Sermon 23: 1 Samuel 6:13-21

13. Now the Bethshemites were reaping wheat in the valley; and lifting up their eyes they saw the ark, and rejoiced when they saw it. 14. And the cart came into the field of Joshua the Bethshemite and stood there. Now there was a great stone there, and they split the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. 15. And the Levites took down the ark of God and the box that was beside it, in which were the golden vessels, and set them on the great stone. And the men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices on that day to the Lord. 16. And the five lords of the Philistines saw it and returned to Ekron on that day. 17. Now these are the golden tumors which the Philistines returned as a guilt offering to the Lord: Ashdod one, Gaza one, Ashkelon one, Gath one, Ekron one. 18. And golden mice according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, from the fortified city to the village that was without walls, even to the great Abel on which they set the ark of the Lord, which remains to this day in the field of Joshua the Bethshemite. 19. But the Lord struck some of the men of Beth-shemesh because they had looked into the ark of the Lord; and he struck seventy men of the people, and fifty thousand of the common people. And the people mourned because the Lord had struck the people with a great slaughter. 20. And the men of Beth-shemesh said: 'Who is able to stand before the Lord, this holy God? And to whom shall he go up from us?' 21. And they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath-jearim, saying: 'The Philistines have brought back the ark of the Lord; come down and take it up to you.'

How the Israelites received the ark returned by the Philistines must first be considered here — namely, that the Levites came to set down the ark of the Lord, and the Bethshemites, to whom it had been brought, offered a solemn sacrifice to God; and nevertheless they were struck with a great plague, with seventy men taken from the people and five thousand from the common folk — or seventy men who were equivalent to five thousand in the people — whom God punished for their curiosity, because they had looked too closely at the ark of God, which was prohibited by the law. And hence, struck with fear, they endeavored to remove the ark far from themselves and therefore sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath-jearim, which was a further city of the Israelites, by whom the ark was received and brought into the house of Abinadab in Gibeah. From all this it is evident that the Israelites in their mourning and afflictions had not yet cast off the fear of God, although they were severely punished by him, so that it seemed he wanted to uproot them entirely lest they exalt themselves. But they had been forewarned by Samuel about these things, so that when God executed the vengeance predicted by Samuel, they had occasion to submit themselves to him and to acknowledge the just punishment of their sins. For it often happens that people, being secure, make light of God's threats or utterly despise them, unless God crushes them with heavy blows and drives them to the confession of sins and serious repentance — which they would never have done otherwise. For arrogance has taken such deep root in us that we are never brought to humility except by force. Thus we see here the Israelites, once they recognized that they had paid just penalties to God, were struck with greater emotion, and it greatly profited them that the ark had been captive for a time in the hands of the enemy. For they recognized that such great disgrace had been branded upon them because they had been abandoned and rejected by the Lord, as though they were no longer to be counted among his people. Moreover, this punishment benefited them for their correction, and for that reason they received the returning ark with greater joy and offered a sacrifice of praise to God. And this joy could have been carnal, just as we saw above that they had gloried more in this external sign and placed greater confidence in it than in all the rest of God's promises, so much so that they retained neither the law nor the faith intact. Yet they were concerned about the sacrifice, just as we see that hypocrites are especially distinguished and conspicuous for the outward pomp of ceremonies and rites, yet do not invoke God with faith and repentance. And indeed it is likely that the Bethshemites received that ark with great affection and with great joy, and were greatly delighted by its presence, yet did not raise the eyes of their mind higher than to the external sign, not recognizing that the external sign alone was not enough,

which they ought to have learned at last from experience itself. For when they had ordered the ark to be brought from Shiloh into their camp, they were not in a better condition, but were defeated and routed. Truly they ought to have considered that just because they had the ark, they did not also retain the power of the one whose ark it was; rather, they ought to have come to acknowledge their error, that they had previously abused this sacrament, and to learn how it was fitting for them to worship and honor God, how to revere his majesty, and also to rest in his goodness and mercy, with all idolatrous forms of worship cast far from them. But they are carried toward good only by impulse and instinct, as we shall see hereafter. For they did not depart from idolatry and their accustomed superstitions, but thought God would be satisfied if they outwardly displayed some worship to him. Who then would marvel that their sacrifices were not at all pleasing to God? And indeed, I confess, they retain some appearance of worship when the Levites came to set down the ark and placed it on a great stone that was in the field of the Bethshemites. However, they are said to have been struck by the Lord because out of curiosity they had looked too closely at the ark of the Lord, permitting and arrogating to themselves what the law prohibited. For it was necessary that the ark of the Lord be handled and carried by the Levites alone; and indeed it was not lawful for them to look into it while carrying it. For the high priest placed the cover on it, and this was not done without solemn ceremonies. The Bethshemites therefore sinned gravely in this, that they were too bold in looking into the ark of God, not mindful of that divine prohibition by which the divine law barred them from handling the ark; and for this reason they were afflicted with such harsh punishments by God.

