THE FALL OF DAGON BEFORE THE ARK OF GOD God allowed the Philistines to capture the ark of the covenant, to chastise His people to make them realize that through corruption, they lost the dwelling of God in their midst. At the same time, God proclaimed His glory and might, when Dagon the god of the Philistines fell down before the ark of God, and when they were ravaged with tumors; so they decided to send it back. 1- Dagon falls to the ground before the ark of God 1 – 5. 2- The people of Ashdod ravaged with tumors 6 – 8. 3- The people of Gath ravaged with tumors 9. 4- The people of Ekron ravaged with tumors 10. 5- A unanimous decision to send the ark back 11 – 12. 1- DAGON FALLS TO THE GROUND BEFORE THE ARK OF GOD “If we are faithless, He (God) remains faithful” (2 Timothy 2: 13). If, because of His people’s corruption, God delivered His ark of the covenant into the hands of pagans, He, despite all this, revealed His glory and might, through the fall of Dagon their god to the ground. The people Of Ashdod should have realized that there is no partnership of God and Dagon in one place; and that they should have chosen one and forsaken the other. When they disregarded that, they came in the morning to find their god fallen on his face with his head and both the palms of his hands broken off on the threshold of the house. God confirmed to them that their god is headless and handless, incapable of leadership or control. If we have set in our heart or mind, a god like Dagon like the love of wealth, of carnal lust, of revenge, or of vain glory..., the entrance of Jesus, the Lord of glory into our depths would destroy Dagon, would bring it down to the ground, and would cut his head and hands on the threshold, to be treaded upon under our feet. St. Augustine says: [Let the ark of God enter into your heart; and let Dagon fall. Listen now and learn to yearn for God; Be prepared to learn, how to behold God1]. They found Dagon’s head and hands cut on the threshold (1 Samuel 5: 4), a sign of despise; as those organs were treaded upon by feet. So is every thought and action, that is adversary to the will of God; they may show haughtiness for some time; yet their end will be humiliation before all. ‘Dagon’ is a name derived from the Hebrew word ‘Dag,’ namely (a fish)2 - a Philistine god, with human-like head and hands; while the torso is that of a fish. It was considered to be a god of fertility, as the sea teamed with fish. That god did not originally represent the national worship of the Philistines; but was a Semitic god, adopted by the Philistines after the Semitic invasion of Canaan. The worship of the god ‘Dagon’ or ‘Dagon’ in the region of Mesopotamia, goes back to the third dynasty of ‘Ur’ during the 25 Th. Century B C; Its worship was known among the Amorites and the Assyrians. Jonathan destroyed the temple of Dagon in Ashdod, in the days of the Mecabians3. The Philistines brought the ark of the covenant into the house of Dagon,, the greatest of their gods as a sign of their victory, not only over the Israeli people, but 1 Serm. On the N. T. Lessons 3: 7. 2 Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, article 1712. 3 McKenzie: Dict. Of the Bible, p. 168. 2 over their God as well; assuming that Dagon has triumphed over the God of Israel, who brought them out of Egypt; Yet that boasting did not last long. With pride and arrogance, the Philistines placed the ark of the covenant - being aware that it represents the divine presence - in the house of Dagon. So God spoke to them in the language they could understand; namely that of sickness and catastrophe; He had struck the people of Ashdod with tumors, and that of rats. 2- THE PEOPLE OF ASHDOD RAVAGED WITH TUMORS “The hand of God was heavy on the people of Ashdod, and he ravaged them and struck them with tumors, both Ashdod and its territory” (1 Samuel 5: 6) Although the ark of the covenant is the cause of conquest and blessing to believers, if they lead a life of sanctity by the Lord, it would become itself, a cause of misery to non-believers. Here we remember the saying of Saint Paul the apostle : “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1: 18); and, “For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death to death, and to others the aroma of life to life” (2 Corinthians 2: 15, 16). ‘Tumors’ here mean a kind of plague that ravages the lymphatic glands and the thigh. In the Septuagint version, it