Land of the Philistines

As always, it is a privilege to steward the pulpit for this congregation and bring the Word of God.

Alistair Begg said, “In preaching to the congregation, the pastor’s job is not so much to inform them of things they don’t know, but to remind them of things they shouldn’t forget.”

We have taken this series “Heroes and Villains” and used it to explore some occurences that we may not often dwell upon as we study the Word of God. We have been focussing on the Historical Narratives that show us the time in which the Philistines defeated the Israelites and took the ark of the covenant. We have seen the destructive fallout there was from this among the Israelites. They lost over 30,000 soldiers in battle, the three prominent priests died, there was distress in the city. One woman called out, “Ichabod—the glory of the Lord has departed.” In this moment Israel is down. We’ve seen that this is an expression of God’s judgment on His people who were not faithful to Him. Today we will see what happens to the Philistines now that they have taken hold of the ark that many of the Israelites cared so much for.

Many of the details in this story may be new to you, especially some of the more gruesome things we will see as walk through the text. You may not have spent much time in the book of 1 Samuel, focussing mainly on the New Testament in your personal studies of the Word. But its important to remember two things, first that all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness and also that the whole of Scripture, both the old and the new testaments are a cohesive message. Every page, every word, every jot and tittle points to Jesus Christ. It is showing the need of, the hope of, the coming of, or the salvation through Jesus Christ.

I bring this up for a very important reason as we are beginning our look at Scripture this morning. That is because there are many interesting things going on in this narrative. There may very well be new information that you are informed of, interested in, or even repulsed by, but let the hearer understand: The main intention of this message is not to strike your intellectual interest, but if you know the Lord as Savior its purpose is to stir you up for love and good works and if you do not know the Lord the purpose is to show you your absolute need for a Savior and that that Savior is none other than Jesus Christ.

That is what all of Scripture points to. It is my prayer that Christ is exalted at all times especially during the proclamation of the Word of God so that:

John 3:14–15 ESV

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

So may Christ be lifted up and may we all look to Him, and all who believe in Him may have eternal life.

That verse, John 3:14, is an overt example of the continuity of Scripture. It makes reference to the staff with a serpent on it Moses lifted up in the wilderness. That staff was a type of Christ, that it is, in its function, it pointed to the ultimate salvation that would come through Jesus Christ.

Y’all, the Old Testament is rich with teaching and goodness for the soul of those who thirst for God’s Word.

May we be thirsty this morning and seek to have that thirst quenched by the Word of God.

With that in mind, open in your Bibles to 1 Samuel 5. I’ve already given this a brief introduction, but where we pick up this morning is the other side of the story from what we looked at last week. Last week we saw that the Israelites were in dismay over the great loss that they had suffered. They were experiencing Ichabod, the glory of God has departed, and it was due to God’s judgment over the festering of sin in their Nation.

Today, we will see how what happens to the victorious Philistines.

Begin in

1 Samuel 5:1–2 ESV

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 it into the house of Dagon and set it up beside Dagon.

We will stop here because we need to fill in a lot of context here. First off, who are the Philistines again? They are an advanced, opposing nation. They wanted the same land that the Israelites had so battle was inevitable. They also were a relatively advanced society. They were one of the first in the area to start processing iron. We saw during the battle in chapter 4, that they had some knowledge of the Israelite’s God, but they did not submit to Him. When the ark was brought out onto the battlefield they were at first afraid of it and the God it represented, but instead of surrender, they doubled down in their resolve and actually beat the Israelites. So they went from fearing the ark, to now seeing themselves as the master of it.

Look there at verse 1. They captured it and brought it to their city Ashdod. What was a symbol of the presence of God was now the Philistine’s to do with as they pleased. What a turn around this would have been from when they had just said, “Woe to us! Who can deliver us from the power of these mighty Gods,” prior to the battle. Now they are parading through their streets with the Ark of the Covenant.

Little did they know that it was the God whom that Ark represented who allowed them the victory and even the capture of the ark. But they would soon find out. Matthew Henry notes that God restrained the Philistines in their treatment of the ark. You see the Israelites were always commanded by God to break the idols of those whom they defeated in battle.