As for that number — by which fifty thousand seventy of the people of the Bethshemites are said to have been struck — it is not likely that such a great multitude of people was in one city at that time. For although there was a great market there, Beth-shemesh was a moderate-sized town whose inhabitants could not have made up such a multitude. And therefore some explain it as seventy men having been struck who were the equal of five thousand, which is often said of David's captains. But that interpretation seems rather forced; therefore it will be more tolerable if we say that that great multitude is not to be understood of the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh alone, but of that whole district, so that God's vengeance swept through that entire region. Although in this number the Philistines also struck by God with those plagues can be counted, as if to say: Seventy were punished by God from the people of the Bethshemites; if you add to these the number of those among the Philistines punished by God for contempt of the ark, the number becomes, together with the seventy from the Bethshemites who looked at the ark too closely contrary to God's command, fifty thousand seventy persons. For the plagues of the Lord afflicted the Philistines for a long time, because they had retained the ark for seven months, during which entire time God had pursued them. Therefore it would not have been so unprecedented and unheard-of for so many thousands of people to have fallen in that region. But in truth, to one who inspects the whole matter more closely, Scripture will seem to be dealing here only with the Bethshemites and their neighbors. This is apparent from the fact that specific mention is made of the gifts offered to God by the Philistines for their sins — namely, the likenesses of golden tumors and mice by which their fields had been ravaged — which gifts were offered on behalf of the princes of the Philistines, with the common people both from cities and fields contributing their share to the expenses, stricken with immense fear and terror and making sacrifices to appease God's wrath. Since this is treated separately from the following plague, Sacred Scripture seems to treat separately what happened to the Philistines and then to recount only what the Bethshemites suffered. Moreover, that this region was so abundant and overflowing with people that it could sustain fifty thousand persons, we know. And indeed if only seventy men had been killed, Scripture would not have recorded that great mourning of the Bethshemites, that the Lord had struck the people with a great plague. For what are seventy men in such a great multitude? Then why was the name of the place changed because of that slaughter? For previously it was called 'Great Stone' from the great stone that was there, but afterward it was called 'Great Mourning,' by the change of a single letter in Hebrew, namely from Aben to Abel. Here therefore we see a terrible and astounding judgment made by God against the Bethshemites, solely because they had looked at the ark too closely out of excessive curiosity. Nor should we marvel that the Israelites were punished more severely by God than the Philistines, since the latter had no promises of God and no exposition of the law; and therefore, although sinning in this matter, they were not for that reason to be punished with death, because they had not broken a given pledge. On the contrary, the Israelites were inexcusable, because God had made known his will to them, that they should neither touch nor look too closely at the ark of the covenant. And for this reason the Israelites were punished with a heavier penalty than the Philistines. And indeed the Philistines felt God's hard hand against them, and were afflicted with such disgrace that they bore diseases in their private parts, and their fields were gnawed and devastated by mice; but the Israelites paid far greater penalties, for the reasons I have explained above. Moreover, we shall see hereafter that the same penalties were imposed on two others who dared the same thing, as we read in the book of Chronicles. For when David was bringing the ark into the city of Jerusalem, and it seemed about to fall because the oxen had jostled it, Uzzah put his hand to it to steady it, and was struck by God's hand and died on the spot. The Israelites therefore did not recognize that God always willed in every age that his honor be placed before all other things and that he be worshiped with fear and obedience. Therefore when they looked into this ark, they seemed to want to scrutinize God's secrets, which God had forbidden, doing so out of curiosity. For we have heard that God forbade anyone from the common people to look at it.

Nor did these things happen on account of the external sign, but nevertheless, because this people was quite unrefined, God governed them as children, for whom the law served as a tutor and elementary instruction. Now consider with me, I ask, how great is the audacity and arrogance of human beings when they must approach God — for they want to be regarded as equals and companions, so to speak. Then how far they give themselves free rein in investigating God's secrets is known to everyone, so that they seem to omit nothing into which they do not inquire. Indeed they seem to want to transcend the very clouds, never satisfied with their fanatical speculations. For from the moment the human mind allows itself the license of investigating and inquiring here and there, it sails an immense and unnavigable sea. God therefore, knowing the mind of human beings, willed that the ark be covered with a veil and prohibited anyone from approaching it too closely. For this reason also, when the people assembled in the tabernacle, a veil was stretched out; then the sanctuary was also covered with a veil, into which the high priest alone entered, and indeed not without blood, to reconcile the people to God. And even the ark itself was covered by the wings of the Cherubim. For the ark had its own cover, which two Cherubim covered with their wings. The purpose of all these things was this: that God might keep the people within the limits of modesty and sobriety, lest anyone rashly fashion anything about God from the judgment of his own mind, but being content with the teaching of the law, should so receive it as to think nothing should be added to it or taken from it, or that anyone should presume on the excellence of his own understanding and the powers of his intellect. Then, so that God's majesty might be revealed, and his teaching received in such a way that they would investigate no other way of knowing God than the one shown in the word, in which God gave himself to be known according to human capacity. To which a certain special reason also applied at that time — namely, that before the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ it was necessary for them to feel themselves more remote from God and to be instructed by the legal ceremonies, by which they were taught that the full time of remission had not yet come. Therefore, although we have neither that material ark nor the ceremonies of the law, we are nonetheless partakers of the truth that was signified by them, and God must be worshiped by us with simplicity of mind, and his secret counsels must be admired and reverenced — not probing with curiosity beyond the capacity of our mind, but learning from the Scriptures for our salvation what we are taught is contained in them, and for the correction of our mind, as Paul says, lest from our native corruption we pervert their meaning, but allow ourselves to be ruled by them. Therefore, when God forbade anyone from approaching that ark too closely or from touching it except the high priest alone, he taught us that we must approach God with modesty and humility, and indeed tremble before such immense and infinite majesty, and not arrogate so much to ourselves as to desire to know anything more than what he himself has permitted or what he himself has revealed in his word. Furthermore, since the high priest alone is said to have handled the ark, from this we are taught that our Lord Jesus Christ, who came forth from the bosom of the Father, was made the angel of the great counsel, and that he reveals to us whatever is necessary for salvation. For this reason it is said in John: 'No one has ever seen God' — that is, we cannot grasp God's glory and greatness with our human senses — but the only-begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, he teaches. Furthermore, the fact that he is said to be in the bosom of the Father metaphorically indicates that special knowledge by which he knows all the Father's secrets, and we are taught that he is the mediator and that he has received the fullness of the Holy Spirit and of all gifts, from which we may draw, as the prophet Isaiah pursues more fully in chapters 11 and 61. See therefore in what way Jesus Christ is our high priest, through whom we draw nearer to God, and in turn, as Paul says, receive grace from him according to the measure that he metes out to each one. Therefore let no one think more highly of himself than he ought, since to each his own portion has been assigned, as the apostle teaches, and the way by which our Lord Jesus Christ leads us to the Father. Therefore let each one be content with his own portion, and let him not wander beyond the prescribed path, but let him follow the straight road with God as his guide, and let him remain within the boundaries set by Holy Scripture, and let him not desire any higher knowledge than what is set before us in God's school by the Son of God himself. And let enough have been said about these matters. Next let us consider the plague sent upon the Bethshemites, the cause of which need not be sought far away — namely, that the Israelites were less excusable than the Philistines. And this must be thought about and heeded seriously by us. For we know that the servant who has known his master's will and has neglected to do it is to be punished with heavier penalties. For stubbornness and rebellion are less tolerable than error or ignorance. But if one who sins in ignorance is not therefore unpunished, what must we determine about those who, taught by God's special benefit, whose will they know, nevertheless resist God? Does not such rebellion indicate that they are willingly enemies of God and of his justice? Indeed the Israelites are in this number, for they had the law, and they ought to have understood its meaning as well — namely, that God wills to be worshiped in spirit and in truth; and therefore also to consider that it was not without the gravest cause that God afflicted them with such severe plagues, even though they did not know the cause. For God tests the obedience of human beings when he speaks with authority and does not explain the reason for his judgments. Therefore the Israelites ought to have listened to God speaking. But to his authority was also added the teaching by which they were taught that those who reverenced the ark of God thereby testified that they wished to be more and more humbled and abased before the living God. But the Israelites do not pay attention to this; rather, they look into the ark too curiously, as though they would scrutinize its secrets, and out of distrust they want to pass judgment on God's works and to be as it were arbiters. Who therefore would marvel that they are visited with severe and deserved punishments?

