About 1 Samuel 5
1 Samuel 5
In this chapter, we see the Philistines returning home after a victorious battle against the Israelites in which they came out with the Ark of the Covenant. Throughout this chapter, we see what happens to the Philistines because of their possession of the Ark.
“After the Philistines captured the Ark of God, they took it from the battleground at Ebenezer to the town of Ashdod. They carried the Ark of God into the temple of Dagon and placed it beside an idol of Dagon. But when the citizens of Ashdod went to see it the next morning, Dagon had fallen with his face to the ground in front of the Ark of the Lord! So they took Dagon and put him in his place again.”
The chapter commences with the Philistines taking the Ark from Ebenezer [the site of the Israelite camp (4:1)] to Ashdod [one of the five major cities of the Philistines (5:1)].
Due to their victory, the Philistine believed that Israel’s God must be subservient to their god and as such they placed the Ark in the temple of their god, Dagon. This was a custom in the Ancient times - a nation’s god could be taken into exile by a conqueror. The carved image - or in this case the Ark - was usually placed in the temple of the conquering diety, symbolizing the defeated god impotency.
What ends up happening inside Dagon’s temple overnight however, tells a different story: the Philistines are greeted with the visual that “Dagon had fallen with his face to the ground in front of the Ark of the Lord” (5:3). Such a posture represents worship and subservience; what we see is the Philistine god, who they thought prevailed in battle, paying homage to the God of Israel. The Philistines have to place Dagon back in his place, demonstrating Dagon’s true lack of power - he cannot stand up on his own.
This occurred again the next day, showing it was not an accident. This second time though, God breaks the neck of the statue of Dagon, just like Eli (4:18), whose fall “artfully portrays the fall of Eli’s line” [Faithlife Study Bible].
“Then the Lord’s heavy hand struck the people of Ashdod and the nearby villages with a plague of tumors. When the people realized what was happening, they cried out, “We can’t keep the Ark of the God of Israel here any longer! He is against us! We will all be destroyed along with Dagon, our god.” So they called together the rulers of the Philistine towns and asked, “What should we do with the Ark of the God of Israel?””
The rulers of the Philistine towns decide to send the Ark to Gath, “but when the Ark arrived at Gath, the Lord’s heavy hand fell on its men, young and old; he struck them with a plague of tumors and there was great panic” (5:9, NLT).
The word for tumors in the original Hebrew text refers to “swelling” and many translations also read “hemorrhoids”.
As a result of this, a third city is selected to host the Ark, but the people of Ekron called a meeting with the Philistine rulers again to prevent the Ark from being among them (5:11). This second meeting demonstrates that the Philistines do not know what to do with the powerful Ark that was afflicting them with tumors and killings their people (5:12).
“Please send the Ark of the God of Israel back to its own country, or it will kill us all.”
- 1 Samuel 5:11, NLT
The Philistines end up recognizing that God’s power was directed against them and wisely advice that the Ark be returned to Israel before it kills them all.
The events occurring in this chapter serve as a reminder as well as an example that God doesn’t need an army to fight for Him - He can handle things well on His own.
As such, we shouldn’t worry or be afraid, for if God can take care of Himself, how much more would He be able to take care of us in all types of circumstances?
This is all I have for today, but we are just getting started with 1 Samuel.
Next week, we will see how the Ark returns to Israel and how the lack of knowledge in how to care for thing can have dire consequences.
Thank you so much for reading! as always, I’d love to hear your thoughts, so leave a comment below!
