Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Samuel 6:13

And [they of] Beth-shemesh [were] reaping their wheat harvest in the valley: and they lifted up their eyes, and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see [it].

13. they of Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest ] A description of harvest in Philistia by a modem traveller helps us to realise the scene in the valley of Beth-shemesh, which was suddenly suspended by the appearance of the Ark. “When the fog dispersed the whole plain appeared to be dotted over with harvesting parties, men reaping, women and children gleaning and gathering the grain into bundles, or taking care of the flocks which followed closely upon the footsteps of the gleaners. All seemed to be in good humour, enjoying the cool air of the morning. There was singing alone and in chorus, incessant talking, home-made jokes, and laughter long and loud.” Thomson’s The Land and the Book, p. 543.

This notice fixes the time of year as the end of May or beginning of June. Robinson saw wheat harvest in progress at Gaza on the 19th of May, and just commencing at Hebron on the 4th of June. Bibl. Res. I. 431.

in the valley ] Heb. “ mek,” denoting “the long broad sweeps sometimes found between parallel ranges of hills.” Sin. and Pal. p. 481.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

The whole population was in the field. The harvest work was suspended in an instant, and all the workmen ran to where the ark was.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

1Sa 6:13

And they of Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley.

The harvest field

The words of the text give a harvest scene.

I. Signs from God. Every harvest scene is a new Divine revelation. Thousands of years have rolled away since He promised that while the earth remaineth, seed time and harvest shall not fail. In the fulfilment of that promise, how much of God is seen!

1. There is His goodness. Provision is made for man and beast.

2. There is His power.

3. There is His faithfulness.

4. There is His eternity.

He who fulfils today in fields of ripened corn a promise made thousands of years ago, must be independent of the revolutions of times and circumstances. It is said that Dr. Johnson took off his hat whenever he passed a steeple. But he must have a dull soul who feels no reverence when walking through ripened cornfields. In the harvest fields we see–

II. Life from death. The grain which the sower dropped into the soil in spring underwent the process of dissolution and death. For weeks it lay buried in the dust. All this exuberance of the harvest field has come out of apparent death.

1. It symbolises spiritual labour. The true Christian teacher, philanthropist, reformer, minister, like the husbandman, has his seed buried for a time. However, though he dies, the seed lives, and will rise, grow, and ripen to perfection.

2. This exuberance in the harvest field illustrates human life on earth. The harvest field reminds us of the true education of man. Like the seed sown, it is the bringing out of what is in the soul–the moral ego. Some teachers speak of the mind as a vessel, some as a stone. And the idea is to fill up the vessel, to polish the stone. But it is neither stone nor vessel; it is a seed. You cannot fill it, you cannot polish it. You must bring it out. Man at birth is sown into the earth, like seed, in two respects. The seed existed before it was sown. Man existed before he was born into this world. The seed required sowing in order for its development. Man required birth into this world in order for the development of his powers. As a seed, man differs from other germinant existences in two respects:–

(1) He has a self-formative power.

(2) He has boundless possibilities. In the harvest field we see–

III. Like from like. Each seed has come forth in its own kind. Man reaps like what he sows.

1. It is thus in spiritual things.

2. It is thus in bodily development. In the harvest field we see–

IV. Much from little. Each seed is multiplied, some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred fold. So wondrously prolific is the seed that one single grain in the course of time will cover continents. One thought has formed a character and one character has changed the destiny of a nation. Much from little characterises all Gods operations. In the harvest field we see–

V. Blessings from labour. The crops would never have appeared had man not cultivated the soil and sowed the precious grain. Every harvest field is a testimony to the importance of human agency. In the harvest field we see–

VI. Maturity from progress. From the commencement of germination, the seed went on until it appeared in the multiplied grains of harvest. All things tend to ripeness:–