Therefore let us learn from their example to walk before the Lord as he has commanded, and not to abuse his grace when he has embraced us with his special favor and has intimately taught us his will, but recognizing that we are more and more bound to him, let us with greater care and diligence keep ourselves within the boundaries of his commandments prescribed for us, lest we stray anywhere and resist them. Then we must know that curiosity, which is commonly placed among lighter and venial sins, when it concerns God's secrets, is a remarkable audacity by which we as it were declare war on God himself. For whoever seeks to know more than God teaches must necessarily have the devil as his teacher. For, I ask, what school, what teacher shall we seek from whom we might be better taught than by the very mouth of God? Truly, walking by the judgment of our senses, we shall attain only vanity. Indeed we also make light of God's own teaching and as it were trample it underfoot, as though it were insufficient to instruct us; and we even struggle against and willfully oppose God himself, as though everything were permitted to us; we also reveal the utmost arrogance, desiring to know more than is lawful. For this does not happen without contempt for divine teaching and a certain diminishing of his glory, which is truly an insult. God wills to be worshiped by us purely, soberly, and simply; but we, little concerned about him, want to worship and venerate him according to our own free will. Nor do we here call 'simplicity' that stupor of faith which the papists imagine, so that we should follow good or evil indiscriminately like brutes. For God does not demand that brute stupor but a true and unfeigned simplicity, by which we are sober in receiving what he teaches and diligent in hearing it. And so let us apply to our own use what is taught here — that the knowledge of God ought to suffice for us which we have received from his gift according to the measure allotted. But if it does not suffice, are we not rightly guilty of remarkable stubbornness when we give free rein to our foolish and wandering opinions, as though we would surpass God himself? For is not God immense and infinite? But what is our sense! We desire to know and understand God as he is. Shall we indeed want to comprehend God, we who cannot hold even a handful of dust without the greater part falling away? Shall we want to gaze upon God, we who are dazzled by the rays of the sun — a mere insensible creature — and cannot bear its light? How shall we mortals, who cannot look at the sun face to face, whose rays overcome our sight and senses — how shall we attempt to behold God's majesty with our human senses? Truly whoever inquires too curiously into God's secrets and wears himself out with vain and empty questions is manifestly a despiser of God, whom he would like to hold in his hands like an infant or to toss about like a ball. Therefore who would marvel that not only the Bethshemites but the inhabitants of the whole region paid the gravest penalties for this curiosity? So much the greater effort must we make to hold in memory what Paul teaches — namely, 'that no one should think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but think soberly, as God has apportioned to each a measure of faith.' Furthermore, that sobriety consists in the teachability by which we receive God's word and make more and more progress in it and constantly persevere; then by which we reject all vain opinions and restrain our senses. For it is well known how naturally open our ears are to absorbing this or that opinion and how desirous we are of new things — a vice of such a kind that it provokes God's wrath and diminishes and takes away from God's glory as much as we permit ourselves in our inquiries. Therefore our faith must stand in the middle between two extremes. For we see many unbelievers who are willingly ignorant of things necessary for salvation and cannot bear any discourse about God. For they hope for impunity if they can plead ignorance. Hence it happens that God's word is unknown to the greatest part of humanity or falls into contempt. For if you set before them God's will and present them with the gospel, they say that their own simplicity — that is, brute ignorance — suffices for them. This is surely the height of wickedness. The other extreme is the curiosity of those who, having a light and inconstant mind, are ready to dispute about everything, and as though they had full knowledge of all things, to pronounce judgment on any matter whatever, and so they exalt themselves above God himself, persuading themselves that they can comprehend him by the powers of their own intellect. Truly this vice is even worse than the former. Therefore let us learn to be wise to sobriety, as Paul urges, and let us desire to be taught, in order to attain that knowledge of God which is useful for salvation; and let us devote ourselves to this with all our strength, frequently attending the holy preaching of God's word in which God's truth is set forth; and whether reading or hearing God's word, let us raise our minds to heaven and seek and obtain from God alone the knowledge and understanding of it through our prayers. Finally, let us not glory in the empty name of Christians, but let us be in reality what we wish to be considered; and let us know that we cannot be called by the name of disciples of the Son of God so long as we reject what he himself teaches, since rather we ought to reject and abominate all knowledge that is neither contained in Sacred Scripture nor useful for our salvation. And such is the temperance and modesty of faith. Therefore whatever God teaches must be observed and held as a treasure and retained in good faith and conscience; and therefore those who submit themselves to his word must detest and abominate as vain and false whatever human beings have taught beyond it.

