1 Samuel 6:1
6:1 And the ark of the LORD was in the country of the
    Philistines {a} seven months.

    (a) They thought by continuance of time the plague would
        have ceased, and so would have kept the ark still.

1 Samuel 6:3
6:3 And they said, If ye send away the ark of the God of Israel,
    send it not empty; but in any wise return him {b} a trespass
    offering: then ye shall be healed, and it shall be known to
    you why his hand is not removed from you.

    (b) The idolaters confess there is a true God, who punishes
        sin justly.

1 Samuel 6:5
6:5 Wherefore ye shall make images of your emerods, and images
    of your mice that mar the land; and ye shall give glory unto
    the God of Israel: peradventure he will lighten his hand
    from off you, and from off your {c} gods, and from off your
    land.

    (c) This is God's judgment on the idolaters, that knowing
        the true God, they do not worship him correctly.

1 Samuel 6:8
6:8 And take the ark of the LORD, and lay it upon the cart; and
    put the {d} jewels of gold, which ye return him [for] a
    trespass offering, in a coffer by the side thereof; and send
    it away, that it may go.

    (d) Meaning, the golden emerods and the golden mice.

1 Samuel 6:9
6:9 And see, if it goeth up by the way of his own coast to
    Bethshemesh, [then] {e} he hath done us this great evil: but
    if not, then we shall know that [it is] not his hand [that]
    smote us: it [was] a {f} chance [that] happened to us.

    (e) The God of Israel.
    (f) The wicked attribute almost all things to fortune and
        chance, whereas indeed there is nothing done without
        God's providence and decree.

1 Samuel 6:12
6:12 And the kine took the straight way to the way of
     Bethshemesh, [and] went along the highway, lowing as they
     went, and turned not aside [to] the right hand or [to] the
     left; and the lords of the Philistines went after {g} them
     unto the border of Bethshemesh.

     (g) For the trial of the matter.

1 Samuel 6:14
6:14 And the cart came into the field of Joshua, a Bethshemite,
     and stood there, where [there was] a great stone: and {h}
     they clave the wood of the cart, and offered the kine a
     burnt offering unto the LORD.

     (h) That is, the men of Bethshemesh, who were Israelites.

1 Samuel 6:17
6:17 And these [are] the golden emerods which the Philistines
     returned [for] a trespass offering unto the LORD; for {i}
     Ashdod one, for Gaza one, for Askelon one, for Gath one,
     for Ekron one;

     (i) These were the five principal cities of the
         Philistines, which were not all conquered to the time
         of David.

1 Samuel 6:19
6:19 And he smote the men of Bethshemesh, because they {k} had
     looked into the ark of the LORD, even he smote of the
     people fifty thousand and threescore and ten men: and the
     people lamented, because the LORD had smitten [many] of the
     people with a great slaughter.

     (k) For it was not lawful for anyone either to touch or to
         see it, only to Aaron and his sons Numbers 4:15,20.