1 Samuela 5:5 Komentarz

It is now time to enquire what has become of the ark of God; we cannot but think that we shall hear more of that sacred treasure. I should have thought the next news would have been that all Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, had gathered together as one man, with a resolution to bring it back, or die in the attempt; but we find not any motion made of that kind, so little was there of zeal or courage left among them. Nay, we do not find that they desired a treaty with the Philistines about the ransom of it, or offered any thing in lieu of it. "It is gone, and let it go." Many have softness enough to lament the loss of the ark that have not hardiness enough to take one step towards the recovery of it, any more than Israel here. If the ark will help itself it may, for they will not help it. Unworthy they were of the name of Israelites that could thus tamely part with the glory of Israel. God would therefore take the work into his own hands and plead his own cause, since men would not appear for him. We are told in this chapter, I. How the Philistines triumphed over the ark (Sa1 5:1, Sa1 5:2), and, II. How the ark triumphed over the Philistines, 1. Over Dagon their god (Sa1 5:3-5). 2. Over the Philistines themselves, who were sorely plagued with emerods, and made weary of the ark; the men of Ashdod first (Sa1 5:6, Sa1 5:7), then the men of Gath (Sa1 5:8, Sa1 5:9), and lastly those of Ekron, which forced them at length upon a resolution to send the ark back to the land of Israel; for when God judgeth he will overcome.

INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 5 This chapter relates how that the ark being brought by the Philistines to Ashdod, and placed in the temple of their idol, that fell down before it, Sa1 5:1, that the hand of the Lord was upon the men of Ashdod, and smote them with emerods, Sa1 5:6 and being carried to Gath, the men of Gath were smitten likewise with the same, Sa1 5:8, and after that the men of Ekron, whither it also was carried, Sa1 5:10.

Therefore neither the priests of Dagon, nor any that come into Dagon's house,.... Neither the priests that continually attended the worship and service of Dagon, nor the people that came there to pay their devotions to him: tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day: but used to leap over it, either reckoning it sacred because touched by their idol, which fell upon it; or rather, as it should seem, in a way of detestation, because it had been the means of cutting off the head and hands of their idol; and this custom not only continued to the latter days of Samuel, the writer of this book; but even among the Philistines in one place or another to the times of Zephaniah, who seems to allude to it, Zep 1:9. In later times there was another deity worshipped at Ashdod; according to Masius (s), the Philistine Venus, or Astarte, was worshipped in this place; though perhaps she may be no other than Atergatis, or Adergatis, which with Selden (t) is only a corruption of Addir-dag, the magnificent fish, in which form Dagon is supposed to be; so the Phoenician goddess Derceto, worshipped at Ashkelon had the face of a woman, and the other part was all fish; though Ben Gersom says Dagon was in the form of a man, and which is confirmed by the Complutensian edition of the Septuagint, which on Sa1 5:4 reads, "the soles of his feet were cut off"; which is a much better reading than the common one, "the soles of his hands", which is not sense; by which it appears that he had head, hands, and feet; wherefore it seems most likely that he had his name from Dagon, signifying corn: See Gill on Jdg 16:23. (s) Comment. in Jos. xv. 47. (t) De Dis. Syr. Syntagu. l. 2. c. 3. p. 267.

In short, if you believe the place is holy because the law and the books of prophets are there, then it is time for you to believe that idols and the temples of idols are holy. Once, when the Jews were at war, the people of Ashdod conquered them, took their ark and brought it into their own temple. Did the fact that it contained the ark make their temple a holy place? By no means! It continued to be profane and unclean, as the events immediately proved. For God wanted to teach the enemies of the Jews that the defeat was not due to God’s weakness but to the transgressions of those who worshiped him. And so the ark, which had been taken as booty in war, gave proof of its own power in an alien land by twice throwing the idol to the ground so that the idol was broken. The ark was so far from making that temple a holy place that it even openly attacked it.

And now is not the first time, but he has performed these amazing marvels from time immemorial. It is not pertinent to enumerate them all; I shall mention what seems to resemble these events most closely. Once when the Jews waged war in Palestine with certain foreigners and the enemy was victorious and took the ark of God, they dedicated it as the choice part of the spoils to one of their local idols named Dagon; and, as soon as the ark was brought in, the statue fell down and lay on its face. Since they did not comprehend God’s mighty power from this fall but set it up and again placed it on its pedestal, when they appeared the next day at dawn they observed that it was no longer simply fallen but also quite broken. The arms, detached from the shoulders, were flung onto the threshold of the temple, with the feet; and the rest of the statue was scattered in another place in pieces.… Therefore the place, which is able to exist for a long time, receives the blow and reminds each succeeding generation that those who do such things are ordained by law to suffer such things even if they do not pay the penalty at once; which is exactly what happened in the case of this temple.

