Reflections on 1 Samuel 5

1 Samuel 05 (Contemporary English Version)

1. The Philistines took the sacred chest from near Ebenezer to the town of Ashdod.
   
2. They brought it into the temple of their god Dagon and put it next to the statue of Dagon, which they worshiped.
   
3. When the people of Ashdod got up early the next morning, they found the statue lying facedown on the floor in front of the sacred chest. They put the statue back where it belonged.
   
4. But early the next morning, it had fallen over again and was lying facedown on the floor in front of the chest. The body of the statue was still in one piece, but its head and both hands had broken off and were lying on the stone floor in the doorway.
   
5. This is the reason the priests and everyone else step over that part of the doorway when they enter the temple of Dagon in Ashdod.
   
6. The LORD caused a lot of trouble for the people of Ashdod and their neighbors. He made sores break out all over their bodies, and everyone was in a panic.
   
7. Finally, they said, "The God of Israel did this. He is the one who caused all this trouble for us and our god Dagon. We've got to get rid of this chest."
   
8. The people of Ashdod had all the Philistine rulers come to Ashdod, and they asked them, "What can we do with the sacred chest that belongs to the God of Israel?" "Send it to Gath," the rulers answered. But after they took it there,
   
9. the LORD made sores break out on everyone in town. The people of Gath were frightened,
   
10. so they sent the sacred chest to Ekron. But before they could take it through the town gates, the people of Ekron started screaming, "They've brought the sacred chest that belongs to the God of Israel! It will kill us and our families too!"
    
11. The people of Ekron called for another meeting of the Philistine rulers and told them, "Send this chest back where it belongs. Then it won't kill us." Everyone was in a panic, because God was causing a lot of people to die,
    
12. and those who had survived were suffering from the sores. They all cried to their gods for help.
    

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    Victorious in battle over the Israelites, the Philistines carried the ark of the Lord they had taken from Israel and set it in the temple of their god Dagon as a trophy of their victory. Setting the ark next to, or at the tail of the idol of Dagon they seemed to be making the statement that their god was victorious over the God of Israel. But they were to discover the God of Israel to be omnipotent and their god Dagon to be impotent. The first morning after placing the ark in the temple they found the idol of Dagon had fallen face down. They set it back up and the next morning found that it had fallen again and the head and hands were broken off. Still failing to comprehend the significance of what was happening, they superstitiously made a rule about not walking on Dagon's threshold.
    
    Since subtlety was lost on the Philistines God took stronger measures, striking them with tumors. Then they put the pieces together, recognizing that "The ark of Israel's God must not stay here with us, because His hand is severe against us and our god Dagon." (5:7) First they moved the ark from Ashdod to Gath. Though this gave relief to the people of Ashdod it caused the people of Gath to be afflicted, so they decided to move it to Ekron, but the people of Ekron protested, "They've moved the ark of Israel's God to us to kill us and our people!" (5:10) Calling together the Philistine rulers, it was decided that the ark of Israel's God must be returned "to its place so it won't kill us and our people!" (5:11)
    
    Though the Philistines were superstitious and naive, thinking these objects to be deities, the Israelites had not acted much differently having carried the ark to battle with them as if it contained God Himself. But this desire to contain God in a box for one's personal benefit is as old as mankind and is still alive and well today. Man cannot seem to get over the idea that God exists for his benefit and continually questions what good a God is who doesn't serve me to the standard I expect. In reality, though, it is not until man learns that life is about God and not about himself that life takes on any meaning or purpose.