1 Samuel 5:3. (ASHDOD.) Behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the Lord. Idolatry still prevails over by far the larger portion of the earth. It is an ancient, persistent, and enormous evil. And we, like Israel of old, are called to be witnesses to the heathen of the living and true God; not, indeed, by keeping outwardly separate from them, nor for that purpose, and the preservation of the truth intrusted to us, by contending against them with the sword; but by going into all the world, and preaching the gospel to every creature. Our only weapons are those of truth, righteousness, and love. "Nor do we need I. THE NATURE OF THE EVIL. 1. False and unworthy conceptions of God. The instinct of worship was possessed by the Philistines; but their worship was rendered to a monstrous image, which was wholly destitute of, and opposed to, the perfections of the true God. It is the same with other idolatrous nations. Of the innumerable gods of India it has been said, "What a lie against his supreme majesty! Their number is a lie against his unity; their corporeal nature is a lie against his pure, invisible spirituality; their confined and local residence a lie against his omnipresence and immensity; their limited and subdivided departments of operation a lie against his universal proprietorship and dominion; their follies and weaknesses a lie against his infinite wisdom; their defects, vices, and crimes a lie against his unsullied purity and perfection." "Having no hope, and without God in the world" (Ephesians 2:12). 2. Great corruption of life and manners; gross sensuality, incessant strife, oppression, cruelty, etc. (Psalm 74:20). "The land is defiled, and vomiteth out her inhabitants" (Leviticus 18:25). 3. A downward tendency towards still greater darkness, corruption, and misery. "The true evil of idolatry is this. There is one sole idea of God which corresponds adequately to his whole nature. Of this idea two things may be affirmed, the first being that it is the root of all absolute grandeur, of all truth, and all moral perfections; the second, that, natural and easy as it seems when once unfolded, it could only have been unfolded by revelation; and to all eternity he that started with a false conception of God could not through any effort of his own have exchanged it for the true one. All idolatries alike, though not all in equal degrees, by intercepting the idea of God through the prism of some representative creature that partially resembles God, refract, and splinter, and distort that idea. And all experience shows that the tendency of man, left to his own imaginations, is downwards. Many things cheek and disturb this tendency for a time; but finally, and under that intense civilisation to which man intellectually is always hurrying, under the eternal evolution of physical knowledge, such a degradation of God's idea, ruinous to the moral capacities of man, would undoubtedly perfect itself, were it not for the kindling of a purer standard by revelation. Idolatry, therefore, is not an evil, and one utterly beyond the power of social institutions to redress; but, in fact, it is the fountain of all other evil that seriously menaces the destiny of the human race" (De Quincey, 'Leaders in Lit.,' p. 308). II. THE MEANS OF ITS OVERTHROW. 1. The proclamation of Divine truth, of which the ark may be accounted a symbol; the revelation of the righteous and merciful purposes of God toward men in his Son Jesus Christ. 2. The operations of Divine providence, by which heathen lands are rendered accessible, and their inhabitants disposed to pay attention to the truth; not only those which are afflictive, but also those which are benign (ver. 6). 3. The influences of the Divine Spirit, by which false systems are shaken as by a "mighty rushing wind," and consumed as with fire, and lost souls are enlightened, purified, and saved. "By my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts" (Zechariah 4:6). He works in silence and secrecy; but the effects of his working become manifest to all. The light of the morning reveals them. III. THE CERTAINTY OF ITS DOOM; from - 1. The adaptation of the means. 2. The work which has been already accomplished, and which is an earnest of and preparation for "greater things than these." 3. The predictions of the word (Numbers 14:21; Isaiah 2:18; Jeremiah 10:11; Malachi 2:11). Conclusion: - 1. Pity the heathen "in the compassion of Jesus Christ." 2. "Go ye." "Give ye." "Pray ye." 3. Do all in faith and hope. - D.
And the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer unto Ashdod. The word Philistine signifies strangers or emigrants; their descent is obscure, but good reasons are assigned for considering them of Semitic extraction. Ashdod was one of the five Philistine Satrapies being an inland town, 34 miles north of Gaza, now called Eshud. "And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it into the house of Dagon" (ver. 2). They knew the power of Israel's God; did they by this conduct hope to effect a compromise, or were they offering this holy spoil as a tribute of homage to their national Deity?I. THE HYPOCRITICAL SMITTEN BEFORE THE REAL. This world is one vast temple, filled with the unreal and untrue. 1. The Dagon of false religious systems. Superstition has enthroned its idol, ignorance its contradictions, Buddhism its sanguinary rites, Confucianism its standard of ethics, and the honest heathen his fancies of terror. There are the impositions of Mahomet, the falsehoods of his history, and the deceptions of his creed. 2. The Dagon of doctrinal heresy. 3. There is the Dagon of mercantile life. The externalisms of trade are imposing and attractive, but how unworthy its motive — how frequently are its gains the result of cunning deception, fraudulent imposition, or mischievous adulterations, and these criminal extortions are justified by the severity of competition, or the ungenerous demands and arbitrary fancies of the purchasing community. Before the ark of Godly principle and honest courtesy, these "tricks of trade" must suffer an ignominious defeat. 4. There are the Dagons of personal religious life. Devotion is formal; religious work mechanical; they are but pictures of the true. The piety of others consists in a spasmodic performance of the holy, in feelings of emotion, fitful and uncertain, incited more by circumstances than by steady faith. 5. The Dagon of political life. Injustice has formed the basis of law, the enforcement of which has issued in oppression and misery. How often have our social interests been blighted by the pandering politics of chuckling statesmen! Christian truth has been refused its required homage; human sagacity has been worshipped in its stead. But one day, when the ark shall be brought into the temple, this state of things will be terminated. Instead, we shall find monarchs laying their crowns at the feet of Jesus; ruling only in accordance with the principle of His life, and living in harmony with the precepts of His Word. Then shall human legislation be the expression of Divine sentiment, and the senate become a synonym for the sanctuary. 6. It had successive opportunity of recovering its defeat. "And they took Dagon and set him in his place again." For how many chapters of history would this be an appropriate heading? Should it not be written under the record of Smithfield's martyrdom? and what more fitting inscription could be found for the door of the Inquisition Room? But today, upon the floor of Europe's Temple we find its shattered wreck. Its defeat was (1) (2) (3) (4) II. THE UNHOLY DESIRING THE DEPARTURE OF THE SEAL. "The ark of the God of Israel shall not abide with us" (ver. 7). This is the cry of all unhallowed life. 1. A Divine Affliction. The sinful is sure to be afflicted by contact with the true. A diseased eye cannot open itself to the light without pain; neither can a corrupt nature behold spotless purity, unsullied truth, without being stricken by its brightness. Simon Peter cried out, "Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord," and in so doing articulated the deepest feeling of degenerate life. In order to happy association with the ark, man's receptive faculties must be touched by the Divine finger; then, with adjusted relations and restored harmony, the holy will be appreciated, exemption from affliction will be secured, and its permanent residence desired. 2. A Supreme Council. They sent, therefore, and gathered all the lords of the Philistines unto them (ver. 8). The people are in a fearful extremity; and, driven almost to desperation by the fierceness of their sufferings, are ready to execute any scheme likely to ensure relief. But it was a council without a God. 3. An unavailing decree. "Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried about unto Gath" (ver. 8). "How many, when in sorrow, acting upon their own impulses, extend their affliction to others" (ver. 9). III. THE UNHOLY SEEKING ADVICE AS TO THE DISPOSITION OF THE REAL. 1. Inquiry started. "What shall we do to the ark of the Lord?" (1 Samuel 6:2). 2. Anxiety displayed. "Tell us wherewith we shall send it to His place" (1 Samuel 6:2). 3. A solution suggested. "But in any wise return Him a trespass offering" (1 Samuel 6:3-9). IV. THE REAL INQUISITIVELY INVESTIGATED. "And He smote the men of Bethshemesh, because they looked into the ark of the Lord" (1 Samuel 6:19). 1. Presumption punished. "He smote of the people fifty thousand and three score and ten men" (1 Samuel 6:19). 2. Reverence inspired. "Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God?" (1 Samuel 6:19). In the next chapter we have the real penitentially sought and joyfully obtained. LESSONS: — (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (J. S. Exell, M. A.) II. THE NARRATIVE BEFORE US SUGGESTS THAT GOD IS A JEALOUS GOD. — The Philistines put the ark of the Lord in "the house of Dagon, and set it by the side of Dagon." But when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was on his face again before the ark, and his head and both the palms of his hands were cut off, and lying upon the threshold, and "only the stump of Dagon," the fish part, "was left to him." if there had been a "Dominie Sampson" among those priests, he certainly would have cried out, Prodigious! And it was prodigious in the truest sense, for it was a foreshadowing of God's great law, "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me." God's ark must not be placed side by side with Dagon. Now we Christians, those of us, thank God, who are living in the light of His countenance as well as those who "see men only, as trees walking," have need to take care, lest we also provoke the jealousy of God. We must never place Him or His sacred things on the same level, and side by side, with our own things — Our business, or our family, or any of our earthly belongings. He only is God, and we must place Him above, infinitely above all else. All along the lines of human life the tendency has been in the direction of idolatry. The ancient people of God fell into it, as we know, again and again, and they suffered in consequence. And though "the form changeth," the thing, the evil still liveth. It is right to make the home as snug and comfortable and pleasant as you can, and to take a pride in doing so. But does the home claim as much attention as God, and the things of God claim? Nay, does it claim more? Is it true that your home fills your heart, and that consequently God is shut out of it? Or is it true that it occupies quite as much of its room as God does? Is it in any sense and measure an idol? Then listen to me whilst I tell you what will some day happen. That home will one day fail to delight you. You will see no beauty in the pictures which adorn its walls. You will be unable to find comfort or rest in any part of it. Yes — your home, if you make it your idol, will come to present itself to you in quite as pitiable a light as that in which the Philistines beheld their god. And what about the children? "I am fond of children," said Thomas Binney. "I think them the poetry of the world — the fresh flowers of our hearts and homes." It is well spoken. But how many a sad tale may be told touching the children, for how many of these "fresh flowers" have drooped and died? Yes, and how many parents have had to confess, as they have gazed upon the face of a child cold in death, "Alas, alas, I loved him too well, and the God who gave him, and who has taken him back, too little?" Over all human affections we must build our temple, and in it, we must have only one altar, and only one God — the Lord God of Israel — for remember He is a jealous God. He loves us so much that He can bear no rival. III. THIS NARRATIVE SUGGESTS THAT AFFLICTION MAY NOT LEAD TO REPENTANCE AND CONVERSION. Apparently the first effect of God's judgments upon them was the same as in the case of Pharaoh, for their priests and diviners charged them, saying, "Wherefore do ye harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts?" Now people often speak as if affliction had a softening tendency; producing, or at any rate, leading up to true repentance, and thorough conversion to God. But this idea has little, if any, good foundation to rest upon. I believe the tendency on the whole to be the opposite. Where there is no grace — where no thought or feeling of the grace of God is entertained in the heart — the tendency of affliction is to sour and harden. There may be exceptions to this rule, but I believe they are few. And this must be said, that afflictions, by themselves, never brought any soul into a state of true repentance. It is not judgment that wins the alien to God, but mercy. David said, "It was good for me that I hays been afflicted," but then David was a child, sad a good child of God. I say all this with a definite, practical object in view, viz., to stir us up to increased zeal in our teachings and preachings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. God's judgments upon Pharaoh did not lead him to repentance; His judgments upon the Philistines did not lead them to repentance; but when Peter and Paul preached the glorious Gospel of the blessed God, the unbelieving Gentile, as well as the unbelieving Jew, was pricked in his heart, and in how many instances savingly converted to God? (Adam Scott.) I. THE COMING BACK OF THE ARK INTO DAGON'S TEMPLE WAS AN APT SIMILE OF THE COMING OF CHRIST INTO THE SOUL. Dagon, according to the best information, warn the fish god of Philistia; perhaps borrowed from the Sidonians and men of Tyre, whose main business was upon the sea, and who therefore invented a marina deity. The upper part of Dagon was a man or woman, and the lower part of the idol was carved like a fish. We get a very good idea of it from the common notion of the fictitious, fabulous creature called a mermaid. Dagon was just a merman or mermaid; only, of course, there was no pretence of his being alive. He was a carved image. The temple at Ashdod was, perhaps, the cathedral of Dagon, the chief shrine of his worship; and there he sat erect upon the high altar with pompous surroundings. The ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts was a small wooden box overlaid with gold, by no means a very cumbersome or bulky matter, but nevertheless very sacred, because it had a representative character, and symbolised the covenant of God. 1. We have now Dagon and the ark in the same temple, sin and grace in the same heart, but this state of things cannot long abide. No man can serve two masters, and even if he could then two masters would not agree to be so served. The two great principles of sin and grace will not abide in peace with each other, they are as opposite as fire and water. 