1 Samuel 5:1-5

KJV 1 And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it from Ebenezer unto Ashdod. 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. 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 New Jerusalem Bible

1 Samuel 5:1-5

 

 

These are my thoughts, please share yours.

 

1 This shows not that the presence of God was with them but had just left Israel. God was not with the Philistines but waiting the people to return to Him.

 

2 Dagon was their god and they placed the ark in there thinking that it was their god as they had taken it into battle but God can not be contained within a box or a temple. The ark was not God just symbolic of Him. They thought that their god was greater because of their win.

 

3 This was to show them that their god was nothing before the Lord, nothing of this world is anything compared to the Lord, He should always be first.

 

4 So now the idol is starting to fall apart because of this, this is what happens to us when we seek the things of this world instead of the Lord, we in time fall apart.

 

5 They had a fear of that place because of what the Lord done, that place is not still around today but in the time this was written it still would have been.