1 Samuel 6–8

The Philistines Return the Ark to Israel

6The ark of the Lord had been in Philistine territory for seven months. ²The Philistines called for the priests and for those who practice evil magic. They wanted their advice. They said to them, “What should we do with the ark of the Lord? Tell us how we should send it back to its place.”

³They answered, “If you return the ark of the god of Israel, don’t send it away empty. Be sure you send a guilt offering to their god along with it. Then you will be healed. You will find out why his hand hasn’t stopped punishing you.”

⁴The Philistines asked, “What guilt offering should we send to him?”

Their advisers replied, “There are five Philistine rulers. So send five gold models of the growths that are in your bodies. Also send five gold models of rats. Do it because the same plague has struck you and your rulers alike. ⁵Make models of the growths and of the rats that are destroying the country. Pay honor to Israel’s god. Perhaps his hand will stop punishing you. Maybe it will stop punishing your gods and your land.

⁶“Why are you stubborn, as Pharaoh and the people of Egypt were? God was very hard on them. Only then did they send the people of Israel out. Only then did they let them go on their way.

⁷“Now then, get a new cart ready. Get two cows that have just had calves. Be sure the cows have never pulled a cart before. Tie the cart to them. But take their calves away and put them in a pen.

⁸“Then put the ark of the Lord on the cart. Put the gold models in a chest beside the ark. Send them back to the Lord as a guilt offering. Send the cart on its way.

⁹“But keep an eye on the cart. See if it goes up toward Beth Shemesh to its own territory. If it does, then it’s the Lord who has brought this horrible trouble on us. But if it doesn’t, then we’ll know it wasn’t his hand that struck us. We’ll know it happened to us by chance.”

¹⁰So that’s what they did. They took the two cows and tied the cart to them. They put the calves in a pen. ¹¹They placed the ark of the Lord on the cart. They put the chest there along with it. The chest held the gold models of the rats and of the growths.

¹²Then the cows went straight up toward Beth Shemesh. They stayed on the road. They were mooing all the way. They didn’t turn to the right or the left. The Philistine rulers followed them all the way to the border of Beth Shemesh.

¹³The people of Beth Shemesh were working in the valley. They were gathering their wheat crop. They looked up and saw the ark. When they saw it, they were filled with joy.

¹⁴The cart came to the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh. It stopped there beside a large rock. The people chopped up the wood the cart was made out of. They sacrificed the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord.

¹⁵Some Levites had taken the ark of the Lord off the cart. They had also taken off the chest that held the gold models. They placed them on the large rock. On that day the people of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings to the Lord. They also made sacrifices to him.

¹⁶The five Philistine rulers saw everything that happened. On that same day they returned to Ekron.

¹⁷The Philistines sent gold models of growths as a guilt offering to the Lord. There was one each for Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath and Ekron. ¹⁸They also sent five gold models of rats. There was one for each of the Philistine towns that belonged to the five rulers. Each of those towns had high walls around it. The towns also had country villages around them.

The Levites set the ark of the Lord on a large rock. To this very day the rock gives witness to what happened there. It’s in the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh.

¹⁹But some of the people of Beth Shemesh looked into the ark of the Lord. So he struck them down. He put 70 of them to death. The rest of the people were filled with sorrow. That’s because the Lord had killed so many of them.

²⁰The people of Beth Shemesh said, “The Lord is a holy God. Who can stand in front of him? Where can the ark go up to from here?”

7²¹Then messengers were sent to the people of Kiriath Jearim. They said, “The Philistines have returned the ark of the Lord. Come down and take it up to your place.” ¹So the men of Kiriath Jearim came and got the ark of the Lord. They took it up to Abinadab’s house on the hill. They set his son Eleazar apart to guard the ark.

Samuel Brings the Philistines Under Israel’s Control

²The ark remained at Kiriath Jearim for a long time. It was there for a full 20 years. All of the people of Israel were filled with sorrow. They looked to the Lord for help.

³Samuel spoke to the whole community of Israel. He said, “Do you really want to return to the Lord with all your hearts? If you do, get rid of your strange gods. Get rid of your statues of goddesses that are named after Ashtoreth. Commit yourselves to the Lord. Serve him only. Then he will save you from the powerful hand of the Philistines.”

⁴So the people of Israel put away their statues of gods that were named after Baal. They put away their statues of goddesses named after Ashtoreth. They served the Lord only.

