6:7–9 An ancient Hittite ritual text shows some parallels to the procedure described in these verses. In the Hittite ritual, relief from a plague thought to be caused by an enemy god is sought by ceremonially crowning a ram to pacify the enemy god, and then driving the ram down a road leading to enemy territory. In the Philistine version, the point of choosing cows that have never been yoked and of locking away their calves is apparently to make it certain that if the cows do head for Israel it will not be from natural causes nor by coincidence, but by the influence of Israel’s God.