Exposition of the Whole Bible

y¥. 1. And the word of Somuel came to all Ifrael, &c.] Or was known, as the Targum, the word of prophecy by him, which related to what befel £% battle, the Philiftines had the better of the J/- raelites, which caufed the latter to enquire into reafon of it, and who propofed to fetch the ark of the Lord, and did, to repair their lofs, and prepare for a fecond battle, in which they hoped to fucceed, and which ftruck a panic into their enemies, y.12—18. and to his daughter-in-law, who upon it fell into labour, and died alfo; ¥. 19-22. and his family; this was fpread throughout the land thejand every one almoft had knowledge of it, and which began to be fulfilled in the war between J/- ” rae/‘and the Philiffines, after related; or the doctrine, inftructions and exhortations of Samael to the people of J/rae/, were by the means of others conveyed throughout the land; and yet they went into meafures which proved fatal and ruinous to them; or the word of Samuel, which was from the / Lord, came to J/rael, to ftir them up to go to war with the Pdilitines, whereby the punifhment - threatened to E/#’s family would begin to have its accomplifhment: ow Ifrael went out againft the Philiftines to battle, according to the word of Samuel, Jor of the Lord by him; tho’ Bea Gerfom thinks,

¥. 1—7. who yet encouraged and ftirred up one another to behave in a courageous manner, and victory a fecond time was on their fide, a great number of the //raelites were flain, among whom{ were Hophni and Phinchas, the two fons of Eli,and the ark of God was taken, ¥. 8—1r1. the news of which being brought to E/i, he fell back and died,

they did this of themfelves, which was their fin, and did not afk counfel of the Lord, nor of Sasuel his prophet; but it feems as if the Pdiliftines were the aggreffors, and firft came forth to war againft them, and they went out to meet them *, as the word is, and defend themfelves, as it became them: this was forty years after the death of Samfon, and at the end of Ei’s government, who judged J/rael fo many years, when they had _recruited themfelves, and recovered their loffes they fuitained ‘by Sam/fon; and when they perceived a new judge was raifed up among the J/raelites, who was likely to be of great fervice to them, and to prevent their authority over them, and therefore thought to begin with them betimes: and pitched befide Eben-ezer,‘a place fo called by anticipation, and had its name from an after victory obtained, when Samuel fet up a flone between Mizpeh and Shen, and called it by this name, ch. vii. 12. it fignifies a ftone of help: and the Philiftines pitched in Aphek, a city in the tribe of Fudab bordering on the Pbiliftines, Foo. xv. 53. fee the note on Fo. xii. 18.

_¥.2. And the Philijiines put themfelves in array egainft I/rael, &c.|Prepared for battle, and put themfelves in a pofture for it; formed themfelves in a line’ of battle, and fo invited and challenged the J raelites to fight them: aud when they joined battle; engaged with each other, the J/raelites doing the fame, putting themfelves in a proper form, and pofture for fighting; or the battle was {pread, or fpread itfelf”; that is, as the Yargum, they that made war were fpread; the foldiers were placed in order for battle, to the right and left, which took up on both fides a large fpace; though Abarbiwel underftands this in a very different fenfe, and takes the word to have the fame fignification as in Pf. Ixxviii. 60. where it has the fenfe of forfaking; and fo here the J/raelites forfook the battle, and fled, which brought on their deftruction, miliation for their fins, and without praying to God for fuccefs, and that it was intended as a correétion of them for their offences againft God:' let us fetch the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of Shilob unto us; in which the law was, fometimes called the covenant between God and them; and which was a fymbol of the divine prefence, for want of which they fuppofed they had not the prefence cf God with them, and fo had not fuccefs; and. the rather, they were encouraged to take this ftep and method, becaufe that formerly J/rae/'had fuccefs againft their enemies when the ark was with them, Numb, xxxi. 6. Fob. vi. 6. though no doubt in this there was an over-ruling providence of God, by which they were led to take fuch a ftep as this, in order to bring the two fons of £/ into the camp, that they might be flain in one day, according to the divine prediction: shat when it cometh among us, it may fave us out of the band of our enemies; foolifhly placing their confidence in an external fymbol, and not in the Lord himfelf; afcribing falvation to that which only belongs to him, whether of a temporal or fpiritual kind: and fuch folly and vanity are men guilty of, when they feek to, make ufe of, and truft in any thing fhort of Chrift for falvation; as in carnal defcent; in the rituals of the law; in the ordinances of the gofpel; in any religious exercifes, private or publick; or in any works of righteoufnefs done by them: in Chrift alone is falvation from fpiritual enemies; and indeed from the Lord only is falvation and deliverance from temporal enemies.

¥. 4. So the people fent to Shilob, &c.] They liked the propofal of the elders, took their advice, and joined with them in a meffage to E/i the highprieft at Shiloh: that they might bring from thence the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hofts, which dwelleth between the cherubim; which over-fhadowed the mercy-feat that was upon the ark, and was the refidence of the divine majeity; wherefore, flight being, as the Fews fay *, the beginning of having this with them, they concluded they fhould fall or ruin, as it follows: J/rael was {mitten before the Philiftines; they had the worft of it, and were beaten: and they flew of the army in the field about 4000 men, fo many fell upon the fpot, in the field.

wv. 3. And when the people came into the camp, &c.] » At Lben-ezer, where they pitched their tents, and from whence they went out to battle, and whither they returned after their defeat: the elders of Ifrael faid, wherefore hath the Lord fmitten us to-day before the Philiftines? they were right in alcribing it to the Lord, who had fuffered them to be defeated by their enemies, but it is ftrange they fhould be fo infenfible of the caufe of it; there was a reafon ready at hand, their fins and iniquities were the caufe of it, the corruption of manners among them, their neglect of bringing their offerings to the Lord, and the idolatry that many of them were guilty of, at leaft fecretly, ch. ii. 24. and vii. 3. to punifh them for which, they were brought into this war, and {mitten in it; and yet they wonder at it, that fo it fhould be, that they the people of God fhould be fmitten before heathens and uncircumcifed Philiftines; and the rather, fince they went to battle with them according to the word of the Lord by Samuel; not confidering that they went into this war without hu- have the prefence of God with them, and fo fuccefs, fee P/. Ixxx, 1. and xcix. 1. and the two fons of Eli, Hophni and Phinebas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God; thefe either with, or without the leave of £/i, took the ark out of the tabernacle and carried it on their fhoulders to the camp, or however attended it there, being borne by other priefts or Levites; and by this means they were brought into the camp, and {o to battle, to meet their doom there; according to Bunting ¢, it was carried by them 42 miles..

y¥. 5. And when the ark of the covenant of the Lord came into the camp, &c.| Being brought thither by the men that carried it: a@// I/rael fhouted with a great fhout, fo that the earth rang again, this they did as now fure of victory, becaule of the ark, and to give fpirit and courage to each other to go forth to battle, and to ftrike a panicinto their enemies.

y. 6. And when the Philiftines beard the noife of the foout, &c.| For it being fo loud as to make the earth ring, it was heard in the camp of the Pdiliftiues, which might not be at any great diftance from the camp of J/rael, how far from each other were Aphek and Eben-ezer, is not certain: they faid, what meaneth the noife of this great fhout in the camp of the Hebrews? they could not bp nt aa

; (; é os Dye 406 SS PIR LOC pee men to fight with, it became them to exert felves to the uttermoft; which did they, ther poffibility flill of gaining victery, and fo immo: nour to themfelves; thefe words feem to be fpoken by the generals and officers of the army of the Phil fhould be the reafon of it, feeing they had no oc cafion to fhoutfor joy, having been lately defeated; and a fhout is made generally juft before a battle is begun, and the onfet made, or when victory is obtained; neither of which was the cafe of th now: and they underftood that the ark of the Lord was come into the camp, this they underftood by fpies, which they fent to find out the meaning of the fhout 5 which is more probable than that they came to the knowledge of it by deferters; feeing it is not very likely that any J/raelites would delert ’ tothe Philiftines. Tfrael, they had better die ~ y. 7. And the Philiftines were afraid, &c.] When the fpies-returned, and reported to them the reafon of the fhouting: for ibey faid, God is come into the camp; into the camp of J/racl, be- /tines to the common foldiers: shat ye be not fervants #o the Hebrews, as they have been to you; thatis, before ” and in the times of Samyon; 0S es hence, that at this time neither the Philiftines ruled over the J/raclites, nor the //raelttes over them; but as there was danger of ‘their becoming fubjeét to glorioufly in the field of battle, than to be in the baie itate of fervitude: quit yourfelves like men, end fights this is repeated © to animate them to battle, which they fuppofed was not far off by the fhoutings of the J/raelites, and which they muft prepare for. ee caufe the ark reprefented him, and was the fym- re fc bol of his prefence; and thefe heathens might take the ark itfelf for an idol of the J/raelites'; the Yargum is, ‘* the ark of Godis come:” they faid, wo unto us; itis all over with us, deftruétion and ruin will be our cafe, victory will go on their fide now their God is among them: for there hath not been fuch a thing heretofore, if by this they meant that the ark had never been in the camp of J/rae/ before, they were miftaken; andit isno great wonder they fhould, being not fo well

