6:1,2
The ark remained in the Philistine territory for seven months before they took definite action. Given the disaster that was befalling them this seems a long time to let things carry on. Why not act sooner? Possibly it was because of pride. To act would mean to admit that their god Dagon was pretty useless, and that the God of Israel was greater. However, our societies are no better. All the evidence shows that a stable two parent environment is by far the best environment in which to bring up children, yet we will not admit that marriage is the best and proper family structure. Likewise, it is clear that transideology is founded on a lie, and it causes all sorts of problems, but the leaders in society will not admit this simple fact. And this stubbornness had been going on for much longer than seven months! However, eventually the Philistine leaders call for the priests and diviners to tell them what to do, how to get rid of the ark.
6:3
The priests and diviners seem to have quite a lot of good sense. Clearly they do not have a proper devotion to the Lord, but their advice shows more wisdom than the Israelite priests often displayed. First of all they say that the ark must be set back with gifts, in particular a guilt offering. So there had to be an admission of guilt. Then they would be healed. Israel often refused to admit their guilt. Mankind in general would often prefer to suffer the consequences of sin, rather than confess their sin. The tragedy is that if guilt was admitted then they would be healed.
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