1 Samuel 5:1

And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it from Ebenezer unto Ashdod.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(1) The Philistines took the ark of God.—The sacred writer concerns himself after the battle of Aphek only with the future of the Ark of the Covenant, and says nothing of the fate of Shiloh after the rout of the Israelites and the death of the high priest. We can, however, from Psalm 78:60-64, and two passages in Jeremiah (Jeremiah 7:12; Jeremiah 26:9), complete the story of the sanctuary city after the death of Eli. After the victory of Aphek, the Philistines, flushed with success, probably at once marched on Shiloh, where, from the words of the above quoted Psalm, they seem to have revenged themselves for past injuries by a terrible massacre, and then to have razed the sacred buildings of the city to the ground. The awful fate of the priestly city seems to have become a proverb in Israel. “This house shall be like Shiloh,” wrote Jeremiah, hundreds of years later, and “this city shall be desolate, without inhabitant.” Yet, in spite of this crushing blow, the national life of the Hebrew people was by no means exterminated; we shall soon hear of its revival under happier auspices. There were others in Israel like Samuel, who, as we have seen, with all their hearts trusted in that Lord who, “when Israel was a child, then He loved him;” others like that weak but still righteous judge Eli, who for one great weakness had paid so awful a penalty; many others, like the wife of Phinehas, the wicked priest, and Elkanah and Hannah, the pious father and mother of Samuel, who dwelt in “Ramah of the Watchers.”

Benson Commentary

1 Samuel 5:1. The Philistines took the ark of God — Abarbinel gives several reasons why God suffered the ark of his presence to fall into the hands of these uncircumcised heathen: 1st, The Israelites were such great sinners that they were unworthy of this symbol of the divine presence among them: 2d, The idolatry of Micah remained to this day in the land, therefore God fulfilled his threatening, Leviticus 26:19-31 : 3d, The sin of the priests highly provoked him to deliver up the ark, which was in their hands when they were killed: 4th, The Israelites greatly offended in carrying the ark into the battle without asking counsel of God: 5th, He resolved to demonstrate his power even among the enemies of Israel. And brought it from Eben-ezer — Where the Israelites were encamped before the battle, chap. 1 Samuel 4:1; to Ashdod — One of their chief cities, in which, as also at Gaza and Garb, some of the Anakims, the giants, remained till the time of David.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

5:1-5 See the ark's triumph over Dagon. Thus the kingdom of Satan will certainly fall before the kingdom of Christ, error before truth, profaneness before godliness, and corruption before grace in the hearts of the faithful. When the interests of religion seem to be ready to sink, even then we may be confident that the day of their triumph will come. When Christ, the true Ark of the covenant, really enters the heart of fallen man, which is indeed Satan's temple, all idols will fall, every endeavour to set them up again will be vain, sin will be forsaken, and unrighteous gain restored; the Lord will claim and possess the throne. But pride, self-love, and worldly lusts, though dethroned and crucified, still remain within us, like the stump of Dagon. Let us watch and pray that they may not prevail. Let us seek to have them more entirely destroyed.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The lesson of the ruin brought upon Churches by the covetousness and profligacy of their priests, which is here taught us so forcibly, and which has been again and again illustrated in Jews and Christians, is too solemn and important to be overlooked. When the glory of holiness departs from what should be a holy community, the glory of God's presence has already departed, and the outward tokens of His protection may be expected to depart soon likewise. (Compare Ezekiel 10:18; Ezekiel 11:23; Revelation 2:5.) But though particular congregations may fall, our Lord's promise will never fail his people Matthew 28:20.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

CHAPTER 5

1Sa 5:1, 2. The Philistines Bring the Ark into the House of Dagon.

1. Ashdod—or Azotus, one of the five Philistine satrapies, and a place of great strength. It was an inland town, thirty-four miles north of Gaza, now called Esdud.The Philistines place the ark of God at Ashdod in the house of Dagon; which falls down, once and again, 1 Samuel 5:1-5. They of Ashdod are smitten with emerods; they send the ark to Gath, 1 Samuel 5:6-8. They are also smitten with emerods, and send the ark to Ekron; they resolve to return it back to the Israelites, 1 Samuel 5:9-12.

Quest. Why were not they immediately killed, who touched the ark, as afterwards Uzzah was? 2 Samuel 6:7.

Answ. First, Because the sin of the Philistines was not so great, because the law forbidding this was not given, or at least was not known to them; whereas Uzzah’s fact was a transgression, and that of a known law. Secondly, Because God designed to reserve the Philistines for a more public and more shameful punishment, which had been prevented by this. From Eben-ezer; where they found it in the camp of the Israelites, 1 Samuel 4:1. Ashdod, called also Azotus; whither they brought it, either because it was the first city in their way, or rather because it was a great and famous city, and most eminent for the worship of their great god Dagon.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And the Philistines took the ark of God,.... Which fell into their hands, Israel being beaten, and caused to flee, and the priests that had the care of the ark slain; and when possessed of it, they did not destroy it, nor take out of it what was in it, only took it up:

and brought it from Ebenezer unto Ashdod. Ebenezer was the place where the camp of Israel was pitched, 1 Samuel 4:1 and near to which the battle was fought. Ashdod was one of the five principalities of the Philistines, the same with Azotus, Acts 8:40. The distance between these two places, according to Bunting (q) was one hundred and sixty miles; though one would think the distance from each other was not so great: why it was carried to Ashdod is not plain; perhaps it might be the nearest place of note in their country; and certain it is that it was one of their most famous cities, if not the most famous; See Gill on Isaiah 20:1, and had a famous idol temple in it.

