1 Samuel 5:8 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
1 Samuel 5:8
They sent therefore and gathered all the lords of the Philistines unto them, and said, What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? And they answered, Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried about unto Gath. And they carried the ark of the God of Israel about thither.
to send away · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
gathered
וַיַּאַסְפוּ֩vai.ya.'as.Fu
H622
to gather for any purpose · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
lords
סַרְנֵ֨יsar.Nei
H5633
an axle · noun, common masculine plural construct
Philistines
פְלִשְׁתִּ֜יםfe.lish.Tim
H6430
a Pelishtite or inhabitant of Pelesheth · noun, gentilic masculine plural absolute
said
וַיֹּֽאמְרוּ֙vai.yo.me.Ru
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
do
נַּעֲשֶׂ֗הna.'a.Seh
H6213
to do or make · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common plural
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
1 Samuel 5:11 So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines, and said, Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it go again t…
1 Samuel 17:4 And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.
Amos 6:2 Pass ye unto Calneh, and see; and from thence go ye to Hamath the great: then go down to Gath of the Philistines: be they better than these…
Zechariah 12:3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though a…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 5:6–end
The downfall of Dagon (if the people had made a good use of it, and had been brought by it to repent of their idolatries and to humble themselves before the God of Israel and seek his face) might have prevented the vengeance which God here proceeds to take upon them for the indignities done to his ark, and their obstinate adherence to their idol, in defiance of the plainest conviction. Lord, when thy hand is lifted up they will not see, but they shall see, Isa 26:11. And, if they will not see the glory, they shall feel the weight, of God's hand, for so the Philistines did. The hand of the Lord was heavy upon them (Sa1 5:6), and he not only convinced them of their folly, but severely chastise…
the ark of God shall not abide with us--It was removed successively to several of the large towns of the country, but the same pestilence broke out in every place and raged so fiercely and fatally that the authorities were forced to send the ark back into the land of Israel [Sa1 5:8-10].
Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 5:8
The lords of the Philistines - The word סרני sarney, which we translate lords, is rendered by the Chaldee טורני tureney, tyrants. The Syriac is the same. By the Vulgate and Septuagint, satrapae, satraps. Palestine was divided into five satrapies: Ashdod, Ekron, Askelon, Gath, and Gaza. See Jos 13:8. But these were all federates and acted under one general government, for which they assembled in council.
Let the ark - be carried about - They probably thought that their affliction rose from some natural cause; and therefore they wished the ark to be carried about from place to place, to see what the effects might be. If they found the same evil produced wherever it came, then they must conclud…
They sent therefore and gathered all the lords of the Philistines unto them,.... The other four lords, for there were five with this; see Joshua 13:3,
and said, what shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? they no doubt told them what they and their idol had suffered on account of it, and the resolution they were come to that it should be no longer with them; and therefore desire to know what must be done with it, whether they should return it to the people of Israel, or dispose of it somewhere else; it is probable some might be for the former, but the greater part were not, and were for keeping it in their possession somewhere or another:
and they answered, let the ark of the God o…
The Church Fathers
And the Gittites replied: Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried around, etc. And this carrying around of the ark suits the present time of our age, where each of the weak desires the difficult words of the Lord to be fulfilled by others rather than by themselves. But even barbarian nations, which have recently accepted the faith of Christ, soon become enfeebled by soft desires, thinking this charge should be given to others rather than be exercised among themselves for longer.
