1 Samuel 5:2

_WHEN THE PHILISTINES TOOK THE ARK OF GOD, THEY BROUGHT IT INTO THE HOUSE OF DAGON, AND SET IT BY DAGON._ The house of Dagon. Stately temples were erected in honour of this idol, who was the principal deity of the Philistines, but whose worship extended over all Syria, as well as Mesopotamia and Chaldea, his name being found among the Assyrian gods on the cuneiform inscriptions (Rawlinson). He was represented under a monstrous combination of a human head, breast, and arms, joined to the belly and tail of a fish. The captured ark was placed in the temple of Dagon, right before this image of the idol. "Dagon" х_ DAAGOWN_ (H1712), from _ DAAG_ (H1709), a fish, and -own, the abbreviated form of the name of the god] - the maritime, Aon, or Oannes, as he was called in Chaldean. 'There is in the British museum an ancient coin which represents Dagon on one side, and a

1-5 See the ark's triumph over Dagon. Thus the kingdom of Satan will certainly fall before the kingdom of Christ, error before truth, profaneness before godliness, and corruption before grace in the hearts of the faithful. When the interests of religion seem to be ready to sink, even then we may be confident that the day of their triumph will come. When Christ, the true Ark of the covenant, really enters the heart of fallen man, which is indeed Satan's temple, all idols will fall, every endeavour to set them up again will be vain, sin will be forsaken, and unrighteous gain restored; the Lord will claim and possess the throne. But pride, self-love, and worldly lusts, though dethroned and crucified, still remain within us, like the stump of Dagon. Let us watch and pray that they may not prevail. Let us seek to have them more entirely destroyed....

Verse 1 Samuel 5:2. _THE HOUSE OF DAGON_] On this idol, which was supposed to be partly in a _human_ form, and partly in that of a _fish_, see the note on Judges 16:23. Some think that this idol was the same with _Dirceto, Attergatis_, the _Venus_ of Askelon, and the _Moon_. - See Calmet's _Dissertation on the gods of the Philistines_. The _motive_ which induced the Philistines to set up the ark in the temple of Dagon, may be easily ascertained. It was customary, in all nations, to dedicate the spoils taken from an enemy to their gods: 1. As a _gratitude-offering_ for the help which they supposed them to have furnished; and, 2. As a _proof_ that their gods, i.e., the gods of the conquerors, were _more powerful_ than those o

They brought it into the house of Dagon (see the marginal reference) in order to enhance the triumph of the gods of the Philistines over the God of Israel. (Compare 1 Samuel 31:9; Judges 16:23; Isaiah 37:12.)...

EXPOSITION THE ARK OF GOD IN PHILISTIA (1 Samuel 5:1). 1 SAMUEL 5:1 THE PHILISTINES TOOK THE ARK OF GOD. The silence of Scripture is often as remarkable as what it tells us. From Psalms 78:60-19; Jeremiah 7:12; Jeremiah 26:9, we gather that from Aphek the Philistines marched upon Shiloh, and having captured it, put all whom they found there to the sword, a

WHEN THE PHILISTINES TOOK THE ARK OF GOD,.... And had brought it to Ashdod: THEY BROUGHT IT INTO THE HOUSE OF DAGON; a temple dedicated to that idol, and in which his image stood; of which Judges 16:23, AND SET IT BY DAGON; by the side of him, either in honour to the ark, as Abarbinel, designing to give it homage and adoration, as to their own deity; for though the Gentiles did not choose to change their gods, yet they would add the gods of other nations to them; and such the Philistines might take the ark to be: or else, as Procopius Gazaeus, they brought it into their idol's temple, as a trophy of victory, and as a spoil taken from their enemies, and which they dedicated to their idol. Laniado r observes, that the word here used signifies servitude, as in Genesis 33:15

6. THE ARK IN THE HANDS OF THE PHILISTINES AND ITS RETURN CHAPTER 5 _ 1. The ark in the house of Dagon (1 Samuel 5:1)_ 2. The Philistines smitten by Jehovah (1 Samuel 5:6) The ark was brought to Ashdod, the leading city of the Philistines, and set up in the temple dedicated to Dagon, the chief god of the people. It was half fish and half man, the symbol of fertility. Before this idol the ark was set up. In their blindness they imagined that Dagon had conquered the God of Israel. The next morning they found Dagon fallen with his face to the earth before the ark. It was the Lord who did it and not an accident. The next morning the whole idol-image, except the fish-part, is fallen upon the ground. “The head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands lay cut off upon the threshold.” T

1 SAMUEL 5. THE ARK IN THE PHILISTINE CITIES. 1 Samuel 5:1. Ashdod. 1 Samuel 5:8. Gath. 1 Samuel 5:10. Ekron: see Joshua 11:22; Joshua 13:3; p 28. 1 Samuel 5:2. Dagon: see Judges 16:23 *. 1 Samuel 5:3. The Ark is thought of as possessing marvellous inherent powers; it brings disaster on

DAGON. great fish....

_When the Philistines_, &c. Better, AND THE PHILISTINES TOOK THE ARK OF GOD AND BROUGHT IT. The repetition is characteristic of the Hebrew historical style. _Dagon_ Dagon (a diminutive of endearment from _dâg_= fish) was the national god of the Philistines, worshipped also at Gaza (Judges 16:21-30), and elsewhere, as the name Beth-dagon (Joshua 15:41; Joshua 19:27) indicates. The statue of Dagon had the head and hands of a man, and the body of a fish. The fish was an emblem of fruitfulness. See Smith's _Dict. of the Bible_, I. 381, or Layard's _Nineveh_, II. p. 466, for a representation of a fish-god, which is probably the Philistine Dagon, as the bas-reliefs at Khorsabad from which