¥. 10. dnd the Philiftines fought, 8ec.] With’. great ardor and {pirit, quitted themielves like men ° and ot valour and courage, their caie being defperate as they imagined, fince God was in ‘the cainp of ’ L/7raél: and I/rael was fmitten, were routed and beaten: and they fled every man into his tents fuch - of them as efcaped the {word of the Poiliffines, fled to their own houtes in the feveral cities fromy whence they came; fo the Targum, ‘* every man to his city;” fo that their army was quite ais acquainted with the affairs of J/rae/, and their and there was a very great flaughter; far greater cuftoms; or rather, it was not fo yefterday, or three days ago, when they were defeated; there was no fhouting then: or the ftate of the war is altered; before we fought withthe men of i/rae/, but now we mutt fight with the God of J/rael chan in the firft battle: for there fellof Ifrael 30,000 footmen > their army chiefly, if not altogether confifting of footmen, there being few horfes in Irae?; and it any cavalry now, thefe may be fuppofed to fice; before they lott only 4000, now 30,000; fo alfo. ' that the ark was no fecurity to them, which was

¥. 8. Wo unto us, who foall deliver us out of the hand of thefe mighty Gods? &c.| Of whom they fit. fpake in an ironical and fneering manner; or if ferioufly and through fear, they ufe their own heathenifh Janguage, as if the Jraelites had many _ gods, as they had, though mightier chan theirs; ‘though the Syriac and Aradic verfions read in the fingular, out of the hand of God, or the moft ftrong God; and fo the Zargum, out of the hand of the Word of the Lord: thefe are the gods that fmote the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wildernefs; the ten plagues were inflicted on the Hgyptians in the land of Egypt, and not in the wildernefs; wherefore the Philiffines may be fuppoled to be miftaken in this circumftance; which is not to be wondered at, fince many hiftorians who have of written of the affairs of the Fews have been miftaken in them, as ulin, Tacitus, and others; nay even Fofephus himielf in fome things: perhaps refpect is had to the drowning of Pharaoh and his hoft in the red fea, which had the wildernefs of Etham on both fides of it;

was the finifhing one of the plagues on the Egyp- {uftered, to’ thew their vain truft and confidence in wit te nicchie Sh: ai y. IT. Aud the ark of God was taken, 8c.) By the Phiiiflines; which was fuffered partly as a punifhment to the J/raelifes, for fetching it from the tabernacle without the will of God, and for their vain confidence ih it; and partly that the Philiftimes might have an experiment of the power and might of God, as Procopius Gazeus obierves, by what they would fuffer through having it among: them; fome have thought that this was an emblem _ of Chri? being delivered into the hands of the Gen- ¢é/es, and of the goipel being tranflated from the Fetws to them: and the two fous of El, Hophni and’ Phinzebas, were fain; which fulfilled the pre hecy the man of God, that they fhould both die in one’ day, ch. ii. 34. It is very probable they ftood fat by the ark, and chofe rather to die than to Bive it buatj up freely; having received a charge from their father, that if the ark was taken, not to defire life, por ever dare to come into his prefénce more, a3 and this ftroke vslipbus 4 relates. It DERRY.

¥.12. And there ran a man tians. R. Fofeph Kimchi fappofes the word for wildernefs has the fignification ef fpeech, as in Cant. iv. 3. and that the fenfe of the Phiifines is, that God {mote the Egyptians with all the plagues he did by his word, ‘his orders, and commands; 0n is what the Jews * fay, that this was Sc but now he was come in perfon, and would {mite them by himfelf; this fenfe 4bardine] calls a beautiful one. in ~ +. 9. Be firong, and quit yourfelves like men, Oye. Philifiines, 8cc.} Since, this was all they had to depend upon, their manly courage; if they did not exert that it was all over with them; and feeing their cafe, was defperate, having. gods as. well,as which, according to Bunting“, w Eben-exer, neat to Winitae: aa and that it was a long way, is pretty pla roa made, that this mefftnget came ay the battle ‘was fought; though’

diftance as fome Fewi/h writers fay, fiitts 60, ey 120 miles*; whic is not at all probable; 182095 Ps! | ef ht Te Gs v1

« eflil Ve 4 Vom Upiasth §

Ais clothes: rent, and earth upon bis head, which were both tokens of diftrefs and mourning, and upon hearing this bad news, there was a general fhriek and cry throughout the whole city.

fhewed that he was a meffenger of bad tidings

. from the army; fee the note on Fo/p. vii. 6.

y¥. 13. And when he came, &c.| To Shilob; he either pafled by Eli, who being blind could not fee him, ¥.15. or he came in at another gate of the city on the. other fide of it, as Abardinel thinks; though the former feems more likely by what follows, he not choofing to deliver the bad news to

Eli firft, whom he knew it would very much grieve, and therefore flipped by him into the city:

lo, Eli fat upon a@ feat by the way-fide watching; by the band of the way, as the marginal reading, and which we follow; it feems tobe a place where two ways or more met, and where was a way-poft erected, with an hand direéting what places they led to. ‘ The text is, Ae, or i fmote, as if his heart {mote him for letting the ark go; fo Kimchi‘; here Eli had a feat placed, which, as the Targum fays, was at the afcent of the way to the gate; and fo the “Septuagint has it, at the gate; and Fo epbus * fays it was at one of the gates; either ef his own houfe, or of the tabernacle, or rather of the city; here he was watching for news, to hear what he could, and as foon as he could, how it fared with the army, with his fons, and efpecially with the ark: for bis heart trembled for the ark of God, not fo much for his fons, whofe death he might expect from the divine predi&tion, but for the ark about which he was doubtful; fearing left it fhould fall “gnto the hands of the uncircumcifed Pbilijflines, who would triumph upon it, and which would ~ make fad-the heart of every true J/raelite, and refle&t much difhonour- on the God of J/rael and very probably he might tremble the more when he refeéted on his own fin and folly in fuffering his fons to take it with them. / here may reprefent a good man in pain for the church of God,

V.14. And when Eli beard the noife of the crying, &c.] The fhrieks of the men and women, which were very clamorous and terrible. E/ had his hearing, though not his fight; he could not fee the diftrefs in their countenances, but he heard the lamentations they made: and faid, what meaneth the noife of this tumult? it feems the people ran about, wringing their hands, and making doleful fhrieks; the noife of which £4 heard, and the meaning of which he enquired after, or what fhould be the caufe of it:.and the man came in hajtily, and told Eli; or made hafte, and came to him, and related all that is after exprefled; for £/i was not in any houfe, but on a feat by the way-fide, and therefore could not be faid to come into him; buthe came to him, where he was, being brought by fome of the citizens Z/i had enquired of what fhould be the meaning of this noife; and therefore without delay the man was haftened to give the whole account unto him, as it was highly proper he fhould, being the fupreme magiftrate.

