The Fear the Lord is the Beginning of Wisdom -1 Samuel 6

The Fear of the Lord is the Beginning of Wisdom

Summary of 1 Samuel 6:

The Philistine realized that they had offended God. They looked for a way to appease Him. They realized they needed to make amends to the God they had offended and did it in a way that made sense to them. They created 5 gold tumors and 5 gold rats (this was to represent the plague that had afflicted them, and the number of cities that had been affected since they had taken the Ark of the Lord from Israel. Probably the bubonic plague).
The Philistines had heard of the plagues that had desecrated Egypt when they did not allow Israel to leave. They did not want to make the same mistake the Egyptians had made (Exodus 7:5/ 1 Samuel 6:6)

The Philistines designed a plan to test their theory about God's wrath. This involved cows pulling a cart holding the Ark, the gold tumors and the golden rats back to Israel in a certain direction. They loaded up the cart and watched it go (with no driver except the cows). When the Philistines saw the  Ark return to Israel and the people of Israel accept it and make an offering to God they went back home. A few of the Israelites looked inside the Ark, which was a big ,NO NO, (Numbers 4:20) and several of them died as a punishment. The Ark was put under guard at the home of a trusted Israelite family and stayed there for 20 years.

What I learned from 1 Samuel 6:

1. Everyone in the world has their own handed down social beliefs and territorial customs. God however does not change according to the imaginations of people.
2.Sometimes, but not always illness can be inflicted as a way for God to bring us back around to Himself if we are headed the wrong direction.  (John 9:2) In the case of this passage it definitely was.
3. We cannot make up ways to pay for our own transgressions. Nothing we can imagine would be enough. Galatians 2:16  know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.
4.The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (P

roverbs 9:10). A reminder that we cannot fool, lie to, or get around what God has said is true.
5. Only because of God's mercy and compassion have I been saved.

Hope Wirta

Read 1 Samuel 6:

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=i+samuel+6&version=NIV