6:2, 3 The Philistines had ample evidence that the God of Israel was greater than all gods. Their leaders gave him some token gifts, not out of worship, but in order to remove the plague. God does not want tokens of our time and resources. He desires true heartfelt devotion. Our participation in worship services and our contributions please him only when they flow from a heart of love.
6:3 What was this trespass offering supposed to accomplish? This was a normal reaction to trouble in the Canaanite religion. The Philistines thought their problems were the result of their gods being angry. They recognized their guilt in taking the Ark and now were trying everything they could to placate Israel’s God. The diviners (6:2) probably helped choose the gift they thought would placate Yahweh. But the offering consisted of images of emerods and mice, not the kind of guilt offering prescribed in God’s laws (Leviticus 5:14–6:7; 7:1-10). How easy it is to design our own methods of acknowledging God rather than serving him in the way he requires.
6:7-12 The Philistine priests and diviners devised a test to see if God was really the one who had caused all their recent troubles. Two cows who had just given birth were hitched to a cart and sent toward Israel’s border carrying the Ark of the Covenant. For a cow to leave her nursing calf, she would have to go against all her motherly instincts. Only God, who has power over the natural order, could cause this to happen. God sent the cows to Israel, not to pass the Philistines’ test, but to show them his mighty power.
6:9 The Philistines acknowledged the existence of the Hebrew God, but only as one of many deities whose favor they sought. Thinking of God in this way made it easy for them to ignore his demand that people worship him alone. Many people “worship” God this way. They see God as just one ingredient in a successful life. But God is far more than an ingredient—he is the source of life itself. Are you a “Philistine,” seeing God’s favor as only an ingredient of the good life?
6:15 The men of Beth-shemesh sacrificed a burnt offering to God. Wherever there is a burnt offering in Scripture, it represents a renewing of a person’s relationship with God. Although some of the people of Beth-shemesh later mishandled the Ark (6:19), when they first received it they rededicated their lives to God. They wanted to start over with him as their leader.
6:19 Why were people killed for looking into the Ark? The Israelites had made an idol of the Ark. They had tried to harness God’s power, to use it for their own purposes (victory in battle). But the Lord of the universe cannot be controlled by humans. To protect the Israelites from his power, he had warned them not even to look at the sacred sanctuary objects in the Most Holy Place or they would die (Numbers 4:20). Only Levites were allowed to move the Ark. Because of their disobedience, God carried out his promised judgment.
God could not allow the people to think they could use his power for their own ends. He could not permit them to disregard his warnings and come into his presence lightly. He did not want the cycle of disrespect, disobedience, and defeat to start all over again. God did not kill the men of Beth-shemesh to be cruel. He killed them because overlooking their presumptuous sin would encourage the whole nation of Israel to ignore God.