¥. 15. Now Eli was 98 years old, &c.) Which is very properly obferved, he being now come to the end of his days, and which alfo accounts for his blindnefs after mentioned: and bis eyes were dim, that he‘ could not fee: could not fee the meffenger, and read in his countenance, and perceive by his clothes rent, and earth on his head, that he was a bringer of bad tidings;. or his eyes each of them ftood"; were fixed and immoveable, as the eyes of blind men be. Inch. iii. 2. itis faid, bis eyes began.to wax dim, but here that they were become dim, and there might be fome years between that time and this, for Semue/ then was very young, but now more grown up; though Procopius Gazeus thinks that E/i was then 98 years of age, and that the affair there related was juft before his and the intereft of religion in declining times, both with refpect to minifters of the word, and members death; but it rather appears to be fome time be-+ fore.

of churches: as when gofpel-minifters are re- y¥. 16. And the man faid unio Eli, Tam he that moved by death, few raifed -up.

in theit flead, and) came out of the army, &c.] It is very probable, that the people Z/ enquired of, told him there was a meffenger come from the army, though they did or are of immoraljnot chufe to relate to him the news he brought:

thofe that do appear in the miniftry, either unregenerate, as it may be feared; or have not gifts and abilities qualifying them for it;

lives. and converfations, or propagate falfe doctrines, errors, and. herefies; and alfo when among profefiors of religion, and members of churches, and I fled to day out of the army; fo that as he was an eye-witnefs of what was done in the army; the account he brought was the earlieft that could be there is a great decay of powerful godlinefs; andjhad, in bringing which he had made great difpatch,- they-are got into a drowfy fleepy frame of {pirit, having ran perhaps all the way: and be faid, what are become lukewarm and indifferent to fpiritual exercifes, want zeal for the gofpel and caufe zs there done, my fon? hasa battle been fought? on ofjwhich fide is the victory? is J/rael beaten, or have

Chrift; are carelefs about the honour and intereft o religion, unftable and inconftant in doctrine and worfhip, and in their affe¢tions to one another, and the minifters of the word. and their converfation they conquered? how do things go? he ufes the kind and tender appellation, my fo#, to engage hin to tell him all freely and openly.

¥. 17. And the meffenger anfwered and faid, &c,]

not as becomes their profeffion: aad wien the man He delivered his account gradually, beginning with came into the city, and told it; how thatthe army of generals, and then proceeding to particulars, and

Ifraek was. beaten, what a number of men was killed, among whom were the two fons of the highprieft, and the ark.was taken: all the city cried ott, that is, all the inhabitants of the city, having moft.of them perhaps. relations.and friends in the army, for whom they were concerned, fearing their lives were loft; but efpecially the lofs of the atk was infupportable by them, it being of fo much with what he thought Eli could better bear the news of, and fo prepared him for the worft; in which he acted’ a wife part: I/rael is fled before the Pbili- /imes, they have given way and retreated, and which might poffibly be done without great lofs, and which though it was bad news, might not be fo very bad’: and there hath alfo been a great flaugbser among the people, this is worfe news {till; how- advantage to that city particularly, both with re- ever the number of the flain is not given, nor any fpeét to things temporal and fpiritual, wherefore mention of particular perfons that were killed; fo that for any thing yet faid, his own fons might be fafe,; but then it follows, and: thy two fons alfo Hophni and Phinebas are dead, the news of which muft be very affecting to him, and ftrike him clofely; though he. might expeét and be prepared for it by what both the man of God, and Samue from the Lord had related to him:. aud the ark of on their knees, and bear their young,» rarely n

God is taken; the thing he feared, and his heart trembled before for it; this was the clofing and cutting part of the account; the meflenger forelaw that this would the moft affect him, and therefore referred it to the laft.

¥. 18. Andit came to pafs, when be made mention of the ark of God, &c.] Of the taking of that, it {truck him to the heart, and killed him; the reft he bore tolerably well, the flight of [/rael before the Philiftines, the great flaughter made of them, notice is taken by her of the death of her brotherin-law: foe bowed berfelf, and travailed; put her- — felf in a pofture for travailing; perceiving fhe was coming to it, fhe fell upon her knees, as th word ufed fignifies; and we are told", that the Ethiopian women, when they bring forth, fall up- king ufe of a midwife, and fo it feems it was the way of the Hebrew women: for her pains came upon ber; fooner it is very probable than otherwi they would, which is fometimes the cafe, when frights feize a perfon in fuch circumftances: or» were furned upon her°; they ceafed, fo that fhe could not make the neceffary evacuations after the birth, which iffued in her death; fome render it, her doors were turned?, or changed; the doors of her womb, as in Fob iii. 10, though thefe had been the death of his two fons; but the taking of the opened for the bringing forth of her child, yet were ark was fo dreadful to him, that he could not fupport under it: shat be fell from off the feat back- reverfed, changed, and altered, fo as to prevent the after birth coming away, which caufed her ward, by the fide of the gate, which confirms the death, as follows.

fenfe of y. 13. though whether it was the gate of his own houle, or of the tabernacle, or of the city, is not certain; the latter is moft probable; it feems the feat on which he fat had no back to it, and

¥. 20. And, chout the time of her death, &c.] Which quickly came on after fhe was brought to bed: the women that flood by her; who was called to her labour, and affilted at it: /eid unto ber, might be placed only for-prefent convenience: and fear not, for thou bhaft born a fon; perceiving that his neck brake; the back part of it, the vertebre of it, which has its name in Hebrew from the feveral joints in it: and be died; not through the breaking of his neck, for it is very probable he died directly upon hearing the ark was taken, and which was the reafon of his falling backward, and that brake his neck: for be was an old man, and heavy; full of fleth, a very fat man, and fo fell heavy, which occafioned the breaking of his neck: and he had judged Ifrael 40 years; had governed them in the capacity both of an high-prieft and judge, fo that he muft enter on his government when 58 years of age; the Septuagint verfion has it very wrongly 20 years. According to the Feiws', he died on the roth of Jjyar, anfwering to part of Aprif and May, and his two fons and the ark taken; for which a faft was kept on it.

v.19. And his daughter-in-law Phinebas’s wife was with child, near to be delivered, &c.| Was near her time, as it is commonly exprefled. Ben Gerfom derives the word from aroot, which fignifies to compleat and finifh*; denoting that her time to fhe was very low-fpirited, endeavoured to chear and comfort her, by obferving to her that the worft was over; and befides, fhe had brought forth a man-child, which was ufually matter of joy toa family, and. particularly to the woman that. bears it, which caufes her to forget the forrows and pains fhe has gone through in bearing it, Fobm xvi. 21.. but fhe anfwered not, neither did fhe regard it; faid not one word in anfwer to them, nor was the leaft affected with joy and pleafure at what they related to her; being not only a dying woman, on the borders of another world, and fo had’no relith for temporal enjoyments, but alfo over-preffed with grief with what had happened, not only to her family, but more efpecially to'the ark of God.

yy. 21. And foe named the child Ichabod, &c.] Which fome render, where is the glory? as in th margin of our bibles; but it fignifies xo glory, as. Jarchi and Kimchi interpret it; her hufband being dead, fhe. gives her child its name; the reafon for which name. follows: faying, the glory is departed bring forth was compleated and filled up; though Fofepbhus ' jays that it was a feven months birth, fo that fhe came two months before her time; the margin of our bibles is, Zo ery out ™; and fo Mofes Kimchi, as his brother relates, derives the word from aroot which fignifies to howl and lament, and fo is expreffive of a woman’s crying out when pains come upon her: and when fhe beard the tidings that the ark of God was taken, which is mentioned from Jjrael, the God of glory, or the glorious Lord, was departed from J/rael; the ark, the fymbol of his prefence, being taken from them, and carried captive by the enemy; fee Pf. Ixxvili. 61. Lecaufe the ark of God was taken, and becaufe of ber father-in-law, and ber bufband, who were dead; herjthefe are the words, either of the writer of this book, or, as Abarbinel thinks, of the women that’ affifted at her labour; who interpreted the name firft, as being the moft diftreffing to her: and that her father-in-law, and her huftand were dead; her father-in-law E/i is put firft, being the highprieft of God, and fo his death gave her the greateft concern, as the death of an high-prieft was always matter of grief to the J/raelites; and next the death of her hufband, who fhould have fucceeded him in the priefthood; for though he was a bad man, yet not fo bad as Hopbni, as Ben Gerfom of the child, and fuggefted what were her intentions in giving this name, which fhe had only exprefied in general terms; the particulars of which they thought fit to give, agreeable to her meaning, - as they fuppofed; which were the taking of the - ark, and the death of her father-in-law, and of her hufband; but according to the fame writer fhe before her death correéted the fenfe they p on her intention in thus naming the child; fhe that it was not on the account of the death obferves; and therefore the priefthood was conti- ath of her” nued in his line unto the reign of Solomon; and no father and hufband, that fhe fuppofed the glory to

GQhvusta—o 1 8 ZIV EL. 409 be departed, and thereforé named her child bod; but folely and alone becaufe the ark was taken, as in the next verte.

only reafon for the name of the child: the glory is departed from Sfrael, for the ark of God is taken when the word, worlhip, and ordinances of Godj are removed from a people, the glory is gone from them; the God of glory is no more feen among Jcha-jand works; and Chri, the Lord of life and glory, is no more held forth unto them in the glo- Res ries of his perfon, offices, and grace; and the glorious gofpel of Cbrif is no more preached unto as, them, {fo full of glorious doétrines and promifes; and the glorious ordinances of it no more adminigiving her own, apni rtored: and when this is the cafe, the glory is departed from a people; and which is owing to theif; fo formality, lukewarmnefs, unfruitfulnefs, negligent attendance on the worfhip of God, contempt of the word and ordinances, and an unbecoming walk and converfation.

