God displays His power against Dagonʼs Image 5:1-5 God displays His power against Dagonʼs People 5:6-12 The Ark Returns to Israel 6:1-18 The Ark Returns with a Vengeance 6:19-7:2 (slides) Remember the setting - in an ill fated battle between the Israelites and and their neighbours the Philistines the Ark of the Covenant is brought into the battle field in a superstitious attempt to invoke Godʼs blessing upon the battle, or to force Godʼs hand against the Philistines. God does not behave as He was expected to, the good luck charms and rituals and attempts to manipulate Him by the Israelites were of no use. They attempted to put God in a box and use Him as they saw fit, and the plan did not work. They were defeated at Aphek and the Ark was captured. Last chapter we saw the news travel from the battlefield to Shiloh and all the dismay that it caused to those who lived there. This chapter will show us the arrival of the ark in Philistia and the dismay that it will eventually cause there. God and Dagon: When the Philistines captured the ark of God, they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought into the house of Dagon and set it up beside Dagon. V1-2 You can imagine the celebration! The arrival of Sam Maguire Gaelic football cup to Cork was a very jubilant affair. The trophy of victory was brought home to Cork in 2010, and then displayed in a phone shop on Patrickʼs street. People took pictures of themselves next to it, so glad to be with the winning team. This is a fraction of what must have been happening in Ashdod. They had defeated their enemies, they didnʼt expect to win once they heard that the ark had arrived in the camp, but after a rousing speech from the leadership they rallied themselves and not only survived the battle, they
won a decisive landslide victory and the very Ark that they were frightened of was now their property! They paraded it through the streets and then finally deposited it in one of the temples of their god, Dagon. This is a common practice in the Ancient Near East, the gods of defeated armies would be placed in submissive positions around the idol temples of the nations that defeated them. So, true to form, the Philistines place the Ark of God into the temple of their god. " Whatʼs their godʼs name? Dagon: Not the only god of the Philistines (they had many) but definitely one of the prominent deities in their pantheon. Years earlier when Samson was captured by the Philistines, his eyes were gouged out and he was forced to mill grain until his dying day, he was brought into a mighty temple of Dagon to entertain his worshippers, and Judges 16 tells us that there were 3,000 people that fit into that temple. Samson really brought down the house Now, about 200 Years later we see another novelty from Israel is brought into another Philistine temple of Dagon. Dagon was looked at as a god of the weather and fertility, and is represented as a half man - half fish creature. So the ark is brought there to his temple and placed next to his statue, certainly amid much celebration. The next morning 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. V3 What a sight to see, the priests were not expecting to encounter this! Dagon-it! It looks as if Dagon is worshipping / bowing down before the Ark of the LORD! Well, this is highly embarrassing, and very unusual must have
been an earthquake.or maybe someone left a window open and the breeze blew the statue over. The next line is meant to be poignant : so they took Dagon and put him back in his place. This god needs help. It is as if he is saying help - Iʼve fallen and I canʼt get up! although, he isnʼt saying that. He canʼt even speak to call out for the help that he so desperately needs. " They come to his aid, dust him off, and return him to his place. We, the readers, are supposed to see Dagon as the powerless, mute, helpless, defenseless, dependent false god that he really is. He needs help from his servants. In the coming verses we will see that God is powerful, self existent, self determined autonomous and not dependent on anyone or anything. 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 threshhold. Only the trunk of Dagon was left to him. This is why the priests of Dagon do not tread on the threshhold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day. V4-5 The next morning they know that it was not a coincidence. Their god was knocked down again, and this time he was decapitated and dismembered. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. It was the habit of some nations in those day to collect the hands and heads of defeated soldiers that you had killed in battle. Although the Philistines beat the israelites in battle, we are supposed to see that their god was defeated by the God of Israel. Both of his hands are missing - the Hebrew word for this can mean sheared they didnʼt break off in the fall, they were cut off, along with his head. This made quite the impact on the priests of Ashdod who discovered it, they no longer walked on the threshhold where Dagonʼs head and hands were placed to this day 2 generations after the event. They remembered it, what should they have remembered? That their god was defeated, helpless, dead. That the God of the Israelites is victorious, powerful and alive. They should have known that - it should have impacted their hearts and changed their beliefs and actions, but instead, the only thing that it