Numbers 33:52 ESV

then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you and destroy all their figured stones and destroy all their metal images and demolish all their high places.

We will come back to what this means a little more, but God’s commandment to destroy other images of false gods is given because there is nothing that is to be worshiped other than One True God. God is God alone. There is no one else beside our God. Thus He requires those fake and flimsy imitators of Him to be destroyed.

But the Philistines did not destroy this symbol of the Lord. They took it and placed it in the temple beside a carved image of Dagon. Matthew Henry notes, “Whether their curiosity led them to open it, and to read what was written with the finger of God on the two tables of stone that were in it, we are not told; perhaps they looked no further than the golden outside and the cherubim that covered it, like children that are more affected with the fine binding of their bibles than with the precious matter contained in them.” They carried it from battle to the temple of Dagon and placed the ark by Dagon.

The fact that they placed the ark by the carving of Dagon is significant in itself, but before we go further, I want to explain what we know about Dagon. Dagon was one of the many gods of the polytheistic Philistines. Not much is know about the lore around Dagon. He was one of the oldest recognized deities in Mesopotamia with temples found as early as 3000 BC. There is some dispute in the academic world as to if Dagon was a fish god, being half man-half fish, or god of grain. Regardless of the specificities, it is important for us to know that he was a little “g” god. He was a concoction of the imaginations of man whom long ago reject the one true God who created the world and brought Noah through the flood. Many believe him to be represented by a statue of merman. Fish on the bottom and man up top. People would build temples to this false god and bring offerings.

In our civilized world we think about just how preposterous it was for their to be people who really believed, hoped in, and prayed to this statue of a merman. I would be guess that absolutely none of us prayed to the little mermaid this week. Not a single person we know gave an offering to Poseidon recently. So it is so easy to look at the culture of the Philistines and think that their little idols were so unsophisticated and that we have grown way beyond such foolish entrapments.

But, as we touched on a couple of weeks ago, I would like to propose to you that idolatry and even polytheism is alive and well today. It looks a little different, but many of our lives are filled with little g god idols taking our attention and becoming the objects of our worship. You say, “well Brad, that’s just not true. This church is the only place I go to worship.” Well first of all, if that’s the case then that’s a problem in and of its self because we should be worshiping our God at all times, praying without ceasing. Secondly, I would suggest to you that many of us if we were honest with ourselves, we join the ol’ hymnist in expressing how we are, “Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love.” And what we are prone to wander from God and towards idols. You say, “Brad, I don’t have any little tiki men sitting up on my mantle that I pray to.” Well sure. But let me borrow from Greg Gifford’s Heart and Habits to describe three criterion for how anything can become an idol in your life.

“Sin to Get It: We know that we are desiring something too much when we are willing to sin against God to get that thing we are desiring. It doesn't mean that the desire is inherently sinful, because we can desire something good and sin to get that good thing (i.e, appreciation).

Sin to Keep It: Sometimes we know that what we have is good and we will do whatever it takes to keep this thing, including sinning against God. Relationships are an example of this: we desire a relationship so much (good thing) that we will stay in a sinful relationship that we know dishonors God (sin to keep),

Sin if We Don't Get It: When we don't get what we want, we lash out in sinful responses. Whether we are pouty for the next three days or explode in sinful bursts of anger, we didn't get what we desired and now are sinning as a result.”

Anything in your life can be an idol. Are you sinning to get it, sinning to keep it, or sinning if you don’t get it? If so, then don’t be scoffing with your nose turned up at the “primitive ancients”. Instead, understand that you are right now in just as much need for grace and repentance as they were then.

But alas, in our text this morning, the Philistines did not recognize their need for grace and repentance. Instead if we return to our verses we see that the flaunted their victory and sat the ark of the Lord, placed it in the temple of one of their gods and set it up next to the carve image of that god.

1 Samuel 5:2 ESV

Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it into the house of Dagon and set it up beside Dagon.

