6:4,5
The Philistine leaders are now amenable to taking advice. The religious leaders tell them to make five gold tumours and five gold rats (NIV, other versions have mice). It has been suggested that in the rural areas there had been plagues of mice devastating the harvest. Alternatively, I suppose, the rats/mice could have been plague carriers. The purpose of these gold objects was to give glory to God. Having defeated Israel, they thought they had defeated God (and modern philosophers etc think much the same!). The gold offerings were a sign that they now realised they had not defeated God! Then, they hoped, God would no longer hold His hand against them.
6:6
We see again that there was a general awareness of how the Israelites had escaped from Egypt. In particular, they knew how stubborn Pharaoh had been, and how much it had cost Egypt. So the religious leaders warned the Philistine leaders not to harden their hearts as Pharaoh had done. To do so would only invite harsh treatment from God.
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