Let us pass to another point no less worthy of attention — namely, that God wills to be worshiped and honored not according to the judgment of our mind, not as reason and will dictate to each person, but according to the prescription of his word. From this, then, let us learn what place should be given to those foolish acts of self-devised worship and 'good intentions' that people commonly invent for themselves — which is nevertheless the foundation of all divine worship in the papacy. For if you ask how they worship and venerate God, they say: 'With good intention.' And they protect themselves with this as with the shield of Ajax, so that no one may answer or raise any objection — for instance, against their foolish opinion and against whatever dreams of theirs. Yet God himself has not only taught us the contrary but has demonstrated by a terrible and astounding punishment that such foolish human devotions and good intentions are contrary to his will and such as he cannot even bear. Who therefore would not shudder at such a terrifying seal of God's wrath and not tremble when approaching to worship him? Should we not rise up to him and command our senses, when we read that he killed seventy men from the leaders and five thousand people from the common folk — not indeed because they had despised the ark, not because they had torn it, not because they had treated it with insult, but because they had looked at it too closely contrary to what was forbidden? Who, I say, would not fear such a terrible judgment, who would not shudder upon hearing it? Therefore let us learn to believe God and to trust him, lest we allow ourselves to be deceived by those foolish intentions by which we hope that whatever worship we offer him — even against his will — will be pleasing to him, valuing our foolish imaginations and empty speculations more than the simplicity of his word, which the Son of God himself brought to us from the bosom of the Father. Let this therefore be the boundary, this the goal within which we confine our mind — the word alone, which not only this history but all of Sacred Scripture everywhere inculcates. Nor is it undeserved. For even if it is inculcated a hundred thousand times that God does not wish to be worshiped according to human will and judgment but according to the prescription of his word, and even if this knowledge has fixed itself in the mind, yet such is the levity of intellect and inconstancy of nature that at the slightest breath of wind we immediately return to our old ways and embrace whatever presents itself to us — because we do not hold fast to that principal foundation, namely faith, by which, as by fuel, we might apply that knowledge to its proper use and run with it to the very finish line. So prone are human beings to vices and so readily do they allow themselves to be carried by any wind. Therefore we must strive all the more to fix in our minds what is so often inculcated in Scripture — namely, that no worship will ever be pleasing to God except what he himself has prescribed. And let enough have been said about the exposition of this passage, which is confirmed by the similar example of Uzzah, as we touched on above, who suddenly died because he had steadied the tottering ark with his hand. To which must be added the example of King Uzziah, who thought he was worshiping God beautifully when, having entered the temple and himself performing the office of priest, he burned incense on the altar. Though he was carried by a foolish devotion — which was nevertheless covered by some appearance of divine worship, even though he was invading another's office — he was punished with perpetual disgrace and ignominy. For since he was not content with royal dignity but also invaded the priestly office, he was struck with leprosy and cast out from the fellowship and society of men. And this was the reward of his foolish devotion, which in the papacy they call 'good intentions.' Therefore we must take care to keep ourselves so within the bounds of obedience that we undertake nothing from our own judgment but compose ourselves according to his prescription. Then the Bethshemites are said to have cried out: 'Who could stand before the Lord, the most holy God?' and therefore to have determined to send the ark of God far away from themselves, to be rid of it. Therefore, having sent messengers to the inhabitants of the city of Kiriath-jearim, they invited them to receive the ark among themselves, offering as a pretext the honor that it would enjoy a more suitable dwelling with them. But they conceal the principal cause — namely, that great slaughter. That their joy at the arrival of the ark was excessive is apparent, and the ark of God was not received with the reverence and fear that were fitting. And although they were severely afflicted by that great slaughter, they were not yet brought to serious repentance. Indeed they seem hardened and obstinate, which is sufficiently apparent from the fear and terror by which they were seized. For where is that joy in which they had recently exulted? Truly it was suddenly taken away, for it was not grounded in the fear of God as it should have been. I acknowledge that this same thing also happened to David. For when he desired to bring the ark of God into the very city of Jerusalem so that he might worship and pray to God all the more ardently the closer he had it, when he saw the fall of Uzzah, struck with fear he desisted from his undertaking and placed the ark elsewhere, as though fearing that if fire were brought nearer, the house would burn down. Therefore I do not free him from all blame in this matter either; and therefore I say that the action of the Bethshemites cannot be excused by his example. For both David and the Bethshemites ought to have known that God's majesty is so worthy of reverence that nonetheless access to him is easy for all who approach with humility. For why, I ask, does he show himself terrible, if not to curb and tame the hardness of human beings? Once that is tamed, what remains in him but fatherly favor and goodwill? And indeed David testifies in another place that he was better taught, when he says: 'Instructed by the abundance of your kindness, I will enter your house; I will bow toward the temple of your holiness with reverence for you.' For he knew how to join those two things together — God's mercy with his justice — which are never separated from each other. And so he hopes to enter God's house, but relying on the multitude of his kindness. Therefore we must beware of that evil fear and terror which is common to all hypocrites who hope to mock God. Just as therefore we said above that faith is the mean between two extreme vices, so we must judge concerning the way of approaching God — that it must be the mean between fear and security. For some approach God with too much boldness and arrogance, like hypocrites who, as long as they simulate piety, feel that they have deserved well of God and think he is deeply indebted to them, so that even though they are crafty and deceitful and full of rebellion, they want God to be devoted and obligated to them. Others, utterly atheistic and without religion, withdraw far from God and would never want God to be mentioned — which extreme is very wicked and impious. What then should we do in these straits? We must return to that rule prescribed by David, better taught, who says that he will come to God's temple with fear and reverence to worship and invoke him, relying on the greatness of his kindness. On the other hand, we must beware lest we imitate the Bethshemites; rather, God must be invoked to supply us with the strength to crush the pride innate in us and to cast ourselves down before him — yet in such a way that we are not driven away. Therefore, even though God shows himself fearsome, let us not withdraw far from him, but rather let us know that, though he is terrible, he will never reject those who approach him in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. For this is the only way to find him — in Christ. We heard above that the Philistines also did the same thing; but who would marvel that unbelievers fear God and push him away from themselves, since they do not know him? But as for the fact that David, struck by fear of God's wrath, seems to have done the same thing, let us know that there is a great difference between them, since David never ceased seeking God's presence. Let us therefore perpetually meditate on God's promises by which he invites us to himself; and since we know that we have been received into grace through his only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, let us remember that gratitude is owed to him by us. For he asks nothing else from us, whom he has adopted into the number of his children, than that we take refuge in him who honors us with the title of Father; he testifies that no other sacrifice is acceptable to him except that in all our straits and necessities we invoke him, relying on that true faith that he will make us partakers of his goodness and kindness.

