The Ark of God Brings Misery On The Israelites Who Disrespect It (1 Samuel 6:17 to 1 Samuel 7:2).
The rejoicing of Israel turned to lamentation as a result of the irreverent behaviour of the priests who had grown careless in respect of holy things, due no doubt to the influence of the two sons of Eli. The trophies sent by the Philistines and the Ark of YHWH were set down on the great stone, but it became a ‘stone of lamentation' (Abel) when instead of fulfilling their duty and covering the Ark, which they knew should not have been exposed to public gaze (see Numbers 4:5), they stood and stared at it in its uncovered state. The result was that seventy men died, of whom fifty were chief men. (It may be that they went too close and thus became flea infected although no mention is made of plague). The result was that all the people ‘lamented (abel). Their rejoicing had become lamentation.
So they talked together and decided to call on the principle town of the area to send men to fetch the Ark of YHWH, and it was taken to the house of Abinadab on the hill, and there it was put under the care of Eleazar his son who was sanctified for the task, where it remained for over twenty years, while the voice of YHWH was silent. And the whole nation lamented after YHWH. They were slowly being brought to see how deeply they had failed Him.
Analysis.
a And these are the golden tumours which the Philistines returned for a trespass-offering to YHWH: for Ashdod one, for Gaza one, for Ashkelon one, for Gath one, for Ekron one, and the golden rodents, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, both of fortified cities and of country villages, even to the great stone of lamentation (or ‘Abel'), on which they set down the ark of YHWH, which stone remains to this day in the field of Joshua the Beth-shemite (1 Samuel 6:17-18).
b And He smote of the men of Beth-shemesh, because they had gazed irreverently at the ark of YHWH. He smote of the people seventy men, fifty of them chief men, and the people mourned (abel), because YHWH had smitten the people with a great slaughter (1 Samuel 6:19).
c And the men of Beth-shemesh said, “Who is able to stand before YHWH, this holy God? and to whom shall He go up from us?” And they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath-yearim, saying, “The Philistines have brought back the ark of YHWH, you come down, and fetch it up to you” (1 Samuel 6:20-21).
b And the men of Kiriath-yearim came, and fetched up the ark of YHWH, and brought it into the house of Abinadab in the hill, and sanctified Eleazar his son to keep the ark of YHWH (1 Samuel 7:1).
a And it came about, from the day that the ark abode in Kiriath-yearim, that the time was long; for it was twenty years, and all the house of Israel lamented after YHWH (1 Samuel 7:2).
Note that in ‘a' the great stone is called ‘the great Abel', the stone of great lamentation, and in the parallel the people lament (nahah) after YHWH. In ‘b' the Ark is treated with irreverence, and in the parallel it is treated with great reverence. In ‘c' they ask what they are to do with the Ark now that they have been faced up with their error and then answer their own question
‘ And these are the golden tumours which the Philistines returned for a trespass-offering to YHWH: for Ashdod one, for Gaza one, for Ashkelon one, for Gath one, for Ekron one, and the golden rodents, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, both of fortified cities and of country villages, even to the great Abel, on which they set down the ark of YHWH, which stone remains to this day in the field of Joshua the Beth-shemite.'
Sadly the triumph and rejoicing of the Israelites turn to lamentation due to the casual treatment of the Ark by the priests. They knew full well that it ought to have been immediately covered up so that men could not gaze on it. That had been the strict instruction of YHWH to the sons of Aaron (Numbers 4:5; Numbers 4:19-20). No doubt even the two sons of Eli had covered it before they brought it into battle. But instead the priests set it on the great rock which stood in the field of Joshua the Bethshemite, naked for all to look on, along with the trophies that had come along with it. And the result was that ‘the great stone (eben)' (1 Samuel 6:15) became ‘the great Abel (lamentation)' (1 Samuel 6:18). (Note the play of words between ‘bn and ‘bl) Compare 1 Samuel 6:19 where the people do ‘mourn' (abel) because of what would follow.
The trophies are described in detail and indicate the level of devastation that the Philistines had experienced. Their advisers had recommended five golden tumours and five golden rodents, but the Philistines had been so affected by the wideness of the devastation by the rodents that they had sent golden rodents ‘according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, both of fortified cities and of country villages'. They wanted to make sure. Clearly the plague of rodents had been even more widespread than the physical plagues, which it seems had been confined to the cities.
‘ And he smote of the men of Beth-shemesh, because they had gazed irreverently at the ark of YHWH. He smote of the people seventy men, fifty of them chief men, and the people mourned, because YHWH had smitten the people with a great smiting.'
We now learn why the great stone (eben) has been called ‘the great Abel (‘lamentation')'. It was because the people had gazed irreverently on the Ark so that some had been smitten. Fifty of those smitten were chief men ('lph), leaders among the priests who were therefore the most culpable. Probably the remainder were some of their wives or chief servants who should also have known better. The point here was that Israel had yet to learn the lesson which had been taught to the Philistines. YHWH as Lord over all had to be treated with due reverence.
