Chapter 5-6: No Fear of God Before Their Eyes
The Philistines now have the Ark of God. Sometimes God gives us what we pray for and it ends up being more than we can handle…
They thought the true God was like their false gods in that He can be manipulated to do what they want. They were used to making their own gods and bowing down to pieces of wood. The true God is not like that.
The theme of idolatry was still very common even among the very intelligent in Athens Greece during the first Century.
Acts 17:22–25 (ESV)
22 So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.
1 Samuel 5:1–7:2 (ESV)
1. God is Not Served by Human Hands (5:1-5)
5 When the Philistines captured the ark of God, they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. 2 Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it into the house of Dagon and set it up beside Dagon. 3 And when the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and put him back in his place. 4 But when they rose early on the next morning, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the Lord, and the head of Dagon and both his hands were lying cut off on the threshold. Only the trunk of Dagon was left to him. 5 This is why the priests of Dagon and all who enter the house of Dagon do not tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day.
Dagon was a false god of the Philistines. He was one of their false deities they worshipped. He had to do with a successful harvest.
So, the Philistines had captured the Ark and, in their minds, Israel’s God. God is defeated and Dagon was victorious, or so they thought. So, the Ark is placed in the shrine of Dagon.
3 And when the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and put him back in his place.
Here’s the picture, Dagon has fallen face forward in worship of the true God. Dagon is bowing low before God. God is far superior to any statue or false God.
Then the next phrase is really the one that tells the story. The difference between the true God and an idol… So they took Dagon and put him back in his place.
Imagine a god that cannot stand up by himself. They literally have to stand him up.
The next morning, it’s the same thing only worse. Dagon falls over flat on his face except this time his head and hands break off.
Now what are we going to do? We have a headless and handless god who cant stand up in the presence of Israel’s God.
Isaiah 46:1–4 (ESV)
46 Bel bows down; Nebo stoops;
their idols are on beasts and livestock;
these things you carry are borne
as burdens on weary beasts.
2 They stoop; they bow down together;
they cannot save the burden,
but themselves go into captivity.
3 “Listen to me, O house of Jacob,
all the remnant of the house of Israel,
who have been borne by me from before your birth,
carried from the womb;
4 even to your old age I am he,
and to gray hairs I will carry you.
I have made, and I will bear;
I will carry and will save.
2. The Philistines in the Hands of God (5:6-12)
6 The hand of the Lord was heavy against the people of Ashdod, and he terrified and afflicted them with tumors, both Ashdod and its territory. 7 And when the men of Ashdod saw how things were, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for his hand is hard against us and against Dagon our god.” 8 So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?” They answered, “Let the ark of the God of Israel be brought around to Gath.” So they brought the ark of the God of Israel there. 9 But after they had brought it around, the hand of the Lord was against the city, causing a very great panic, and he afflicted the men of the city, both young and old, so that tumors broke out on them. 10 So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. But as soon as the ark of God came to Ekron, the people of Ekron cried out, “They have brought around to us the ark of the God of Israel to kill us and our people.” 11 They sent therefore and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines and said, “Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it return to its own place, that it may not kill us and our people.” For there was a deathly panic throughout the whole city. The hand of God was very heavy there. 12 The men who did not die were struck with tumors, and the cry of the city went up to heaven.
The Philistines were dying with disease and with tumors. Rats were beginning to feast. More people were dying than they could bury. God’s hand was heavy against them. Where ever they took the Ark the plague would begin followed by death. They did not know what to do with it.
3. The Ark Returned to Israel (6:1-16)
6 The ark of the Lord was in the country of the Philistines seven months. 2 And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the Lord? Tell us with what we shall send it to its place.” 3 They said, “If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it empty, but by all means return him a guilt offering. Then you will be healed, and it will be known to you why his hand does not turn away from you.” 4 And they said, “What is the guilt offering that we shall return to him?” They answered, “Five golden tumors and five golden mice, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines, for the same plague was on all of you and on your lords. 5 So you must make images of your tumors and images of your mice that ravage the land, and give glory to the God of Israel. Perhaps he will lighten his hand from off you and your gods and your land. 6 Why should you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? After he had dealt severely with them, did they not send the people away, and they departed? 7 Now then, take and prepare a new cart and two milk cows on which there has never come a yoke, and yoke the cows to the cart, but take their calves home, away from them. 8 And take the ark of the Lord and place it on the cart and put in a box at its side the figures of gold, which you are returning to him as a guilt offering. Then send it off and let it go its way 9 and watch. If it goes up on the way to its own land, to Beth-shemesh, then it is he who has done us this great harm, but if not, then we shall know that it is not his hand that struck us; it happened to us by coincidence.”
