The Ark Causes Trouble for the Philistines
5:1 Now the Philistines had captured the ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.
The Philistines moved the ark of the covenant fifty miles from Shiloh.
5:2 The Philistines took the ark of God and brought it into the temple of Dagon, where they positioned it beside Dagon.
The Philistines believed that the fish god Dagon had conquered Jehovah. Therefore, they placed the ark of the covenant at the fishtail of Dagon.
5:3 When the residents of Ashdod got up early the next day, Dagon was lying on the ground before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and set him back in his place.
Jehovah demonstrated to the Philistines that he was not just God of Israel, but He was sovereign over the Philistines as well. When the Philistines woke up the next morning, their idol of Dagon had toppled over before the ark of the covenant. Humans had to help their own god to his feet.
5:4 But when they got up early the following day, Dagon was again lying on the ground before the ark of the Lord. The head of Dagon and his two hands were sheared off and were lying at the threshold. Only Dagon’s body was left intact.
Dagon was laying prostrate and broken before the ark of the covenant.
5:5 (For this reason, to this very day, neither Dagon’s priests nor anyone else who enters Dagon’s temple step on Dagon’s threshold in Ashdod.)
The Dagon priests were so embarrassed about this incident, that no one else ever stepped foot on this pedestal again. This was Jehovah’s continual testimony to the Philistines that He was the one true God.
5:6 The Lord attacked the residents of Ashdod severely, bringing devastation on them. He struck the people of both Ashdod and the surrounding area with sores.
As long as the ark of the covenant was in Ashdod, then all of the people were infected with sores, perhaps on their anal area.
5:7 When the people of Ashdod saw what was happening, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel should not remain with us, for he has attacked both us and our god Dagon!”
The citizens of Ashdod experienced the power of Jehovah, understanding the plague as being an attack on Dagon and his people.
5:8 So they assembled all the leaders of the Philistines and asked, “What should we do with the ark of the God of Israel?” They replied, “The ark of the God of Israel should be moved to Gath.” So they moved the ark of the God of Israel.
The Ashdod leaders decided to move the ark of the covenant to Gath, which was another Philistine city.
5:9 But after it had been moved the Lord attacked that city as well, causing a great deal of panic. He struck all the people of that city with sores.
The citizens of Gath were infected with the same plague.
5:10 So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. But when the ark of God arrived at Ekron, the residents of Ekron cried out saying, “They have brought the ark of the God of Israel here to kill our people!”
Ekron was another Philistine city. They did not want the ark of the covenant to bring plague upon their citizens.
5:11 So they assembled all the leaders of the Philistines and said, “Get the ark of the God of Israel out of here! Let it go back to its own place so that it won’t kill us and our people!” The terror of death was throughout the entire city; God was attacking them very severely there.
All of the leaders of the five Philistine cities met and decided to send the ark of the covenant back to Israel.
5:12 The people who did not die were struck with sores; the city’s cry for help went all the way up to heaven.
All of the Philistines had no excuse. They knew who was the one true God.