1. All things in nature.

2. All things in society.

3. All classes of character. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

And they of Bethshemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley,…. Which began at Pentecost, in the month Sivan, about our May; so that there were many people in the fields, who were eyewitnesses of this wonderful event:

and they lifted up their eyes, and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it; for though the ark while in the tabernacle was only seen by the high priest, when he went into the holy of holies; yet this having been brought out from thence, and exposed in the camp of Israel, some of this place very probably were there at that time, and had seen it, and knew it again by its form and splendour; and which gave them great pleasure to behold, which had been taken, and had been so long in the hand of the enemy, and the people of Israel deprived of it; which was the symbol of the divine Presence among them, and now restored to them again; and in this wonderful way, without seeking for it, without going to war on account of it, without paying a ransom for it; and was brought to them in a cart drawn by cattle without a driver, the lords of the Philistines with a large retinue following it. This is to be understood not of their looking “into” it, as they afterwards did, and were punished, as Kimchi; but of their looking “on” it.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

The inhabitants of Bethshemesh were busy with the wheat-harvest in the valley (in front of the town), when they unexpectedly saw the ark of the covenant coming, and rejoiced to see it. The cart had arrived at the field of Joshua, a Bethshemeshite, and there it stood still before a large stone. And they (the inhabitants of Bethshemesh) chopped up the wood of the cart, and offered the cows to the Lord as a burnt-offering. In the meantime the Levites had taken off the ark, with the chest of golden presents, and placed it upon the large stone; and the people of Bethshemesh offered burnt-offerings and slain-offerings that day to the Lord. The princes of the Philistines stood looking at this, and then returned the same day to Ekron. That the Bethshemeshites, and not the Philistines, are the subject to , is evident from the correct interpretation of the clauses; viz., from the fact that in 1Sa 6:14 the words from to are circumstantial clauses introduced into the main clause, and that is attached to , and carries on the principal clause.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

(13) And they of Beth-shemesh.Beth-shemesh, or House of the Sun, nearly equivalent to Heliopolis, City of the Sun, was a priestly city. It would thus have seemed that this was a fitting home for the Ark of the Covenant to rest in for a time. Shiloh, the old sanctuary, was, we know, now desolate and ruined; but the priests and Levites, from what follows, evidently had forfeited their old position as guides and teachers of the people. Beth-shemesh was no fit permanent dwelling for the Ark of God. The story of the priestly life in the once famous Shiloh during the latter years of Eli indicated how utterly incapable the Levitical families were to influence and guide the people. The subsequent conduct of priestly Beth-shemesh on this memorable occasion, therefore, is not to be wondered at; at first they seem to have rejoiced at the sight of their lost sacred treasure, but an act of careless irreverence called down a swift and unexpected punishment.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

The Ark Accepted, but the People Slain

v. 13. And they of Beth-shemesh, which was a city set aside for priests on the boundary between Judah and Dan, Jos 15:10; Jos 21:16, were reaping their wheat-harvest in the valley, about the beginning of June; and they lifted up their eyes, and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it, very much pleased to know that it had been returned to Israel.

v. 14. And the cart came into the field of Joshua, a Beth-shemite, and stood there, where there was a great stone, the cows came to a halt there of their own free will; and they, the inhabitants of the city, clave the wood of the cart and offered the kine a burnt offering unto the Lord.

v. 15. And the Levites, who also were living in the city, took down the ark of the Lord, had taken it down as soon as they received news of the joyful happening, and the coffer that was with it, wherein the jewels of gold were, and put them on the great stone; and the men of Beth-shemesh, in a second sacrificial act, offered burnt offerings, thus consecrating themselves anew to the service of the Lord, and sacrificed sacrifices the same day unto the Lord, the sacrificial meals being intended to renew their fellowship with Jehovah, who had proved Himself such a mighty God, the only true Lord.

v. 16. And when the five lords of the Philistines had seen it, being witnesses of this Revelation of the God of Israel, they returned to Ekron the same day, having followed the instructions of their priests.

