1. 1 Samuel 6:4 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

Why must the guilt offering involve five golden tumours and five golden mice (NIV: rats)?

1 Samuel 6:4 (ESV)

4 And they said, “What is the guilt offering that we shall return to him?” They answered, “Five golden tumors and five golden mice, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines, for the same plague was on all of you and on your lords.

The golden objects serve as payment of tribute to the Lord.1It is possible that the diviners considered these golden likenesses to also have magical properties.