The Philistines sent a gold present to Israel when they returned the Ark.
1) It was made of gold yet the commentators refer to it as their guilt offering. Can a guilt offering be a gold object?
2) It was buried along with the Ark, the staff, the manna and the anointing oil. The Philistine guilt offering seems highly out of place compared to the other 4 items. Why was it buried with them?
Barry Epstein, Dallas, USA
1) A guilt-offering cannot be of gold only when it is being brought by a Jew, because the Jews sinned with gold (when they made the Golden Calf), and "the prosecutor cannot serve as the defense." The Pelishtim, though, certainly may bring gold as a guilt offering. (On the contrary, perhaps they brought gold because they wanted to arouse Divine wrath against Israel for the sin of the Golden Calf.) The reason they did not send an animal offering perhaps is because they were afraid that it would run away (as we find that they did not bring the gift that they sent personally, and thus they would not be present to prevent the animal from fleeing).
2) Everything that was in the Holy of Holies together with the Holy Ark (Aron ha'Kodesh) were hidden away with the Aron. The offering of the Pelishtim was also placed in the Holy of Holies with the Aron, as the verses describe, and thus it was hidden away with the Aron.
Why, though, did they place it in the Holy of Holies with the Aron? Their offering was a sign and memorial to the great Kidush Hash-m, the sanctification of G-d's name, that occurred when the Aron was returned by the Pelishtim to Yisrael. See Shmuel I, chapter 6.
M. Kornfeld