. ¥. 22. Aad fhe faid, &e.|). Repeating what the had faid ‘before for the confirmation of it, or correcting what the womenvhad faid; and fo may be rendered, dut fhe faid;

them, who is fo glorious in his nature, perfections,,

pe chapter relates how that the ark being| morrow, &c. brought by the Pbilifines to Afhdod, andjof the placed in the temple of their idol, that fell down before it, ¥.1—5. thatthe hand of the Lord upon the men_of Ajbded, and fmote them with emerods, ¥. 6, 7. and being carried to Gath, the| men of Gath were fmitten likewife with the fame,

Either the people, the inhabitants place, who came early to pay their devotions to their idol, before they went on their bufiwasjnefs; or the priefts of the idol, who came to facrifice in the morning: and behold Dagon was falen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the Zord; as if he was fubje€t to it, and giving adoration to it, and owningit was abovehim, and had fuperior power over him: and they took Dagon, and

. Jet himin bis place again; having no notion that it

¥.1. And the Philiftines Fook the ark of God, &c. Which fell into their hands, J/rae/ being beaten, and caufed to flee, and the priefts that had the care of the ark flain; and when pofléffed of it, they did not deftroy it, nor take out of it what was init, only took it uo: and brought it from Ebenexer unto Afodod; Eben-exer was the place where the camp of J/rael was pitched, ch. iv. 1. near to which the battle was fought. A/bdod was one of the five principalities of the Pdi/i/tines, the fame with Azotus, Ads viii. 40. The diftance| between thefe two places, according to Bunting’, was 160 miles; though one would think the diftance from each other was not fo great: why it was carried to Afbdod, is not plain; perhaps it might be the neareft place of note in:their country; and certain it is that it wasone oftheir moft famous cities, if not the moft famous; fee the note on Jj. xx. 1. and had a famous idol-temple | was owing to the ark of God, or to the God of J/- rae/, that he was fallen, but that it was a matter of chance.

¥. 4. And when they arofe early on the morrow moruing, &c.] For the fame purpofe as before; unlefs they had any curiofity to indulge, to fee whether the ark and Dagon agreed better together, andjif they had any fufpicion that the former mifchance was to be attributed to fome variance and difagreement between them: Sebold Dagon was falen upon his face to the graund before the ark of the Lord; again, and in a. worfe condition than be-.. fore: and the head of Dagon, and both the palms of bis bands were cut off upon the threfbold, of the temple, upon which he fell with fuch force, that the threfhold cut-off his head, and both his hands; which fignified he had neither wifdom to contrive for his-own fafety, nor ftrength and power to deinjfend bimfelf; and therefore of what advantage it. could he be to his votaries? This may be an

¥. 2. When the Philiftines took the ark of &c.}] And had brought it to Afbdod:

it into the houfe of Dagon, a temple dedicated to that idol, and in which his image ftood; of which fee the note on ‘fudge. xvi. 23. and fet it by Dagon; by the fide of him, either in honour to the ark, Abarbinel; defigning to give it homage and ration, as to their own deity; for though the Gestiles did not chufe to change their gods; yet they would add the gods of other nations to them, and fuch the Philiffines might take the ark to be: or elf,.as Procopius Gazeus, they brought it into their idol’s temple, as atrophy of victory, and as a fpoil taken es their enemies, and which they dedicated to their idol. Laniada* obferves, that the word here ufed fignifies fervitude, as in Gen. xxxili. 15, and that the ark was fet hereto minifter to, or ferve their god Dagon. Vhe temple of Da- Zon at Afpdod or Azotus, was, in being in the the Maccabees, and was burnt by Jonathan, 1 Maccad. God,jemblem- of the fall of idolatry in the Gentile they broughtiworld, before the preaching of Cbrif and his gofpel in it; or of the idol of man’s righteoufnels, which is fet up, though it cannot ftand, againft the tighteoufnefs of Corif#; and of man’s renouncing as that when convinced of the weaknefs and infufiado-jciency of it, and fubmitting to the righteoufnefs of Chrif: only the ftump of Dagon was left to him; his body, as the Targum, his head and hands being cut off; or, as it is in the Hebrew text, only Dagoxz was left; that is, the fifhy part of this idol; for Dag fignifies a fifh; and, as Kimchi relates, this idol from the navel upwards, had the form of a man, and from thence downwards the form of a fihh; and it was the lower part that was left; fee the note on Fudg. xvi. 23.

¥. 5. Therefore neither the priefts of Dagon, nor any that come into Dagon’s houfe, &c.) Neither the times of priefts that continually attended the worfhip and fervice of Dagon, nor the people that came there to x. §3, 84.: pay their devotions to him: tread on the threfhold

¥. 3. And when they of Afbdod arofe early on the of Dagon in Afbdod unto this day, but uled to leap over ity ebet reckoning it facred becaufe touched by their ‘idol, which fell upon it;

fhould feem, in a way of deteftation, becaufeithad been the means of cutting off the head and hands their idol; and this cultom not only continued to the latter days of Samuel, the writer of this but even among the P4ili/tines in one place or another to the timesof Zephaniah, who feems to allude to it, ch.-i.9. In after times there. was another deity worfhipped at A/sdod 5 according to Mafius‘, the Philspine Venus, or Afarte, was worthipped in this place; though perhaps fhe may be no orher than Atergatis, or Adergatis, which with Selden ‘is only a corruption of Addir-dag, the magnificent fith, in which form Dagon is fuppofed tobe; fo the Phanician goddefs Derceto worfhipp:d at A/calon had the face of a woman, and the other part was all fith; though Ben Gerfom {ays Dagon was in the formof a man, and which is confirmed by the Complutenfian edition of the Septuagint, which on 4. reads, the foles of his feet were cut off, which isa much better reading than the common one, the foles of bis hands, which is not fenfe; by which it appears, that he had head, hands, and feet; fore it feems moft likely that he had his name from Dagon, fignifying corn; fee the note on Fudg. ftill remembered what the Pliliftines faffered for a or rather, as it,crime of thelike mature, | ave y. 8. They fent therefore and gathered all the lords of jof the Philiftines unto them, 8c.) The other four lords, for there were five with this; fee 7a/2. xiii. book 313. and faid, what shall we do with the ark of the God of Urael? they no doubt told them what they and their idol had fuffered on account of it, and the refolution they were come to that it fhould be no longer with them; and therefore defire to know what muft be done with it, whether they thould return it to the people of J/rael, or difpofe of it fomewhere elfe: it is probable fome might befor the former, but the greater part were not, and were for keeping it in their poffeffion fomewhere or janother: and they anfwered, let the ark of the Goa of I/rael be carried about unto Gath, which was another of the five principalities of the Phé/ijlines, and not far from Afbdod; according to Ferom *, y. jit is included in. the remnant of dfbded, Fer. xxv. 20. and according to Bunting” but four miles from it. The Septuagint and Vulgate Latin verfions make this to be the anfwer of the men of where- Gath, the one reading it, ‘* and they of Gath faid, let the ark of God come to us;” and the other, ** they of Gath anfwered, let the ark of

