{"id":57155,"date":"2019-06-10T17:54:21","date_gmt":"2019-06-10T14:54:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=57155"},"modified":"2023-01-02T13:32:01","modified_gmt":"2023-01-02T11:32:01","slug":"the-ark-comes-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-ark-comes-home\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ark Comes Home"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[670,864],"acf":{"old_id":"57155","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34243,"related_cahpter":"238","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"With a few extra\u2026 presents?","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Seven months after the events described in the previous chapter, the Philistines eventually awakened to the fact that their misfortunes were the result of keeping the Ark and they decided to return it. To further propitiate the God of Israel, whom they had offended, they sent along gifts. Both the manner of the Ark\u2019s return and the nature of those gifts deserve further attention.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As to the return, the Philistine priests and magicians seem to have been intent on challenging the assumption that the Ark was, indeed, responsible for their bad luck, so they contrived to have it placed on a wagon drawn by inexperienced beasts (i.e., no prior inclination to a particular path) and without a driver so that it would return to Israel only if a higher force so directed it. This is indicative of the obstinacy of the Philistines who, despite all the deaths and inconveniences they and their gods had suffered (see our comments to chapter 5), were yet loathe to acknowledge the inadequacies of their own beliefs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">More striking, though, are the presents they sent along: \u201cFive golden hemorrhoids, and five golden mice, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines; for one plague was on you all, and on your lords\u201d (4). Recall\u2014from the previous chapter\u2014that the chastisement the Philistines suffered on account of their capture of the Ark included a plague of hemorrhoids. In the same manner that a folk remedy for a hangover is another drink, they intuited a link between their suffering and its cause and imagined that surrendering these particular golden objects would provide atonement for their disrespect to the Ark and its Master.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The unguided wagon and its precious cargo ended up at the field of an inhabitant of Beit Shemesh named Joshua (!), where \u201cthey cleaved the wood of the cart, and offered up the cows for a burnt-offering unto the Lord\u201d (14), and yet, God \u201csmote of the men of Beit Shemesh, because they had gazed upon the ark of the Lord\u201d (19). Curiously, this [past] week\u2019s Torah reading included a verse warning the Levites \u201clest they glimpse the sacred [vessels of the Tabernacle] as they are being covered and die\u201d (Numbers 4:20).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Image: The Return of the Ark by the Philistines, by J James Tissot (1836-1902) \/ wikimedia <\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":57157,"id":57157,"title":"isam6-ark","filename":"isam6-ark.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam6-ark.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-ark-comes-home\/isam6-ark\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"isam6-ark","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":57155,"date":"2019-06-10 14:53:14","modified":"2019-06-10 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