The Philistine captivity of the Ark was an episode described in the biblical history of the
Israelite
The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan.
The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele o ...
s, in which the
Ark of the covenant was in the possession of the
Philistines
The Philistines ( he, פְּלִשְׁתִּים, Pəlīštīm; Koine Greek (LXX): Φυλιστιείμ, romanized: ''Phulistieím'') were an ancient people who lived on the south coast of Canaan from the 12th century BC until 604 BC, whe ...
, who had captured it after defeating the Israelites in a battle at a location between
Eben-ezer
Eben-Ezer (, ''’éḇen hā-‘ézer'', "the stone of help") is a location that is mentioned by the Books of Samuel as the scene of battles between the Israelites and Philistines. It is specified as having been less than a day's journey by f ...
, where the Israelites encamped, and
Aphek (probably
Antipatris
Antipatris (, grc, Αντιπατρίς) was a city built during the first century BC by Herod the Great, who named it in honour of his father, Antipater. The site, now a national park in central Israel, was inhabited from the Chalcolithic ...
), where the Philistines encamped.
The ark narrative does not include any mention of
Samuel; Bill Arnold suggests that it is "in order to celebrate the power of Yahweh's ark." Many scholars put
1 Samuel 4 - 6 together with 2 Samuel 6 and believe that it reflects an old source that was eventually incorporated into the History of David's Rise or into the later
Deuteronomistic History
The Deuteronomist, abbreviated as either Dtr or simply D, may refer either to the source document underlying the core chapters (12–26) of the Book of Deuteronomy, or to the broader "school" that produced all of Deuteronomy as well as the Deutero ...
.
According to
1 Samuel 4, prior to the battle the Ark had been residing at the ancient sanctuary of
Shiloh, but was brought out by the Israelites in hope of victory in the war. The Israelites suffered a significant defeat;
Hophni and Phinehas
Hophni () and Phinehas or Phineas () were the two sons of Eli. The first book of Samuel describes them as the officiating priests at the sanctuary of Shiloh at the time of Hannah. According to Josephus, Phinehas officiated as high priest because ...
, sons of the
High Priest Eli
Eli most commonly refers to:
* Eli (name), a given name, nickname and surname
* Eli (biblical figure)
Eli or ELI may also refer to:
Film
* ''Eli'' (2015 film), a Tamil film
* ''Eli'' (2019 film), an American horror film
Music
* ''Eli'' (Jan ...
, were killed and the ark was captured. The news of the ark's capture was such a shock to Eli that he fell off his chair and died, while
Phinehas' wife died in childbirth as she heard the news, giving birth to
Ichabod
Ichabod ( he, אִיכָבוֹד ''ʼīyḵāḇōḏ'', – ''without glory'', or "''where is the glory?''") is mentioned in the first Book of Samuel as the son of Phinehas, a malicious priest at the biblical shrine of Shiloh, who was born on ...
, whose name means "Where is the glory?"
Robert Alter argues that 1 Samuel 4:22 should be translated as "Glory is ''exiled'' from Israel," and that the story of the Philistine captivity of the ark is one of
exile.
Peter Leithart
Peter James Leithart (born 1959) is an American author, minister, and theologian, who serves as president of Theopolis Institute for Biblical, Liturgical, & Cultural Studies in Birmingham, Alabama. He previously served as Senior Fellow of Theology ...
suggests that Israel deserved to go into exile, but the ark did so instead: "Yahweh went into exile, taking on the curse of the covenant for His people, and while in exile He fought for them and defeated the gods of Philistia."
1 Samuel 5 and 6 describe the Philistines as having to move the Ark to several parts of their territory, as tumours or
hemorrhoids ("
emerods") afflicted the people in each town to which it was taken:
Ashdod, then
Gath, then
Ekron
Ekron (Philistine: 𐤏𐤒𐤓𐤍 ''*ʿAqārān'', he, עֶקְרוֹן, translit=ʿEqrōn, ar, عقرون), in the Hellenistic period known as Accaron ( grc-gre, Ακκαρων, Akkarōn}) was a Philistine city, one of the five cities o ...
. The
Septuagint
The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond ...
adds that "
mice sprang up in the midst of their country". Other translations use the words "rats" or "rodents" and recent research suggests this may have been the
bubonic plague.
Stirrup points out that the "severity of the punishments increases through the passage": tumours in Ashdod (vv. 6–8), extensive tumours and panic in Gath, which had volunteered to take on the Ark (vv. 9,10a), and tumours on those who did not die and deathly panic in Ekron, which was 'volunteered' to take the Ark (vv. 10b-12). The text explicitly ascribes the plague to "
Yahweh
Yahweh *''Yahwe'', was the national god of ancient Israel and Judah. The origins of his worship reach at least to the early Iron Age, and likely to the Late Bronze Age if not somewhat earlier, and in the oldest biblical literature he poss ...
's hand" (1 Samuel 5:6).
In Ashdod, when the Ark was placed in the temple of
Dagon
Dagon ( he, דָּגוֹן, ''Dāgōn'') or Dagan ( sux, 2= dda-gan, ; phn, 𐤃𐤂𐤍, Dāgān) was a god worshipped in ancient Syria across the middle of the Euphrates, with primary temples located in Tuttul and Terqa, though many attes ...
, the statue of Dagon was found
prostrate in front of the Ark the next morning; after the statue of Dagon was restored to its place, it was again found prostrate the next morning, and this time its head and hands had also been broken off.
Leithart provides a number of parallels between the Philistine captivity of the Ark and the
Plagues of Egypt
The Plagues of Egypt, in the account of the book of Exodus, are ten disasters inflicted on Biblical Egypt by the God of Israel in order to convince the Pharaoh to emancipate the enslaved Israelites, each of them confronting Pharaoh and one of hi ...
in the
Book of Exodus
The Book of Exodus (from grc, Ἔξοδος, translit=Éxodos; he, שְׁמוֹת ''Šəmōṯ'', "Names") is the second book of the Bible. It narrates the story of the Exodus, in which the Israelites leave slavery in Biblical Egypt through ...
. The ark brings about plagues, humbles the gods of the Philistines and returns full of treasure.
[Peter Leithart, ''A Son to Me'', 57.] In fact, the Philistine diviners refer to the events of the
Exodus in 1 Samuel 6:6. On the advice of these
diviners
Divination (from Latin ''divinare'', 'to foresee, to foretell, to predict, to prophesy') is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic, standardized process or ritual. Used in various forms throughout history ...
about how to end the plagues, the Philistines made a guilt offering of five golden
tumors
A neoplasm () is a type of abnormal and excessive growth of tissue. The process that occurs to form or produce a neoplasm is called neoplasia. The growth of a neoplasm is uncoordinated with that of the normal surrounding tissue, and persists ...
and five gold
mice (representing the five Philistine rulers). They then placed the gold along with the ark on a cart drawn by two
milch cows, who head straight for Israel and do not waver. The ark stops at
Beth Shemesh before finding a more permanent home at
Kiriath-Jearim.
References
{{Ark of the Covenant
Books of Samuel
Philistines
Ark of the Covenant