1 Samuel 5:9

_THEY SENT THEREFORE AND GATHERED ALL THE LORDS OF THE PHILISTINES UNTO THEM, AND SAID, WHAT SHALL WE DO WITH THE ARK OF THE GOD OF ISRAEL? AND THEY ANSWERED, LET THE ARK OF THE GOD OF ISRAEL BE CARRIED ABOUT UNTO GATH. AND THEY CARRIED THE ARK OF THE GOD OF ISRAEL ABOUT THITHER._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

6-12 The hand of the Lord was heavy upon the Philistines; he not only convinced them of their folly, but severely chastised their insolence. Yet they would not renounce Dagon; and instead of seeking God's mercy, they desired to get clear of his ark. Carnal hearts, when they smart under the judgments of God, would rather, if it were possible, put him far from them, than enter into covenant or communion with him, and seek him for their friend. But their devices to escape the Divine judgments only increase them. Those that fight against God will soon have enough of it....

Verse 1 Samuel 5:9. _THE HAND OF THE LORD WAS AGAINST THE CITY_] As it was at _Ashdod_, so it was at _Gath_. The _Vulgate_ says, _Et_ _computrescebant prominenter extales eorum_; which conveys the idea of a bloody flux, dysentery, and ulcerated anus; and it adds, what is not to be found in the Hebrew text, nor many of the versions, except some traces in the Septuagint, _Et fecerunt sibi sedes_ _pelliceas_, "And they made unto themselves _seats of skins_;" for the purpose of sitting more easy, on account of the malady already mentioned....

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

AND IT WAS SO, THAT AFTER THEY HAD CARRIED IT ABOUT,.... And at last placed it in the city of Gath; THE HAND OF THE LORD WAS AGAINST THE CITY WITH A VERY GREAT DESTRUCTION: greater than that at Ashdod, more persons were destroyed; the distemper sent among them was more epidemic and mortal: AND HE SMOTE THE MEN OF THE CITY, BOTH SMALL AND GREAT; high and low, persons of every class, rank, and station, young and old, men, women, and children: AND THEY HAD EMERODS IN THEIR SECRET PARTS; and so had the men of Ashdod; and the design of this expression is, not to point at the place where they were, which it is well known they are always in those parts, but the different nature of them; the emerods or piles of the men of Ashdod were more outward, these more inward, and so more painful, and not so easy to come at, and more difficult of cure; for the words may be rendered, and the emerods wer...

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

_with a very great destruction_ Better, WITH AN EXCEEDING GREAT PANIC, causing utter consternation. _both small and great_ i.e. both young and old: all the inhabitants. _and they had emerods in their secret parts_ Better, AND BOILS BROKE OUT UPON THEM....

THE ARK IN GATH, 1 SAMUEL 5:7-9 7 And when the men of Ashdod saw that _is was so,_ they said, The ark of the God of Israel shall not abide with us: for his hand is sore upon us, and upon Dagon our god. 8 They sent therefore and gathered all the lords of the Philistines unto them, and said, What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? And they answered, Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried about unto Gath. And they carried the ark of the God of Israel about _thither._ 9 And it was _so,_ that, after they had carried it about, the hand of the Lord was against the city with a very great destruction: and he smote the men of the city, both small and great, and they had emerods in their secret parts. _5._ Where was Gath? 1 Samuel 5:8 Gath was al

THE ARK AMONG THE PHILISTINES 1. Ashdod] on an elevation overlooking the Philistine plain midway between Gaza and Joppa, and 3 m. from the Mediterranean. Its importance consisted in the fact that it commanded the high road from Palestine to Egypt....