“So these instructions were carried out. Two cows were hitched to the cart, and their newborn calves were shut up in a pen. Then the Ark of the Lord and the chest containing the gold rats and gold tumors were placed on the cart. And sure enough, without veering off in other directions, the cows went straight along the road toward Beth-shemesh, lowing as they went. The Philistine rulers followed them as far as the border of Beth-shemesh. The people of Beth-shemesh were harvesting wheat in the valley, and when they saw the Ark, they were overjoyed! The cart came into the field of a man named Joshua and stopped beside a large rock. So the people broke up the wood of the cart for a fire and killed the cows and sacrificed them to the Lord as a burnt offering. Several men of the tribe of Levi lifted the Ark of the Lord and the chest containing the gold rats and gold tumors from the cart and placed them on the large rock. Many sacrifices and burnt offerings were offered to the Lord that day by the people of Beth-shemesh. The five Philistine rulers watched all this and then returned to Ekron that same day. The five gold tumors sent by the Philistines as a guilt offering to the Lord were gifts from the rulers of Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron. The five gold rats represented the five Philistine towns and their surrounding villages, which were controlled by the five rulers. The large rock at Beth-shemesh, where they set the Ark of the Lord, still stands in the field of Joshua as a witness to what happened there. But the Lord killed seventy men from Beth-shemesh because they looked into the Ark of the Lord. And the people mourned greatly because of what the Lord had done. “Who is able to stand in the presence of the Lord, this holy God?” they cried out. “Where can we send the Ark from here?” So they sent messengers to the people at Kiriath-jearim and told them, “The Philistines have returned the Ark of the Lord. Come here and get it!””
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1 Samuel‬ ‭6‬:‭10‬-‭21‬ ‭NLT

There is a danger in superstition when the thing you make guesses about is real and holy. The Philistines found this out firsthand. One might be forgiven in thinking that God was delighted by their five rats and five tumors, because he accepted them. Certainly, this is what the superstitious philistines would’ve taken from this encounter. Yet, the real reason this sacrifice was accepted was because it was done in submission and faith. It was rudimentary and crude, but it was a statement of acquiescence to YHWH about their own inabilities and understanding. It was purely logical. God blessed it. The Israelites at Beth-Shemesh did not fare so well. Seventy of their men died because they mishandled the Ark, rejecting what they should’ve known about it from their own history. They did not have superstition. They had fact about what would work and wouldn’t. Yet they still chose to handle it without reverence. Though the Ark had returned to where God wanted it, it is clear that the initial loss of the Ark was only the beginning of the Israelites’ descent into similarity with the Canaanites they had conquered. They may have thought themselves special on principle, but on merit, they were quickly proving themselves the same as the enemy. Facts or superstitions make no difference when the object we hold beliefs about is the real God for whom we have no respect. Everything that comes against his sovereignty shares the same fate. Anyone who doesn’t learn from this will be doomed to repeat it, no matter how civilized they think themselves.

Superstition vs. Faith: The Philistines’ superstition, though misguided, was accepted by God because it stemmed from submission and faith, unlike the Israelites’ mishandling of the Ark due to a lack of reverence.

Consequences of Disrespect: Both the Philistines and Israelites faced consequences for their actions, highlighting the importance of respecting God’s sovereignty.

Importance of Reverence: Regardless of knowledge or beliefs, true reverence for God is crucial, as demonstrated by the Israelites’ downfall despite knowing the Ark’s history.