1 Samuel 6:9

Contextual Overview

¹ And the ark of Yahweh was in the country of the Philistines seven months. ¹ The Ark of the Lord remained in Philistine territory seven months in all. ¹ And the ark of the LORD was in the country of the Philistines seven months. ¹ The Philistines kept the Ark of God in their land seven months. ¹ When the ark of the Lord had been in the land of the Philistines for seven months, ¹ And the ark of the LORD was in the country of the Philistines seven months. ¹ The ark of Yahweh was in the country of the Philistines seven months. ¹Now the ark of the LORD had been in the country of the Philistines for seven months. ¹ The ark of the Lord was in the country of the Philistines seven months. ¹ Therfor the arke of the Lord was in the cuntrei of Filisteis bi seuene monethis;

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Bethshemesh: Joshua 15:10, Joshua 21:16

he: or, it, Amos 3:6

we shall: 1 Samuel 6:3

not his hand: Isaiah 26:11

a chance: 2 Samuel 1:6, Ecclesiastes 9:11, Luke 10:31

Reciprocal: Exodus 8:19 - This is Exodus 9:3 - the hand Joshua 19:22 - Bethshemesh 1 Samuel 25:38 - the Lord 2 Samuel 11:25 - for the sword 2 Kings 1:11 - Again 2 Kings 14:11 - Bethshemesh 2 Chronicles 25:21 - Bethshemesh 2 Chronicles 28:18 - Bethshemesh Job 5:6 - trouble Psalms 32:4 - hand Psalms 38:2 - thy hand Jeremiah 5:12 - have belied Ezekiel 39:21 - and my Mark 11:13 - haply

Cross-References

Genesis 2:4
These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.

Genesis 2:4
These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that Yahweh God made earth and heaven.

Genesis 2:4
This is the story of the creation of the sky and the earth. When the Lord God first made the earth and the sky,

Genesis 2:4
This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created—when the Lord God made the earth and heavens.

Genesis 2:4
These [are] the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.

Genesis 2:4
This is the history of the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that Yahweh God made earth and the heavens.

Genesis 2:4
This is the history of [the origin of] the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day [that is, days of creation] that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens—

Genesis 2:4
These ben the generaciouns of heuene and of erthe, in the day wherynne the Lord God made heuene and erthe,

Genesis 2:4
These [are] births of the heavens and of the earth in their being prepared, in the day of Jehovah God's making earth and heavens;

Genesis 2:4
This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made them.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And see if it goeth up by the way of its own coast to Bethshemesh,.... The nearest city to the land of the Philistines, which lay on their borders, and the borders of the tribe of Judah,

:-. Now the lords of the Philistines are directed by their priests to observe, whether these kine, that drew the cart on which the ark was, took the direct road to the borders of the land of Israel, and to Bethshemesh, the nearest city that lay on that coast: if so, they might conclude then,

he hath done us this great evil; that is, the God of Israel, whose ark this was; he had inflicted the disease of the emerods on them, and sent such numbers of mice into their fields, that had destroyed the increase of them:

but if not, then we shall know that it is not his hand that hath smote us; but that there is some other cause of it:

it was a chance that happened to us; and so might have been the case if the ark had never been taken or detained, and to be imputed to fate, or to the stars, or some secret causes they know not of.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Bethshemesh was the first Israelite town they would come to, being on the border of Judah. (See the marginal reference.)

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Samuel 6:9. A chance that happened to us — The word מקרה mikreh, from קרה karah, to meet or coalesce, signifies an event that naturally arises from such concurring causes as, in the order and nature of things, must produce it.

Thus a bad state of the atmosphere, putrid exhalations, bad diet, occasioned by any general scarcity, might have produced the disease in question; and to something of this kind they would attribute it, if the other evidences did not concur. This gives us the proper notion of chance; and shows us that it is a matter as dependent upon the Divine providence, as any thing can be: in short, that these occurrences are parts of the Divine government.

The word chance, though often improperly used to signify such an occurrence as is not under the Divine government, is of itself, not only simple, but expressive; and has nearly the meaning of the Hebrew word: it comes from the French cheoir, or escheoir, to fall out, to occur, to fall to. Hence our law-term escheat, any lands that fall to the lord of the manor by forfeiture, or for want of heirs: i.e., these are the occurrences which naturally throw the lands into the hands of the lord.