1 & 2 Samuel

1 Samuel Chapter 5

The Philistines and the Ark

• 1Samuel 5:1  And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it from Ebenezer unto Ashdod. 

Taking the Ark of God to use to worship false gods or idols is a serious offence and very dangerous. They did it on purpose to brag about their victory over the defeat of Israel in battle.

• 1Samuel 5:2  When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon. 
• 3  And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon 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.

This was awesome to think about. Their false idol god fell face down before the Ark of God. I say again. Awesome. They set it back in place again but look what happens the next day. Dagon was half man and half fish. Looks like they might have believed in evolution or something similar.

• 1Samuel 5:4  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 the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold; only the stump of Dagon was left to him. 
• 5  Therefore neither the priests of Dagon, nor any that come into Dagon's house, tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day. 

The term, This day in verse 5 refers to the day when 1 Samuel was written. This time the destruction of that idol was so bad that they couldn't set it up again because only the stump remained. The power of God is stronger and mightier than any false religion.

• 1Samuel 5:6  But the hand of the LORD was heavy upon them of Ashdod, and he destroyed them, and smote them with emerods, even Ashdod and the coasts thereof. 

The people of Ashdod were breaking out with Hemorrhoids which is what Emerods are. They hurt and bled bad enough that they people knew it wasn't just by chance but by the hand of the real God of Israel.

• 1Samuel 5:7  And when the men of Ashdod saw 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 upon Dagon our god. 

Instead of repenting and finding the real God they decided to move it out of their city to protect their false god and the people of Ashdod. They knew it was the real God but didn't seek Him. Instead they sought to be rid of His presence.

• 1Samuel 5:8  They sent therefore and gathered all the lords of the Philistines unto them, and said, What 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 Gath. 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 hand of the LORD was against the city with a very great destruction: and he smote the men of the city, both small and great, and they had emerods in their secret parts. 

The people of Gath then came down with the same plague of Hemorrhoids. God used the same plague that He used against Ashdod so that they would know for certain that it was because they possessed the Ark of God.

• 1Samuel 5:10  Therefore they sent the ark of God to Ekron. 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, to slay us and our people. 

These people were afraid and did not want the Ark of God in their city.

• 1Samuel 5:11  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 deadly destruction throughout all the city; the hand of God was very heavy there. 
• 12  And the men that died not were smitten with the emerods: and the cry of the city went up to heaven. 

They decided to send the Ark back to Israel and escape any further judgment. Actually as bad as this all sounds, God was being merciful in showing them who the real God was. He could have just sent fire and brimstone and destroyed everyone then and there. They could have saved themselves a lot of grief if they would have figured out what was going on when the idol of Dagon fell on it's face the very first day.

The Ark was a symbol of God's presence and holiness. A man was slain later on in the story of Samuel who accidently touched the Ark. We must never take the presence of God lightly or forget to show reverance. He still is the same mightly holy God that we today can find fellowship with through faith in Jesus. Jesus made the only way to find God and receive His Holy Spirit in our individual lives. Why fool around with false things when the real, true and holy gifts of God is available to all who come to Him repenting of sin and receiving His presence in our lives. -DC

1 Samuel Chapter 6