For seven long months, the ark of the Lord remained in the land of the Philistines.
Seven months of fear, sickness, and a weight they could not shake off. The people whispered about the God of Israel, the one their fathers had heard rumors about, and they knew something had to be done.
So the Philistine rulers gathered their priests and diviners. Their voices were tense as they asked, "What do we do with the ark of the God of Israel? How do we send it back without bringing more disaster on ourselves?"
The priests answered quietly, as though afraid the God of Israel might be listening. "Do not send it away empty. Give Him a guilt offering. Only then will you know if His hand will turn away."
The rulers asked what offering such a God would accept. The priests replied, "Five gold tumors and five gold rats, one for each of your rulers, because the same plague struck all of you. Give Him honor. Perhaps He will lift His hand from you, your gods, and your land."
They looked around at their people suffering, and the priests added, "Do not harden your hearts like Pharaoh did in Egypt. When God struck him, he eventually let Israel go. Learn from that."
So they were instructed to prepare something strange: a new cart, two cows that had just calved and had never been yoked, their calves taken from them and locked away so the cows would naturally want to turn back. Then the ark of the Lord was placed on the cart, with a chest beside it containing the gold offerings.
"Watch carefully," the priests said. "If the cows go toward Beth Shemesh, then you will know this disaster came from the God of Israel. But if not, then it was all by chance."
The moment the cart was ready, the two cows began to walk. They did not wander. They did not hesitate. They moved straight toward Beth Shemesh, lowing loudly as though resisting their motherly instincts, yet still driven by a force far greater than them. They did not turn to the right or to the left.
The Philistine rulers followed at a distance until the border, watching in fear and awe.
In the valley of Beth Shemesh, the Israelites were harvesting wheat when they looked up and saw something glimmering in the sunlight. When they recognized the ark of the Lord, their voices rose in joy. They ran toward it, overwhelmed with relief.
The cart stopped in the field of a man named Joshua of Beth Shemesh. There, the people broke apart the wooden cart and used the wood for a fire. They offered the cows as a burnt sacrifice to the Lord. The Levites carefully lifted the ark and the chest of gold offerings, setting them on a large rock that stood like a silent witness.
That day, the people of Israel offered many sacrifices, their hearts overflowing with gratitude. The five Philistine rulers watched from a distance, saw everything, and returned to Ekron, shaken by what they had witnessed.
But joy turned to sorrow. Some of the men of Beth Shemesh, overcome by curiosity, dared to look inside the ark of the Lord. It was an act forbidden, a boundary God had set long ago. As punishment, seventy of them were struck down.
The cries of the people filled the valley as they mourned the heavy blow. Fear fell upon them, and they asked one another, "Who can stand in the presence of such a holy God? Where can the ark go from here?"
So they sent messengers to Kiriath Jearim, saying, "The Philistines have returned the ark of the Lord. Come and take it to your town."