Stolen Treasure Chest is Returned by Two Cows!
Two cows are used by God to return His stolen treasure! His ways are not our ways. There are lessons we can learn from this event. Isaiah 55:8,9
Before we get to the miraculous story of two cows returning a stolen treasure, we have to first see how they fit into the story.
The story comes from the book of 1 Samuel chapters 4-6
The Israelites went to war against the Philistines and before too long the Philistines won the first battle. So, the army sent an order to Shiloh to bring the Ark of the Covenant. Hophni and Phinehas, Eli’s two sons accompanied the Chest. These two men were sons of Eli the Priest and served in the temple though they did not know or regard God. They were guilty of the most willful and dreadful sins and God sent a man of God to Eli to reveal the judgment that would come upon his sons for their actions.
So what is the Ark of the Covenant and why did they go to Shiloh to get it?
The Ark of the Covenant was a sacred chest which held the two stone tablets of the Ten Commandments, a jar of manna from the years of wandering in the wilderness, and Aaron’s rod. It was treasured! Significantly, it symbolized God’s presence among the Israelites.
Eugene Peterson, a Bible scholar, described the reason for their actions in this way. “In the emotional panic caused by the Philistine victory, the Israel leaders regressed spiritually to gross superstition. The narrative shows what happens when we become superstitious rather than believing; namely, nothing.”
In other words, they regarded the ark as the ultimate “good luck charm” and believed they could not lose with it there. They looked to the ark to save them, not to the Lord. Enduring Word Commentary
The Stolen Treasure - Ark of the Covenant abused!
However, not only did they lose the next battle – even with the Ark of the Covenant in their possession- their defeat was more devastating. God’s judgement on Hophni and Phinehas was carried out as they were killed and to top it off, the Ark of the Covenant was captured!
The text tells us why God was not pleased with the Israelites.
Sadly, they had allowed religious corruption to flourish in Shiloh. In their corruption they were treating the Ark of the Covenant like a military weapon, basically a magic wand for whomever was in charge of it.
Peterson says that: “The Philistine’s, sworn enemies of the Israelites, had at least this in common with them: they thought that possession of the Chest of God’s Covenant would provide them with a supernatural advantage. They thought of it as a spiritual tool, a device for prying power loose from divinity. In this, the Philistines were perhaps less culpable than the Israelites, for their belief was rooted in ignorance, while the Israelites belief was rooted in forgetfulness.”
The Philistines now have the treasure and they carried it off to Ashdod and brought it into the shrine of Dagon and placed it alongside the idol of Dagon.
Cheers of Victory Turns to Pain & Suffering after capturing the Stolen Treasure!
The next morning when people came to the shrine they saw their idol Dagon toppled from his place- flat on his face before the Chest of God. They picked him up and put him back where he belonged.
Again, the following morning, they found Dagon, toppled and flat on his face before the Chest of God. This time, his head and arms were broken off, strewn across the entrance. Only his torso was in one piece.
So, over a period of seven months, they had the treasure- “the Chest of God’s Covenant” in five different cities, Ashdod,Gaza, Ashkelon Gath and Ekron.
In each city wherever the Chest was moved to, the Lord God brought painful tumors to inflict the people. He also had rats swarming their city. Everyone was deathly afraid!
Having heard about the devastating things that happened in the other cities where this Chest was brought, the people of Ekron loudly protested when they saw it being brought into their city. “You will kill us all by bringing in this chest of God of Israel.”
The People want to find out how to get rid of the Stolen Treasure!
It was at this point that the people demanded that they call together their religious professionals, priests and experts on the supernatural for consultation: How can we get rid of this chest of God, get it off our hands without making things worse? Tell us.”
The advice they were given was to return the Stolen Treasure “The Ark of the Covenant” to the Israelites along with compensation so that they would be healed of their tumors and rat infestation.
So this is where the story of the cows comes in...
Here’s what they were told to do:
“Take a brand new oxcart and two cows that have never been in harness. Hitch the cows to the ox cart and send their calves back to the barn. Put the chest of God – the Stolen Treasure-on the cart. Secure the gold replicas of the tumours and rats that you are offering as compensation in a sack and set them next to the chest. Then send it off. But keep your eyes on it. If it (the Chest) heads straight back home to where it came from, toward Beth Shemesh, it is clear that this catastrophe is a divine judgment, but if not, we know that God had nothing to do with it-it was just an accident.” EP The Message
The test - divine judgement or coincidence?- this is quite fascinating!
“They thought that this judgement was from the LORD God of Israel, but they were not 100% sure. So, they devised another test. Men are almost always reluctant to repent, and they guard against repenting “unnecessarily.” Enduring Word commentary
The test involved selecting two milk cows who had never been harnessed to pull the cart.
The cows must have new baby calves.
The calves belonging to the cows were to be put in the barn away from the cows. This separation would cause distress to both the mother cows and their calves which was demonstrated by their high pitched “moos” and “menh.”
The natural expectation was that the milk cows would head for the barn to take care of their calves.
But if the cows head for the border of Israel, the priest would take it as evidence that the plague had truly come from the Lord. 1 Samuel 6:9
So that’s what they did:
- they hitched two cows to the cart,
- put their calves in the barn,
- placed the chest of God and the compensation offering of the sacks of gold rats and tumors on the cart.
- They let the cows go to see what would happen!
God Directs the Cows!
The cows, without any driver, and contrary to their maternal instinct headed straight down the road to Beth Shemesh which was about 10 miles of walking toward the Israel border. They did not stray to the right or to the left, lowing as they went which means that the cows were not especially happy.
God directed these cows to the exact field of Joshua in Beth Shemesh where some people were reaping their wheat harvest.
This was a time of great rejoicing for them! The wood from the cart was split and the cows were offered as a burnt offering to the Lord.
The Philistine leaders followed them to the outskirts of Beth Shemesh and then returned back to Ekron the same day.
What lessons can we learn from these events that happened years ago?
Eugene Peterson offers several:
- The Living God can not be used, manipulated or managed.
- Spiritual power isn’t a matter of getting our hands on the right method or technology.
- The personal God cannot be reduced to an impersonal power.
- And further, those who attempt such a thing are judged by this Living God, for he won’t tolerate such blasphemous behavior. He didn’t then and he won’t now.
I have a few other lessons that come to mind:
- God uses many different ways to accomplish his divine will, even cows!
- He brings loving discipline to His followers when they disobey in order to restore them to right living and true faith.
- Sometimes we may feel that God has left us, but even when we can’t see him working, He is working!
- When things look desperate, don’t give up.
- Trust God, seek His will earnestly. Don’t make your plans, carry them out and Then seek God’s blessing on them.