4. For they present themselves as priests of Dagon, who do not tread upon the threshold. In these words it must be carefully observed that he did not say "the threshold," but "upon the threshold," so that the head and hands of Dagon are taught to be what must be trampled upon, which are reported to have been cut off upon the threshold. The reason, moreover, that the priests do not tread upon the threshold is that they avoid crushing his severed hands and head with their foot. For the priests of Dagon remain even to this day: because those who sacrifice to the ancient enemy through unclean desires still exist. They indeed refuse to tread upon the threshold of the temple: because they resist neither unclean suggestions nor evil works. Therefore they are priests of Dagon, because even if they do not humble themselves before handmade idols, they nevertheless bow down to the images of their lusts through wicked works. There follows: (Verse 6.) The hand of the Lord was heavy upon the people of Ashdod.

For this reason, the priests of Dagon do not tread, etc. For the reason that the devil is to be cast out and condemned in the end, all those who perversely follow him either by teaching or acting, prompted by him, shun considering and guarding against the time of his sentence and condemnation. Indeed, before his worshippers turn away from iniquity, he, concerned for them, suspends their understanding, almost like the advance of the mind, from foreseeing the future or their own destruction. And this continues to the present day, that is, until each of them recognizes the light of truth, which whoever follows, not walking in darkness perpetually. Nor does he fear to tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod, for with diligent mind he contemplates and dreads the punishment of the wicked, who burn with earthly desires, and their leader the devil, moreover, striving to sprinkle his own threshold with the blood of the paschal lamb, turned towards better things, that is, to secure his entrance and exit with the mystery of the Lord's passion. Therefore, the head and feet of the truncated Dagon on the threshold are deterred from contact with the same threshold. However, the blood of the immaculate lamb always renders safe those who remember it from the enemy, because the devil, whom he deceives, removes the consideration of the end that leads to impious Tartarus, both theirs and his own. But the Lord, whom he redeemed by the example of his passion and resurrection, always teaches them to hope for life after death.

The Philistines set up the ark in the temple of Dagon at Ashdod; whose image is found next morning prostrate before it, broken in pieces, Sa1 5:1-5. The Philistines are also smitten with a sore disease, Sa1 5:6. The people of Ashdod refuse to let the ark stay with them; and the lords of the Philistines, with whom they consulted, order it to be carried to Gath, Sa1 5:7, Sa1 5:8. They do so; and God smites the inhabitants of that city, young and old, with the same disease, Sa1 5:9. They send the ark to Ekron, and a heavy destruction fags upon that city, and they resolve to send it back to Shiloh, Sa1 5:10-12.

Tread on the threshold - Because the arms, etc., of Dagon were broken off by his fall on the threshold, the threshold became sacred, and neither his priests nor worshippers ever tread on the threshold. Thus it was ordered, in the Divine providence, that, by a religious custom of their own, they should perpetuate their disgrace, the insufficiency of their worship, and the superiority of the God of Israel. It is supposed that the idolatrous Israelites, in the time of Zephaniah, had adopted the worship of Dagon: and that in this sense Sa1 1:9 is to be understood: In the same day will I punish all those who leap upon the threshold. In order to go into such temples, and not tread on the threshold, the people must step or leap over them; and in this way the above passage may be understood. Indeed, the thresholds of the temples in various places were deemed so sacred that the people were accustomed to fall down and kiss them. When Christianity became corrupted, this adoration of the thresholds of the churches took place.

THE PHILISTINES BRING THE ARK INTO THE HOUSE OF DAGON. (Sa1 5:1-2) Ashdod--or Azotus, one of the five Philistine satrapies, and a place of great strength. It was an inland town, thirty-four miles north of Gaza, now called Esdud.

Therefore neither the priests . . . nor any . . . tread on the threshold of Dagon--A superstitious ceremony crept in, and in the providence of God was continued, by which the Philistines contributed to publish this proof of the helplessness of their god. unto this day--The usage continued in practice at the time when this history was written--probably in the later years of Samuel's life.

Humiliation of the Philistines by Means of the Ark of the Covenant - 1 Samuel 5-7:1 Whilst the Israelites were mourning over the loss of the ark of God, the Philistines were also to derive no pleasure from their booty, but rather to learn that the God of Israel, who had given up to them His greatest sanctuary to humble His own degenerate nation, was the only true God, beside Whom there were no other gods. Not only was the principal deity of the Philistines thrown down into the dust and dashed to pieces by the glory of Jehovah; but the Philistines themselves were so smitten, that their princes were compelled to send back the ark into the land of Israel, together with a trespass-offering, to appease the wrath of God, which pressed so heavily upon them.