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1 Samuel 6 · a question people ask

Did the LORD approve the diviners' test with the cows?

In the text

The chapter doesn't say. It tells who proposed the test: the Philistines "called for the priests and the diviners" (6:2). It gives the test in their words: "if it goes up by the way of its own border to Beth Shemesh, then he has done us this great evil; but if not, then we shall know that it is not his hand that struck us" (6:9). It tells what happened: "The cows took the straight way by the way to Beth Shemesh" (6:12). And it tells what the lords did: "When the five lords of the Philistines had seen it, they returned to Ekron the same day" (6:16). It doesn't say that the LORD led the cows, and it doesn't say that he approved the method. The Law had told Israel about diviners, "as for you, the LORD your God has not allowed you so to do" (Deuteronomy 18:14); these diviners were the Philistines' own (6:2).

The verses

“The Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, “What shall we do with the LORD’s ark? Show us how we should send it to its place.””
1 Samuel 6:2 · World English Bible
“Behold, if it goes up by the way of its own border to Beth Shemesh, then he has done us this great evil; but if not, then we shall know that it is not his hand that struck us. It was a chance that happened to us.””
1 Samuel 6:9 · World English Bible
“The cows took the straight way by the way to Beth Shemesh. They went along the highway, lowing as they went, and didn’t turn away to the right hand or to the left; and the lords of the Philistines went after them to the border of Beth Shemesh.”
1 Samuel 6:12 · World English Bible
“When the five lords of the Philistines had seen it, they returned to Ekron the same day.”
1 Samuel 6:16 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of 1 Samuel 6

1 Samuel 6: This holy God

The warning about Pharaoh's hard heart came from the Philistines' own priests (6:6), and in Hebrew glory (6:5) is the noun of the verb for harden (6:6) and the LORD's heavy hand (5:6). And "to stand before the LORD" (6:20) is, in Hebrew, the phrase Deuteronomy uses for the Levites' calling (Deuteronomy 10:8).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions