One of my favorite portions of Old Testament
scripture is 1st Samuel 4-6.
Those early chapters of Samuel’s first book tell of the historical
events surrounding the major defeat Israel suffered at the hands of the
Philistines. They decimate the army of Israel, the
High Priest and his son’s are killed, and most significantly, the Ark of the
Covenant is captured. The Philistines
treat the Ark like a war trophy and take it to
the city of Ashdod
where it is placed in a temple at the feet of Dagon, their false god. However, God will not allow His glory to be
humbled before a false god, so in a display of His divine, sovereign power, the
statue of Dagon is decapitated and thrown down before the Ark.
In addition, the Philistine people are struck with a supernatural
disease that manifested itself as painful sores breaking out all over their
bodies.
After several months of playing a game of “hot
potato” with the Ark by passing it between the
five main Philistine cities, the leaders decide to return it to Israel, so to
have God’s curse removed from them. They
prepare a wagon pulled by two female cows to carry the Ark
back to the people of Israel. The Israelites discover the wagon and rejoice
to see that the Ark of God had been returned to its people. But, some of the men of Beth Shemesh
foolishly looked into the Ark, an act strictly forbidden by God (Numbers 4:20), and according to 1st
Samuel 6:19 in the King James Version, “And he smote the men of Beth-shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the LORD,
even he smote of the people fifty thousand and threescore and ten men
(50,070)”
Now,
an interesting textual difficulty bubbles to the surface with this verse. The difficulty surrounds the number of men
supposedly killed. Did God really strike
down 50,070 people at once there in the town of Beth Shemesh? That God would actually strike down in
judgment a massive number of people at once is not new in Israel’s
history. For example, Numbers 17:49
records that 14,700 people of Israel
died in an act of God’s judgment, where as Numbers 25:9 states 24,000 were
killed by the Lord.
The difficulty isn’t really with the idea that
God would strike down a large number of people, but it is with the actual
number of “50,070” as recorded here in 1st Samuel 6:19. The key objection by archaeological scholars
is that there was not enough of a population in the area of Beth Shemesh during
that time in Israel’s
history to have God strike down 50,000 plus people. Beth Shemesh was only a village, and there
would not be 50,000 villagers available to suffer the wrath of God. In addition, the original Hebrew of the verse
has been under dispute by translators and commentators. Some scholars, including those individuals
involved with translating the LXX, the ancient Greek translation of the OT, as
well as Jewish historian, Josephus, claim this number of 50,070 is a scribe’s
copying error. The figure “50,000” has
been added to the text, and the original should either read “5,070 men were
struck” implying that “50,000” is an accidental inflation of “5,000,” or the “50,000” should be dropped altogether and the
verse read as “70 men were struck down.” The modern translations of the NIV,
NLT, and NRSV reflect that option when they completely drop the “50,000” and
state that God had struck down only 70 men.
Other translations translate the verse something like “God killed 70
elders, and 50,000 of the common people,” or the odd translation of “God struck
70 men of the people, and 50 oxen of a man.”
Many Bible
believing Christians are troubled by such a variety between translations,
because it gives the appearance of an intentional malicious tampering with the
Holy Bible. In reality, however, the
variety doesn’t imply that nefarious translators are trying to corrupt God’s
Word, but it demonstrates the difficulty of translating a problematic verse to
maintain accuracy with the original Hebrew language of 1st
Samuel. A faithful translator recognizes
the textual nuances that have developed around 1st Samuel 6:19,
weighs the differences with the use of textual criticism, and then does his
best to render a clear and concise translation based upon that textual information. This is what all reputable Bible translators
have attempted to do.
Yet,
in spite of any good intentions by translators of 1st Samuel over
the centuries, there are Bible believers who claim these translations represent
more than just a translator trying to help out a fatigued scribe who miscopied
a verse somewhere along the line of textual transmission. In their mind, there is something wicked
afoot with all of the variation surrounding 1st Samuel 6:19. Why exactly a malicious minded Bible translator
would intentionally alter the number of people killed in God’s judgment is not
entirely explained, but it is assumed that there had to have been some devilish
scheme involved. Perhaps the translator
was attempting to present God as more loving, less cruel, or more merciful by
killing only 70 or 5,070 people, but that explanation only begs the question as
to why aren’t the other passages recording God judgment upon large numbers of
people also changed by these dubious translators to present the more friendly,
peace loving side of God?
The most ardent defenders for retaining the reading “50,070” in this
verse are found in the camp of the King James Only advocates.[1] This vocal group of individuals insists that
God’s infallible Word to mankind has been preserved for us only in the King
James Version of the English Bible, and because the KJV equals the pure,
infallible Word of God, it contains absolutely no translational errors at
all. That means any so-called copyist
error is only apparent on the surface, but can easily be resolved by a proper,
believing study of the King James text. Thus, because the KJV reads “50,070” in
1st Samuel 6:19, God truly killed 50,070 people in Beth Shemesh. To deny or
change how 1st Samuel 6:19 reads in the KJV is to deny or change the
very Words of God.
I personally have an affinity
with the KJV onlyist’s position concerning copyist
errors. Their desire to defend the
infallible scriptures is to be applauded, because it is rather lazy on the part
of scholars to suggest that every OT textual difficulty is the result of a
copyist’s error that has slipped into the transmission of the biblical
manuscripts. The KJV advocates are
attempting to defend the Bible from the charge of being contaminated with
errors in order to maintain the integrity of the Word of God.
In their zealous defense against
critics, however, they will often times stretch the bounds of credulity. Rather than providing a solution that helps
explain the details of the original, biblical language God used to give His
Word to His people, the explanation is designed to protect the English
translation of the KJV text from being revised.
Instead of identifying a verse or passage that could be translated with
better clarity than what the KJV translators have offered, The KJV advocates
argue that the KJV is the most accurate translation ever to be published and it
does not need any revision whatsoever.
Because they falsely presuppose on the one hand the pure, translational
accuracy of the KJV, and on the other hand, that the KJV alone equals the Word
of God alone, they elevate the KJV as the absolute standard for all English
translations. Thus, in the mind of the
KJV advocate any deviation from the KJV by meaningful revision that is meant to
lend clarity to the biblical text is considered a departure from God’s
Word.
The Grand
Potentate of all KJV onlyism, Peter S. Ruckman, defends the King James reading
of 50,070 people slain in Beth Shemesh in his big
book of problem texts. Mr. Ruckman
begins by first cross-referencing Joshua 21:16 to make the case that Beth
Shemesh had suburbs, implying all the area surrounding the village of Beth
Shemesh could also be considered “Beth Shemesh.” Rather than just the actual residents of the
village being struck down, other people from the outlying areas of what could
be considered Beth Shemesh were killed when they had wandered into town upon
hearing about the Ark being returned.
Then, Ruckman points out that in Judges 1:37, the former inhabitants of
Beth Shemesh, the Canaanites the Children of Israel failed to kill in their
initial entrance into the Land, are also still present in that area, so they
could also be added to the number of people struck down by the Lord. Mr. Ruckman’s conclusion about the verse is
that many people from all over Israel would have gathered to gawk at the Ark as
it rode along being pulled on a wagon.
The village of Beth Shemesh may not have been large, but taking into
account the outlying suburbs and the thousands of people who showed up to get a
peek at the Ark, it is was not impossible for 50,000 people to be struck down
dead by God for their insolent disobedience of looking into the Ark of the
Covenant.[2]
Mr.
Ruckman provides a plausible solution; it could have been that thousands of
people gathered to see the Ark, an object normally hidden from the public. Certainly there are modern day examples of
large crowds of thousands gathering to look at rust stains on a water tower
that are alleged to be the Virgin Mary.
Regardless, I believe Ruckman’s over all answer is speculative at best,
and ignores some significant grammatical details in the text. His response is a prime example of how KJV
advocates specifically design their answers to protect the KJV translation from
meaningful revision, not deal with the original language in order to provide a
more concise translation of scripture. I
believe a much better solution can be found in the Hebrew language of the
actual passage itself.
First of
all, the KJV defenders are missing an important grammatical nuance with the
original language. It concerns how the
writer of 1st Samuel recorded the number of “50,070.” Normally, anytime an OT writer records the
number of men, soldiers, or people, he will write the number first, normally
expressed by the number in question, 2, 5, 9, etc., then the placement value of
the number, 100, 1000, 10,000 etc. The number and its placement value are then
followed in sequence by the subject being numbered, like men, or people, or
soldiers, etc. Those three things, the
number, the placement value and the subject, are taken as one set. For instance, if I want to say there were
200,000 men and 3,000 soldiers in Hebrew, I would write something like:
"men were 2, 100,000; soldiers were 3, 1000. In some cases, the set will
be reversed. In other words, the subject
being numbered will be followed by the number and placement value. 1st Samuel 11:8 is an example of
this where the writer states that the men of Israel were 3, 100,000 and the men
of Judah, 3, 10,000, expressing the idea of the men of Israel being 300,000 and
the men of Judah, 30,000.
In 1st
Samuel 6:19, however, there is something unusually about the number. Rather than the number reading as 50, 10,000,
7, 10, men, which would read, “50,070 men,” the verse reads 7, 10 men;
50, 10,000 men, that is translated literally as, 70 men; 50,000
men. In the original Hebrew of 1st
Samuel 6:19, the number and the placement values are divided between two sets
of men, because the Hebrew word “ish” translated in
English as “men,” is repeated twice. In
addition to that repetition, there is a difference in the vowel points between
the two occurrences of ish in this clause so
as to give the impression that the author meant to convey two different sets of
men. The unusual nature of this verse
may account for the reason there are so many varied translations of it.
