1 Samuel 6:1–9 (ESV)

The ark of the LORD was in the country of the Philistines seven months. And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the LORD? Tell us with what we shall send it to its place.” They said, “If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it empty, but by all means return him a guilt offering. Then you will be healed, and it will be known to you why his hand does not turn away from you.” And they said, “What is the guilt offering that we shall return to him?” They answered, “Five golden tumors and five golden mice, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines, for the same plague was on all of you and on your lords. So you must make images of your tumors and images of your mice that ravage the land, and give glory to the God of Israel. Perhaps he will lighten his hand from off you and your gods and your land. Why should you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? After he had dealt severely with them, did they not send the people away, and they departed? Now then, take and prepare a new cart and two milk cows on which there has never come a yoke, and yoke the cows to the cart, but take their calves home, away from them. And take the ark of the LORD and place it on the cart and put in a box at its side the figures of gold, which you are returning to him as a guilt offering. Then send it off and let it go its way and watch. If it goes up on the way to its own land, to Beth-shemesh, then it is he who has done us this great harm, but if not, then we shall know that it is not his hand that struck us; it happened to us by coincidence.”

If the lords can’t figure out what to do with the ark, maybe the priests and the diviners can. Of course, these guys are no more qualified to give advice than the lords.

So they make up something that feels related to the problem they’re solving. Tumors and rats have been the problem. So, in the manner of their polytheistic beliefs, they make idols of tumors and mice—NKJV says “rats”— out of gold. They make five of them according to the number of the lords of the Philistines.

None of this has anything to do with fixing the problem. It’s all just showmanship in the manner of their craft. At least it’s better than shuttling the plague around from city to city. Then they make up a curious way to let the ark tell them if it’s an active agent in all this. It sounds just as silly as everything else they’ve said, but it actually makes some sense.

Their plan is to put the ark and the gold idol “offerings” on a cart pulled by milk cows which have never been yoked. The milk cows have no history of going anywhere, so where they go won’t be affected by their past. The cows may just not go anywhere. They don’t pull things; they eat grass and make milk.

So if they take off in one specific direction, instead of all the other possibilities, that’s a sign.

God will end up honoring this request for a sign. That may be surprising, but it shouldn’t be. God answers our prayers and requests for a sign in a similar manner. While our concerns may seem trivial from a heavenly perspective, God honors our requests—even commands us to bring them before Him.

The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. — Philippians 4:5b–6 (ESV)

These Monday—Friday DEEPs are written by Mike Slay. The Weekend DEEPs are written by Matt Richardson. To subscribe to all the DEEPs click here:

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV stands for the English Standard Version. © Copyright 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NIV stands for The Holy Bible, New International Version®. © Copyright 1973 by International Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved. KJV stands for the King James Version.