Now it remains, etc.

13. Now the people of Beth-shemesh were harvesting wheat in the valley. When they looked up and saw the ark, they rejoiced at the sight. 14. The cart came into the field of Joshua the Beth-shemite and stopped there. There was a large stone nearby, and they split the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. 15. The Levites took down the ark of God and the box beside it, which contained the golden objects, and placed them on the large stone. The men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed other offerings to the Lord that day. 16. The five rulers of the Philistines watched, then returned to Ekron that same day. 17. These are the golden tumors the Philistines returned as a guilt offering to the Lord: one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath, and one for Ekron. 18. The golden mice corresponded to the number of all the Philistine cities belonging to the five rulers — from the fortified cities to the unwalled villages — as far as the great stone of Abel on which they set the ark of the Lord, which remains to this day in the field of Joshua the Beth-shemite. 19. But the Lord struck down some of the men of Beth-shemesh because they had looked into the ark of the Lord. He struck seventy men, and fifty thousand of the common people. The people mourned because the Lord had struck them with such great destruction. 20. The men of Beth-shemesh asked, 'Who can stand before the Lord, this holy God? To whom will He go up from here?' 21. They sent messengers to the people of Kiriath-jearim, saying, 'The Philistines have returned the ark of the Lord. Come down and take it up to your town.'

We must first consider how the Israelites received the ark when the Philistines returned it. The Levites came to set down the ark, and the people of Beth-shemesh, to whom it had been brought, offered a solemn sacrifice to God — and yet they were struck with a great plague: seventy men were taken from the people, along with fifty thousand from the common people, whom God punished for their curiosity because they had looked too closely at the ark, which the law expressly prohibited. Struck with fear, they tried to remove the ark from themselves and sent messengers to the people of Kiriath-jearim, a nearby Israelite city. The ark was received there and brought into the house of Abinadab in Gibeah. All of this shows that the Israelites, even in their mourning and afflictions, had not entirely lost the fear of God — though they were being severely punished, as if He intended to root out all their pride. Samuel had already warned them about these things, so when God carried out the punishment Samuel had predicted, they had reason to humble themselves and acknowledge their sins as justly punished. It often happens that people, when comfortable and secure, dismiss God's warnings or ignore them entirely — unless God crushes them with heavy blows and drives them to confession and genuine repentance, which they would never otherwise do. Arrogance is so deeply rooted in us that we are never brought to humility except by force. So we see the Israelites here: once they recognized they had received just punishment from God, they were deeply moved. The captivity of the ark had actually done them good. They realized that such great disgrace had been brought upon them because the Lord had abandoned and rejected them, as though they were no longer counted among His people. This punishment also served to correct them, and for that reason they received the returning ark with greater joy and offered a sacrifice of praise to God. Yet this joy could easily have been mere emotion — just as we saw earlier that they had placed too much confidence in this external sign, more than in all of God's promises, to the point where they had lost hold of both the law and faith. Still, they were concerned about the sacrifice. This is how hypocrites often behave — they are conspicuous for the outward display of ceremonies and rituals, yet they do not call on God with genuine faith and repentance. It is likely that the people of Beth-shemesh received the ark with great affection and joy, and were genuinely delighted by its presence. Yet they did not lift the eyes of their hearts above the external sign. They failed to recognize that the external sign alone was not enough,

— a lesson they should have learned from their own experience. When they had brought the ark from Shiloh into their camp before, their situation had not improved; they were defeated and routed. They should have seen that possessing the ark did not mean they also possessed the power of the One whose ark it was. Instead, they should have come to acknowledge their error — that they had previously abused this sign — and learned how to truly worship and honor God, how to revere His majesty, and how to rest in His goodness and mercy, casting all idolatrous worship far away. But they were moved toward good only by impulse and instinct, as we will see going forward. They did not turn from idolatry or their habitual superstitions. They thought God would be satisfied if they gave Him some outward display of worship. Who then would be surprised that their sacrifices did not please God at all? There is some appearance of proper worship when the Levites came to set down the ark and placed it on a large stone in the field of the people of Beth-shemesh. But the Lord struck them down because they had presumptuously looked into the ark — permitting themselves what the law had expressly forbidden. The ark of the Lord was to be handled and carried by the Levites alone. Even the Levites were not permitted to look into it while carrying it. The high priest covered it with great ceremony before it was moved. The people of Beth-shemesh sinned seriously by being too bold in looking into the ark, disregarding the divine law that barred them from handling it. For this, they were struck with such severe punishment by God.