XV1, 23. the God of J/rael be carried about;” for they fuf- y.6. But the band of the Lord was heavy on them of Afbdod, 8c.) Not only on their idol, but on | themfelves; it had cruthed him to pieces, and now fell heavy on them to their deftruction: and be defroyed them; either by the difeafe after mentioned they were {mitten with, or rather with fome fiace that feems not to be mortal, though painful; it may be with the peftilence: and finote them with emerods; more properly hemorrhoids, which, as Kimchi fays, was the name of a difeafe, but he fays not what; Be Gerfom calls ita very painful difeafe, from whence comes a great quantity of blood. Fofepbus * takes it to’ be the dyfentery or bloody flux; it feems to be what we commonlycallthe piles, and has its name in Hebrew from the height of them, rifing up fometimes into high large tumours: even Afbdod and the, coafts thereof; not only the inhabitants of the city were afflicted with this difeafe, butthofe of the villages round y.7. And when the men of Afbdod faw that it qwas fo, &c.] That many of their inhabitants were taken away by death, and others afflicted witha painful difeafe; all which they imputed to the ark being among them: they aid, the ark of the God of Ijrael fhall not abide with us; gajfenes, who befought Chrij? to depart their coafts, having more regard for their fwine than for him: for bis hand is fore upon us, and upon Dagon our| pected, as Procopius Gazeus obferves, that the detruétion did not come from God, but was a difeafe it farifing from fome peftilential caufe. They perhaps imagined it was in the air in and about 4/pdod, or that tho’ the fituation of the ark was not other, liked, in another place it might be otherwife, and more agreeable: and they carried theark of the God of Ifrael about thither; they feem not to carry it directly to the place, but carried itin a round-about way, as if they had a mind to give it an airing, before they fixed it any where.;

y. 9. Audit was fo that after they bad carried it abour, &cc.] And at laft placed it in the city of Gath: the band of the Lord was againft the city with @ very great deftrudtion, greater than that at dbded, more perfons were deftroyed; the’ diftemperfent among them was more epidemical and mortal: and he fincte the men of the city, both fmall about. and great; high and low, perfons of every clafs, rank, and ftation, young and old, men, women, and children: and they bad emerods in their fecret parts; and fo had the men of Abdod; and the defign of this expreffion is, not to point at the place where they were, which it is well known they are like the Ger- always in thofe parts, but the different nature of them; the emerods or piles of the men of Afbdod were more outward, thefe more inward, and fo more painful, and not fo eafy to come at, and

God; not the hand of the ark, unlefs they took it more difficult of cure; for the words may be renfor a god, but the hand of the God of J/rael; in this they were right, and feem to have underftood the cafe better than the other lords they after confulted; his hand was upon Dagon,.as appeared by his fall before the ark, and upon them by fmiting them with the Aemorrboids, the memory of which abode with the Pdilitines tor ages afterwards; for weare told" 4 that the Scythians, having plundered the temple of Venus at Ajcalon, one of their five principalities, the goddefs inflicted upon them the female difeafe, or the hemorrhoids; which dered, and the emerods were hidden unto them* - were inward, and out of fight; and perhaps this difeafe as inflicted on them might be more grievous than it commonly is now. Fofephus * wrongly makes thefe to be the Afcalonites, when they were the men of Gard. Ki agi a y. 10. Therefore they fent the ark of God to Ekron. &c.] Another of the five principalities of the Philiflines, about 10 miles from Gath, where Baalzedub, or the God Of the Ay, was worthipped: and it came to pafs, that as the ark of God pena fhews that it was thought to be a difeafe inficted by;

Lads Ekron, and had been there fome little time: that way of punifhment for facrilege, and that it was '¢he Zkromites cried out; when they perceived the—. Obie hand of God was upon them, as upon the other cities; thefe were the chief magiftrates of the city with the lord of them, as appears by what heavy there; it feems by the expreffion to have been heavier on the inhabitants of this city, thar upon thofe of A/bdod and Gath, which made them follows: faying, they have brought about the ark of the more preffing to get rid of the ark.

the God of If/rael to us; from one city to another, and at length tous: 40 flay us and our people; not that this was their intention, but fo it was eventually.

y. 11. So they fent and gathered together all the

¥. 12. And the men that died not were fmitten with the emerods, &c.] As the inhabitants of Apdod and Gath had been; this fhews that thofe that died did not die of that difeafe, but of fome other; very likely the peftilence: and the cry of the city lords of the Philiftines, 8cc.| Asthe men of Afkdod had done before on the fame account, ¥. 8. anzd went up to heaven; not that it was heard and regarded there, but the phrafe is ufed to denote the faid, fend away the ark of the God of I/rael; as thefe lords were united in their government, and made one common caufe of it againft J/rael, one could greatnefs of it, how exceeding loud and clamorous it was; partly on the account of the death of fo many of the inhabitants, their relations and not difpofe of this capture without the confent of friends; and partly becaufe of the intolerable pain the reft; otherwife the lord of Ekron, with his princes, were clearly in it that it was right and beft to fend it away out of any of their principalities:

they endured through the emerods. There is fomething.of this hiftory preferved in a ftory wrongly told by Herodotus, who relates that the and let it go again to its own place; to the land of Scythians returning from Egypt pafled through 4/-

Trael and Shiloh, there, though to that it never returned more: that it flay us not and our people, that is, all of them, for great numbers had been calon, a city of Syria, (one of the five principalities of the Pdiliftines) and that fome of them robbedthe temple of Venus there; for which the goddefs flain already, as follows: for there was a deadly defiruétion throughout ail the city; a mortal difeafe went through the whole city, and fwept away a multitude of people: the band of God was very fent on them and their pofterity the difeafe of emerods, and that the Scythians themfelves acknowledged that they were troubled with it on that account.

N this chapter we are told, the Pdiliftines advifed with their priefts what to do with the ark, and wherewith to fend it home, y¥. 1, 2. whofe advice was to fend with it a trefpafs-offering, golden images of emerods and mice, and to put it ona new cart, and the images ina coffer on the fide of the ark, and. draw it with two milch-kine, y. 3-—8. and gave them a token whereby they might was with the Pdiliftines 4 months only, contrary to the text. ¥. 2: And the Philiftines called for the priefts and for the diviners, &c.} The one were {killed in the rites and ceremonies of religion, not only of their own, but,of other nations, particularly of J rael;

and that they were not ftrangers to the hiftory and affairs of that people is plain from y. 6. and the know whether they had been fmitten by the God of Tfrael or not, ¥. 9. which advice they took, and acted in all things according toit;*and the lords of the Philiftines accompanied the ark to the border of other were fkilled in judicial aftrology, and knowledge of future events, at leaft as they pretended to; and therefore were both thought fit perfons to advife with on the occafion of the ark, and the

Beth-/bemefh, y. 10, 11, 12. where they of Bethfoemefa received it with joy, and offered the kine for a burnt-offering to the Lord, and the Levites took care of the ark and prefents in it, and the lords of the Philfines returned home, y. 13—18. but they of Beth/heme/p looking into the ark were {mitten of God, upon which they fent to the men of Kirjath-jearim to fetch it from them, ¥. 19, 20, 21.-)

y. 1. And the ark of the Lord was in the country of the Philiftines 7 months;| Or in the field‘ of the Philiftines 5 hence Procopius Gazeus obferves, that circumftances they were in through that: /aying, what fhall we do to the ark of the Lord? fhall we fend it back to its own land, or not? the Ekronites had moved it might be fent back, and the five lords fent for the priefts and diviners to have their advice upon it, whether it was right or no, and what they fhould do to it, or with it; for if it was advifeable to fend it back, then another queftion follows: tell us wherewith we fhall fend it to his place; whether on men’s fhoulders, or on horfes or affes, or on a carriage; and whether juft as it wastaken, or with fome prefents with it.

