Then they said, "What shall be the trespass-offering which we shall return to him?" They said, "Five golden tumors, and five golden mice, [according to] the number of the lords of the Philistines; for one plague was on you all, and on your lords.
"And watch ... if it goes up ... but if not"  (1 Samuel 6:9).  The device of the Philistines in sending back the ark was clearly experimental; and they had no certain knowledge as to the way it would turn out. Therefore, we should understand the statement in  1 Samuel 6:3 that they. "would be healed" as a conditional, promise.  "This indicates that they were still uncertain as to whether or not God was responsible for their plagues."[9]      The test proposed here was genuine.  Normally, cows would not have left their calves.  Furthermore, cows that had never been yoked would not have taken a cart anywhere, much less on a 17-mile trip down a highway.