(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
1 Samuel 5:1–5, “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.”
Even though the Philistines had won a decisive victory over Israel, their god had not triumphed over the Lord God. They thought that they had taken the Israelis God as a trophy of battle and brought the ark to the house of their own god, Dagon. This was to force, what was in their minds, the Lord God of Israel to show homage and worship Dagon. When they came into their shrine the next morning they found that their idol had assumed its proper place and was bowing down before the True God of Heaven and earth. Of course they were not happy and placed their god, whom they thought was victorious, back in his proper place. This god was only a carved piece of stone and had no power to do anything at all. When they came into the shrine on the third morning they found that the statue of Dagon was lying before the ark of the Lord again. On this occasion they saw that Dagon’s head had been removed as well his hands. The Lord was gracious to them, giving them the opportunity to see that Dagon had no power at all before the Lord. They had not defeated the Lord God but He was using them as a means to bring Israel to their knees in submission before the Lord. They didn’t take advantage of the Lord’s grace and continued to worship their own god. In fact, they even venerated the place where the carved stone parts of their god had been forced to bow before the Lord.
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