10 The men did so, and took two milk cows and yoked them to the cart and shut up their calves at home. 11 And they put the ark of the Lord on the cart and the box with the golden mice and the images of their tumors. 12 And the cows went straight in the direction of Beth-shemesh along one highway, lowing as they went. They turned neither to the right nor to the left, and the lords of the Philistines went after them as far as the border of Beth-shemesh. 13 Now the people of Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley. And when they lifted up their eyes and saw the ark, they rejoiced to see it. 14 The cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh and stopped there. A great stone was there. And they split up the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. 15 And the Levites took down the ark of the Lord and the box that was beside it, in which were the golden figures, and set them upon the great stone. And the men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices on that day to the Lord. 16 And when the five lords of the Philistines saw it, they returned that day to Ekron.
There is the guilt offering- 5 golden tumors and 5 golden rats
“Five golden tumors and five golden mice, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines, for the same plague was on all of you and on your lords. 5 So you must make images of your tumors and images of your mice that ravage the land, and give glory to the God of Israel.
This practice of creating physical representations of afflictions and presenting them to a deity was not unique to Israel; it appeared in other ancient Near Eastern cultures as well, reflecting a broader custom of representing ailments as part of ritual offerings.
6 Why should you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts?
They understood what had happened in Egypt during the Exodus and they did not want to harden their hearts like the Egyptians and like Pharoah. Basically, God has won. He has devastated our bodies, our population, our crops and our land. Not much remains. We have to do something and quick.
10 The men did so, and took two milk cows and yoked them to the cart and shut up their calves at home. 11 And they put the ark of the Lord on the cart and the box with the golden mice and the images of their tumors. 12 And the cows went straight in the direction of Beth-shemesh along one highway, lowing as they went. They turned neither to the right nor to the left, and the lords of the Philistines went after them as far as the border of Beth-shemesh.
Beth-shemesh is a town in Israel.
Now, what is truly taking place here is a test. Two suckling calves are taken away from their mothers. They are placed in a barn. Then the two cows whose normal desire is to feed their young calves are hooked to the cart with the Ark on top. So, against all normal nature, these milk cows pull the cart away from their calves and away from the Philistines straight back to Israel.
Now, the Philistines know for sure it was God who had brought the misery upon them.
What we should find amazing here is that God did show His enemies who He is. He stooped to their level to give them some knowledge of Himself. He is the God who destroyed Dagon, their people and their land. What would the Philistines do with the revelation God gave them?
It seems, once the pain and suffering was over, they went right back to their old ways. They worshipped Dagon just the same.
Beloved, we must make every effort to learn from God’s providence and not repeat the same sin over and over.
4. God Struck Down 70 Israelites (6:17-7:2)
17 These are the golden tumors that the Philistines returned as a guilt offering to the Lord: one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath, one for Ekron, 18 and the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, both fortified cities and unwalled villages. The great stone beside which they set down the ark of the Lord is a witness to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh.
19 And he struck some of the men of Beth-shemesh, because they looked upon the ark of the Lord. He struck seventy men of them, and the people mourned because the Lord had struck the people with a great blow. 20 Then the men of Beth-shemesh said, “Who is able to stand before the Lord, this holy God? And to whom shall he go up away from us?” 21 So they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath-jearim, saying, “The Philistines have returned the ark of the Lord. Come down and take it up to you.”
7 And the men of Kiriath-jearim came and took up the ark of the Lord and brought it to the house of Abinadab on the hill. And they consecrated his son Eleazar to have charge of the ark of the Lord. 2 From the day that the ark was lodged at Kiriath-jearim, a long time passed, some twenty years, and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord.
Look with me at verse 19…
19 And he struck some of the men of Beth-shemesh, because they looked upon the ark of the Lord. He struck seventy men of them, and the people mourned because the Lord had struck the people with a great blow.
With the Philistines, God’s hand was heavy many died. Here we are told the Lord had struck the people with a great blow.
As we consider this verse, it’s hard to conceive that the Lord would strike down people just for looking at the Ark. The reality is somewhat hidden in English but the original tells us that they looked upon the Ark without rejoicing or without considering God. It was just Okay. They were indifferent to God.
God’s presence returning to Israel did not move them. God was not holy. They were indifferent.
Oh, there’s the Ark of God, no big deal.
Perhaps some of our greatest sins are not positive but passive?
The Israelites may have thought that God would only judge the Philistines. They learned very quickly God is the great God who is to not only be revered by His people but also feared by all.
We learn that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.
As Christians we must be careful never to take Christ for granted or treat Him as common. It is a great privilege to be a child of the King.
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