v. 17. And these are the golden emerods which the Philistines returned for a trespass-offering unto the Lord, as expiatory gifts: for Ashdod one, for Gaza one, for Askelon one, for Gath one, for Ekron one, these being the five city-states of the Philistines;

v. 18. and the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, both of fenced cities and of country villages, every city and town in the five states thus being represented by a figure, evidently because the plague of the mice had extended over the entire country, even unto the great stone of Abel, that mighty attar like ledge in the field of Joshua, whereon they set the ark of the Lord; which stone remaineth unto this day in the field of Joshua, the Beth-shemite, a mute witness and monument of the event as here recorded.

v. 19. And he, God, smote the men of Beth-shemesh, because they, overcome by a blasphemous curiosity, had looked into the ark of the Lord, in a manner which did not agree with the holiness of Jehovah, to whom the ark was dedicated, even He smote of the people fifty thousand and threescore and ten men. And the people lamented because the Lord had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter Apparently the presence of the ark attracted a great many sightseers from the entire surrounding country, who came with anything but a reverent mind and were therefore punished by Jehovah.

v. 20. And the men of Beth-shemesh said, Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God? And to whom shall He go up from us? They were afraid to keep the ark in their own midst after the great tragedy had occurred.

v. 21. And they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kirjath-jearim, a city of Judah somewhat farther to the east, saying, The Philistines have brought again the ark of the Lord; come ye down and fetch it up to you. The Beth-shemites felt that they were no better than the men who had been killed, and they dreaded a recurrence of the tragedy. All those who dare to draw near to the means of grace, the Word and the Sacrament, with fleshly minds, with sacrilegious hearts, will receive no blessing, but only God’s judgment and condemnation.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

(13) And they of Bethshemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley: and they lifted up their eyes, and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it.

Is there not a similarity here to that of the Jewish shepherds in the field of Bethlehem, to whom the first tidings were brought of the incarnation of our Jesus? Luk 2:8-14 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

1Sa 6:13 And [they of] Bethshemesh [were] reaping their wheat harvest in the valley: and they lifted up their eyes, and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see [it].

Ver. 13. And they of Bethshemesh were reaping, &c. ] And so it was in April or May that the ark was brought back, after seven months’ abode among the Philistines. So that it was taken in October, or, as some will have it, in September, which was a solemn month amongst the Hebrews, and, for most part, sacred. For then, besides the new moon feast, were kept the feast of trumpets, of tabernacles, of atonement, &c., Lev 23:24-32 so that all was full of oblations and sacrifices: which because both priests and people polluted and profaned, therefore was the ark taken, and all lost that month.

Lifted up their eyes and rejoiced to see it.] This was well done, and had they not fallen under that heavy hand of God for their later sin, they would have found in their hearts to show their joy by dedicating unto God, as those Milesians once did to Apollo, , a harvest of gold, as the Philistines had done mice of gold.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Rashness Punished; Reverence Blessed

1Sa 6:13-21; 1Sa 7:1-4

The new cart, with its precious burden, must have come upon the men of Beth-shemesh like an apparition. The Ark was welcomed by them, after its seven months of absence, with great joy. But privilege entails responsibility; and their wanton curiosity and irreverence could not be permitted. Reverence for God Himself demanded the most careful behavior toward the Ark of His Presence, and when this was lacking, swift judgment ensued. See Num 1:50-51; Num 4:5; Num 4:16-30.

It is interesting to notice that when the Israelites were weaned from the Ark, their hearts lamented after the Lord, 1Sa 7:2. We cannot be permanently happy without God. Seasons of apathy and irreligion will sooner or later be succeeded by faith and love, as the frost of winter yields to the touch of spring. In this case, the revival was due to the patient labor of Samuel, and he did splendid service in urging the people to deal drastically with the idols of Canaan, which had cut them off from God as clouds hide the sun.

Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary