The Philistines took God’s ark, and brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon.
Parallel translations
- KJV When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon.
- BSB carried it into the temple of Dagon, and set it beside his statue.
- NKJV When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon and set it by Dagon.
- NASB Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it into the house of Dagon, and placed it beside Dagon.
- NLT They carried the Ark of God into the temple of Dagon and placed it beside an idol of Dagon.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The Philistines place the ark in the temple of their god Dagon, as if subordinating Yahweh to their deity. They treat the ark as a prize honoring Dagon.
Overview
Setting the ark beside Dagon's image was a way of declaring Dagon's supposed supremacy over Israel's God. This act sets up a direct contest between the living God and a lifeless idol. God will swiftly demonstrate that He alone is Lord, exposing the emptiness of all idols (Psalm 115:4-8).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Judg 16:23The lords of the Philistines gathered them together to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice; for they said, “Our god has delivered Samson our enemy into our hand.”
- Dan 5:23but have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before you, and you and your lords, your wives and your concubines, have drunk wine from them; and you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which don’t see, nor hear, nor know; and the God in whose hand your breath is, and whose are all your ways, you have not glorified.
- 1 Chr 10:10They put his armor in the house of their gods, and fastened his head in the house of Dagon.
- Dan 5:2Belshazzar, while he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king and his lords, his wives and his concubines, might drink from them.
- Hab 1:11Then he sweeps by like the wind, and goes on. He is indeed guilty, whose strength is his god.”
- Hab 1:16Therefore he sacrifices to his net, and burns incense to his dragnet, because by them his life is luxurious, and his food is good.
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Christ at the center
The rise of the anointed king after Israel's failed first choice points to the true Anointed One (Messiah means 'anointed'), the shepherd-king after God's own heart from Bethlehem.
How 1 Samuel 5:2 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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