Regarding the number — that fifty thousand seventy of the people of Beth-shemesh were struck down — it is unlikely that such a massive crowd was gathered in a single town at one time. Though there was a large market there, Beth-shemesh was a moderate-sized town, and its inhabitants alone could not have amounted to such a multitude. Some interpreters explain it as seventy men being struck down who were the equivalent of five thousand — which is the kind of language sometimes used of David's commanders. But that interpretation seems rather forced. A more reasonable reading is that this large number does not refer to the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh alone, but to the whole surrounding district — meaning God's judgment swept through that entire region. Another possibility is that the Philistines struck down by God's plagues are included in this number — so that the count of seventy from Beth-shemesh who looked into the ark, combined with the thousands of Philistines God had punished, brings the total to fifty thousand seventy. The Lord's plagues had afflicted the Philistines over seven months while they held the ark, during which time God had pursued them relentlessly. It would not have been extraordinary for so many thousands to have died across that region. Yet when one examines the passage more carefully, Scripture seems to be dealing here only with the people of Beth-shemesh and their neighbors. This is clear from the fact that specific mention is made of the gifts the Philistines had already offered to God for their sins — golden likenesses of tumors and mice — which the Philistine rulers had presented, with the common people from both cities and villages contributing their share in fear, trying to appease God's wrath. Since that account is treated separately from what follows, Scripture appears to first close out what happened to the Philistines, then turn to recount only what the people of Beth-shemesh suffered. We also know that the surrounding region was densely enough populated to account for fifty thousand people. And if only seventy men had been killed, Scripture would not have described such great mourning — that the Lord struck the people with a great plague. What are seventy men in such a large population? And why would the name of the place have been changed because of that slaughter? It had previously been called 'Great Stone' from the large stone there, but afterward it was called 'Great Mourning' — a change of just one letter in Hebrew, from Aben to Abel. Here we see a fearful and remarkable judgment from God against the people of Beth-shemesh, carried out solely because they had looked too presumptuously into the ark out of excessive curiosity. We should not be surprised that the Israelites were punished more severely than the Philistines. The Philistines had no covenant with God and no knowledge of the law. Though they sinned in this matter, they were not punishable by death, because they had not broken a specific promise God had given to them. The Israelites, on the other hand, were without excuse. God had made His will plain to them: they were not to touch or look too closely at the ark of the covenant. For this reason, the Israelites received a far heavier penalty than the Philistines. The Philistines did experience God's hard hand — they were struck with shameful diseases in their bodies and their fields were gnawed and devastated by mice. But the Israelites paid a far greater price, for the reasons I have explained. We will also see later that the same penalty fell on others who did the same thing, as we read in Chronicles. When David was bringing the ark into Jerusalem and the oxen stumbled so that the ark seemed about to fall, Uzzah reached out and grabbed it to steady it — and was struck dead by God on the spot. The Israelites had still not learned that God, in every age, demands that His honor be placed above all else and that He be worshiped with fear and obedience. When they looked into the ark, they were in effect trying to pry into God's secrets — something God had expressly forbidden — driven by nothing more than curiosity. We have already heard that God had forbidden the common people from looking into it.

These restrictions were not because the external sign was dangerous in itself. Rather, because this people was quite immature, God governed them as children, for whom the law served as a tutor and basic instruction. Consider how bold and arrogant human beings are when they approach God — they want to be treated as His equals and companions, so to speak. Everyone knows how freely they give themselves license to probe God's secrets, as if there were nothing they would not investigate. They seem to want to pierce through the very clouds, never satisfied with their restless speculations. Once the human mind permits itself to wander here and there in its investigations, it sets sail on an immense and unnavigable sea. God, therefore, knowing the nature of the human mind, required that the ark be veiled and that no one approach it too closely. For the same reason, when the people assembled at the tabernacle, a veil was drawn across; the inner sanctuary was also separated by a veil, into which the high priest alone entered — and even then only with blood, to reconcile the people to God. The ark itself was also covered by the wings of the Cherubim. It had its own cover, which the two Cherubim overshadowed with their wings. The purpose of all this was to keep the people within the boundaries of modesty and sobriety — so that no one would rashly construct ideas about God from his own mind. Rather, they were to be content with what the law taught and to receive it without adding to it or taking from it, without presuming on the strength of their own understanding. It also served to display God's majesty, and to teach that God must be known only through the way He has revealed Himself in His Word — according to human capacity. There was also a specific reason for this at that time: before the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, it was necessary for the people to feel themselves at a distance from God and to be instructed by the legal ceremonies, which taught them that the full time of forgiveness had not yet come. We no longer have that physical ark or the ceremonies of the law. But we are partakers of the truth those ceremonies signified. We must worship God with simplicity of mind, admire and reverence His hidden counsels, and not pry beyond what our minds can grasp. We are to learn from Scripture what it teaches us for our salvation and for the correction of our hearts — as Paul says — guarding against our native tendency to distort its meaning, and allowing ourselves to be ruled by it. When God forbade anyone from approaching or touching the ark — except the high priest alone — He was teaching us to approach Him with modesty and humility, to tremble before His immense and infinite majesty, and not to claim the right to know anything beyond what He has permitted or revealed in His Word. The fact that only the high priest handled the ark also teaches us something about our Lord Jesus Christ. He came forth from the Father's presence and was made the messenger of the great counsel — He reveals to us everything necessary for salvation. This is why John says: 'No one has seen God at any time' — meaning we cannot grasp God's glory and greatness with our human senses — but the only-begotten Son, who is in the Father's embrace, has made Him known. The phrase 'in the Father's embrace' is a figure of speech pointing to that unique knowledge by which Christ knows all the Father's secrets. It teaches us that He is the mediator, that He received the fullness of the Holy Spirit and of all gifts — from which we may draw, as the prophet Isaiah develops more fully in chapters 11 and 61. See, then, in what way Jesus Christ is our high priest, through whom we draw near to God and, as Paul says, receive grace from Him according to the measure He apportions to each one. Let no one think more highly of himself than he ought, since each has been given his own portion, as the apostle teaches — and the path by which our Lord Jesus Christ leads us to the Father. Let each person be content with his own portion. Let no one wander beyond the prescribed path, but follow the straight road with God as guide, remain within the boundaries set by Holy Scripture, and desire no knowledge beyond what the Son of God Himself has set before us in God's school. Enough has been said on these matters. Now let us consider the plague sent upon the people of Beth-shemesh. Its cause is not difficult to find: the Israelites were less excusable than the Philistines, and we must take that seriously. We know that the servant who knew his master's will and failed to do it will be punished more severely. Stubbornness and rebellion are less tolerable than error or ignorance. But if someone who sins in ignorance does not go unpunished, what must we say about those who have been specifically taught God's will — and still resist Him? Does not such rebellion show that they are willingly at war with God and with His justice? The Israelites were in exactly that position. They had the law. They should have understood its meaning — that God wills to be worshiped in spirit and in truth. And they should have recognized that it was not without very serious cause that God punished them so severely, even when they did not understand why. God tests human obedience when He speaks with authority and does not explain the reason for His judgments. The Israelites should simply have listened. And added to His authority was the teaching that made clear what they were to do: those who reverenced the ark of God were testifying that they wished to be further humbled and brought low before the living God. The Israelites ignored this. They looked into the ark too presumptuously, as if to expose its secrets — driven by distrust, wanting to pass judgment on God's works and act as His judges. Who, then, would be surprised that they were visited with severe and well-deserved punishment?