They placed the ark of the covent beside the statue of Dagon for one of two reasons. The either believed the item to be sacred to some degree whilst still not recognizing the Lord for the Supreme God He is. Or, they laid it there to be a footstool to their god Dagon. They wanted to show it off like a great trophy they had won.

The second reasoning would not be out of character for the Philistines. This is of course what they did when the Spirit of the Lord left Samson and they were finally able to subdue him.

Judges 16:23–24 ESV

Now the lords of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to rejoice, and they said, “Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hand.” And when the people saw him, they praised their god. For they said, “Our god has given our enemy into our hand, the ravager of our country, who has killed many of us.”

It is very possible that the Philistines saw the capturing of the ark as an even greater victory than the capturing of Samson. They were flaunting their victory over the God of the Israelites.

This is not too far of difference from those who take every opportunity they can to proverbially dunk on Christianity. No other religion is made fun of more in American media than Christianity. Unless a film is made by an explicitly Christian production company, almost every time you see a Christian on TV it is a caricature meant to show the ridiculousness of holding on to more standards. Even worse, many adult cartoons have a figure intended to be the Christian God who is a farce. Just as the Philistines paraded the ark before their false god, thinking that they have won the battle, so too does our culture gloat in the face of the God they think they have grown beyond.

But let’s continue on in our Scripture this morning and see what happens when a sinful people believes they have gained victory over a holy God.

1 Samuel 5:3 ESV

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.

So they have placed the ark beside their statue. They go to bed thinking all is well and in the morning something very weird has happened. The ark is just where they left it. But the statue of Dagon has fallen face down in front of the ark. They walk in and think, “Man this is weird.” but no one gets too far up in a tizzy, they just put the statue back in its place. No one gets too up in arms. But then look at what happens next.

1 Samuel 5:4 ESV

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.

And in this scene we are beginning to understand God’s sovereign control over this entire situation including the battle the Israelites lost and the capture of the ark. You see, God truly ordained for these events to occur. God allowed the ark to be captured in order to show that He is greater than any physical limitations. It actually glorified God more to discipline His own people, and as we will see, what has started here and will continue through the rest of this chapter, God is administering justice to those who will not submit to Him as the great God He is! I said it throughout this series and I will say it again: God is a Holy God and in Holiness, He cannot and will not tolerate unrighteousness. That is what we see throughout the rest of this chapter.

Matthew Henry wanted to make sure that readers of this passage truly understand that the victory belongs to the Lord and His holiness will reign supreme over all evil. He wrote, “Note, The kingdom of Satan will certainly fall before the Kingdom of Christ, error before truth, profaneness before godliness, and corruption before grace in the heart of the faithful. When the interests of religion seem to be run down and ready to sink, yet even then we may be confident that the day of their triumph will come. Great is the truth, and will prevail. Dagon by falling prostrate before the ark of God, which was the posture of adoration, did as it were direct his worshippers to pay homage to the God os Israel, as greater than all gods.”

First in verse 3, the statue falls before the ark in the posture of worship. The pagan Philistines do not take notice. So then as we saw in verse 4, God asserts His dominance over the physical realm and tears the statue to pieces. Showing His dominion over the false god of Dagon. And how do the Philistines respond? Look at verse 5.

1 Samuel 5:5 ESV

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.

They respond with superstition. They mark the place and avoid the threshold.

There is something very important to note here in what they did not do. They did not repent. They did not submit to the God who had shown Himself to be the One True God.

The reality is that there are many who will be given even evidence necessary of what God has done and the salvation He has brought through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, but it will not be enough. Some would rather cling to their personal superstitions than submit to the One True God who has revealed Himself through His Word.

And they, like the Philistines, will at some point experience the full justice and wrath of God. Let’s continue looking through the chapter 5. I want to warn you that the rest of what we are looking at this morning is rather graphic.

1 Samuel 5:6–7 ESV

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. 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.”

The Philistines had seen the power, might, and worthiness of the God of Israel, and yet they did not submit. So instead of seeing the glory of the Lord they feel the weight of His hand. And the hand was heavy. The punishment was swift and strong. They begin to see how much trouble they are in for rejecting the Lord.