was mentioned that the region was uncommonly struck by rats that devoured its crops. As the people of Ashdod felt the heaviness of God’s hand on them and their god Dagon, they sent to the lords of the Philistines to seek their counsel, concerning what they should do with the ‘Ark of the God of Israel’. Most probably, the lords of the 5 main cities: Ashdod, Gaza, Escalon, Gath, and Ekron, met and decided to send the ark to Gath with the assumption that moving it from the house of their god would cause God to lift up His wrath from them. They did not realize that it was not possible for the ark to stay in their midst, as long as Dagon or any other god occupied their inner hearts. They might have thought that what occurred in the house of Dagon was just a coincidence; That is why they intended to move the ark, to make sure of its actual role and capability. ‘Ashdod,’ might have meant (power)1. Its name nowadays is still ‘Ashdod,’ and is 19 miles south-west of ‘Lid’; midway between Gaza and Jaffa. In the old times it was a city annexed to a port: one of the five great cities of Philistine; and a center of the worship of the god ‘Dagon’.; Its walls were broken down by Isaiah, king of Judah (2 Chronicles 26); put under siege, then seized by Tertan - the Assyrian Commander, during the reign of ‘Sargon’ (Isaiah 20: 1); threatened by Amos (1: 8), Zephaniah (2: 4), and by Zechariah (9: 6). Some of its inhabitants opposed the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem in the days of Nehemiah (Nehemiah 4: 7); and some of the Jews returning from captivity, who took wives from it, were severely punished by Nehemiah (Nehemiah 13: 23, 24). The Mecabians invaded it twice during the second century B C; and in the second time they destroyed the temple of Dagon (1 Mk. 5: 68; 10: 84). In Ashdod, the Apostle Philip preached the gospel (Acts 8: 4). 1 Strong's Exh. Concordance of the Bible, art. 795. 3 3- THE PEOPLE OF GATH RAVAGED WITH TUMORS ‘Gath,’ a Hebrew word meaning a (winepress)1, was one of the 5 great cities of Philistine: Ashdod, Gath, Ekron, Gaza, and Ashkelon (1 Samuel 6: 17). Most scholars believe that its present day location is ‘Erak-El-Manshiah,’ 7 miles west of ‘Beth Gebrin’. It was one of the cities of the Anakim (Joshua 11: 22), where the giants were located (2 Samuel 21: 22; 1 Chronicles 20: 21), of whom ‘Goliath’ was the most famous (1 Samuel 17). Having been one of the fortified cities of the Philistines, it was seized by King David (2 Samuel 15: 18; 1 Chronicles 18: 1); then changed hands between the Philistines (1 Kings 2: 39), Judah (2 Chronicles 11: 8), Aram (2 Kings 12: 17), then Judah (2 Kings 13: 25), and again the Philistines, etc. As the ark of God was taken to Gath, the plague was more severe, to let the Philistines realize that what happened to them was not a matter of coincidence, but a divine chastisement. “The hand of the Lord was against the city with a very great destruction; and He struck the men of the city, both small and great, and tumors broke out of them”(1 Samuel 5: 9) 4- THE PEOPLE OF EKRON RAVAGED WITH TUMORS The northernmost of the 5 great cities of the Philistines. Today, it is a small village called ‘Aker,’ on a hill, 12 miles away from ‘Jaffa’. At the beginning, it has been a portion of Judah’s inheritance; and was given later to Dan, then reseized by the Philistines. Its inhabitants worshipped ‘Baal-Zebub’ (2 Kings 1: 2); it was threatened by Amos (1: 8), by Zephaniah (2: 4), by Jeremiah (25: 20), by Zechariah (9: 5); and given by Alexander the Great to Jonathan as a reward for his conquest of Apollonius (1 Mk. 10: 89)2. As the ark of God was carried to it against the will of its inhabitants, the hand of God was so heavy there, that “the cry of the city went up to heaven” (1 Samuel 5: 12); and they demanded the ark to be sent back to its own place. 5- A UNANIMOUS DECISION TO SEND THE ARK BACK That decision was a testimony to God’s holiness and might. It is as though God used even their wickedness to enlighten them. From the beginning they were aware that He is a mighty God who miraculously saved His people from the Egyptians (1 Samuel 4: 7, 8); yet they tried to challenge Him, to realize finally that they are helpless before Him. God realized what was said on the tongue of His prophet Isaiah: “I am the Lord, that is My name; And My glory I will not give to another” (Isaiah 42: 8). 1 Ibid, art. 1660. 2 McKenzie. P. 224.
Welcome