R.C. Sproul

So he sends it down to the king of Gath, and no sooner does the Ark of the Covenant get to Gath than what happens.

They have an outbreak of tumors, and they have an outbreak of rats all over the place.

So for seven months, what happens here is that the kings of the Philistines play musical ark.

They keep shipping it from one town to the next, and as they're shipping it back and forth, every time the ark comes into town, the tumors come into town, and every time the tumors come into town, the rats come

are all over the place in the town.

So this is where the story starts out.

After going through all this misery, finally, the kings of the Philistines decide to have a summit meeting.

And they gather together.

As we read in 1 Samuel 6, it says this,

They have a discussion.

They bring in their priests and their diviners, and they say, what should we do?

And they said, well, first thing you've got to do is get that ark of the covenant, send it back to the Jews.

Send it back with a trespass offering.

Make five gold tumors and five gold rats.

Make this beautiful, bountiful prize.

Put it on an ox cart, send it back to the Jews, and let's get rid of the tumors and the rats.

So here comes the passage I wanted you to hear.

We read this.

Now then, get a new cart ready with two cows.

that have calved and have never been yoked, and hitch the cows to the cart, but take their calves away and pen them up.