¥. 3. And they faid, if ye fend away the ark of

none of the cities daring to receive the ark, they jeft it without under the open air, fo thinking they fhould be delivered from their calamity. But the word is often ufed for country, and is generally fo underftood here; the Targum is, ** in the cities of the God of Ijrael, fend it not empty, &c.] As they perceived they had either refolved upon, or at leaft were inclined todo; and which they alfo thought advifeable, and therefore would have them by no means fend it away as it was, but with fome pre- the Philiftines;” inone or other of them, firft for a while in Afbdod, and then for fome time in Gath, and Jaft in Ekrow, and in all 7 months from the time of its being taken; and it being in wheatharveft when it was returned, ¥.13. thefe feven fents along with it; for the meaning of this word empty, is not that they fhould take care that all that were in it when taken fhould go with it, and nothing be taken out of it, or it be ftripped of its contents; but that fome gifts and offerings fhould months will carry us back to the beginning of be fent along with it: perhaps they might have winter, or towards the end of autumn, when the battles between. J/rael and the Philiftines were fought, and the ark was taken. o/épbus * fays it ciple received among heathens, that deities were to fome notion of, or refpect unto alaw in J/rael, Exod. xxiii. 15. or might fay this from a common prin-

AZ TDS: oe M. VE ee. Ch. vi. F.qy gh be appealed by gifts’e-: But in any wife return him a tre/pafs offerimg; here again they feem. to have fome notion of the forts and kinds of facrifice among” the J/raelites; and: advife to a trefpafs-offering, to. make fatisfaction and atonement for the offence they had committed in taking away the ark; and that they fhould make reftoration not only by returning the ark, but by fending an ex- " piatory offering. along with it: then ye soall be healed; of the difeafe with. which they were fmitten; for it {eems it ftill continued onthem, at leaft which were images of a difeafe, or noxious crea ture a country was infected with, made under fome celeftial influence to remove it; and Tavernier * ne lates, asi Bp. Patrick obferves, that-it is a practice with. the: Jndians, to. this day, that when any pilgrim goes to a Paged for thecure of any dileafe, he brings the figure of the member affected, made either of gold, filver, or copper, according to:his quality, which he offers tovhis god. There is a tradition among the heathens, which feems to be berrowed from this hiftory, and ferves' to efta on many: 4nd it foall be known to you why bis hand ~ is not removed from you; which was becaufethe ark was detained by them; but when that fhould be fent home, and they be healed upon. it, then it would be a_plain cafe that.the reafon why the dif: eafe was inflicted. and continued was becaule of the: credit ~of it 3» the Athenians not "cong Bacchus and his rites. with due honour, heangry with them, and {mote them with a difeafe in their private parts, which was incurable; on which they confulted the oracle, whichadvifed them» in order to:be rid) of the difeafe to receive the god thatds bs with all honour and refpect 5. which order the Asbe-

¥. 4e Then faid they, what thall be the tre offering which we foall return to him? 8c.) pafs- atans obeyed, and made images of the -feveral parts,.They privately: and publickly, and with thefé honoured paida-great deference to their priefts and diviners, and were. willing to be directed in all things: by them; being ignorant of what was moft proper in the god in memory of the difeafe™; both the difeafe and cure are here plainly pointed: at: and images:of your mice that mar the land;. that devour- this cafe, and might be acceptable to the God Tfrael; they anfwered, five golden emerods, and frve ofjed the fruits of,it, as thefe creatures.in many in- {tances have been known to do; © and particularly golden mice; images of thele made-of gold, as appears from the next verfe; thereafon of the former is eafy, from the above account of the difeafe they were afflicted with; but of the latter no hint is given before: indeed in the Vulgate Latin and Septuagint verfions of ch. v. 6, is inferted a claute, that ‘© mice fprung up inthe midft of their country;”, which is not in the Hebrew text, nor in the Chaldee paraphrafe 5 yet appears to be a fac from in. Palefline, the.country of the Pdilifines, where in fome places their fields were fometimes almoft deferted becaufe of the abundance of them; and were it not for a fort of birds that devoured them, the inhabitants could not fow their feed’: the Beotians facrificed to Apollo Pornopion, (which fignifies a moufe) to fave their country frony them *; 4rifiotle' reports of field-mice, that they fometimes increafe to’ fuch incredible numbers, that the following verfé, that at the fame time their| carce any of the corn of the field is left bythems and fo foon confumed, that fome hufbandmen,.

bodies were fmitten with emerods, their fields were over-run with mice, which deftroyed the increafe of them; wherefore five golden mice were alfoor- having appointed their labourerers to. cut down their corn on.one day, coming to it the next day, — dered asa part of the trefpafs-offering, and five each were pitched upon: according to the number of the lords of the Pbiliftines, who were five, fo the principalities under them; fee od. xiii. for ‘one plague was on you all, and on your lords; the lords and common people were equally fmitten with the emerods, and the feveral principalities were alike diftreffed and deftroyed with the mice; and.thetefore the trefpafs-offering, which was a vicarious one for them, was to beaccording to the number of their princes and their principalities; five emerods for the five princes and their people fmitten with emerods, end five mice om account of the five cities and fields adjacent being marred by of in order to cut. it down, have found it all confumed; Pliny ™ fpeaks of field-mice deftroying andjthe harveft; A/ianus” relates fuch an incurfion ~ 3.)of field-mice into fome parts of Jtaly, as obliged theinhabitants to leave the country,.and which de+ ftroyed the corn-fields and plants, as if they had been confumed by heat or cold, or any unfeafon- - able weather; and not only feeds were gnawn, but | roots.cut up; fo the Adderites® were obliged to quit their country becaufe of mice and frogs: and ye /hall give glory to the God of Ijrael; by fending thefe images as monuments of their fhameful and painful difeafe, and of the ruin -of their fields; owning that it was the hand of the Lord that fmote mice.) their bodies with emerods, and filled their fields

¥. 5. Wherefore ye fhall make images of your emerods, &c.) Which fome take to be images of the five cities; others of a man at large with the difeafe in his back parts; others of that partof the body of a man only, in a circular form, in which the difeafe was, and expreffing that; but the text is plain for the difeafe only, as high large tamours: though Marmonides ‘ {ays of thefe images, the word is attributed to them, not becaufe of their external form, but becaufe of their fpiritual virtue and influence; whereby the damage or difeafe of the emerods in the hinder-parts were removed: he feems to take them to bea fort of TZ; ali/mans, with mice which devoured them; feeking and afking pardon of him by the trefpafs-offering th fent him: peradvemture be will lighten bis band /rom you; abate the violence of the difeafe, and at length entirely remove it: and from off your gods 5 not Dagon only, but: others feem to have fuffered, wherever the ark: came;.for the Pbili/tines. had thatjother deities; befides Dagon at Afbdod, there were Bae/-zebub at Ekron, and Marnas at Gaza, and “a Derceto at Afcalon, and perhaps another at Gath, j though unknown; and befides the gods fuffered, yi: or however their prieftyy by the number of that died, and by-the fruits of the | earth being des ftroyed; which muft in courfe leffen their and from off your land; the fruits of which werej revenues:jitfelf tothe land of [rael.. Fofepbus.* fays it was et in a place where three ways met, that it thight deftroyed by mice. eta y. 6. Wherefore then do ye harden your hearts, as take which it might; and the taking of the right way muft be a ftrong evidence of its being under the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts 2 the direction of God.

&c } And would not let J/rael go, when their dil-

¥. 9. Aud fee if it goeth up by the way of its own

miffion was demanded by Mo/es and Aaron in the coaft to Beth-foemefh, &c.] “The neareft city to the name of the Lord; but was refufed from time to land of the Philiftines, which lay on their ‘borders, time, being given up to judicial blindnefs and and the borders of the tribe of Fudab, Fold. xv» hardnefs of heart: and it feems by this, that tho’

10. fee the note there. Now the lords of the Pdi- it was propofed by fome to fend back the ark, and “i which the priefts and diviners approved of; there were fome that were againft it, who ftanding the plagues inflicted on them, like Pharaob and the Egyptians hardened their hearts which ftory thefe spriefts were acquainted with, by the tradition of their anceftors, this being a fact then generally known in the world;

fines are directed by their priefts to obferve, wheyet)ther theie kine that drew the cart on which the ark notwith-jwas, took the direét road to the borders of the land of J/rael, and to Beth-/hemefh the neareft city;,that lay on that coaft: if fo, they might conclude then, be hath done us this great evil; that is, the God of Jrael, whofe ark this was; he had inflicted or by the)the difeale of the emerods on them, and fent fuch relation of the J/raelites, over whom they had ruled many years, and were converfant with them when he had wrought wonderfully among them; that is, the God of J/rae/, though they mention not his name, who had wrought wonders in the land ef Egypt; the ten plagues he inflicted on them are referred to: did they notlet the people go, and they departed? who were convinced by thele plagues that they ought to let J/rae/ go, and by them were prevailed upon to difmifs them, and the people did go out of their land; and therefore fhould not we let the ark go likewife, on whom plagues have been inflicted for detaining it? and may we not expect more and greater, fhould we refule to dilmifs it?

