The Philistines Recognize God’s Power

The Ark was designed to focus people’s attention on God.  Because Israel had begun to worship the Ark itself, when the Philistines captured it, they thought God would no longer act on their behalf, as Phineas’ wife stated in I Samuel 4:22.  “And she said, The glory is departed from Israel: for the ark of God is taken.”  Sometimes God has to take away a pastor or some revered teacher or musician, or a building to make people think about what they are worshipping.  How the people react to such things reveals a lot about where their focus is. 

God’s power is not dependent on some person or religious artifact.  The Philistines had captured the Ark of the Covenant, thinking they had gotten Israel’s God.  They thought adding him to their other gods would give them extra power.  Things didn’t go quite the way they expected, as we see in I Samuel 5:1-7.  “And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it from Ebenezer unto Ashdod.  When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon.  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. 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.  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.

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.  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.”

The first night, the idol of Dagon was bowed down before the Ark.  The people set it back up, assuming something had happened to knock it over.  The second night, the idol was bowed down, but its head and hands were cut off, so the statue could not be repaired.  It was obvious Dagon was not the equal of God, and the Philistines quit worshipping him.  In addition, the people of the city began to develop swollen nodes in their bodies called bubos in Greek.  Such swollen nodes are a major symptom of Bubonic Plague, and it is not clear why the word was translated emrods or hemorrhoids, other than the fact that the entire population was not wiped out like it was in many of the European villages that were infected with plague.    

Fearing the plasgue would kill them all, the Philistines at Ashdod Asked that the Ark be taken somewhere else.  Unwilling to believe the Ark was the cause of the plague, the Philistine rulers had it taken to Gath instead, in I Samuel 5:8-10a.  “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. 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.  Therefore they sent the ark of God to Ekron.

Knowing what had happened at Ashdod and Gath, the people in Ekron felt like their lives were at risk and demanded it be sent back where it belonged, in I Samuel 5:10b-6:1.  “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.  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.  And the men that died not were smitten with the emerods: and the cry of the city went up to heaven.  And the ark of the LORD was in the country of the Philistines seven months.”

The plague spread and thousands died as a result, and those who survived lived with the painful swollen nodes.  After seven months, the Philistines were desperate to get rid of the Ark in hopes of stopping the plague.  They were definitely aware that God was more powerful than any of their gods, and as we will see in the next few verses, they realized the power was not in the Ark itself, but was from God, and he was still working, even though the Ark was not in Israel.