelite army, but by the sheer, untamable holiness of God Himself.
Our text today picks up at the conclusion of this affair. The Philistine priests and diviners, who are the ancient world's equivalent of our modern "experts," have devised a plan. They are sending the Ark back, but not empty-handed. They are sending a "guilt offering," a payment, a bribe, an attempt to placate the angry deity they have offended. What we see here is a master class in the anatomy of false religion. It is a religion of fear, of superstition, of quid pro quo bargaining. It is an attempt to keep God at a safe distance while still trying to get the benefits of His mercy. And as we will see, this is a picture of every religion that is not the religion of Jesus Christ.
The Philistines are trying to solve a God-problem without God. They want the plagues to stop, but they don't want the God who sent them. They acknowledge His power, but they refuse to bow to His authority. And in this, they are the spitting image of modern man, who wants the blessings of a Christian moral order without the Christ who is its foundation.
The Text
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; 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 large stone on which they set the ark of Yahweh is a witness to this day in the field of Joshua the Beth-shemite.
(1 Samuel 6:17-18 LSB)
Pagan Appeasement (v. 17)
We begin with the inventory of the Philistines' offering.
"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..." (1 Samuel 6:17)
The Philistines are sending a guilt offering. The term here is "asham," the same word used in the Levitical law for the guilt or trespass offering. This shows that they have a borrowed, distorted understanding of how to approach the God of Israel. They know an offense requires a payment. This is a truth written on the conscience of every man, a remnant of the image of God. Every false religion in the world is built on this premise: God is angry, and something must be done to appease Him.
But look at what they offer. They offer golden replicas of their affliction. This is sympathetic magic. It's the logic of a voodoo doll. The idea is that by making an image of the plague, they can gain power over it and banish it. They are trying to manipulate the spiritual realm with physical objects. They are not repenting of their sin of idolatry and theft; they are trying to pay God off. They are treating Yahweh like one of their own petty deities who can be bribed.
There is one golden tumor for each of the five capital cities of the Philistine pentapolis. This is a corporate acknowledgment of guilt. Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, Ekron, each city that was ravaged by the presence of the Ark, sends its tribute. They understand that this judgment was not random; it was targeted. God was systematically dismantling their entire nation, city by city. Their offering is an admission of defeat. But it is the confession of a prisoner of war, not the repentance of a son.
This is the essence of all works-righteousness. It is an attempt to bargain with God. "God, if you do this for me, I'll do that for you." "God, I'll give you this golden tumor, you take away the real one." It is a religion of transaction, not transformation. The pagan heart is always trying to find a way to satisfy God's justice without having to bow to His Lordship. It wants forgiveness without repentance. It wants deliverance without submission. But the true God does not negotiate. He commands.
A Plague of Mice and Men (v. 18a)
The offering continues in the first part of verse 18.
"...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." (1 Samuel 6:18a LSB)
Along with the tumors, they send golden mice. Why mice? Because the land was also swarming with them, a plague that destroyed their crops and brought famine. God's judgment was comprehensive. He struck their bodies with tumors and their livelihood with mice. He came at them from two directions, demonstrating His total sovereignty over their health and their wealth. They could not escape Him.
Notice the number. It is "according to the number of all the cities," including the fortified cities and the unwalled country villages. This shows the extent of the plague. It wasn't just the urban centers; the judgment of God had reached every corner of Philistia. Their offering acknowledges the totality of their helpless condition. They are admitting that from the greatest lord in his palace to the poorest farmer in his field, everyone was under the gun. The God of Israel had them surrounded.
Here we see a fundamental truth about sin and judgment. When God judges a nation, He is thorough. The idols of the Philistines, their military might, their political structure, were all powerless. Their attempt to appease God with these golden trinkets is pathetic, but it is also instructive. It shows the bankruptcy of all man-made religion. When confronted with the holy terror of the living God, all the pagan can do is offer up a gilded image of his own misery. He offers God golden mice, a monument to his own devastation.