¥. 7. Now therefore make a new cart, &c.] For there were no Levites, nor priefts of the Lord to carry it upon their fhoulders, as it was wont to be when carried, and therefore they ordered a.cart to be made; and they might know the Levites were allowed waggons to carry fome of their facred things on, Numb. vii. and a new one for the honour of the ark, as David afterwards did, 2 Sam. v. 3. and take two milch kine, on which there hath come no yoke; which alfo might be defigned for the honour of the ark; byt there was a farther view in it, at leaft in the providence of God; fince two fuch creatures, who had young, would be apr, if left to themfelves, as thefe were, to return home to them, and not to proceed on a journey; and being unaccuftomed to.a yoke, would draw one one way, and another another, in different ways; and not go on in a direét-road, as fuch that are ufed to the yoke do: and tie the kine to the cart; inorderto drawit: and bring their calves home from ibem; that they might not cry after them, which would caufe them to turn back.

y. 8. And take the ark of the Lord, and lay it upon the cart, &c.| Which was difpenfed with in thefe uncircumcifed Pbilifines, there being no other to do this fervice: and put the jewels of gold; or rather, veffels of gold’; the five golden eme rods, and the five golden mice: which ye return ‘him for a trefpafs-offering, ina coffer by the fide thereof; ina bafket, as the Syriac verfion; ina {crip, as the Arabic; in a purfe, or bag, as Fo/ephus °, which latter is probable enough: and fend it away, that it may go; that is, fet it a~-going, without any driver or guide; but leave it to take its courfe of! ords of the Philiftines went after them unto the border numbers of mice into their fields, that had deftroy-

:}ed the increafe of them: dat if not, then we fhall know that it is not his hand that hath fmote us, but that there is fome other caule of it: it was a chance that bappened to us, and fo.might have been the cafe, if the ark had never been taken or detained, and to beimputed to fate, or to the ftars, or fome fecret caufes they knew not of.

¥.10. And the men did fo, &c.] Madea new cart, not the lords of the Pdili/tines, but workmen by their orders: and took two milch kine, and tied them to the cart; with the gear that horles, affes, or oxen, were ufually faftened to a carriage they drew: and fout up their calves at home; or, in the houfe+; the cow-houte or ftable where they ufed to be put; this they did to reftrain them from following the cows, which would difturb them in drawing the cart. - y.11. And they laid the ark of the Lord upon the cart, &c.] Perhaps the fame men that made the cart; however they were the Phili/tines, yet were not punithed for touching it, as Uzzah was, though an Iraelite, 2 Sam. v. 6, 7. and the coffer with the mice of gold, andthe images of their emerods; which coffer was placed in a purfe or bag hung at the fide of the ark, with the golden mice and emerods in 3 f y. 12. And the kine took the firait way to the way of Beth-foemeo, &c.} Though they had none to drive, lead, or guide them, yet they fteered their courfe to the road that led to Betbh-/hemeb, though there were other ways they might have taken; which fhews they were under the direction of God himfelf: aud went along the highway; or, in one highway, or poft'; though they had never been ufed to a yoke, they drew together in one path; and did not draw one one way, and another another, as oxen unaccuftomed toa yoke do: lowing as they went; on account of their calves, which fhewed their fenfe of them, and their natural affection for them; and yet went on, did not attempt to go back to them; by which it was plain they were under a fupernatural influence: and turned not afide to the right or to the left; when other ways prefented, on the right hand or on the left; they kept going ftraight on in the road that led to the place they were deftined for; all which can” be reckoned nothing lefs than a miracle: and the

~ May; fo that there were many people in the fields,

-thankfgiving for the return of theark, was to be the PAé/iftines that belonged to the five lo em of Beth-fbemefb, not before them to guide them, or on the th on, ark-'to take cars of it, but behind; and not at all out of refpeét and to it, but to fee what would be the iffue of whether it would turn out an impofture or not; and that they might be able to make a true judg ment of what had befallen them, as their pricits and diviners had direéted them to; they followed it until it was out of their territories, and in the hands of the S/raelites. This place Beth /heme/h is wood of it in- order ie Ron y the two cows, and laid theit ‘piec onthe: ood, afi reverence fet fire to, it, and burnt them with it, pref things, of joy and thank fulnels thatthe ark This was done, not by the lo ds of the Pd lift: Jas fome of the ‘antient Jews thought, as relates, ‘in which they are followed by fon ¢ian interpreters; but by the men of Beth as Kimcbi, by pape here; for thoug!

‘ufual place’ for facti thought, by fome, as R. J/aiah obferves, to be the fame with Timnath-beres, where Yofoua was buried, in Fudg. ii. 9. which fignifies the figure of fun, as this does the houfe of the fun; and where perhaps, when inhabited by the Canaanites, was a temple of the fun; and it was, according to ting*, 12 miles from Cs from’ whence yi which ark came; and fo far it was followed by the PAiliftines. This was a city given to the Levites, and {o a proper place for the ark to come to be care of; hence mention is made of Zevites that took it down from the cart, ¥. 15 fee Yoo. xxi. nor were cows offered in facrifice; yet this being an extraordinary cafe, and thank-offerin s wel the)neceflary as’ foon as the ark was returned, the things were difpenfed with; and the rather, f, Shilob ‘where the tabernacle was, was deftroyed; Bun-jand befides, the ark of the Lord was rere beeen fanctified the baurlaue it Gaps eh.

and made it fit for fuch fervice; an thele cows, they had been employed in facred’ fervice, — takenjand the Lord had a right unto them, and claim» upon theny; and it feemed not fitting that they fhould be after employed to any other 3

16. and the note there. vice than his own; nor were the men 6 ¥..13. And they of Peth-foemefh were reaping their wheat-barveft in the valley, &cc.| Which began at Pentecoff, in the month Sivan, about our fbemefo blamed or punifhed for this, thoug afterwards were for Jooking into the atk. 7”. ¥. 15. 4nd the Levites took down the ark oj the

Lord, &c.| Or, had took it down *, for this tho” who were eye-witneflés of this wonderful event:|here related, was done as foon as the gue came into dnd they lifted up their eyes, and faw the ark, and the field, or quickly after, and before the burnt=" rejoiced to fee it; for though the ark while in the ‘offering could be made, which was burnt with the” tabernacle was only feen_ by the high-prieft, when!wood of the cart; ’ and though the perf s that. — he went into the holy of holies; yet this having'took it down are called Levites, they were’ prie ae been brought out from thence, and exppfed in the;who were of the tribe of Levi; for it was the wo camp of Jrael; fome of this place very probably jof the priefts to take it down, though the Levies — were there at that time, and had feen it, and knew then. might carry it; and it is remarkable, that — it again by its form and fplendor; and which gave! Beth-fhemefh was given to the Kobatbite Levites®"” oe great ees to behold, which had been aha, bufinefs it was to carry the ark on’ thei Baht en, and had been fo long in the hand of the fhoulders; fee Fo/b. xxi. 10. Numb. iv. 15% Wah enemy, and the people of ~Tfrael deprived of it; tbe coffer that was with it, wherein she seats -: which was the fymbol of the divine prefence among‘gold were; the purfe or bag in which were the them, and now reftored to them again; and in this,five golden mice, and the five’ golden emerods: wonderful, way, without feeking for it, without! and put them on the great ftone’, both the ark and going to war on account of it, without paying ajthe coffer, by which the cart ftood, and on wh c ranfom for it; and was brought to them in a cart,the facrifice of burnt-offering was probably offered: drawn by cattle without a driver, the lords of the and the men of Beth /bemelh offered burnt-offerin it Philifines with a teak Shae yo eae ag Ts his'and facrificed Jacrifices the fame day anto HeLa is to be underftood not of their looking into it, as'befides the burnt-offering of the.two miléh-kine, they afterwards did, and were punifhed, ‘as Kimchi, they offered others to teftify their thankfulnefs foe but of their looking ox it. the return of the ark 5 and alfo peace-offerings on 4 z. 5 a9 4 ats hae into the re f “Fadl aheety they feafted with one another, to exprefs | eth-fhemite, 8&cc.] In that part of the valley their greater joy. ttm where they were reaping wheat which belonged ‘al 16. And abe the five lords of the Philiftines” dt him, of whom we no where elfe read; whether a 4ad /een it, &c.] Obferved all that was done, how. prieft or aes which is notimprobable, fince this | the kine performed their journey, drew the'cart was a city of the Levites, or a common Jraelite,;which the ark was, {trait to Beth-fhemefh, ftoppe is not certain: and ftood there where there was aa field near it, where it was eetved erhatl great fone, afterwards called the great ftone of|people, and facrifices offered on’ account © Abel, ¥.18. By the providence of God it was| they returned to Ekron the fame day; as they h fo ordered, that the kine made’a ftop juft at this|very well, fince it was but 12 miles fre n Bethe” place; and proceeded no farther, as if fenfible they! /beme/b. Ee were come to their journey’s end, and had brought} ¥ 17. dnd thefe are the golden emerods, %w ick ny the ark into the hands of its friends, and to a pro-| the Philiftines returned for a trejpafs-offerin: unto the per place for them to exprefs their thankfulnefs for| Lord, &c ] Along with the ark: Re ADAIR ae it; for-this ftone feemed defigned to be, as it was,|for Gaza one, for Ajkelon one, for Gath one, for the altar on which the burnt-offering by way of|Ekron one; which were the fi principa 5d ae offered; the Fews fay “this ftone was the -altar built by Abrabam: and they clave the wood of the cart, and offered the kine a burnt-offering unto the Lord; the cart they cut in pieces, and laid the mentioned; and each of ‘thefe were at the ex ot a golden emerod, and fent it along with't to make atonement for the offence ey b re [guilty of in taking and detaining it. pee ie

