1 Samuel 5:12 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

And the men that died not, &c.— The doctrine of intercommunity led the heathens into the custom of changing one tutelary deity for another; but the God of the Israelites had an absolute abhorrence of all community or alliance with the gods of the Gentiles: and the present instance of his power has set this opinion beyond all contradiction. When the Philistines had taken the ark from the Israelites in battle, and carried it as another palladium to Ashdod, they placed it in the temple of their god Dagon, which was in consequence of their doctrine of intercommunity; but their deity passed two such bad nights with his new guest, that on the second morning he was found pared away to his stump; and this disaster was followed by a desolating pestilence. The people of Ashdod, who hitherto had intended to keep the ark as one of their idol protectors, now declared that it should not abide with them, for that the hand of the God of Israel was sore upon them, and upon Dagon their God. They sent it therefore to Gath, another of their cities, and there having carried it about in a religious procession, it made the same havoc among them. It was then removed a third time, with an intent to send it to Ekron; but the men of that city, terrified by the two preceding calamities, refused to receive it, saying, they had brought the ark of the Gad of Israel to slay them and their people. At length the Philistines were brought by sad experience to understand, that it was the best course to send it back to its owners; which they did with great honour, with gifts and trespass-offerings to appease the offended divinity. And from this time we hear no more of any attempts of the Gentile nations to join the Jewish worship to their own; but they considered the God of Israel as a tutelary deity absolutely unsociable, who would have nothing to do with any but that people, or with such particular people as would worship him alone; and therefore, in this respect, different from all the other tutelary gods, each of which was willing to live in community with all the rest. Div. Leg. vol. 4: p. 54.