changed was their worship liturgy. They began to hop over the threshhold, or enter the sanctuary via a different entrance. Humans have a sad tendency to make minor, convenient changes to traditions when instead we should be willing to chuck the whole thing if we are found to be in error. God made a massive symbolic statement by the decapitating and dismembering of the darling deity Dagon. But now we see in the second half of this chapter that He is not only capable of symbolic gestures and metaphors; He truly acts in power and might and in literal acts of judgment. The hand of the LORD was heavy against the people of Ashdod, and He terrified and afflicted them with tumours, both Ashdod and its territory. 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. v6-7 4 times the hand of the LORD is used in this chapter. As Robert Pendergast pointed out at CCIC 2012 when he taught this passage We are supposed to notice the difference between the two severed powerless hands of Dagon and Godʼs singular hand of power. The first time in the Bible the hand of God is mentioned is in Exodus and it describes the plagues that He sent upon the Egyptians in order to get them to release the israelites from captivity, now here He does it again in judgment, and as a precursor to the Philistines releasing the ark from their captivity. So what kind of plague is this? He afflicted them with tumours. (Heb - Hemorrhoids / Piles) The Latin Vulgate translates it like this, Et percussit in secretiori parte natium; "And he smote them in the more secret parts of their posteriors." Psalm 78 is probably a reference to this incident (KJV) Psalm 78:66 66 He smote all his enemies in the HINDER PARTS; he put them to a perpetual reproach. " " he terrified and afflicted them with tumors, The traditional understanding of this is that they were afflicted with hemorrhoids of some sort, but other scholars think differently. In 6:5 we read about rats that are ruining the land some have thought that the tumours may have been the swellings in the armpits, groin, and sides of
the neck that are symptomatic of bubonic plague, of which rats are carriers. " " Either way - its not pleasant. V8-12 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. 1 The ark is sent from city to city in philistia, and Godʼs hand of judgment is afflicting the Philistines, city by city. This is Godʼs victory tour through Philistia.The emblem of His authority is carried from population centre to population centre. It is the Lord of Hostʼs triumphant march through enemy territory. The people have had enough, and just like pharaoh of old - they want it out of their land! 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? 2 The people plan a way to get rid of the Ark. They devise a plan to send a guilt offering as well. Sorry we killed 34,000 of your men and stole the ark of the covenant - hereʼs some gold, please tell your God to leave us alone now... Also scholars believe that this has to do with the traditions of the Philistines - an image of the tumours (and the rats that perhaps are causing them) are being sent away with the hopes that once they leave the realities that they represent will go as well. 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 Bethshemesh, 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. 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. 3 The made it impossible for this to work unless God was in it. They were in no rush to concede defeat if it was all just a series of coincidences. Milk cows - not threshing / cart pulling cows Motherless babies - very likely to turn back to their calfs (decaffeinated) New cart (v7) - not worn in, like new running shoes Everything is going against them, the only way that these cows and this cart would make it to Israel safely was if they were in the grip of an invisible hand, which they were. They went along and they were a not so silent testimony of the existence and power of the God of Israel. (God spoke in a ʻlowʼ but clear voice) God was speaking to the Philistines, he didnʼt speak through a prophet, but through cows and plagues, he didnʼt give them the whole Torah, but he did reveal Himself to them. And they were responsible for what they learned about God. Did they get a newfound fear and reverence for this God? Or did they go to the idol-repair shop and get Dagon repaired? The crisis is averted, and the lesson is quickly forgotten. Question: what has God revealed to you about Himself, or about you in the midst of crisis? What truth became precious to you in the valley of suffering that you quickly forget and cast off in the mountaintop of prosperity and peace? In what ways are we like the Philistine lords? Another point - if God stoops to reveal himself even to the enemies of Israel, to this non covenant people, perhaps we may infer that he may not be totally averse to one day bringing near those who are far off by the blood of the messiah. Eph 2:13
We do not serve a helpless God. His interaction with the idol Dagon and the Philistines proves that. We do not serve a hidden God, but one who clearly proves and shows that He is at work, even if he uses noisy cows to make his point. We do not serve a casual God who pays little to no attention to holiness. The time will come when God sends, not an ark that represents Him, but His very Son, the second member of the trinity as His emissary. He will come into enemy territory, but the surprise is heʼs in the heart of Israel. His power is displayed not in sending plagues but in healing the sick. Not through lowing cows but through sermons on the mount. The soldiers who come to arrest Him in the garden fall down before Him as well, just like Dagon before the ark, in fact, one of them is even dismembered, but Jesus heals Malcusʼ servantʼs ear before He heads to the cross and offers Himself as a sacrifice for sin. He emerges from the darkness of the grave, just like how the ark returned to Israel. This is our God.