Verse 6 says they were terrified, other translations use destroyed, ravaged, or stupefied. A great loss sweeps through the city-state of Ashdod. Those who were not lost to whatever kind of death it was, were then afflicted with tumor or emerods. I said that this section would be graphic and the emerods were a growth in the nether regions again to the nastiest of nasty hemorrhoids. I know that that is an unpleasant image and you may ask why I would bring something like this up. And I mention it because this curse is an expression of God’s judgment and wrath upon people who reject Him. If you think that this is a gruesome scene then think how you feel about the utter grotesqueness and agony going on in the depths of hell were the imagery is so graphic that we cant even fathom what is causing the weeping and gnashing of teeth. Emerods will be the least of one’s concerns when experiencing the full wrath of Holy God, being casted into outer darkness.

I said last week that wakeup calls are often graphic, well it’s time to wake up people!

The remaining Philistines only partially realize what is going on and throughout the rest of this chapter they will continue to be in disarray because instead of realizing that this expression of divine judgment should push them to repentance, they just want to, like many of us, kick the can down the road and let someone else deal with the problem. They say let’s move the ark! And we know that they weren’t repentant nor did they realize that they should submit to the Lord because in verse 7 they say the Lord’s hand is heavy against Dagon OUR GOD. They still held tightly to their impotent worthless idol despite seeing the power of the One true God. And let me tell you how often this happens today! Someone might see how the Lord is moving in your life they may see that you got a great thing going on in your church. They might see the Lord’s healing in someone’s life, but instead of submitting to the God who has made Himself so manifestly known, they hold on to their idol of self-sufficiency. But let the hearer understand that any and all idols will fail and be torn down before the One True God!

Let’s see how this plays out for the Philistines:

1 Samuel 5:8–12 ESV

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. 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. 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.” 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. The men who did not die were struck with tumors, and the cry of the city went up to heaven.

Everywhere they took the Ark, the hand of the Lord was heavy and His judgment fell. In their desire to defeat God and HIs people they have heaped condemnation upon themselves.

Let it be understood that you can try to fight against God, but you will not win. Henry noted, “those that fight against God will soon have enough of it, and first or last, will be made to know that none ever hardened their hearts against [God] and prospered. The wealth that is got by fraud and injustice, especially that which is got by sacrilege and robbing God, though swallowed greedily, and rolled up under the tongue as a sweet morsel, must be vomited up again.”

What Henry was getting at is that no one will be able to claim victory OVER God. His justice will come. You maybe be able to live so deep in the mire of sin that you use a snorkel, but when it comes time for judgment you will not escape nor will you prevail.

We see in the narrative here of the Philistines that you just do not beat God. Everything that has happened in this story has been ordained by God. They didn’t defeat God when they captured the Ark. He ordained it to happen so that He would gain all the more glory.

You don’t beat God. None of can. None of us will.

But can I tell you something wonderful as we conclude this morning? You may not beat God, but YOU CAN join Him.

Romans 5:8 ESV

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

We are all sinners in the hand of God who has every right to administer lasting and eternal punishment upon a creation who rejects Him. But He loved His creation so much that He sent Jesus to die for sinners. On the cross Jesus took the wrath owed for the sins of all those who believe in Him upon Him. He died so that sinners like me wouldn’t have to experience second death, but instead would enjoy eternal life in the presence of the Lord.

Signs of the reality of God’s existence and even expressions of His judgment are all around us. All of us have now heard about His holiness, wrath, judgment, and salvation. The only question is, Is the Holy Spirit prompting you to respond. Are you recognizing that you are clinging to idols. Use this next song as an opportunity to publically proclaim you no longer want to hold to idols but you want to worship the One True God who is worthy. Understand and proclaim that Jesus died for all those who believe in Him and that can include you. During this next song, come forward simply as a declaration that you believe God is God, you are not, but God loved you enough to send Jesus to die for you. Know that Jesus was, is, and always will be the only way. And understand that if you do not believe in Him you stand condemned already. Don’t deny the obvious like the Philistines. Submit to the Lord today. Let’s pray.