Dr Paul Allen

Then He struck the men of Beth Shemesh because they had looked into the ark of the LORD (1 Sam. 6:19a). The Israelites’ joy over the return of the ark of the covenant is replaced by grief and fear when some of the people of Beth Shemesh take an improper liberty. The text indicates they “look into” the ark, perhaps out of a desire to see the tablets of the testimony, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the jar of manna that is kept within the ark (Heb. 9:4). However, the Hebrew grammar indicates that the people simply gaze at the ark. As strange as it may sound, doing so is improper. The ark usually sits concealed within the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle, where it is seen only once a year by the high priest. Even during Israel’s wilderness wandering, the tabernacle furnishings were covered by the priests before the people began a march so that the Kohathites, the Levitical family assigned to carry the furnishings, would not see them (Num. 4:1–20). When the ark arrived in the f...

Then the cows headed straight for the road to Beth Shemesh, and went along the highway, lowing as they went, and did not turn aside to the right hand or the left (1 Sam. 6:12a). The Philistine leaders follow the suggestions of their priests to the letter. They place the ark of the covenant on a newly built cart, along with their “trespass offering” of golden rats and tumors, and hitch the cart to two never-before-yoked milk cows. Then they step back, leaving it up to God to take the ark by miraculous means if He wants it. Surprisingly, He does just that. The cows, which have never pulled a burden before, are able to work in tandem, and the cart begins to move forward smoothly. The cows could go in any direction, of course, but they make a beeline for the road to Beth Shemesh, a city of the tribe of Judah in southern Israel—the very city to which the Philistine priests had said the cart must go as proof that God was guiding it. The cows aren’t happy about this—their low...