Moreover,
the KJVO advocates seem to assume the word nakah, translated in the KJV
in 1st Samuel 6:19 as “smote,” means, “to kill” or “put to death.” A
cursory review of the word nakah, however,
will reveal that it has a wide semantic range. It can mean more than just “to
kill,” but can also have the meaning of “to hit,” either lightly or severely,
“to beat,” “cast forth,” “to touch,” and “to clap” depending upon the context
of usage. This wide range in meaning
raises the question as to whether or not the author intended to convey that all
those people were “smote” by God in the sense they were physically killed. The KJVO advocates want us to believe that
when the people took the lid off the Ark, out flew angelic beings who zapped
50,070 people with lightening until their heads melted in a gruesome spectacle
reminiscent of the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark. In the context of the entire narrative
beginning in 1st Samuel chapter 5, the word “smote” does not
necessarily imply that in each instance all the people smitten by God were
physically killed. For example, in 5:6,
the Bible states that God smote the people of Ashdod
with agonizing tumors. It doesn’t say
specifically that they were killed, but only that they were supernaturally
struck with some sort of painful tumors.
Furthermore, 5:12 distinguishes between those who were actually killed
by God, and those who were only plagued, or “smitten” with the tumors, yet did
not die. The word translated in 5:12 as
“smitten” is the word nakah, translated as
“smote” in 6:19. Thus, it is fairly easy
to see that nakah does not mean physical death
in every instance, and the same could be the case in 6:19.
With this
information in mind, how then are we to understand what is being discussed by
the writer of 1st Samuel? I
believe there are 2 reasonable alternatives to understanding the number 50,070
to mean something other than God killed 50,070 people at once:
1). The
number could be understood as the total number of people killed on account of
the Ark, both unbelieving Philistines, and believing Jews. Remember, there are two sets of men being
discussed in the verse: 70 men and 50,000 men.
That would imply that 70 men died who were in Beth Shemesh
when they foolishly peered into the Ark, where as an approximate total of
50,000 men died of the Philistines. The
eminent Baptist theologian, John Gill, writes this in his commentary on 1
Samuel 6:19:
“Abarbinel is of the opinion that only 70 men of Beth-shemesh were slain, and that the other 50,000 were the
Philistines that died on account of the ark while it was among them; and reads
the words, with the men of Beth-shemesh he smote –
even he smote of the people 70; that is, of the men of Beth-shemesh; 50,000, that is of the Philistines, and so this
gives the sum of all that died on account of the ark, both whilst it was in the
hands of the Philistines, and when returned to Beth-shemesh,
which is not an improbable sense.”[3]
Hebrew professor, Dr. Eugene Merrill concurs with this
possible solution when he writes,
“Hebrew
manuscripts have 50,070 men. This seems
an unusually large number, but it may be accounted for in some, yet unknown
way. The point of course, is that not
only unbelievers (the Philistines) suffer when they saw the law of the Lord is
disregarded; believers (the Israelites) also suffer when they do not conform to
His strict requirements.”[4]
2).
A second possible solution is to take the number “70” to mean that 70
men from the actual village of Beth Shemesh died who
looked into the Ark, where as 50,000 people in the area of Beth Shemesh suffered from the tumors like the ones given to the
Philistines. The main objection to this
explanation is that it seems to contradict the remainder of the clause in verse
19 where it states, “and the people lamented, because the Lord had smitten many
of the people with a great slaughter.” The word “slaughter” suggests a mass
killing, but if one were to return to the original language of the text, the
Hebrew word translated as “slaughter” in the KJV is makkah,
which can also have the meaning of “to blow,” as in “to beat,” “to wound,” or
“to plagued.” Again, similar to the word
nakah that is translated as “smote” in the
KJV, makkah does not necessarily have to mean,
“to physically kill.” The writer of 1st
Samuel could be describing the heavy hand of judgment that struck the people
for their insolence for looking into the Ark.
Moreover, the number “50,000” could also mean that over a period of
time, 50,000 people eventually died from this judgment. It doesn’t have to be that they all died at
once.
I
personally lean toward the first explanation.
It seems more reasonable from the discussion of the narrative that the
writer of 1st Samuel is addressing the entire number of people, both
Philistines and Israelites, who were killed in their handling of the Ark. Taking into consideration that the
Philistines killed 34,000 men of Israel in the battles recorded in 1st
Samuel 4, the 50,000 deaths suffered by the people of the Philistines from the
hand of God was a divine retribution that meted out even more death and
destruction than what the Israelites suffered at the hand of the Philistines.
Do either one of these explanations, then, deny the infallibility
of the Word of God, or altering the scripture in any way, as the KJV only
advocates would claim? No, not in the
least. No one is denying the
truthfulness of 1 Samuel 6:19, nor is anyone trying to dumb down the force of
God’s divine, supernatural judgment.
Both solutions hold true to the inerrancy of the scripture, and simply
attempting to take into account all of the available textual and historical
information and offer alternative interpretations based upon a reasonable
translation of the original text.
