1 Samuel 5 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
~1080 BC, the closing years of the era of the judges, shortly after Israel's defeat at Aphek
Location
The Philistine coastal plain in what is now southwestern Israel and Gaza, moving between three of the five Philistine city states: Ashdod, Gath, and Ekron
Audience
Israelites of the early monarchy, reading a history that explains how kingship came to Israel and why the Lord, not a captured object, is the real power
Situation
The Philistines carry the captured ark of the covenant, the gold covered chest that represented God's presence with Israel, into the temple of their god Dagon at Ashdod. The statue of Dagon falls and breaks, and a plague of painful tumors follows the ark from city to city until the Philistines beg to be rid of it.
Key Background
In the ancient Near East, carrying off the images and sacred objects of a defeated people was standard practice, and setting them in your own god's temple was a public claim that your god had won the war. Dagon was a major grain and storm deity of the region, worshipped across Philistia and inland Syria, so his temple at Ashdod was a natural trophy room. The Philistines were a sea people who had settled the coast a century or so earlier, governed by five allied cities, which is why the ark could be passed from one ruler to the next as each in turn refused it.
The captured the of and brought it from to
The Philistines took the chest of God and brought it into the temple of setting it down next to
When the people of Ashdod got up early the next morning, there was Dagon — fallen on the in front of the chest of So they picked Dagon up and put him back in his place.
But when they got up early the next morning, Dagon had fallen face-down on the ground again in front of the chest of Yahweh. This time, Dagon's and both of were lying on the Only the of Dagon was left.
That's why to this day, the priests of Dagon and everyone who enters Dagon's temple in Ashdod on the
Yahweh's down on the people of Ashdod. He devastated them and struck them with — both Ashdod and the surrounding territory.
When the people of Ashdod saw what was happening, they said, "The chest of the God of Israel can't stay here with us, because his hand is us and our god Dagon."
So they sent word and gathered all the Philistine together and asked, "What should we do with the chest of the God of Israel?" They decided, "Let the chest of the God of Israel be moved to So they moved the chest of the God of Israel there.
But after they moved it there, Yahweh's hand struck the city, causing He struck the people of the city, from the to the and tumors broke out all over them.
So they sent the chest of God to But when the chest of God arrived at the people of cried out, "They've brought the chest of the God of Israel here to kill us and our people!"
They sent word and gathered all the Philistine rulers together and said, "Send the chest of the God of Israel away! Let it go back to its own place so it doesn't kill us and our people!" Because a had gripped the entire city — God's hand was extremely heavy there.
The people who didn't die were struck with tumors, and the city's for up to the