Study Desk

Now the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.

Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it into the house of Dagon, and placed it beside Dagon.

When the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, "The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, because His hand is severe on us and on Dagon our god."

So they sent word and gathered all the governors of the Philistines to them, and said, "What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?" And they said, "Have the ark of the God of Israel brought to Gath." So they took the ark of the God of Israel away.

So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And as the ark of God came to Ekron, the Ekronites cried out, saying, "They have brought the ark of the God of Israel to us, to kill us and our people!"

Therefore they sent word and gathered all the governors of the Philistines, and said, "Send away the ark of the God of Israel and let it return to its own place, so that it will not kill us and our people!" For there was a deadly panic throughout the city; the hand of God was very heavy there.

And they said, "If you are going to send the ark of the God of Israel away, do not send it empty; but you shall certainly return to Him a guilt offering. Then you will be healed, and it will be revealed to you why His hand does not leave you."

"So you shall make likenesses of your tumors and likenesses of your mice that are ruining the land, and you shall give glory to the God of Israel; perhaps He will lighten His hand from you, your gods, and your land.

And the men of Beth-shemesh said, "Who is able to stand before the LORD, this holy God? And to whom will He go up from us?"

So the sons of Israel said to Samuel, "Do not stop crying out to the LORD our God for us, that He will save us from the hand of the Philistines!"

But he said to him, "Behold now, there is a man of God in this city, and the man is held in honor; everything that he says definitely comes true. Now let's go there, perhaps he can tell us about our journey on which we have set out."

Then Saul said to his servant, "But look, if we go, what shall we bring the man? For the bread is gone from our sacks and there is no gift to bring to the man of God. What do we have?"

The servant answered Saul again and said, "Look, I have in my hand a fourth of a shekel of silver; I will give it to the man of God and he will tell us our way."

(Previously in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, he used to say, "Come, and let's go to the seer"; for he who is called a prophet now was previously called a seer.)

Then Saul said to his servant, "Good idea; come, let's go." So they went to the city where the man of God was.

As they were going down to the edge of the city, Samuel said to Saul, "Speak to the servant and have him go on ahead of us and pass by; but you stand here now, so that I may proclaim the word of God to you."

"Then you will go on farther from there, and you will come as far as the oak of Tabor, and there three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you: one carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a jug of wine.

"Afterward you will come to the hill of God where the Philistine garrison is; and it shall be as soon as you have come there to the city, that you will meet a group of prophets coming down from the high place with harp, tambourine, flute, and a lyre in front of them, and they will be prophesying.

"And it shall be when these signs come to you, do for yourself what the occasion requires, because God is with you.

Then it happened, when he turned his back to leave Samuel, that God changed his heart; and all those signs came about on that day.