1 Samuel 6:14

Contextual Overview

¹⁰The men did this: They took two milk cows, hitched them to the cart, and confined their calves in the pen. ¹⁰ The men did so, and took two milk cattle, and tied them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home; ¹⁰ And the men did so; and took two milch kine, and tied them to the cart, and shut up their calves at home: ¹⁰ So the men did so; they took two milking cows and harnessed them to the utility cart, but they shut up their calves in the stall. ¹⁰ The men did so, and took two milk cows and yoked them to the cart and shut up their calves at home. ¹⁰ The Philistines did what the priests and magicians said. They took two cows that had just had calves and hitched them to the cart, but they kept their calves at home. ¹⁰ So the men did as instructed. They took two cows that had calves and harnessed them to a cart; they also removed their calves to their stalls. ¹⁰And the men did so, and took two milk cows and hitched them to the cart, and corralled their calves at home. ¹⁰ Then the men did so: they took two milk cows and hitched them to the cart, and shut in their calves at home. ¹⁰ And the men did so: for they tooke two kine that gaue milke, and tied them to the cart, and shut the calues at home.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

offered: 1 Samuel 7:9-17, 1 Samuel 11:5, 1 Samuel 20:29, Exodus 20:24, Judges 6:26, Judges 21:4, 2 Samuel 24:18, 2 Samuel 24:22, 2 Samuel 24:25, 1 Kings 18:30-38

Reciprocal: 1 Chronicles 21:23 - the oxen

Cross-References

Exodus 2:3
When she could no longer hide him, she took a papyrus basket for him, and coated it with tar and with kofer. She put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river's bank.

Exodus 2:3
And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink.

Exodus 2:3
But when she could no longer hide him, she got a papyrus basket for him, and she coated it with tar and with pitch, and she placed the boy in it, and she placed it among the reeds on the bank of the Nile.

Exodus 2:3
But after three months she was not able to hide the baby any longer, so she got a basket made of reeds and covered it with tar so that it would float. She put the baby in the basket. Then she put the basket among the tall stalks of grass at the edge of the Nile River.

Exodus 2:3
But when she was no longer able to hide him, she took a papyrus basket for him and sealed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and set it among the reeds along the edge of the Nile.

Exodus 2:3
When she could no longer hide him, she got him a basket (chest) made of papyrus reeds and covered it with tar and pitch [making it waterproof]. Then she put the child in it and set it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile.

Exodus 2:3
But when she could no longer hide him, she got him a papyrus basket and covered it with tar and pitch. Then she put the child in it and set it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile.

Exodus 2:3
But when she could no longer hide him, she tooke for him an arke made of reede, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and laide the childe therein, and put it among the bulrushes by the riuers brinke.

Exodus 2:3
But she could not hide him any longer. So she took for him an ark of papyrus reeds and covered it over with tar and pitch. Then she put the child into it and put it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile.

Exodus 2:3
But when she could no longer keep him hidden, she made a basket out of reeds and covered it with tar. She put him in the basket and placed it in the tall grass along the edge of the Nile River.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the cart came into the field of Joshua, a Bethshemite,.... In that part of the valley where they were reaping wheat which belonged to him, whom we nowhere else read; whether a priest or Levite, which is not improbable, since this was a city of the Levites, or a common Israelite, is not certain:

and stood there where there was a great stone; afterwards called the great stone of Abel, 1 Samuel 6:18. By the providence of God it was so ordered, that the kine made a stop just at this place; and proceeded no further, as if sensible they were come to their journey's end, and had brought the ark into the hands of its friends, and to a proper place for them to express their thankfulness for it; for this stone seemed designed to be, as it was, the altar on which the burnt offering, by way of thanksgiving for the return of the ark, was to be offered; the Jews say w this stone was the altar built by Abraham:

and they clave the wood of the cart, and offered the kine a burnt offering unto the Lord; the cart they cut in pieces, and laid the wood of it in order upon the stone, and slew the two cows, and laid their pieces on the wood, and set fire to it, and burnt them with it, as expressive of joy and thankfulness that the ark was returned. This was done, not by the lords of the Philistines, as some of the ancient Jews thought, as Kimchi relates, in which they are followed by some Christian interpreters; but by the men of Bethshemesh, as Kimchi, by the priests there; for though this was not the proper and usual place for sacrifice, nor were cows offered in sacrifice; yet this being an extraordinary case, and thank offerings were necessary as soon as the ark was returned, these things were dispensed with; and the rather, since Shiloh, where the tabernacle was, was destroyed; and besides, the ark of the Lord was here present, which sanctified the place, as it did the tabernacle, and made it fit for such service; and as for these cows, they had been employed in sacred service, and the Lord had a right unto them, and claim upon them; and it seemed not fitting that they should be after employed to any other use and service than his own; nor were the men of Bethshemesh blamed or punished for this, though they afterwards were for looking into the ark.

w Hieron. Trad. Heb. in lib. Reg. fol. 75. D.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

A great stone - (Compare Genesis 28:18; Judges 13:19). This great stone was probably used as an altar on this occasion, and the kine stopping at it of their own accord was understood by the Bethshemites as an intimation that they were to offer sacrifices on it to the Lord God of Israel, who had so wonderfully brought back the ark from its captivity.

And they clave the wood of the cart ... - A similar expedient was resorted to by Araunah 2 Samuel 24:22, and by Elisha 1 Kings 19:21.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Samuel 6:14. They clave the wood of the cart — Both the cart and the cattle having been thus employed, could no longer be devoted to any secular services; therefore the cattle were sacrificed, and the cart was broken up for fuel to consume the sacrifice.