Jive lords, &c.) Thatis, as many golden mice as ‘lords, which are the fame before.mentioned: both

_unwalled towns;. it feems by this, as it was but

¥. 18. And the golden mice according to the aumber of ail the cities of the Philiftines, nefs, and place: even Le finote® of the people 6,060 belonging to the\and 70 men; but as Beth-/hemefh. was but a fmall not likely that there fhould be fach anumber of perfons in it, and efpecially that fhould look into the ark; or that God, who is good and merciful, fhould deftroy fo large a number for this’ offence, however he might think fit to make an exaniple of fome, it is thought that the cafe was riot as our verfion reprefents jt. Some who think there were fo many flain, yet ‘diftinguifh them, 70 of the él2 ders of the people, and 50,000 of the congrega- jtion, or common people, as the Targum; which accounts not for the difficulty at all; others think there were cities under the jurifdiction of: the five of fenced cities, and of country villages 5 walled and reafonable it thould be, that the feveral villages adjacent and belonging to the five principal cities, contributed their part. towards the expence of. the five golden emerods, and five golden mice, fince they were affiicted both in their perfons, and efpecially in their fields, as well as thofe in the cities; though A7mchi and others think, thatthe country villages fent each of them a golden emerod,-and a golden moufe, fearing the prefents.of the five cities would not ferve for them; and therefore tho’ the priefts and diviners only ordered five of each according to the number of the principal. cities, yet they of themfelves fent. more: all the country that only 70 of the men of Beth-/beme/h died, and that 50,000 were fuch as flocked out of the country on this occafion; but as this was on the famé day the ark came into thofe parts, it can hardly be thought that fo great a number fhould be got together jo foon; and {till lefs that they fhould all of villages that reached even unto the great fone of “bel; the Targum is, “ unto the, great ftone;”Jis and fo the Septuagint verfion, reading Eden inftead of Ebal; or Lamed is put for Nun, as Nun for| Lamea, Neb xiii. 7,8. The Vulgate Latin verfion is unto great Abel, taking it for acity, as does! Procopius Gazeus, who calls it the great city through which they carried the ark of the Lord; fo Ferom, who takes it to be the fame with Bezh- Soemefe, called Abel becaufe of the mourning in it for the men of Beth-/oemeh after flain; or to diftinguifh it from another Aée/ is called great, 2 Sam. xx. 15. but it feems plainly to be the fame with the great {tone, y. 14, 15. there called Eben Gedolab, here Abel Gedelab, by the change of a Jetter, having its latter name by anticipation from the! great mourning hereafter made, next mentioned: whercon they fet down the ark of the Lord; when it was taken out of the cart, as alfo the coffer ‘in! which were the prefents, ¥. 15. which ftone remaineth uxte this dey in the field of Fofoua the Beth- Joemite; the fupplement, which frone remaineth, feems. neceffary left it fhould be thought the ark remained there unto the time of the writing this book, which wasnot true, for it was foon after this fetched to Kuyjath-jearim; but the ftone remained, and might be feen; and pofterity in following times were told that was the ftone on which ark was put when it returned to J/rael.

¥.19. And he {mote the men of Beth-foemefh, &c } That is, God fmote them, though they had re ceived the ark with fuch expreffions of joy, and * had offered facrifices on account of it; yet finning in-one particular after mentioned, which was highly refented, they were {mitten by him with a thunder-bolt, as Fofepbus fays*: becaufe they bad-looked into the ark of the Lord 5 which was forbidden Levites, Numb. iv. 20. out of curiofity thefe:men opened the ark, to fee whether the Philiftines had taken any thing out of it, or putany thing ‘it; and this when in the tabernacle, being only to be feen by the high-prieft; and fuppofing they fhould never have the like opportunity again, to Jook upon the tables of the Jaw which were in took it; and the rather they might be emboldened to this action, fince it had been in the hands of uncireumeifed Pérliffines, who had prophaned it; and as yet not reftored to its priftine purity, holithem open the ark, and look into it. Adbarbinel of opinion, that only) 70 men of Beth-fhemefh were flain, and that the other 50,000 were the Phiifinesthat died on account of the ark while it wag among them; and reads the words, with the. men of Beth-beme/h he fnote—even be Jmote of the people Abel, 70; that-is, of the men of Beth/bemefh; 50,000, thatis of the Pbiliffines, and fo this gives the fum of all that died on account of the ark, both whilft it was in the hands of the Philiftines, and when returned to’ Beth/emefb, which is not an improbable fenfe: but others, and perhaps more truly, think that only 70 perfons were fmitten: with death; for the order in which this account is given is different from-all others in the Hebrew text, the leflér number being put firft with a confiderable diftinguifhing accent upon it, whereas ‘the greater number is always exprefied firft; it ftands thus; of the people 70 men; 50,000 men: 5000 according to the Syrzac and <drabic verfions. Fofephus is exprefs for it that only 70 men were flain, and fo fome of the anrient Jews*; who fay that thefe 70 were equal to 50,00c, becaufe of their fuperior excellency and. dionity, as Ben Gerfom obferves, being the priefts of the Lord, or the fanhedrim; but Bocharf’s¢ fenfe feems to be preferable to all others, that there is a defect of the particle 39 ous of; and fo to’ be thejread, either /eventy men out of Jifty thoufand; that out of the 50,000 that flocked on this occafion from divers parts, 7o were {mitten for the reafon before given; or rather 70 men, 50 out of 1000 men that is, a 20th part of the number of them, fo that out of 1400, 70 men were ftruck with’ death for their curiofity *. Something of this ftory feems to be retained by tradition among the heathens; we are told‘, that when Troy was thej taken an ark was found, in which was the image of Bacchus; which being opened by Lurypylus, he was ftruck with madnefs as’ foon as he faw the intolimage: ead the people lamented, becaufe the Lord had /mitten many of the people with a great flaughser; I fee no occafion for the fupplement many; it was a great flaughter, if we confider the awful’ it,) manner in which it was made, by thunder and lightening, as may be fuppofed; however by an imthe) mediate ftroke from heaven; and the perfons on whom it was made, men of a facred character, © priefts and Levites; anda great number, confider.

ing it was but a fmall city. Hence the place was called Abel, which fignifies weeping, mourning, lamentation, y. 18. -¥. 20. And the men of Beth-fhemefo faid, who is able to ftand before this boly Lord God? &c.] The Tarcum is, ** before the ark of this holy Lord God;” which is faid either by way of complaint of the feverity of God, and the ftrictnefs of his juftice; or in reverence of his holinefs, acknowledging their imperfection, fin, and guilt, by rea fon of which they could not ftand before him; nor can any, but on account of the mercy-feat over the ark, or through Chri his blood, righteoufnefs, and facrifice: and to whom hall be gaup from us? that is, the ark, the fymbol of God's prefence, which they feem to be defirous of parting with; being unworthy of it, and confcious of their impurity in comparifon of God that dwelt in it; and of their weaknefs to give the honour and reverence that was due unto it; and yet they knew not who were fit for it, or would chufe to receive it, becaufe of the danger they were liable to through every inadvertency in them, and irreverence of that.

¥. 21. And they fent meffengers to the inbabitants