First light at the doorway of Dagon's temple in Ashdod: a broad, plain mud-brick façade, tall cedar doors standing ajar, a worn pale stone threshold, and a stripe of dawn light falling across it into the dark inside, under a calm dawn sky.

The Book of

1 Samuel 5

The ark sits in Dagon’s temple as a trophy of war. By morning, Dagon is on his face.

12 verses≈ 3 minBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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Where we are

1–7SamuelA boy who listenedChapter 5
8–15SaulA king like the nations
16–20David risesThe LORD looks at the heart
21–27David huntedThe anointed one waits
28–31Saul fallsEndor and Gilboa

The Ark Afflicts the Philistines

After the Philistines had captured the ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod,

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Inside the dim mud-brick hall of Dagon's temple by lamplight: at the far end a tall carved stone statue of a robed, bearded man on a low plinth, and on the floor beside it the gold ark, set there like a trophy; no one in the hall.

carried it into the temple of Dagon, and set it beside his statue.

When the people of Ashdod got up early the next morning, there was Dagon, fallen on his face before the ark of the LORD. So they took Dagon and returned him to his place.

But when they got up early the next morning, there was Dagon, fallen on his face before the ark of the LORD, with his head and his hands broken off and lying on the threshold. Only the torso remained.

That is why, to this day, the priests of Dagon and all who enter the temple of Dagon in Ashdod do not step on the threshold.

there was Dagon, fallen on his face before the ark of the LORD

1 Samuel 5:3

Question

Quick question

The Philistines set Dagon back in his place after the first morning. The second morning was worse.

What did the people of Ashdod find on the second morning?

Now the hand of the LORD was heavy on the people of Ashdod and its vicinity, ravaging them and afflicting them with tumors.

And when the men of Ashdod saw what was happening, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel must not stay here with us, because His hand is heavy upon us and upon our god Dagon.”

Then the Ekronites called together all the rulers of the Philistines and said, “Send away the ark of the God of Israel. It must return to its place, so that it will not kill us and our people!”

Ekron at night from below its mound: small lamps in many doorways and on flat roofs, tiny figures on the roofs with hands lifted to the sky, under a calm, dark, starry sky.

For a deadly confusion had pervaded the city; the hand of God was very heavy upon it.

Those who did not die were afflicted with tumors, and the outcry of the city went up to heaven.

0:23

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Reflect

“Fallen on his face before the ark”

Israel lost the battle, yet the LORD needed no army to bring Dagon down. The Philistines picked their god up and set him back in his place, and he fell again. Is there something in your life you keep setting back up in God’s place? Write it down, and what it would mean to leave it on the floor.

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1 Samuel 5

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A verse to carry with you

When the people of Ashdod got up early the next morning, there was Dagon, fallen on his face before the ark of the LORD.

1 Samuel 5:3

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