(16) And when the five lords of the Philistines had seen it, they returned to Ekron the same day. (17) And these are the golden emerods which the Philistines returned for a trespass offering unto the LORD; for Ashdod one, for Gaza one, for Askelon one, for Gath one, for Ekron one;
Is the Reader astonished to see such over-ruling events of the God of Israel's power, so exactly corresponding to the Philistines proposal, verse the 9th, (in which they had said, they should know thereby, that it was Israel's God that had done them so great evils): and yet no greater or better conviction wrought upon their minds? Doth the Reader wonder at this? Alas! doth not every day's experience demonstrate the same in the world at large? Is not the world frequently overawed, and frequently compelled to confess, from what is going on around them, that this hath God wrought: and yet how indisposed their minds are truly to honour him.