Literacy International - The Cows Who Left Their Calves - Part 4 - A series about Creation

Jul 17, 2026

Upload by Liam

Storytelling devotional retelling of 1 Samuel 4-6 as two cows who keep their calves become caught up in a larger conflict involving the Philistines. Israel’s leaders fail by taking the Ark of God into battle without seeking God’s help, and the Ark brings escalating troubles: idols fall, cities grow fearful, sickness spreads, and a plague of rats damages crops. The Philistines test the Ark’s cause using untrained cows, showing how worship disputes lead to consequences.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryStory & Novel

FormatPDF

Pages13

Reading Time20 min

The Cows and Their Calves

Israel’s defeat and the Ark

Dagon, sickness, and fear across Philistine cities

The plan, guilt offering, and the testing cart

Literacy International: The Cows Who Left Their Calves Copyright © 2018 Literacy International [info@LiteracyInternational.net](info@LiteracyInternational.net) English Spiritual Literacy International: The Cows Who Left Their Calves Part 4 of 12 in a series about Creation "Praise the Lord, You Wild Animals and all Cattle, Small Creatures and flying Birds!" -Psalm 148:7, 10 Copyright © 2018 Literacy International [info@LiteracyInternational.net](info@LiteracyInternational.net) English Copyright © 2018, Literacy International [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) You are free to make commercial use of this work. You may adapt and add to this work, but you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one. You must keep the copyright and credits for authors, illustrators, etc. The Cows Who Left Their Calves 1 Samuel 4-6 Many years ago in the land of the Philistines, near what is now Gaza Strip of the Palestinians, two cows in a herd of cattle each had a new calf. The cows were very happy and contented as they kept their calves close to them. This was easy because each calf wanted nothing more than to be near its mother. And the cows had no idea what strange plans men would have for them a little while later. Nor did they know that God already had a special plan for the two of them at that time. In the hill country to the east of them were the people of God called Israelites, and they had had a battle with the Philistine armies and had lost the battle. This is because their leaders had not asked God for His help. Instead, they disobeyed God by taking a very precious golden box used in worship times with them into battle, trusting that the box, called the Ark of God’s Promise, would help them. That was superstition, not faith in God. It didn’t work out. At first the Philistines were excited about their victory and their capture of this special Ark. They had brought it and placed it in a temple of their god Dagon as if they were making this a gift to this idol. The next morning they found that the idol of Dagon had fallen down in front of the Ark. They rushed to pick the idol up and put it back in its place. The next morning they found that it had fallen down a second time, and the head and arms of the idol had broken off. Only the main part of the idol’s body was left whole. How scared the Philistines were! Their joy had turned to fear. But even worse was to happen. The people in this place, a city called Ashdod, wanted to get rid of the Ark of the God greater than Dagon, so they sent it to the city of Goth. But trouble followed this move, for the people of Goth began to get very sick, and some of them died. Then they, too, were sorry that they had anything to do with the holy Ark of the Israelites. They sent the Ark to the city of Ekron.“Don’t bring it in here!” the people of Ekron cried out,“We don’t want to get sick and die because it is near us.” The Philistines all wished that they had never taken the Ark from the Israelites. But what could they do? They were also having a plague of rats who were eating their grain. What trouble would come next? The Philistines didn’t agree on what to do about the holy Ark, which some of them thought had magical powers. Others said that their own Philistine “magic”was still more powerful than the “magic” of the Israelites because Israel had lost in their battle. But after seven months of disturbances connected with the holy Ark, most Philistines wanted it sent back. However, nobody wanted to take it for fear of what might happen to them.“What shall we do with the Ark of the Lord God?” they asked their priests and diviners. The priests and diviners among them finally agreed on a plan.“It is important that we honor the God of Israel,” they said.“Therefore, you should get a brand new cart on which to place it. Also to give proper honor we should send some gifts bac

FAQs

Why did Israel lose the battle described in the story?

Israel’s leaders did not ask God for help and disobeyed by bringing the golden Ark into battle as if it could guarantee victory.

What troubles did the Ark bring to Philistine cities?

The idol of Dagon fell and broke, people became very sick with some dying, and a plague of rats damaged grain and spread further unrest.

How did the Philistines decide to test whether the Ark caused their problems?

They placed the Ark on a cart and used two cows with calves that had never pulled a cart; if the cows would not leave the calves to pull the cart, it would indicate the God of Israel was not responsible for the sickness and rats.

Jul 17, 2026

Upload by Liam