This is what sin does. It reduces men to such a state of desperation that their only recourse is to make shiny copies of their own judgment. The modern man does the same. He takes his brokenness, his addictions, his perversions, and he gilds them. He calls them "authentic," he calls them "pride," he makes shiny documentaries about them. But it is all just golden mice, a desperate attempt to appease a holy God without actually dealing with the sin.
The Stone of Witness (v. 18b)
The verse concludes by establishing a permanent memorial of this event.
"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." (1 Samuel 6:18b LSB)
When the cart carrying the Ark arrives in Israelite territory, it stops beside a large stone in a field. The Levites take the Ark and place it on this stone. This stone is not incidental; the text tells us it became a "witness to this day." A witness to what? It was a witness to the entire event. It testified to the holiness of God, a holiness so potent that it routed the most powerful nation in the region without a single sword being drawn by Israel. It testified to the folly of the Philistines and the failure of their gods. It testified to the fact that God cannot be captured, managed, or domesticated.
Throughout Scripture, God sets up stones of remembrance. After crossing the Jordan, Joshua had the Israelites set up twelve stones as a witness to God's power (Joshua 4). Jacob set up a stone at Bethel. Samuel would later set up a stone and call it Ebenezer, "the stone of help." These memorials were to serve as a permanent, physical sermon, preaching to future generations. They were anchors for the covenant memory of the people.
This great stone in the field of Joshua was a witness to the profound Creator/creature distinction. The Philistines tried to treat God as a creature, an object they could manipulate. The result was disaster. The stone stood as a silent rebuke to all such attempts. It says, "Here is the place where the untamable God of heaven and earth rested for a moment, after having laid waste to the enemies who dared to trifle with Him." It is a witness that God must be approached on His terms, and His terms alone.
The Gospel of the Guilt Offering
So what does this story of pagan fear and golden tumors have to do with us? Everything. This entire episode is a graphic, Old Testament illustration of the inadequacy of all human attempts to deal with guilt, and it points us forward to the only true guilt offering.
Like the Philistines, all of humanity is afflicted with a plague. It is not a plague of tumors or mice, but the plague of sin, which brings death. We are born into a hostile territory, the kingdom of darkness, and we are by nature enemies of God. And like the Philistines, we try to solve our guilt problem on our own terms. We offer up our own golden tumors, our good works, our religious observances, our self-improvement projects, our charitable giving. We try to bargain with God. We try to appease Him with the shiny replicas of a righteous life, hoping He won't notice that the core of our being is still in rebellion against Him.
But God does not accept golden tumors. He does not accept the bribes of a superstitious heart. The guilt offering that God requires is not something we can fashion with our own hands. The prophet Isaiah tells us what the true guilt offering is. Speaking of the Messiah, he says, "Yet it was the will of Yahweh to crush Him; He has put Him to grief; when His soul makes an offering for guilt (an asham), He shall see His offspring; He shall prolong His days" (Isaiah 53:10).
Jesus Christ is the true and final guilt offering. The Philistines offered up images of their sickness. God offered up His own Son. He became the curse for us. He took the plague of our sin into His own body on the cross. He didn't just have the image of the tumor; He became the tumor. He who knew no sin was made sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21).
The Philistines sent the Ark away to get God out of their lives. The gospel is the good news that God, in Christ, has come near. He has invaded our pagan territory not to destroy us, but to save us. The great stone of witness in the field of Joshua points us to another stone, the stone that was rolled away from the tomb of Jesus. That empty tomb is the ultimate witness. It testifies that God accepted the guilt offering of His Son. It testifies that sin and death have been defeated. It testifies that our debt has been paid in full, not with golden trinkets, but with the precious blood of Christ.
Therefore, we must stop trying to bargain with God. We must throw away our pathetic golden mice and tumors. We must come to God with empty hands, confessing our spiritual bankruptcy, and cling to the only guilt offering that He will ever accept: His Son, Jesus Christ. To do anything else is to remain a Philistine, cowering before a God you refuse to know, and trusting in a sacrifice that cannot save.