⁵Then Samuel said, “Gather all of the people of Israel together at Mizpah. I will pray to the Lord for you.”

⁶When the people had come together at Mizpah, they went to the well and got water. They poured it out in the sight of the Lord. On that day they didn’t eat any food. They admitted they had sinned. They said, “We’ve sinned against the Lord.” Samuel was the leader of Israel at Mizpah.

⁷The Philistines heard that Israel had gathered together at Mizpah. So the Philistine rulers came up to attack them.

When the people of Israel heard about it, they were afraid. ⁸They said to Samuel, “Don’t stop crying out to the Lord our God to help us. Keep praying that he’ll save us from the powerful hand of the Philistines.”

⁹Then Samuel got a very young lamb. He sacrificed it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. He cried out to the Lord to help Israel. And the Lord answered his prayer.

¹⁰The Philistines came near to attack Israel. At that time Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering. But that day the Lord thundered loudly against the Philistines. He threw them into such a panic that the Israelites were able to chase them away. ¹¹The men of Israel rushed out of Mizpah. They chased the Philistines all the way to a point below Beth Car. They killed them all along the way.

¹²Then Samuel got a big stone. He set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer. He said, “The Lord has helped us every step of the way.”

¹³So Samuel brought the Philistines under Israel’s control. The Philistines didn’t attack their territory again.

The Lord used his powerful hand against the Philistines as long as Samuel lived. ¹⁴The Philistines had captured many towns between Ekron and Gath. But they had to give all of them back. Israel took back the territories near those towns from the powerful hand of the Philistines.

During that time Israel and the Amorites were friendly toward each other.

¹⁵Samuel continued to lead Israel all the days of his life. ¹⁶From year to year he traveled from Bethel to Gilgal to Mizpah. He served Israel as judge in all of those places. ¹⁷But he always went back to Ramah. That’s where his home was. He served Israel as judge there too. And he built an altar there to honor the Lord.

Israel Asks Samuel for a King

8When Samuel became old, he appointed his sons to serve as judges for Israel. ²The name of his oldest son was Joel. The name of his second son was Abijah. They served as judges at Beersheba. ³But his sons didn’t live as he did. They were only interested in making money. They accepted money from people who wanted special favors. They made things that were wrong appear to be right.

⁴So all of the elders of Israel gathered together. They came to Samuel at Ramah. ⁵They said to him, “You are old. Your sons don’t live as you do. So appoint a king to lead us. We want a king just like the kings all of the other nations have.”

⁶Samuel wasn’t pleased when they said, “Give us a king to lead us.” So he prayed to the Lord.

⁷The Lord told him, “Listen to everything the people are saying to you. You are not the one they have turned their backs on. I am the one they do not want as their king. ⁸They are doing just as they have always done. They have deserted me and served other gods. They have done that from the time I brought them up out of Egypt until this very day. Now they are deserting you too.

⁹“Let them have what they want. But give them a strong warning. Let them know what the king who rules over them will do.”

¹⁰Samuel told the people who were asking him for a king everything the Lord had said. ¹¹Samuel told them, “Here’s what the king who rules over you will do. He will take your sons. He’ll make them serve with his chariots and horses. They will run in front of his chariots. ¹²He’ll choose some of your sons to be commanders of thousands of men. Some will be commanders of fifties. Others will have to plow his fields and gather his crops. Still others will have to make weapons of war and parts for his chariots.

¹³“He’ll also take your daughters. Some will have to make perfume. Others will be forced to cook and bake.

¹⁴“He will take away your best fields and vineyards and olive groves. He’ll give them to his attendants. ¹⁵He will take a tenth of your grain and a tenth of your grapes. He’ll give it to his officials and attendants. ¹⁶He will also take your male and female servants. He’ll take your best cattle and donkeys. He’ll use all of them any way he wants to.

¹⁷“He will take a tenth of your sheep and goats. You yourselves will become his slaves.

¹⁸“When that time comes, you will cry out for help because of the king you have chosen. But the Lord won’t answer you at that time.”

¹⁹In spite of what Samuel said, the people refused to listen to him. “No!” they said. “We want a king to rule over us. ²⁰Then we’ll be like all of the other nations. We’ll have a king to lead us. He’ll go out at the head of our armies and fight our battles.” …