2. Very likely your Dagon is in the shape of self-righteousness. I shall call it Dagon, for it is nothing better: one of the worst idols in the whole world is the idol of self. The self-righteous man boasts that he is as good as other people, if not rather better, although he is not a Christian. 3. Perhaps the man never had much of this vainglorious self-righteousness, but he served the Dagon of besetting and beloved sin. 4. Now the parallel may be run a little further: This fall of Dagon very soon began to be perceived. 5. Now, what happened on the night mentioned in the text? Dagon fell before the ark when it was all quiet and still in the temple. Thought is the channel of immense benefit to the soul. Shut the temple doors and let all be still, and then will the Holy Ghost work wonders in the soul. II. THE SETTING UP OF DAGON THE SECOND TIME, AND HIS SECOND FALL, VERY WELL REPRESENT THE BATTLE GOING ON IN THE SOUL BETWEEN SIN AND GRACE. 1. Even thus Satan and the flesh come into our souls and try be set our fallen Dagon up again with soma measure of success. It often happens that in young converts there comes a period when it looks as if they had altogether apostatized and gone back to their former ways. It seems as if the work of God were not real in their souls, and grace was not triumphant. Do you wonder at it? I have ceased to wonder. The gospel is preached, and the man accepts it, and there is a marvellous difference in him; but when he goes among his old companions, although he is resolved not to fall into his former sins, they try him very severely. He is assailed in a thousand ways! I have known a man when he has been tempted to go into evil company refuse again, and again, and again. His tempters have laughed at him, and he has borne it all, but at last be has lost his temper; and as soon as the enemies have seen his passion boiling up they have cried out, "Ah, there you are! We have got you." At such a time as that the poor man is apt to cry, "Alas, I cannot be a believer, or else I should not have done this." Now, all this is a violent attempt of Satan and the flesh to set Dagon up again. Sometimes they do for a time set Dagon up again and cause great sorrow in the soul. The wan. darers have come back, weeping and sighing, to own that they have dishonoured their profession: and what has been the result in the long run? Why, they bare had more humility, more tenderness of heart, more love to Christ, more gratitude, than they had before. 2. Now, notice that although they again set Dagon up, he had to go down again with a worse fall. The idol's head was gone, and even so the reigning power of sin is utterly broken and destroyed, its beauty, its cunning, its glory are all dashed to atoms. This is the result of the grace of God, and the sure result of it, if it comes into the soul, however long the conflict may continue, and however desperate the efforts of Satan to regain his empire. O, believer, sin may trouble thee, but it shall not tyrannize over thee. Then, too, the hands of Dagon were broken off, and even thus the active power, the working power of sin is taken away. Both the palms of the idol's hands were cut off upon the threshold, so that he had not a hand left. Neither right-handed sin nor left-handed sin shall remain in the believer when God's sanctifying grace fetches Dagon down. 3. This happened, too, if you notice, very speedily; for we are told a second time that, when they arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face. III. THOUGH THE FISH GOD WAS THUS MAIMED AND BROKEN, YET THE STUMP OF DAGON WAS LEFT TO HIM. The original Hebrew is, "Only Dagon was left to him," or "only the fish": only the fishy part remained. The head and the upper portions were broken away, there remained only the fishy tail of Dagon, and that was all: but that was not broken. 1. Now, this is the business which brings us so much sorrow — that the stump of Dagon is left to him. There is the old corruption within us, and there is no use denying it, because denying it will put us off our guard, will make many of the puzzles of life to be quite unanswerable, and often bring upon us great confusion of soul. The other law is within us as well as the law of grace. 