Let us learn from their example to walk before the Lord as He has commanded. When He has embraced us with His special favor and taught us His will, we must not abuse that grace. Recognizing that we are increasingly bound to Him, we should with greater care keep ourselves within the boundaries of His commandments and not stray from them. We must also understand that curiosity — often dismissed as a minor or pardonable fault — becomes a remarkable act of defiance against God when it reaches into His secrets. Whoever seeks to know more than God teaches must necessarily take the devil as his teacher. What school, what instructor could teach us better than God Himself speaking to us directly? If we walk by the judgment of our own senses, we will attain nothing but vanity. We end up treating God's own teaching as insufficient, trampling it underfoot. We struggle against God as though everything were permitted to us, and we reveal the deepest arrogance by craving knowledge beyond what is lawful. This cannot happen without contempt for divine teaching and a diminishing of God's glory — which is nothing less than an insult to Him. God wills to be worshiped purely, soberly, and simply. But we, with little regard for Him, want to worship and honor Him according to our own will. By 'simplicity' here we do not mean the dull, passive faith the papists imagine — following whatever comes along indiscriminately, like brute animals. God does not demand brute dullness but a genuine and sincere simplicity: being sober and receptive in receiving what He teaches, and diligent in hearing it. So let us apply this lesson to ourselves: the knowledge of God that we have received from Him, according to the measure He has appointed, ought to be enough for us. If it is not enough for us, are we not guilty of remarkable stubbornness when we give free rein to our foolish, wandering opinions — as though we would surpass God Himself? Is not God immense and infinite? And what is our understanding by comparison? We desire to know and comprehend God as He truly is. Shall we want to comprehend God — we who cannot hold even a handful of dust without most of it slipping through our fingers? Shall we want to gaze upon God — we who are blinded by the rays of the sun, a mere created object, and cannot bear its light? We are mortals who cannot look directly at the sun, whose rays overwhelm our sight. How shall we ever attempt to behold God's majesty with our human senses? Whoever pries too curiously into God's secrets and exhausts himself with empty, vain questions is plainly a despiser of God — treating Him like an object to be held in his hands or tossed about like a ball. Who, then, would be surprised that not only the people of Beth-shemesh but the whole surrounding region paid the severest penalties for such curiosity? All the more must we hold in our hearts what Paul teaches: 'Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but think with sober judgment, as God has apportioned to each a measure of faith.' That sobriety means being teachable — receiving God's Word, growing in it, persevering in it, and rejecting all vain opinions while keeping our desires in check. We all know how naturally open our ears are to absorbing this or that opinion, and how hungry we are for novelty. This is a vice that provokes God's wrath and diminishes His glory in proportion to how much we indulge it. Our faith must stand between two extremes. On one side are those who willingly remain ignorant of what is necessary for salvation and cannot bear any serious conversation about God. They hope to escape judgment by pleading ignorance. This is why God's Word is unknown to most of humanity, or falls into contempt. Present them with God's will and the gospel, and they say their own simplicity — meaning their brute ignorance — is good enough for them. That is surely the height of wickedness. The other extreme is the curiosity of those with a restless, unstable mind who are ready to dispute about everything. They pronounce judgment on any matter as though they had mastered all knowledge, exalting themselves above God and persuading themselves that they can comprehend Him by the power of their own intellect. This vice is even worse than the first. Let us therefore learn to be wise with sobriety, as Paul urges. Let us desire to be taught in order to attain that knowledge of God which is useful for salvation. Let us devote ourselves to this wholeheartedly, regularly attending the preaching of God's Word where His truth is proclaimed. Whether reading or hearing God's Word, let us lift our minds to heaven and seek from God alone — through prayer — the knowledge and understanding of it. Finally, let us not glory in the empty name of Christian, but be in reality what we claim to be. We cannot rightly be called disciples of the Son of God while rejecting what He Himself teaches. We ought instead to reject and despise all knowledge that is neither contained in Holy Scripture nor useful for our salvation. This is the moderation and humility of faith. Whatever God teaches must be observed, held as a treasure, and kept faithfully in conscience. Those who submit to His Word must detest and reject as vain and false whatever human beings have taught beyond it.