(q) Travels of the Patriarchs, &c. p. 122.

Geneva Study Bible

And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it from Ebenezer unto {a} Ashdod.

(a) Which was one of the five principal cities of the Philistines.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Ch. 1 Samuel 5:1-12. Chastisement of the Philistines for the Removal of the Ark

1. Ashdod] Ashdod (in Greek Azotus, Acts 8:40), one of the five cities of the Philistine league, was situated on an eminence near the sea, about 35 miles W. of Jerusalem. It was a place of great strength, and special importance, from its position on the high road between Syria and Egypt. It was assigned to Judah (Joshua 15:47), but never conquered till the reign of Uzziah (2 Chronicles 26:6). The Assyrian king Sargon’s ‘Tartan’ (i.e. General) took it about b.c. 716, and about b.c. 630 it proved its strength by resisting Psammitichus king of Egypt for 29 years. It was destroyed by Jonathan Maccabaeus (1Ma 10:84), but rebuilt after the Roman conquest of Judaea. The village of Es-dûd still preserves the ancient name and site.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 1. - The Philistines took the ark of God. The silence of Scripture is often as remarkable as what it tells us. From Psalm 78:60-64; Jeremiah 7:12; Jeremiah 26:9, we gather that from Aphek the Philistines marched upon Shiloh, and having captured it, put all whom they found there to the sword, and levelled the buildings to the ground. Especially their wrath fell upon the priests, in revenge for the bringing of the ark to the camp, by which the war was made a religious one, and the worst feelings of fanaticism aroused. Of all this the history says nothing, nor of the measures taken by Samuel under these trying circumstances. From his previous eminence, the government would naturally devolve upon him, especially as Eli's sons were both slain; and evidently he must have managed in some way to save the sacred vessels of the sanctuary, and the numerous records of the past history of the nation laid up at Shiloh. Whatever learning there was in Israel had its seat there; it was probably the only school wherein men were initiated in the knowledge brought out of Egypt; and it is one of the worst and most barbarous results of war that it destroys so much connected with human progress and civilisation, overthrowing with its violent hand as well the means of a nation's culture as the results thereof. Samuel evidently did all that was possible to counteract these evils; and as the Philistine army withdrew into its own country immediately after the destruction of Shiloh, probably to carry homo the rich spoils obtained there, he was apparently able to ward off the worst effects of the Philistine invasion, and by rapidly reorganising the government to save the people from utter demoralisation. But upon all this Scripture is silent, because it concerns the history of Israel on its temporal side, and not as it exemplifies God's spiritual dealings with nations and men. From Eben-ezer (see on 1 Samuel 4:1) unto Ashdod. This town, the Azotus of Acts 8:40, was with Ekron and other Philistine cities, assigned to the tribe of Judah (Joshua 15:47) but never actually conquered. It lay near the sea, about thirty-two miles north of Gaza, and is now an unimportant village, still bearing the name of Esdud. Of the five Philistine capitals Ashdod and Gaza were of the most importance, as being the keys of Egypt, and the former was also enriched by the sale of the produce of Arabia, of which it was the emporium. 1 Samuel 5:1

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The Ark in the Land of the Philistines. - 1 Samuel 5:1-6. The Philistines carried the ark from Ebenezer, where they had captured it, into their capital, Ashdod (Esdud; see at Joshua 13:3), and placed it there in the temple of Dagon, by the side of the idol Dagon, evidently as a dedicatory offering to this god of theirs, by whose help they imagined that they had obtained the victory over both the Israelites and their God. With regard to the image of Dagon, compounded of man and fish, i.e., of a human body, with head and hands, and a fish's tail, see, in addition to Judges 16:23, Stark's Gaza, pp. 248ff., 308ff., and Layard's Nineveh and its Remains, pp. 466-7, where there is a bas-relief from Khorsabad, in which "a figure is seen swimming in the sea, with the upper part of the body resembling a bearded man, wearing the ordinary conical tiara of royalty, adorned with elephants' tusks, and the lower part resembling the body of a fish. It has the hand lifted up, as if in astonishment or fear, and is surrounded by fishes, crabs, and other marine animals" (Stark, p. 308). As this bas-relief represents, according to Layard, the war of an Assyrian king with the inhabitants of the coast of Syria, most probably of Sargon, who had to carry on a long conflict with the Philistian towns, more especially with Ashdod, there can hardly be any doubt that we have a representation of the Philistian Dagon here. This deity was a personification of the generative and vivifying principle of nature, for which the fish with its innumerable multiplication was specially adapted, and set forth the idea of the giver of all earthly good.