God stands up for Himself

1 Samuel 5 KJV 1900

1 And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it from Eben-ezer unto Ashdod. 2 When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon. 3 And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the Lord. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again. 4 And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold; only the stump of Dagon was left to him. 5 Therefore neither the priests of Dagon, nor any that come into Dagon’s house, tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day. 6 But the hand of the Lord was heavy upon them of Ashdod, and he destroyed them, and smote them with emerods, even Ashdod and the coasts thereof. 7 And when the men of Ashdod saw that it 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. 10 Therefore they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And it came to pass, as the ark of God came to Ekron, that the Ekronites cried out, saying, They have brought about the ark of the God of Israel to us, to slay us and our people. 11 So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines, and said, Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it go again to his own place, that it slay us not, and our people: for there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city; the hand of God was very heavy there. 12 And the men that died not were smitten with the emerods: and the cry of the city went up to heaven.

Introduction

Try to put yourself in the shoes of a Philistine.

More specifically, the Philistine Lord of Ekron.

You are one of 5 rulers within the Philistine community.

You lead and oversee one of the 5 major cities of the Philistine people.

You and the rest of your normally sea-faring people have carved out a solid foothold in the land of Canaan.

You had arrived in this land a few centuries earlier.

A fertile land made of of independent city-states, Canaan looked like the perfect place to establish a permanent homeland for your people.

Unfortunately, another invading people group entered Canaan at nearly the exact same time.

These Israelites had spoiled the plans of your people.

For the last few centuries, you’ve been in a bloody back and forth with each other.

In 1 Samuel 5, you and your people are fresh off of a convincing victory over the Hebrews.

Not only have you embarrassed the fire out of them on the battlefield, but you also did something that you personally did not think possible.

Your soldiers have captured the legendary Ark of the Covenant.

The Jews had struck fear in the heats of your men when they had carted the Ark onto the battlefield.

The Philistines were well aware of the power and ability of Israel’s God.

They had heard the stories of Israel’s conquest.

They had witnessed first-hand the effect Israel’s God could have on the battlefield.

To them, the Ark of the Covenant was as close to a WMD as their minds could fathom.

And now it was yours.

The shock of what you had accomplished quickly turned to joy as you and your countrymen carried the spoils of your victory back to capital city of Ashdod.

The soldiers of Ekron form up with soldiers from Ashdod, Gaza, Gath, and Ashkelon as the people from every Philistine town and village celebrate you as heroes of Philistia.

There is, of course, only one thing to do with the Ark.

Take it and place it in the Temple of Dagon as a trophy.

Dagon had finally proven his power of Yahweh.

The ark would be an offering to Dagon.

He would be able to stand over the God of Israel forever.

Yahweh had been beaten.

He had been subjugated by Dagon and the Philistines.

Now, He would serve them and do their bidding.

Once you entered Ashdod, you and your men are ushered to the temple of Dagon.

The priests are waiting for you.

Though they are usually quite stoic and harsh, you can see the excitement in their behavior.

The Ark had been a source of fear, now they would have a chance to mock the power that had afflicted them.

They would make it clear that Dagon was supreme.

The priests take the ark from your soldiers.

You follow behind as they carry it inside.

You watch as ecstatic worshippers dance around the ark and make gestures of derision towards it.

Your feelings of national and religious pride are overflowing.

As you cross the threshold into Dagon’s sanctuary, you are again impressed by the imposing figure of Dagon before you.

The tail of a fish, the torso, head, and hands of a man.

Your God is even greater than the god of the Canaanites, Baal.

Dagon was Baal’s father after all.

Perhaps Yahweh would now serve as Dagon’s son as well.

The Ark is placed to the side and below the platform on which Dagon stood.

Satisfied in the role you played in the acquirement of this gift to Dagon you turn to leave.

You’re looking forward the rest of the day, the Lords of the Philistines are going to party hard in celebration of the battle.

After a long night of partying, you wake up late and prepare to head back to Ekron, where you expect to continue the celebration.

You come down to the palace dining hall for a meal to hold you over until you get home.

As you enter the hall, you notice a somberness and sobriety among the other 4 lords.

This is different than the quietness of people hungover.

Something seems to have gone wrong.

What could have happened to sour the good moods from the night before?

As they see you approach, one of them comes over and tells you in a hushed voice that there was an accident at the temple overnight.

It seems that Dagon had fallen from his platform.

The priests were currently busy trying to reset him in his place again.

So he fell, you wonder, what’s the big deal?

Well, it seems, they weren’t so concerned about the fact that he fell, it’s more the way he fell.

Remember, how we placed the ark below and to the side of Dagon?

Yes.

Well it seems that he didn’t just fall..

He fell, twisted, and turned so that he was on his face before the ark.

I’m sure it’s just a coincidence, you respond.

Don’t worry about it.

Weird things happen sometimes.

