1 Samuel Chapter 6

Daily Devotional

1 Samuel 6 — “Who Can Stand Before This Holy God?”

“Then the men of Beth-shemesh said, ‘Who is able to stand before the LORD, this holy God?’”
1 Samuel 6 :20 — New International Version


1. Dawn Reading

Sit with the whole chapter before you. Hear hooves on limestone, see farmers pausing mid-harvest, feel the hush that falls when the Ark of the Covenant crests the ridge. Notice that the first shouts of joy give way to trembling silence. From laughter to lament in thirty verses—because holiness is never tame.


2. Setting the Stage: History and Soil

Time & Place: c. 1050 BC. The Philistines hold the Ark seven months (6 :1). Excavations at Tell Beth-Shemesh show Iron-Age storage jars and a probable cult installation—fitting for grain harvest imagery (vv. 13-15). The Ark’s route follows the Sorek Valley, a natural corridor from the coastal plain up to Judah.
Cultural Note: In the ancient Near East, when an enemy’s god seemed angry, one returned the idol with reparations. Yet Yahweh is no local deity; He topples Dagon, afflicts five cities, and now dictates the terms of His own repatriation.


3. The Guilt Offering (vv. 3-6)

The Philistine priests advise a guilt offering (Hebrew ’ā·šām, the same word used in Leviticus 5). Five gold tumors and five gold mice—images of their plague—confess, “What You struck us with, we lay at Your feet.”
Cross-References: Leviticus 5 :14-19; Isaiah 53 :10 (“He shall make His soul an asham”).


4. A Yoke That Should Not Work (vv. 7-12)

Two milk cows, never yoked, are hitched to a new cart. Natural instinct would make them turn back to their calves. Instead they go “straight up the road” (v. 12). The Hebrew piles verbs—yā·šārnāh hădā·rĕk—to stress determination. God’s sovereignty overrules maternal pull, proving the plague was no coincidence.

Early Church preacher Chrysostom loved this scene: “Creation itself became preacher; beasts were wiser than men, offering obedience unforced.”


5. Beth-shemesh: Joy Meets Judgment (vv. 13-20)

At first:
• Reapers rejoice (v. 13).
• Levites offer burnt offerings (v. 15).

But then 70 men (some manuscripts read 50,070) are struck because they “looked upon” (or “into”) the Ark. Whether the sin was curiosity or presumption, the lesson is clear: proximity to the sacred demands reverence. Compare Numbers 4 :20 and 2 Samuel 6 :6-9 (Uzzah).

Literary Device: The text pivots on the question “Who can stand?”—echoing Psalm 24 :3-4 and foreshadowing every worshiper’s cry before a holy God.


6. Holy Fear and Forward Hope (v. 21)

Beth-shemesh sends for neighbors at Kiriath-jearim (modern Deir el-ʿAzar). They do not discard the Ark; they seek a community prepared to care for it rightly. Fear becomes wisdom.


7. Threads Through Scripture

• Holiness: Exodus 19 :12-24; Isaiah 6 :1-5; Hebrews 12 :28-29.
• Guilt removed by substitute: Leviticus 16; Romans 3 :25.
• God guiding the unlikely: Balaam’s donkey (Numbers 22), ravens feeding Elijah (1 Kings 17), here two cows.


8. Voices from the Church

• Augustine, City of God I.3: “God shows He is not possessed but possesses; He is never captured though His ark was.”
• Calvin: “Those who handle holy things must remember that what is familiar is not therefore common.”
• Wesley: “Conviction without conversion only hardens; the Philistines feared but did not repent.”


9. For Today

  1. Return what is God’s. Have I claimed any area of life as mine when it is His—time, talents, relationships?
  2. Offer fitting restitution. Genuine repentance includes tangible change (Luke 19 :8).
  3. Revere, don’t presume. Casual worship can be deadly to the soul. Ask the Spirit to restore holy awe.
  4. Trust His sovereignty. If God can steer lowing cows against their instinct, He can direct my meandering heart toward His purposes.

10. Hymn Suggestion

“Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence” (4th-century Liturgy of St. James; tr. Gerard Moultrie, 1864). Its refrain—“Christ our God to earth descendeth”—answers Beth-shemesh’s question: in Christ, the Holy One comes near and makes us stand.


11. Closing Prayer

Holy Father,
You who ride upon the cherubim and yet guide humble cattle,
teach us the tremble that leads to trust.
Cleanse our presumptions, receive our guilt offerings in the blood of Your Son,
and steer our lives straight toward Your glory.
May reverence blossom into joy,
and joy deepen into obedient love.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Narrated version of this devotional on 1 Samuel Chapter 6