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.
Ver. 3. And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow,] viz., To their devotions, the fittest time for which the heathens generally held to be the top of the morning: for they thought that the gods sat in their temples, and waited for their morning salutations.
Behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth.] Before the Lord, who seemed to be asleep all this while, as David elegantly speaketh in Psalms 78:65,66, but now showeth his power, by beating Dagon upon his own dunghill, and smiting his worshippers on their hinder parts, paying their posteriors, as men use to deal by puny boys.
Before the ark of the Lord.] Who endureth not a co-rival. There is a tradition, that when the child Jesus came into Egypt, all the idols of that nation fell to the ground: according to that of the psalmist, "Worship him, all ye gods." Sure it is, that when Christ, of whom the ark was a type, came in the flesh and sent abroad the gospel, thereby "bringing life and immortality to light," the oracles of Apollo and other heathen idols ceased. Plutarch sweateth in giving some fond reasons of that sudden deep silence among their deities: but the truth is, Christ was "come a light into the world, that whosoever believed on him should not abide in darkness." Joh 12:46