The priests probably just got a little carried away with their celebrations last night.

You finish your travel preparations and meet your soldiers outside of town to head home.

You spend the night celebrating with your city.

Dagon falling before the ark doesn’t even enter your mind.

Until the next afternoon.

A messenger from Ashdod arrives in Ekron with a letter from your counterpart, the Lord of Ashdod.

This is a pretty normal thing to happen.

The cities aren’t that far away.

Correspondence would regularly be sent back and forth.

As you open and begin to read the letter, you fight back feelings of concern as you convince yourself that the contents have to a coincidence.

The lord of Ashdod has written to tell you that there had been another…occurrence at Dagon’s temple.

The priests had gone to Dagon’s sanctuary early in the morning.

They had nearly tripped over three massive stones sitting lined up across the threshold.

When they had looked closer, they found that these were not just stones, they were the head and hands of Dagon!

They had not broken off of the statue.

A closer look reveals that they have been cut off.

Needless to say they were sufficiently creeped out by this.

They hiked their robes and high stepped over the threshold and scurried into the sanctuary.

There was Dagon again fallen down on the ground before the Ark.

Only this time it was only his stump that was on the ground.

You write back and encourage your friend not to read too much into it.

You tell him that this is all part of Dagon’s plan.

In fact, he is probably just trying to speak to us.

He is telling us that the threshold is an obviously holy place.

Make it a positive thing and tell people that no one is allowed to step on the threshold of Dagon for now on.

You give your response to the messenger and send him back to Ashdod.

You roll your eyes at the superstition of your friend.

Dagon had defeated.

To try and act like or even think that the Ark was causing any of this was blasphemous.

Dagon had defeated Yahweh.

Yahweh was now their servant.

He was a weak God and nothing could change that now.

Several days go by and things seem to have settled down.

You are going through your daily business when one of your servants announces that arrival of another messenger from Ashdod.

You receive the tablet from him and you notice that the messenger does not look well.

Why would Ashdod send him a messenger that was sick?

Ewww.

As you begin to read the tablet he has handed you, you learn that things are not going well in Ashdod.

The message starts off by declaring in all caps, “The hand of Yahweh is heavy upon us.”

We are destroyed before him!

The Lord of Ashdod gives details of a plague of mice that have invaded the city.

They’ve poisoned the city’s food and they’ve poisoned the city’s water supply.

Now the people are afflicted and dying from painful boils…

You stop reading for a second and look up at the messenger.

He can see the concern and disgust on your face…he nods slowly confirming what you have read.

You now understand why this messenger looks so horrible.

They are dying from a plague of boils all over their private areas!

On the back of the tablet, the Lord of Ashdod demands a gathering of the 5 lords.

He cannot allow the ark to remain in his city.

He and the people are convinced that the ark is the reason for all of their calamities.

You roll your eyes when you read his preposterous claim that the God of Israel is afflicting the people and Dagon their god.

The messenger looks at you expectantly as you set the tablet down.

What message will you send back?

Will you agree to come to the council?

Of course, you will come.

Just days after returning home, you load up for a trip back to Ashdod.

Entering the city, you can not deny that this is not the same city that you had just left.

The town stinks of death and the sounds of suffering are everywhere.

You instinctively pull a cloth over your face as you make your way to the palace.

The tablet was right, mice and rats can be seen all over the place.

What an unfortunate tragedy to come upon the city.

As bad as it is though, you just can’t believe that the Ark of the hebrews has anything to do with it.

At the council meeting, the Lord of Ashdod is adamant that the ark can not stay in the city.

You are relieved to hear the other lords trying to calm him down.

They aren’t ready either to give Yahweh the credit for all that Ashdod is facing.

The lord of Gath even went so far as to claim that maybe the Dagon of Ashdod was not as good at protecting his city as the Dagon of Gath.

The lord of Ashdod, obviously did not take well to this statement.

If you think Ashdod is the problem here, why don’t you take the ark to Gath and see how you fare.

See if you don’t suffer the same or worse.

The lord of Gath responds with great pride.

We’ll gladly take it off your hands.

It should have come to Gath in the first place.

It was our warriors after all who were most influential in the victory after all.

You speak up, seeking to lower the temperature in the room.

Okay, so are we agreed?

It’s a terrible coincidence, what has happened to Ashdod.

Dagon is not weak.

If Ashdod wants the Ark to depart, then Gath will be its new home.

The other two lords nod in agreement.

The lord of Ashdod wasted no time in getting the Ark out of his city.

As the lord of Gath prepared to leave there was an unmistakable cockiness about him as he led the Ark of Yahweh towards his hometown.

Gath happens to be on your way home, so for many miles you and the lord of Gath travel together.

Though you had been confident before that the God of Israel had nothing to do with Ashdod’s troubles, as the ark moves closer to your home in Ekron, you aren’t quite as confident.

What if there is something to this?

