The Ark of God is Taken to Ashdod and The Idol Dagon Falls Before YHWH and Is Smashed in Pieces (1 Samuel 5:1-5).
Analysis.
a Now the Philistines had taken the ark of God, and they brought it from Eben-ezer to Ashdod. And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon (1 Samuel 5:1-2).
b And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was found to have fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of YHWH (1 Samuel 5:3 a).
c And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again (1 Samuel 5:3 b).
b And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of YHWH, and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands lay cut off on the threshold, only the stump of Dagon was left to him (1 Samuel 5:4).
a That is why neither the priests of Dagon, nor any who come into Dagon's house, tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod, to this day (1 Samuel 5:5).
Note that in ‘a' is brought to Ashdod and into the house of Dagon and set before Dagon as a trophy, and in the parallel, as a direct result, none in Ashdod tread on the threshold in the house of Dagon in Ashdod to this day. It was a permanent evidence of the power of YHWH. In ‘b' Dagon had fallen on its face to the ground before the Ark of YHWH, and in the parallel the same had happened. Centrally in ‘c' Dagon had to be lifted up and replaced on his plinth. So much for the might of Dagon.
Strange Happenings In The House Of Dagon (1 Samuel 5:1-5).
‘ Now the Philistines had taken the ark of God, and they brought it from Eben-ezer to Ashdod.'
As already described in the previous chapter, the Philistines had ‘taken the Ark of YHWH'. They were no doubt delighted. Here indeed was a trophy that revealed the power of their gods. The gods of Israel had clearly been unable to do anything against them, and they intended to put the Ark on triumphal show in all their Temples so that the worshippers would see what their gods had done. And the first place where they intended to do this was in Ashdod, one of the five main cities of the Philistines. Each of these cities was ruled over by one of the five ‘Tyrants' (seren) who together formed the overall leadership of the Philistines. The cities were Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, Ekron and Gaza. (See Joshua 13:3). Ashdod, Ashkelon and Gaza (in that order from north to south) were situated on the trade route that ran down the coastal plain of Palestine connecting Egypt in the south with Syria and other nations to the north. Ashdod was directly west of Jerusalem.
‘ And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon.'
So the Philistines brought the Ark of God to Ashdod and set it up as a trophy in the Temple of Dagon, who was seemingly a god with a human face and hands. We know little else about him except that he was probably a grain god (Hebrew dagan=grain).
‘ And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was found to have fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of YHWH. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again.'
Next morning the people woke early and hurried to the Temple of Dagon so as to bask in their triumph. But what they found there could only rather have perturbed them, for they discovered that the statue of Dagon had fallen on its face before the Ark of YHWH. It almost seemed as though Dagon had had to bow down to YHWH.
Shrugging off such an idea as ridiculous they ‘took Dagon and set him in his place again'. They no doubt comforted themselves with the thought that there must have been a brief earth tremor. They then engaged in their victory celebrations.
‘ And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of YHWH, and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands lay cut off on the threshold, only the stump of Dagon was left to him.'
However, next morning when they gathered early in the morning to celebrate they discovered to their horror that not only had Dagon fallen on its face before the Ark of YHWH, but also its head and its hands had broken off and lay on the threshold of the inner sanctuary where the statue had been erected. Only the central ‘Dagon' was left intact. Now what had happened was not so easy to shrug off. The cutting off of the head signified to the Philistines a defeated foe (1 Chronicles 10:10). It was clear that when it came to facing YHWH Dagon was no match for Him.
‘ That is why neither the priests of Dagon, nor any who come into Dagon's house, tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod, to this day.'
So YHWH left a permanent reminder of His presence in the house of Dagon, for from that day onwards neither priest nor worshipper ever trod on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod because it was where their god's head and hands had lain. Instead they would reverently step over it.
“To this day.” This behaviour in the house of Dagon was still the practise in the writer's own day. These words are simply an indication of something permanent and lasting. They give no idea how long a period is in mind. As far as the phrase itself indicates it could be six months, or six hundred years.