8. Because it is said that the satraps of the Philistines gathered together, but why they gathered is not stated. Yet because the satraps are said to have responded and to have given counsel about carrying the ark around, it is clearly understood that they had been summoned to give counsel regarding that same ark. Who then are the satraps of the Philistines, if not the chosen preachers of the Gentiles? Satraps are indeed called princes. Of these princes it is certainly said through the Psalmist: "The princes of the peoples are gathered together with the God of Abraham" (Psalm 46:10). For by the name "peoples," the Gentiles are designated. He who used the name of peoples and of princes surely designated the satraps of the Philistines, of whom he speaks. These princes of the peoples certainly came together with the God of Abraham when, for the salvation of the Gentiles who were to be converted, the preachers proclaimed in word what almighty God inspired in them through inward desire. For it was as though there were a wonderful agreement between God and the princes in the hearts of their Gentile hearers, since they received simultaneously both the reasoning of right preaching from the holy preachers and the fruit of good will from the Lord. And since those who had said "Let the ark of God not remain among us" are recognized as adversaries, how do the princes gather by sending? But to send and to gather the princes is to stir up the minds of the holy preachers to urgency in preaching, because preaching was to be carried out more attentively where the hearts of the Gentiles were plunged more deeply into error. Hence it is that the distinguished teacher boasts of having chosen for himself a nobler victory over unconquered enemies, saying: "From Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum I have fulfilled the Gospel of Christ; and so I have preached this Gospel, not where it had already been proclaimed, lest I build upon another's foundation" (Romans 15:19–20). The princes, therefore, were provoked not by the desire but by the error of the unbelievers, since they judged they could gain a greater profit for God from where the darkness of errors was borne aloft more loftily by the blast of pride. Therefore the urgency of holy preaching is also designated when it is added: "And the Gittites answered: Let the ark of God be carried around." Those say: "Let the ark of God…
Dictionary and topics
Ark — Noah’s ark, a building of gopher-wood, and covered with pitch, 300 cubits long, 50 cubits broad, and 30 cubits high (Gen. 6:14-16); an oblong floating house of three stories, with a door in the side…
Gath — A wine-vat, one of the five royal cities of the Philistines (Josh. 13:3) on which the ark brought calamity (1 Sam. 5:8, 9; 6:17). It was famous also as being the birthplace or residence of Goliath (1…
Haemorrhoids — Or Emerods, bleeding piles known to the ancient Romans as mariscae, but more probably malignant boils of an infectious and fatal character. With this loathsome and infectious disease the men of…
Ark Of The Covenant · Miracles connected with: Philistines plagued — Miracles connected with: Philistines plagued
Gath · The ark of the covenant taken to — The ark of the covenant taken to
Lord · A prince — A prince
Philistines · Lords of — Lords of
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
ark
לַֽאֲרוֹן֙la.'a.rOn
H727
a box · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
God
אֱלֹהֵ֣י'e.lo.Hei
H430
gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural construct
Israel
יִשְׂרָאֵ֔לYis.ra.'El
H3478
Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
answered
וַיֹּ֣אמְר֔וּvai.Yo.me.Ru
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
ark
אֲר֖וֹן'a.Ron
H727
a box · noun, common masculine singular construct
God
אֱלֹהֵ֣י'e.lo.Hei
H430
gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural construct
Israel
יִשְׂרָאֵ֑לYis.ra.'El
H3478
Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
about
יִסֹּ֔בyi.So
H5437
to revolve · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Gath
גַּ֣תgat
H1661
Gath · proper noun, a place name
carried
וַיַּסֵּ֕בּוּvai.yas.Se.bu
H5437
to revolve · conjunction + verb, hiphil sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
ark
אֲר֖וֹן'a.Ron
H727
a box · noun, common masculine singular construct
God
אֱלֹהֵ֥י'e.lo.Hei
H430
gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural construct
"When the Ashdodites saw that it was so," they were unwilling to keep the ark of the God of Israel any longer, because the hand of Jehovah lay heavy upon them and their god Dagon; whereupon the princes of the Philistines (סרני, as in Jos 13:3, etc.) assembled together, and came to the resolution to "let the ark of the God of Israel turn (i.e., be taken) to Gath" (Sa1 5:8). The princes of the Philistines probably imagined that the calamity which the Ashdodites attributed to the ark of God, either did not proceed from the ark, i.e., from the God of Israel, or if actually connected with the presence of the ark, simply arose from the fact that the city itself was hateful to the God of the Israel…
rulers (or overlords): Each of the five major Philistine cities had its own ruler (6:16-18). • Move it: Despite the obvious danger, the Philistines relished their captured trophy enough to relocate it rather than return it. • Gath, one of the five major Philistine cities, was nearby.
Rashi on 1 Samuel 5:6
And He devastated them. An expression [שְׁמָמָה] meaning desolation.
With hemorrhoids. The mesentery of the large intestine, a plague of the rectum. Mice would enter their recta, disembowel them, and crawl out.
