THE MEN OF BETHSHEMESH
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: and the people lamented, because the LORD had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter. (1 Sam 6:19)
Here is another favourite for Bible critics to discredit the King James Bible. They claim that it is impossible for so many people to die and that Bethshemesh is just a small town. Of course, we never need to take these Bible critics seriously as they do not treat the Bible with respect and reverence and they also do not take what have been revealed from the Holy Scriptures seriously.
And Iron, and Migdal-el, Horem, and Beth-anath, and Beth-shemesh; nineteen cities with their villages. (Joshua 19:38)
And Ain with her suburbs, and Juttah with her suburbs, and Beth-shemesh with her suburbs; nine cities out of those two tribes. (Joshua 21:16)
Neither did Naphtali drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh, nor the inhabitants of Beth-anath; but he dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: nevertheless the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and of Beth-anath became tributaries unto them. (Judges 1:33)
Bible critics tend to think that Bethshemesh is simply a small town. However, according to the Holy Bible, Bethshemesh is called a city and not a small town. Bible critics don’t know that cities also included suburbs and villages!
And Ashan with her suburbs, and Beth-shemesh with her suburbs. (1 Chron 6:59)
The Philistines also had invaded the cities of the low country, and of the south of Judah, and had taken Beth-shemesh, and Ajalon, and Gederoth, and Shocho with the villages thereof, and Timnah with the villages thereof, Gimzo also and the villages thereof: and they dwelt there. (2 Chron 28:18)
But then again, how much biblical evidence is sufficient for these Bible critics who have no faith in God preserving His Holy words in any languages He chooses to do so?
When Jacob brought his family of 70 into Egypt and 430 years later when the children of Israel left, they were a multitude of 600,000 men on foot (Exodus 12:37). If we were to include women, children and a mixed multitude, it would easily have accounted for more than 3 million people.
However, when Moses numbered the children of Israel before they entered Canaan, the number for Naphtali was 45,400 as found in Numbers 26:50. So more than 300 years later under the Judges, do we expect the number of the tribes of Naphtali to remain rather small comparing with how the Lord multiplied them in Egypt from 70 persons?
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: and the people lamented, because the LORD had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter. (1 Sam 6:19)
So are we to assume that Bethshemesh is a small town instead of a fence city with suburbs and villages? Are we also to confirm that the population then could not have been more than 50,000? Furthermore, are we to conclude that all those who died were from Bethshemesh and THE PEOPLE the Lord smote must be confined to those from Bethshemesh? Are we certain that only those living in Bethshemesh looked into the ARK and that the ARK did not attract considerable interest and attraction from people in other regions as the ARK was supposed to be kept by the Levites? Are we also to conclude that all the inhabitants of Bethshemesh are Israelites in the light of Judges 1:33? If the Canaanites were still present during that time living among the Israelites, won’t they want to see what the ARK of the God of Hebrews would look like?
We also read in 2 Chron 13:17: And Abijah and his people slew them with a great slaughter: so there fell down slain of Israel five hundred thousand chosen men.
So are we to think that it must be impossible for such mass killing to occur during those days? Since weapon of mass destruction had not been invented and it would not be possible for 500,000 people to perish in a single battle, Bible critics would probably conclude! During the romance of the kingdoms in China, the northern kingdom assembled 800,000 men to invade the South and they were nearly completely wiped out! And that happened some two thousand years ago! So since the atomic bomb has not been invented yet, it is not possible for mass death to occur if we are to follow the reasoning of Bible critics in unbelief of the Holy Scriptures.
No one should ever underestimate God’s wrath when He executes judgment on sinners! For 50,000 inhabitants to perish is really no big deal notwithstanding the fact that God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked! We better believe what the Lord reveals to us from the Holy Scriptures than to believe the Bible critics who cannot prove what they claim.