Commentary for I Samuel 6:22

How we should send it back. In what manner should we send it away, so that He will not be angry, and so that His wrath will be removed from us.

A guilt-offering. As an indication that you confess that you have betrayed Him.

Then you will be healed, and you will realize. That He did this, for why wouldn't His hand turn away from you then?

Philistine rulers. They were five, as it is stated, "The Azites, the Ashdodites, the Ashkelonites, the Gittites, and the Ekronites."¹ Yehoshua 13:3.

Nursing cows. Nursing.

Which have not borne a yoke. All this is for the test. Since these cows are not capable of pulling [a load], and furthermore, they will yearn for their young. If the Ark will have the power to enable them to pull it by themselves, we shall know that He brought this upon us.

In the box. Escrin in O. F.

Confined in the house. 'כָּלוּ' is an expression of 'כֶּלֶא' [imprisonment].

Set on a straight course. This word is a grammatical hermaphrodite.²The “י” of וַיִשַּׁרְנָה is the masculine form and the “נה” is indicative of the feminine form. This teaches us that even the young recited a song,³ And, therefore, the combination of the masculine and feminine forms. "Sing aloud, sing aloud, O Ark of acacia wood! Exalt yourself…" as stated in Maseches Avodah Zorah.⁴ 24b. The cows literally sang an intelligible praise to ‘ה. They were given the miraculous power to sing just as Bilam’s donkey was given the power of speech in Bamidbar 22:28-30. According to its simple meaning, 'וַיִשַּׁרְנָה' is an expression meaning 'straight,' i.e. they followed a straight path.

Lowing as they walked. This is an expression of the cry [גְּעִיָה] of cattle.

Beis Shemesh. Yisroel was there.⁵Although בֵּית שֶׁמֶשׁ was one of the cities belonging to kohanim [Yehosua 21:16], nonetheless man Bnei Yisroel lived there and in adjacent areas.—Da’as Sofrim

And they rejoiced to see. They were going to see how it came alone, and out of their joy, they behaved with levity, for they did not gaze at it with awe and respect.⁶They violated the commandment “and they shall not come in to see when the holy is being covered and [they will not] die,” in Bamidbar 4:20.

Open village. A village without a wall.

The large rock. This is the large rock previously mentioned, for the 'ל' comes in place of the 'נ' [in the word 'אָבֵל'], similar to 'נִשְׁכָּה' instead of 'לִשְׁכָּה' [chamber], in the book of Nechemyah.⁷ 13:7. And because they experienced mourning there,⁸ See below verse 19. they called it 'אָבֵל'.

Seventy men, fifty thousand men.⁹ Targum Yonoson renders, 'And He killed of the elders of the people seventy men, and of the community fifty thousand men.'⁹Another opinion is that this figure also includes the number of Philistines that were killed as a result of their irreverence towards the Ark. Our Rabbis, however said, 'Seventy men, each of whom was equal to fifty thousand, or fifty thousand men each of whom was equal to the seventy of Sanhedrin.'¹⁰Maseches Sotah 35b.