What if the God of Israel was judging them and by bringing it to Gath, you were bringing His judgment closer to your own home?

Of course, you can’t share any of this with the men of Gath, so you keep it to yourself.

When you get back to Ekron, though, your counselors come to you concerned.

They’ve heard rumors of what had happened in Ashdod.

They want to know what you saw.

So, you tell them.

In a moment of transparency, you reveal your concern about the Hebrew’s God and His Ark.

You tell them to pray to Dagon that whatever happened at Ashdod would not come to Ekron.

You tell them to pray to Dagon that Gath will be fine.

If Gath is unaffected by the Ark, then it was all just a coincidence.

The counselors are sobered by what they hear.

They go home and lead their families to pray to their god that he would protect them.

Meanwhile, in Gath, it doesn’t take long for Yahweh to afflict them too.

Despite their pride in thinking they were immune from God’s judgment; judgment came.

The presence of the Ark caused a very great destruction among the people of Gath.

Maybe even witnessed by a young boy giant named Goliath and his brothers???

God again sent the mice to invade the city.

Before long the people were again afflicted by painful, deadly sores in their private areas.

A humbled lord of Gath in desperation enlists men to send the Ark to Ekron.

He doesn’t ask you if it’s okay to bring the ark to your city.

He now believes that the Ark is the cause of his problems.

It’s a good thing he doesn’t ask, because you would have said no.

The people have now all heard about what was going on.

They know about Ashdod.

They know about Gath.

When the ark shows up, the people panic.

They see the ark as the embodiment of death.

Some of the same soldiers that had spat on it as it was carried from the battlefield are now crying that it is in your city.

Their fear and respect for the ark and, more importantly, the God of the Ark has been restored.

Frankly, so has yours.

From the palace you can hear their screams and you immediately know what has happened.

You know the Ark of Yahweh, God of the Hebrews has arrived at you city gates.

What will you do?

Will you panic?

Will you be strong?

Will you stand up to this power?

It’s up to you to preserve the glory of your people’s victory over this God.

It’s up to you to prove that this was all a coincidence.

Ashdod was weak.

Gath was foolish.

Not you, you can reason your way out of this.

You call the cities leaders together and try to convince them to calm down.

The mice were seasonal.

The affliction of the secret parts was just a natural result of the mice.

Some kind of natural plague or a result of dysentery from the contamination by the mice.

Unfortunate, but not divine.

As you’re talking, though, screams can be heard from the citizens.

Someone rushes in and shouts, “mice, mice everywhere!”

No matter what you might say now, you’ve lost control.

The people fly into a panic.

You keep your head and put your soldiers to work killing and trapping as many mice as they can.

Soon, however, the city is overrun.

It doesn’t take long before people start to get sick.

Even you in the palace are suffering from the pain.

No one is safe.

The cries of the people could be heard throughout the city.

Finally, as your people are dying every day, you send out messengers to the other 4 Philistine lords demanding a meeting.

They each make their way to Ekron, while your people suffer.

When they arrive, you speak first.

Send this curse away from us!

Send the Hebrew God back to Israel.

Let Him return to His land.

We cannot bear the heavy hand of Yahweh against us!

As you talk, each of them nod in agreement.

The lords of Gaza and Ashkelon are certainly not offering to bring the ark to their cities.

They had seen enough of the effects to know that they wanted nothing to do with it.

The Philistines had gone from joyous victory to devastating tragedy in a very short time.

It was all due to this golden box.

They had tried to convince themselves it was all just a coincidence, but the evidence was too strong that this God was angry with them.

One of the lords may have told the parable of the farmer and the cowbell.

The poor farmer no cowbells for his cows.

One day he came home and told his wife and son that he had found a cowbell.

The family rejoiced because they had none and they really needed one.

What a great coincidence.

The next day the farmer came home and again told his family that he had found another cow bell.

Again the family rejoiced this was a great stroke of luck.

But then, on the third day, when the farmer brought home a third cow bell that he had supposedly found, the family got suspicious.

Maybe it wasn’t a coincidence.

Maybe the farmer was stealing cowbells.

The fact that three straight cities had suffered the same fate meant that this was no coincidence.

It was clear to them now that the longer they tried to resist the God of Israel, the more severely He would deal with them.

They thought that they had defeated Yahweh on the battlefield.

They thought they had subjugated Him and that He would now serve their interests.

Instead, they found out the hard way that the God of Israel was omnipotent and able to destroy His foes.

So, you ask, “Is everyone agreed that we send the Ark back to Israel?”

To which everyone agrees.

Next week we will look at the plan you came up with to send the Ark back.

Application

This is another example of God doing God things.

The Israelites carried the Ark with them hoping He would defeat their enemies in battle.

God didn’t come through the way they wanted Him to, but through this story we see that God will always triumph.

God cannot lose.

He cannot be defeated.

The Philistines had to learn the hard way that God will not be beaten.