1 Samuel 6:10

10 The men did this: They took two milk cows, hitched them to the cart, and confined their calves in the pen.

1 Samuel 6:10 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 6:10

And the men did so
Made a new cart, not the lords of the Philistines, but workmen by their orders:

and took two milch kine, and tied them to the cart;
with the gear that horses, asses, or oxen, were usually fastened to a carriage they drew:

and shut up their calves at home;
or, "in the house" ^F19; the cow house or stable where they used to be put; this they did to restrain them from following the cows, which would disturb them in drawing the cart.

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FOOTNOTES:

F19 (tybb) "in domo", Pagninus, Montanus

1 Samuel 6:10 In-Context

8 Take the ark of the Lord, place it on the cart, and put the gold objects in a box beside it, which you're sending Him as a guilt offering. Send it off and let it go its way.

9 Then watch: If it goes up the road to its homeland toward Beth-shemesh, it is the Lord who has made this terrible trouble for us. However, if it doesn't, we will know that it was not His hand that punished us-it was just something that happened to us by chance."

10 The men did this: They took two milk cows, hitched them to the cart, and confined their calves in the pen.

11 Then they put the ark of the Lord on the cart, along with the box [containing] the gold mice and the images of the tumors.

12 The cows went straight up the road to Beth-shemesh. They stayed on that one highway, lowing as they went; they never strayed to the right or to the left. The Philistine rulers were walking behind them to the territory of Beth-shemesh.