Let us move to another point equally worth our attention: God wills to be worshiped and honored not according to our own judgment, not as reason and personal will dictate to each of us, but according to what His Word prescribes. From this, let us see how much room there is for those foolish, self-invented acts of worship and 'good intentions' that people commonly devise for themselves — which is, nevertheless, the very foundation of all religious worship in the papacy. Ask a papist how he worships and honors God, and he will say: 'With good intention.' They hide behind this as behind Ajax's shield, so that no one can raise any objection against their foolish opinions and whatever dreams they have conjured. But God Himself has not only taught us the opposite — He has demonstrated through a fearful and astonishing punishment that such human devotions and good intentions run contrary to His will and are things He cannot even tolerate. Who would not shudder at such a terrifying display of God's wrath, and not tremble when approaching to worship Him? Ought we not to lift our hearts to Him and take command of our own impulses when we read that He killed seventy of the leaders and five thousand of the common people — not because they despised the ark, not because they tore it or treated it with insult, but simply because they looked into it contrary to what was forbidden? Who would not fear such a terrible judgment? Who would not shudder to hear it? Let us therefore believe God and trust Him. Let us not allow ourselves to be deceived by those foolish intentions by which we hope that whatever worship we offer Him — even against His will — will please Him, as if our own imaginations and empty speculations were worth more than the simplicity of His Word, which the Son of God Himself brought us from the Father. Let the Word alone be the boundary and the goal within which we confine our minds. This is what not only this story but all of Sacred Scripture teaches everywhere. And rightly so. Even if it were repeated a hundred thousand times that God does not wish to be worshiped by human will and judgment but by the prescription of His Word — even if that knowledge were firmly fixed in the mind — such is the lightness of our intellect and the fickleness of our nature that at the slightest breath of wind we immediately revert to our old ways. We embrace whatever presents itself to us, because we fail to hold fast to the foundational principle — faith — by which, as by fuel, we might put that knowledge to its proper use and carry it all the way to the finish line. So prone are human beings to vice, so easily carried by any wind. We must therefore strive all the more to fix in our minds what Scripture so often teaches: no worship will ever please God except what He Himself has prescribed. Enough has been said about explaining this passage. It is confirmed by the similar example of Uzzah, whom we touched on earlier, who died suddenly because he steadied the tottering ark with his hand. To that we must add the example of King Uzziah, who thought he was beautifully worshiping God when he entered the temple and performed the priestly office himself by burning incense on the altar. He was driven by a misguided devotion — which had some appearance of divine worship — yet he was invading an office that did not belong to him, and he was punished with lasting disgrace and shame. Not satisfied with royal dignity, he seized the priestly office as well, and was struck with leprosy and driven out from human society. This was the reward of his misguided devotion — what the papacy calls 'good intentions.' We must therefore keep ourselves so carefully within the bounds of obedience that we undertake nothing from our own judgment but shape our conduct according to God's prescription. Now, the people of Beth-shemesh are said to have cried out, 'Who can stand before the Lord, this holy God?' — and then decided to send the ark far away from themselves, to be rid of it. They sent messengers to the people of Kiriath-jearim, inviting them to receive the ark, claiming it would enjoy a more suitable dwelling there. But they concealed the real reason: the great slaughter that had fallen on them. It is clear that their joy at the ark's arrival had been excessive, and the ark had not been received with the reverence and fear it deserved. Even though they were severely afflicted by the slaughter, they were not brought to genuine repentance. They appear to have been hardened and obstinate — which is evident enough from the fear and terror that seized them. Where had the joy in which they had just been exulting gone? It vanished in an instant, because it was not rooted in the fear of God as it should have been. I acknowledge that something similar happened to David as well. When David wanted to bring the ark into Jerusalem so he could worship and call upon God more ardently by having it close, he witnessed the death of Uzzah and was so struck with fear that he stopped the whole undertaking and placed the ark elsewhere — as though afraid that bringing fire any nearer would burn the house down. I do not entirely excuse David in this matter either. The action of the people of Beth-shemesh cannot be excused on the grounds of his example. Both David and the people of Beth-shemesh should have known that God's majesty is infinitely worthy of reverence — yet access to Him is easy for all who approach with humility. Why does He show Himself terrible, if not to break and tame the hardness of human hearts? Once that hardness is tamed, what remains in Him but fatherly favor and goodwill? David himself testifies elsewhere that he learned this lesson, saying: 'Instructed by the abundance of Your kindness, I will enter Your house; I will bow toward Your holy temple with reverence for You.' He knew how to hold these two things together — God's mercy and His justice — which are never separated from each other. He hoped to enter God's house, but rested on the multitude of God's kindness. We must therefore beware of that evil fear and terror that is common to all hypocrites who hope to deceive God. Just as faith must stand between two extreme vices, so the way of approaching God must stand between fear and overconfidence. Some approach God with too much boldness and arrogance — hypocrites who, as long as they perform the outward motions of piety, feel they have earned God's favor and think He is deeply indebted to them. Even though they are crafty, deceitful, and full of rebellion, they expect God to be at their disposal and obligated to them. Others are utterly atheistic and irreligious — they withdraw far from God and would never want His name mentioned. This extreme is deeply wicked and impious. What then should we do? We must return to the rule David learned: he came to God's house with fear and reverence, to worship and call upon God, relying on the greatness of His kindness. At the same time, we must beware of imitating the people of Beth-shemesh. Instead, we must ask God to supply us with the strength to crush the pride native to us and to humble ourselves before Him — yet in such a way that we are not driven away from His presence. Therefore, even though God shows Himself fearsome, let us not withdraw far from Him. Let us know that, though He is terrible, He will never reject those who approach Him in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the only way to find Him — in Christ. We observed earlier that the Philistines did the same thing — pushing God away. But who would be surprised that unbelievers fear God and push Him away, since they do not know Him? As for David, who also seemed to withdraw in fear of God's wrath, let us know that there is a great difference between him and the Bethshemites — David never stopped seeking God's presence. Let us therefore continually meditate on God's promises by which He invites us to Himself. Since we know we have been received into grace through His only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, let us remember that we owe Him our gratitude. He asks nothing else from us — those He has adopted as His children — but that we take refuge in the One who honors us with the name of Father. He declares that no other sacrifice is acceptable to Him except that in all our troubles and needs we call upon Him, trusting in faith that He will make us partakers of His goodness and kindness.

Now it remains, etc.