1 Samuel 6:2 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
1 Samuel 6:2
And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, What shall we do to the ark of the LORD? tell us wherewith we shall send it to his place.
a Pelishtite or inhabitant of Pelesheth · noun, gentilic masculine plural absolute
called
וַיִּקְרְא֣וּvai.yik.re.'U
H7121
to call out to (i.e. properly · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
priests
לַכֹּהֲנִ֤יםla.ko.ha.Nim
H3548
literally one officiating · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
diviners
וְלַקֹּֽסְמִים֙ve.la.ko.se.Mim
H7080
properly · conjunction + preposition with the article + verb, qal active participle, masculine plural absolute
saying
לֵאמֹ֔רle.Mor
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
do
נַּעֲשֶׂ֖הna.'a.Seh
H6213
to do or make · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common plural
ark
לַאֲר֣וֹןla.'a.Ron
H727
a box · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
LORD
יְהוָ֑הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
tell
הוֹדִעֻ֕נוּho.di.'U.nu
H3045
to know (properly · verb, hiphil imperative, 2nd person masculine plural + pronominal suffix
send
נְשַׁלְּחֶ֥נּוּne.shal.le.Che.nu
H7971
to send away · verb, piel imperfect, 1st person common plural + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
place
לִמְקוֹמֽוֹlim.ko.Mo
H4725
properly · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
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
Genesis 41:8 And it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled; and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt, and all the wise men…
Exodus 7:11 Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments.
Daniel 2:2 Then the king commanded to call the magicians, and the astrologers, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, for to shew the king his dreams. S…
Daniel 5:7 The king cried aloud to bring in the astrologers, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. And the king spake, and said to the wise men of Babylo…
Isaiah 2:6 Therefore thou hast forsaken thy people the house of Jacob, because they be replenished from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philisti…
Isaiah 47:12-13 Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast laboured from thy youth; if so be thou shalt b…
Micah 6:6-9 Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a y…
Matthew 2:4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Samuel 6:1-9
The first words of the chapter tell us how long the captivity of the ark continued - it was in the country of the Philistines seven months. In the field of the Philistines (so it is in the original), from which some gather that, having tried it in all their cities, and found it a plague to the inhabitants of each, at length they sent it into the open fields, upon which mice sprang up out of the ground in great multitudes, and destroyed the corn which was now nearly ripe and marred the land. With that judgment they were plagued (Sa1 6:5), and yet it is not mentioned in the foregoing chapter; so God let them know that wherever they carried the ark, so long as they carried it captive, they shou…
the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners--The designed restoration of the ark was not, it seems, universally approved of, and many doubts were expressed whether the prevailing pestilence was really a judgment of Heaven. The priests and diviners united all parties by recommending a course which would enable them easily to discriminate the true character of the calamities, and at the same time to propitiate the incensed Deity for any acts of disrespect which might have been shown to His ark.
Adam Clarke on 1 Samuel 6:2
The diviners - קסמים kosemim, from קסם kasam, to presage or prognosticate. See Deu 18:10. In what their pretended art consisted, we know not.
John Gill on 1 Samuel 6:2
And the Philistines called for the priests and for the diviners,.... The one were skilled in the rites and ceremonies of religion, not only of their own, but of other nations, particularly of Israel; and that they were not strangers to the history and affairs of that people is plain from 1 Samuel 6:6 and the other were skilled in judicial astrology, and knowledge of future events, at least as they pretended to; and therefore were both thought fit persons to advise with on the occasion of the ark, and the circumstances they were in through that:
saying, what shall we do to the ark of the Lord? shall we send it back to its own land, or not? the Ekronites had moved it might be sent back, and t…
The Church Fathers
2. Who are those who consult priests and diviners, if not the faithful of the holy Church, who desire to hold the way of eternal salvation without error? And who are understood as the priests and diviners, if not the preachers of the holy Church? They are indeed priests on account of the offering of the sacrament, and diviners by the ministry of preaching. For these two things come together in the person of the pastor, if he possesses both holiness of life and learning of wisdom: because he has been appointed both to purge the sins of those under him and to dispel the darkness of errors by the light of preaching. Therefore, a pastor of the holy Church who has holiness of life but does not have the power of divine preaching is indeed a priest, but not a diviner. Likewise, if he retains eloquence of speech without holiness of life, although he may appear to be a diviner, he is by no means adorned with the honor of the priesthood: because what he preaches sublimely, he tramples underfoot by earthly conduct. But those who inquire about the place of the ark and about sending back the ark of God call upon both priests and diviners: because indeed those who, from knowledge of divine preaching, love the joys of the life to come, seek for the counsel of salvation pastors who are neither carnally wise nor overly simple in their piety. And so they call upon priests and diviners: because they entrust themselves to those who both show the uprightness of the heavenly way by the sublimity of their knowledge, and are worthy intercessors before almighty God for those under them, through purity of life. Therefore they inquire about sending the ark back to its place: because from that knowledge of the Scriptures which they receive in the mysteries of words, they desire to pass over to the perfect knowledge of God in eternity. For the ark is, as it were, sent back when this small knowledge is fulfilled through the passage of the present life. And we behold the glory of God's ark displayed in its place when, from beneath the lofty coverings of figures, we gaze upon the appearance of the divine majesty with unveiled face. Concerning this return of the ark to its place, it is said through the prophet: "And a man shall no longer teach his neighbor, saying: Know the Lord; for from the least to the greatest they shall know me" (Jeremiah 31:34). Hence John promises, saying: "When he…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
David — Beloved, the eighth and youngest son of Jesse, a citizen of Bethlehem. His father seems to have been a man in humble life. His mother’s name is not recorded. Some think she was the Nahash of 2 Sam.…
Divination — Of false prophets (Deut. 18:10, 14; Micah 3:6, 7, 11), of necromancers (1 Sam. 28:8), of the Philistine priests and diviners (1 Sam. 6:2), of Balaam (Josh. 13:22). Three kinds of divination are…
Ekron — Firm-rooted, the most northerly of the five towns belonging to the lords of the Philistines, about 11 miles north of Gath. It was assigned to Judah (Josh. 13:3), and afterwards to Dan (19:43), but…
Soothsayer — One who pretends to prognosticate future events. Baalam is so called (Josh. 13:22; Heb. kosem, a “diviner,” as rendered 1 Sam. 6:2; rendered “prudent,” Isa. 3:2). In Isa. 2:6 and Micah 5:12 (Heb.…
Ark Of The Covenant · Miracles connected with: Manner of its restoration — Miracles connected with: Manner of its restoration
Philistines · Sent back the ark and were healed — Sent back the ark and were healed
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).
