The first scientific experiment in the Old Testament
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