1 Samuel 6:19 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

And he smote the men of Beth-shemesh— The people of Beth-shemesh could not but know that God had forbidden, on pain of death, not only the common people, but even the Levites, to look into the ark. But their curiosity caused them to forget their duty, and they were accordingly punished for it. This history, as Bochart remarks, has given rise to many stories among the heathens. See his Canaan, lib. 1: cap. 18. Dr. Waterland renders the next clause, he smote of the people fifty thousand, &c.: thus, he smote of the people threescore and ten men out fifty thousand: which, says he, is a juster rendering of the Hebrew, and is well defended by Le Clerc upon the place. Bochart had before led the way towards correcting the common translations; rendering the words thus: seventy men; viz. fifty out of a thousand men, which was a much better rendering than the common translations; and his reasonings upon the text afforded great light to all that came after. Le Clerc's will suit as well with the letter of the Hebrew, and appears more natural and less perplexed. Houbigant understands the passage in its rigour, and translates thus; but the Lord smote in Beth-shemesh seventy men, because they had looked into the ark of the Lord; and of the people [who he supposed had come from the neighbouring countries to see the ark] fifty thousand men; so that the lamentation was great, &c. One of this great critic's reasons for supposing that more than seventy were slain is, that this is called a great slaughter: but surely it might well cause much lamentation, and might with propriety be called a great slaughter, when so many as seventy of the people perished at once by a stroke from heaven for an offence of this nature; and as the Hebrew will bear the interpretation given by Dr. Waterland and Le Clerc, one would certainly rather wish to understand it in this light, than in that wherein we see it in the common translation. We just observe, that Josephus mentions only seventy Beth-shemites as punished on this occasion. See his Antiq. book 6: cap. 2 and Kennicott's Dissert. vol. 1: p. 532.