The number seventy indicated a divinely perfect number as chosen by YHWH (seven intensified). The number fifty indicated covenant responsibility (five intensified). It was of the mercy of YHWH that those whose guilt was less were not punished.
The result was that the people mourned and lamented (abel), because YHWH had inflicted so many deaths among the priests. (Compared, however, with the number of military units that had been slaughtered because of Israel's ineptness, sinfulness and failure to truly look to YHWH the number is minimal).
‘ And the men of Beth-shemesh said, “Who is able to stand before YHWH, this holy God? and to whom shall he go up from us?” '
What had happened had brought the people back to their senses. It had reminded them of the holiness of YHWH. And so they began to ask themselves who could possibly stand before this holy God, and to whom they should commit the Ark so that it could be properly looked after? The fact that they did not consider Shiloh may have been because the Sanctuary had been destroyed, but it may equally have been because they considered that the Ark had been defiled by its sojourn among the uncircumcised Philistines. Possibly they recognised that just as a person who had become ritually ‘unclean' had to wait for a period before YHWH (e.g. ‘they shall not be clean until the evening'), so it was necessary for the Ark to be kept somewhere safe while the defilement wore off. 1 Samuel 3:21 appears to suggest that Shiloh continued for some time.
‘And they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath-yearim, saying, “The Philistines have brought back the ark of YHWH, you come down, and fetch it up to you.” '
Their considerations brought them to one conclusion. There was only one man in the area fitted to look after the Ark, and that was Abinadab who lived ‘on the hill' in Kiriath-yearim. So they sent to the inhabitants of Kiriath-yearim and informed them that the Philistines had returned the Ark and that they should come and fetch it and take it to Kiriath-yearim. Kiriath-yearim was one of the frontier cities of Judah (Joshua 15:9).
‘ And the men of Kiriath-yearim came, and fetched up the ark of YHWH, and brought it into the house of Abinadab on the hill, and sanctified Eleazar his son to keep the ark of YHWH.
Clearly the people of Kiriath-yearim also recognised that Abinadab was the most suitable person, for they came and ‘fetched up the Ark of YHWH', bringing it into the house of Abinadab on the hill. While Kiriath-yearim was not a priestly city we can safely assume that those who brought up the Ark were either priests or Levites, for the priests in Beth-shemesh, having learned their lesson the hard way, would not otherwise have permitted it to go in their care. Indeed the probability must be that Abinadab was himself a priest, or at least a Levite (so Josephus), and was chief man of the area (which, if he was a priest, would be why he lived in Kiriath-yearim), and that he had priestly servants who performed the function described of bringing up the Ark. It would also explain why his son was ‘sanctified' in order to care for the Ark, although there is no suggestion that he performed priestly functions. It is probable that at this stage there was no one old enough in the High Priestly families to act as High Priest. The deaths of Eli's successor in battle had denuded the line. It would not be until Ahijah became of age that a successor to the High Priesthood would become available. Ahijah's father appears for some reason not to have been available. Perhaps he died before he became of the right age, or perhaps he had some disablement. (See 1 Samuel 14:3).
The position of Abinadab's house ‘on the hill' would also have been seen as a suitable place for the Ark. In Israel the Sanctuary was regularly set on hills, as it would finally be on Mount Zion. It gave them a certain isolation, and lifted them nearer to the heavens (compare Isaiah 2:2-4). Hills were often seen as sacred because of their remoteness. Compare Genesis 22.
‘And it came about, from the day that the ark abode in Kiriath-yearim, that the time was long; for it was twenty years, and all the house of Israel lamented after YHWH.'
Following the arrival back of the Ark Israel's problems were not solved, for they had not repented and turned from their sin. And thus for a period of twenty years the Ark remained in the house of Abinadab, while the people ‘lamented after YHWH'. It was necessary for them to face up to their failures and sins before YHWH would again speak to them and act on their behalf.
The ‘twenty years' (a round number indicating a good number of years) did not mark the length of time that the Ark was to stay in the house of Abinadab, for it would be there a good while longer. It rather indicated the period during which Samuel was growing up to take his position as the prophet of YHWH, so that Israel would once again hear YHWH's voice once it had had time to consider its ways. It was a period of darkness for Israel, for there was apparently no one yet available to take the High Priesthood, and those living in the lower hill country were therefore still partly under the control of the Philistines. This is the second half of the forty years mentioned in Judges 13:1. (Philistine control would be loose in the hills and seemingly never reached Transjordan. It would also not necessarily have affected some of the tribes in the north, except when they were called on for fulfilment of their covenant duties by providing fighting men in accordance with the requirements of the amphictyony). As the darkness grew idolatry seems to have abounded (1 Samuel 7:3). However, for those who were faithful in Israel there was the young Samuel still seemingly residing at a rather bereft (no Ark, no High Priest) Shiloh (1 Samuel 3:21).