1 Samuel 6

Some Jewish sacrifices involved cattle that had never worn a yoke. Jews used the ashes of a red heifer for cleansing rituals, and it never wore a yoke. Cattle that had never done secular work, were apparently considered an appropriate gift. It was reserved for God’s work.

Cows with calves tend to follow their calves or try to find them if out of sight. If the Philistines hitched the cows to the cart a good distance away from the calves, perhaps the cows would go hunting for them—and wander out of Philistine territory. That may have been the plan.

Beth-shemesh was a city about 12 miles (20) southeast of Ekron. The Philistine city of Ekron was the last reported location of the Box of the Law, known also as the Ark of the Covenant. That distance is perhaps a half-day walk for a human. Who knows how long for a cow pulling a cart without a driver? The Israelite city was also 15 miles (24 km) west of Jerusalem, less than a day’s walk.

It’s hard to know what a “moo” means. But people who work with cattle say they seem to moo for many reasons. Sometimes they seem to be warning of danger. And often they seem to call for one another. A cow for a calf. A calf’s call for mother’s milk.  A call for a hookup with a mate. And in this case, perhaps a call to get unhooked from the cart and yoke.

Farmers harvested barley in March and April, then wheat in May through July.

A “burnt offering” is one that consumes the entire animal and pays the price for sin. It atones for sin. Laws related to the burnt offering are in Leviticus 1. It was perhaps ancient Israel’s most used sacrifice.

In the broadest sense, Levites were Israelites from the tribe of Levi. They were all descendants of Jacob’s son, Levi. All priests were Levites. But there were many Levite men who didn’t qualify for the priesthood. Some were priestly associates also known as Levites. Levites within the Levites. Like New York, NY. It seems people treated these Levites as a second class of priests, with a lower rank. These were probably the Levites the writer was talking about.

We’re left to wonder if the Philistine rulers sent a messenger to the people in the wheat field to explain the cart. And perhaps they explained the Philistine desire that the Israelites treat this as a guilt offering. We don’t know that’s what happened. But we wonder how the average Israelite wheat farmer, without help, would have even recognized the sacred Box that is usually kept sequestered in the holiest room of the worship center. We also wonder to what extent the Philistine rulers may have gently herded the cows by sometimes riding alongside or ahead, though the writer says they rode behind. All the time? Or most of time? Or some of the time? All fair questions, it seems.

In older lingo, the guilt offering was called the trespass offering, as in, “Forgive us our trespasses” or sins. In fact, scholars can’t seem to figure out what the difference is between a “sin offering” and a “guilt offering.” One guess is that guilt offerings are more serious and often involve making restitution. Leviticus 5:14-7:7 talks about when a person needs to make a guilt offering. Leviticus 7:1-10 talks about how to make the sacrifice. There are differences between a guilt offering that the Philistines described and a burnt offering that the Israelites seemed to offer. Some of the meat of a guilt offering was kept, to eat. Burnt offerings were entirely burned up in the fire (Leviticus 1).

Oddly, though the Philistines wanted their guilt removed, the stone became a long reminder of their guilt.

Or was it 50,000? A few manuscripts say God killed 70. Most ancient copies of this scripture seem to make no sense because they say “70 men, 50,000 men.” In a later plague on Israel, during King David’s time, one Bible history writer said God killed 70,000 (2 Samuel 24:15). So the 50,000 count here isn’t inconsistent with David’s plague.

Kiriath-jearim was about 8 miles (13 km) northeast of Beth-shemesh and uphill more than a thousand feet—from 890 feet (272 m) to 2,000 feet (600 m).