“But God struck down some of the men of Beth Shemesh, putting seventy of them to death because they had looked into the ark of the LORD. The people mourned because of the heavy blow the LORD had dealt them,”
~ 1 Samuel 6:19
Hi James and Ellen,
Have you ever seen a rat? What would your dad and/or ma do if a rat ever got into your house? Your grandpaa grew up on farm. The 160 acre farm where your grandpaa grew up is located one mile west and two miles north of Volga, South Dakota. There were rats on the farm where your grandpaa grew up. The rats that were on the farm where your grandpaa grew up would eat the corn that your grandpaa’s dad was storing in corn cribs. Your grandpaa would sometimes use a BB gun to try to kill the rats. When your grandpaa’s dad shelled the corn that was in one of his corn cribs, your grandpaa’s dad would pay another farmer to come over to his farm with his corn sheller to shell the corn that was in a crib. When the farmer who had a corn sheller came over to your grandpaa’s dad’s farm to shell corn, your grandpaa’s dad would have your grandpaa help him shovel the ears of corn into the corn sheller’s hopper. As your grandpaa’s dad’s corn crib would begin to get empty, rats – as their hiding places were becoming exposed, would begin to run around trying to find another place to hide. Your grandpaa would try to clobber the rats as they scurried around with the shovel that he was using to scoop the ears of corn into the corn sheller’s hopper. Rats have been linked to some awful plagues – such as the Bubonic plague – which became known as ‘Black Death’, that took place between 1346 to 1353 in Europe that resulted in the death of millions of guys, gals and kids. The real killers were fleas that had bitten infected rats. The fleas infected guys, gals and kids with the infected blood of the rat – or from another infected animal that the fleas had lived on and feasted off, when they bit a guy, gal or kid. Rats are still associated today with filthy streets, garbage dumps and killer epidemics.
What do you think God’s feelings are about rats? God used rats one time to accomplish His will. 1 Samuel 6 is about the result of a plague that was instigated by God. The ark of the Lord – which had been built by Moses per the specifications that had been given him by God when he met with God on Mount Sinai and which had been carried into the land area that God had promised His specially chosen guys and gals – who were the Israelite people group guys and gals, that they would always have to live in as their very own land if . . . was captured one day by enemy people group guys – the Philistine people group guys. After remaining in the territory of the Philistine people group guys and gals for seven months and after their god – which the Philistine people group guys and gals called Dagon, took a nose dive – breaking its head off, and after Philistine people group guys and gals began to die from tumors, the Philistine people group guys and gals – after asking their priests and diviners what they needed to do, decided to return the ark of the Lord to God’s specially chosen guys and gals. Because of a sudden plague of rats at this same time in the land area where the Philistine people group guys and gals lived, the Philistine people group priests and diviners concluded that rats had to have something to do with the tumors that were causing Philistine people group guys and gals to die in the towns of Ashdod, Gath and Ekron. Philistine people group priests and diviners thought that it would be a good thing to do to send along with the ark of the Lord five gold rats and five gold tumor replicas when it was taken back to God’s specially chosen guys and gals. The five gold rat replicas represented the five main cities that were located in the Philistine people groups land area. The five gold tumor replicas represented five guys with each guy being a king over one of the five main cities in which Philistine people group guys and gals were living. The Philistine people group priests and diviners wanted their city rulers to do this versus hardening their hearts against God’s specially chosen guys and gals which an Egyptian Pharaoh did years earlier – which was the reason then for even more plagues to take place in the land of Egypt. Philistine people group priests and diviners also told the city rulers to use a new cart to carry the ark of the Lord back into the land area where God’s specially chosen guys and gals were living. Philistine people group priests and diviners also told the five city rulers to make sure that they used two cows that recently had calves and that had never pulled a cart before to pull the cart.
Through God’s divine guidance, Philistine people group guys were able to using a new cart that was pulled by two cows haul the ark of the Lord to the town of Beth Shemesh. Beth Shemesh was one of the towns that was in the land area that had been assigned by lot to the Judah tribal clan and then given to Levite tribal clan priests to live in as their own town. Israelite people group guys and gals who were harvesting their wheat fields at this time were very happy to have the ark of the Lord returned to them by Philistine people group guys with a chest of five gold rats and five tumors replicas in it. When the Philistine people group guys who had been tasked to take the ark of the Lord back to God’s specially chosen guys and gals stopped near a large rock in a field owned by a guy by the name of Joshua, guys from the town of Beth Shemesh took the new cart to use its wood as kindling to make a burnt offering to God – using the two cows as their animal sacrifice. This should have been a very happy day for God’s specially chosen guys and gals – getting the ark of the Lord back but . . . it was not the kind of day that this day could have been. Verse 19 says, “But God struck down some of the men of Beth Shemesh, putting seventy of them to death because they had looked into the ark of the LORD. The people mourned because of the heavy blow the LORD had dealt them,” God is never pleased when His holy presence is not treated with humble reverence and fearful respect.
1 Samuel 6 (878)