The Philistines, wishing to be rid of this object of faith, are warned to proper sacrifice by their priests and diviners, and so have a new cart built, pulled by two "milch kine", and then associate the activities of the kine with whether the plagues that had beset them were "really" from the God of the Israelites, instead of some freak occurrence.
When I first read this passage, I assumed that "milch kine" meant "milk cow" and I still believe that holds. And I realized that cows, though never worshipped, have always had a special, subservient role in scripture.
Cows (kine) are mentioned far more rarely than sheep - this may be to dietary restrictions (maybe it’s harder to feed a cow than a sheep), expense (maybe cows are more expensive), or exclusivity (maybe cows are ONLY useful as a source of meat and milk, whereas sheep have both AND can be sheared). Regardless, cows are never given as much camera time as sheep.
Indeed, according to scripture you can milk camels (ref: Gen 32) too, which again reduces the need for cows.
So I imagine having cows were a luxury - for it was not until Noah that meat was even a part of a faithful Jew's diet, so the idea of raising an animal for meat might have been a kind of material excess, thus cows would be predominantly used for milking. And what with sheep and camels available, cows may have been seen as an extravagance.
The only indication we have that cows had any worth were three fold.
- In Deuteronomy, when God is listing some of the blessings of being faithful, he singles out cows and sheep as being increased as a result.
There is no reason to mention this if cows are worthless - indeed, they are mentioned before the sheep, suggesting they are of more value than the sheep. - From the above verse in first Samuel, we have the Philistines being told to send two milch kine as part of the sacrifice.
The priests and diviners had a word of knowledge of some kind about what to include in the sacrifice - having golden remembrances to the plagues must have been humbling by itself, but having to include the cows must have been another level of which I'm not aware. - Throughout scripture, believers are compared to sheep numerous times, but are also told that the first shall be last, the humble shall be raised, etc.
Perhaps this comparison holds with livestock as well - maybe sheep are considered less desirable than cows in some material or spiritual sense. For example, we never hear of kine’s legs being broken to ensure it stays with the rest of the kine.
Thus, I believe that, though we should not revere cows as particularly spiritual, certainly not raising them to a level of worship, I believe that there are corresponding aspects of kine and sheep present in our lives.
Call to action - let’s love our cows!
Many of us take for granted certain things. We take for granted we are fallen sinners, deserve far less than the daily grace we're given, focusing on the negative, recurring messiness of being alive and involved in the abominable state of perpetual sinfulness that is only resolved through repentance, grace, and mercy.
I challenge you to be mindful today of those things which are good.
Today's focus can be on the miraculous aspects of your walk. What daily grace are you experiencing that you have so abundantly you daily forget to be thankful for it?
- Name two things that used to be a struggle for you but that God has given you grace to deal with autonomously.
Example: anger - Name two things that you have never had to struggle with because you were not given a particular weakness.
Example: addiction - Name two things that you unconsciously take for granted.
Example: running water - Name two things that you have an abundance of which you can freely offer to others.
Example: time, thankfulness, grace, hope, or food - Name two things that you have that others around you have not always had.
Example: peace, joy, hope, faith
Give active, dedicated praise to God for providing them to you!
Encourage others to give thanks to their own 'for-granteds'!
Be a blessing by finding someone else who has at least four or five in common with you and give simultaneous praise to God!
Spend today asking God for increased wisdom about those things for which you can be thankful.
