The First Book of Samuel, otherwise called the First Book of the Kings
1 Samuel 5
Chapter V · Vol. II, pp. 636–637
1 The Philistines having brought the ark into Ashdod, set it in the house of Dagon. 3 Dagon is cast down and cut in pieces, and they of Ashdod smitten with emerods. 8 The ark being carried to Gath, the men of Gath are smitten with the like plague; 10 and also the men of Ekron, when it is brought thither.
2 When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of dDagon, and set it by Dagon.1
d Ju.16.23. Hab.1.11,16. Da.5.2,3. ver.3,4,7; ch.6.5.
1 See note on Ju.16.23.—C.
3 And when they of Ashdod arose 2early on the morrow, behold, eDagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the LORD. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again.
2 The frequency with which early rising is mentioned in Scripture is well worthy of remark. The custom arose partly from the heat of the climate, which rendered morning and evening the most comfortable time for travel, labour, or religious exercises. Even the worshippers of Dagon rose early,—an example, an admonition, and, alas! often a rebuke to Christians, whose Sabbath mornings are indolently wasted in 'a little more slumber;' who can rise early to serve the world, but who sleep when they should serve their God!—C.
4 And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD; and fthe head of Dagon, and both the palms of his hands, were cut off upon the threshold; only the stump of Dagon2 was left to him.3
A.M. 2909 B.C. 1095
f Ps.115.4,7. Is.2.18,19; 41.23,24; 46.1. Je.10.11.
2 Or, the fishy part. It is said the upper part of Dagon resembled a man, and the lower a fish.
3 It will be seen that the words 'the stump' are in italics, and have therefore no equivalents in Hebrew. The clause should be rendered: 'Only Dagon (i.e. the fish) was left to him.'—P.
5 Therefore neither the priests of Dagon, nor any that come into Dagon's house, gtread on the threshold4 of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day.
4 To prostrate one's self on the threshold of a temple was an act of the profoundest reverence; and therefore when Dagon fell before the ark of God, it was as if he worshipped the God of Israel. Maurice, speaking of the destruction of the idol in the temple of Sumnaut, says that fragments of it were sent to the mosques of Mecca, &c., to be thrown down at the threshold of their gates and trampled upon by devout Mahometans. The Philistines, however, now looked upon the threshold of Dagon's temple as peculiarly sacred by the touch of their god, and out of reverence forbore to tread on such 'holy ground.'—I.
6 But the hhand of the LORD was heavy upon them of Ashdod, and he destroyed them, and ismote them with emerods,5 even Ashdod, and the coasts thereof.
7 And when the men of Ashdod ksaw that it was so, they said, The ark of the God of Israel shall not abide with us: for his hand is sore upon us, and lupon Dagon our god.
8 They sent therefore and gathered all the lords of the Philistines unto them, and said, Whatm shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? And they answered, Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried about unto nGath. And they carried the ark of the God of Israel about thither.
9 And it was so, that, after they had carried it about, the ohand of the LORD was against the city with a very great destruction: and he smote the men of the city, both small and great,6 and they had emerods in their psecret parts.
o ver.6,11,12. Am.2.14; 5.19; 9.1-4.
6 Some diseases affect the rich almost exclusively, others the poor. 'The lords of the Philistines' seem to have so judged, and expected Gath, as a richer district, to escape the epidemic; God, to convince them of their error, smites 'both small and great.'—C.
p Bowels, Ps.78.66.
10 Therefore they sent the ark of God to Ekron.q And it came to pass, as the ark of God came to Ekron, that the Ekronites cried out, saying, They have brought about the ark of the God of Israel to us,7 to slay us and our people.
11 So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines, and said, Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it go again to his own place, that it slay us not, and our people: for there was a rdeadly destruction throughout all the city; the hand of God was very heavy there.
r Je.48.42-44. Is.13.7-9.
12 And the men that sdied not were smitten with the emerods;8 and tthe cry of the city went up to heaven.
s Je.48.44. Am.5.19. 1 Ki.19.17.
8 The disease increases in virulence as it advances; and seems now to have become a destructive fever, or plague, which speedily cuts off the patient, and of which the most favourable termination was the severe ulcerated emerods. The emblem of sin and sinners 'waxing worse and worse.'—C.
Notes
[Ver. 1. Ashdod stood on a low rounded hill in the midst of a fertile plain a few miles from the shore of the Mediterranean, and about half-way between Joppa and Gaza. On the top of the hill was the temple of Dagon, then one of the most celebrated shrines in Philistia. The royal city is now represented by a small village of mud hovels. P.]
Ver. 3. [The name Dagon is derived from dag, 'a fish.' The name occurs in the Babylonian mythology, and is applied to a fabled 'fish-god,' who is said to have risen from the waters of the Red Sea, and to have become a benefactor of mankind. His image is represented as having the head and trunk of a man and the lower part of a fish. Dagon was the national god of the Philistines, and had temples at Gaza and Ashdod. The latter after standing for a long period was destroyed by Jonathan Maccabaeus. P.]
Ver. 5. [Nor any that come into Dagon's house tread on the threshold of Dagon. An acknowledged proof of the power of Jehovah, but which the Philistines, blinded by their idolatry, regard not as supreme and omnipotent, but only as a little, and perhaps for a little time, superior to that of Dagon. Nay, such is the subtlety of Satan (for the heathen sacrificed to devils), 1 Co. 10. 20, that he turns the disgrace to a new source of idolatry, and teaches them to reverence, to worship, the very threshold where their idol lay prostrate and broken.—Note, Do not the idolaters of riches, ambition, and pleasures still imitate the foolish Philistines, and worship their idols still, even when convinced of their unsatisfying vanity? C.]
Reflections.—The interest of religion sometimes sinks very low; but God will in due time, and often when it is least expected, make it to triumph. No power of devils or men can withstand him, or even prevent their own ruin. It is very dangerous to profane his holy things. If men will not glorify God by due reverence, he will glorify himself in taking just judgment, and such as contend with him shall be infallibly ruined at last. Men indeed are often more eager to get rid of God's judgments than to get rid of their sins which procured them: and when they smart under his stroke, they are solicitous to have God put from them, rather than to enter into friendly connections with him. But such as tempt God shall find every essay more and more imbittered by his curse and heavy hand upon them. And what has been gotten by fraud or sacrilege must be thrown back again before the sinner feel quietness within him.