2. The stump of Dagon is still left; and because it is left, dear friends, it is a thing to be watched against, for though that stony stump of Dagon would not grow in the Philistine temple, yet they would make a new image, and exalt it again, and bow before it as before. Alas, the stump of sin within us is not a slab of stone, but full of vitality, like the tree cut down, of which Job said, "At the scent of water it will bud." Leave the sin that is in you to itself, and let temptation come in the way, and you shall see that which will blind your eyes with weeping. IV. THAT THOUGH THE STUMP OF DAGON WAS NOT TAKEN OUT OF THE PHILISTINE TEMPLE WE MAY GO BEYOND THE HISTORY AND REJOICE THAT IT WILL BE TAKEN FROM OUR HEARTS. The day is coming, brother, sister, in which there will be no more inclination in you to sin than there is in an angel. John Bunyan represents Mercy as laughing in her sleep. She had a dream, she said; and she laughed because of the great favours which were yet to be bestowed upon her. Well, ii some of you were to dream tonight that the great thing which I have spoken of had actually happened to you, so that you were completely free from all tendency to sin, would not you also be as them that dream and laugh for very joy. Think of it — no more cause lot watchfulness, no more need of weeping over the day's sin before you fall asleep at night; no more sin to confess, no devil to tempt you, no worldly care, no lusting, no envy, no depression of spirit, no unbelief, nothing of the kind — will not this be a very large part of the joy of heaven? ( C. H. Spurgeon.) The text reminds us of four things.I. THE INEVITABLE DOOM OF WRONG. Wrong in markets, in governments, churches, in all institutions, and in all lives must fall. II. THE DESTINED DEPRAVATION OF SINNERS. Dagon was the object in which the men of Ashdod centred the deepest sympathies of their soul — their god. No loss to a man is equal to the loss of his god, the object he loves most; and every sinner must experience this loss one day. Whatever he loves and prizes most must go from him. III. THE SILENT WORKING OF GOD. (D. Thomas, D. D.) They took Dagon, and set him in his place again. Because you have broken your purpose do not allow it to go unmended. Even the heathen with so base a conception of divinity as Dagon was, when Dagon fell to the ground, lifted him up again and put him in his place. When, not your idol, but your bright ideal, falls to the ground, though its head and its feet be broken, lift it up and put in its place again. Because you have broken faith and fealty to that which you meant to be, and meant to do, it is no reason why you should not swear again, and again go forward. Let your ideal stand high and bright and pure, though by it every one of you is condemned, and cast down, as it were, to the very bottom of condemnation. Save that. Even though a man forsake his purpose, though he is recreant to his ideal, though he through months and years goes knowingly wrong, let not his star set. Do not let your ideal go down.(H. W. Beecher.) The head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off The philosopher Heine, in one of his letters written from Paris, says: "Only with pain could I drag myself to the Louvre, and I was nearly exhausted when I entered the lofty hall where the blessed goddess of beauty, our dear lady of Mile, stands on her pedestal. At her feet I lay a long time, and I wept so passionately that a stone must have had compassion on me. Therefore the goddess looked down pityingly upon me, yet at the same time inconsolably as though she would say: 'See you not that I have no arms, and that, therefore, I can give you no help?'"People Ashdodites, Dagon, EkronitesPlaces Ashdod, Ebenezer, Ekron, GathTopics Ark, Cried, Cry, Death, Destruction, Ekron, Ekronites, Entering, Kill, Outcry, Pass, Round, Saying, Slay, TownOutline 1. The Philistines having brought the ark into Ashdod, set it in the house Dagon3. Dagon is smitten down and cut and cut in pieces, 5. and they of Ashdod smitten with tumors 8. So God deals with them of Gath, when it was brought thither 10. and so with them of Ekron, when it was brought thither Dictionary of Bible Themes 1 Samuel 5:1-12 4843 plague Library The Preparatory Service; Sometimes Called the Confessional Service. In our examination of the nature and meaning of the Lord's Supper, we have found that it is indeed a most important and holy Sacrament. It is in fact the most sacred of all the ordinances of the Church on earth. There is nothing beyond it--nothing so heavenly, on this side heaven, as this Feast. Nowhere else does the believer approach so near to heaven as when he stands or kneels, as a communicant at this altar, the Holy of Holies in the Church of Christ. What a solemn act! To approach this altar, … G. H. Gerberding—The Way of Salvation in the Lutheran Church Samuel Links 1 Samuel 5:10 NIV1 Samuel 5:10 NLT 1 Samuel 5:10 ESV 1 Samuel 5:10 NASB 1 Samuel 5:10 KJV 1 Samuel 5:10 Bible Apps 1 Samuel 5:10 Parallel 1 Samuel 5:10 Biblia Paralela 1 Samuel 5:10 Chinese Bible 1 Samuel 5:10 French Bible 1 Samuel 5:10 German Bible 1 Samuel 5:10 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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