Turn in your Bibles to 1 Samuel 5. 1 Samuel 5. I'll begin reading in verse 1.
Scripture Reading: 1 Samuel 5
Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. When the Philistines took the Ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon and set it by Dagon. When the people of Ashdod arose early in the morning, there was Dagon fallen on its face to the earth before the Ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and set it in its place again.
And when they arose early the next morning, there was Dagon fallen on its face to the ground before the Ark of the Lord. the head of Dagon, and both the palms of its hands were broken off on the threshold. Only Dagon's torso was left of it. Therefore, neither the priests of Dagon nor any who come into Dagon's house tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day. The hand of the Lord was heavy on the people of Ashdod, and he ravaged them and struck them with tumors, both Ashdod and its territory.
And when the men of Ashdod saw how it was, they said, the ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for his hand is harsh toward us and Dagon, our God. Therefore, they sent and gathered to themselves all the lords of the Philistines and said, what shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? And they answered, let the ark of the God of Israel be carried away to Gath. So they carried the ark of the God of Israel away.
So it was, after they had carried it away, that the hand of the Lord was against the city with a very great destruction. And he struck the men of the city, both small and great, and tumors broke out on them. Therefore they sent the ark of God to Ekron. So it was, as the ark of God came to Ekron, that the Ekronites cried out, saying, They have brought the ark of the God of Israel to us to kill us and our people.
So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines and said, send away the ark of the God of Israel and let it go back to its own place so that it does not kill us and our people. For there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city. The hand of God was very heavy there. And the men who did not die were stricken with the tumors and the cry of the city went up to heaven.
Amen.
Introduction
So you see how glorious this particular passage is. We don't want it here. Get it out of our midst. goes from Ashdod to Gath and then to Akron, the Lord God triumphing through the Philistines. And that's what we find tonight, specifically the Ark of God and Philistia.
Chapters 4 to 6 as a whole center on the Ark of the Covenant. Chapter 4, you'll remember the children of Israel go out to battle against the Philistines. They lose the battle against the Philistines. So they come up with the idea of bringing the Ark of the Covenant out with them. in order that they might win the battle.
Now, in certain elements or in certain aspects in Old Testament history, the ark and its presence did signify God with the people. But in this particular instance, they were utilizing the ark as sort of a lucky charm. They were utilizing the ark for their own particular ends. They were more concerned with the external rather than the God whom it represented.
They simply wanted victory and they sought to manipulate the God of heaven and earth. God shows to Israel that he cannot be manipulated, that he's not about magic, that he's not about being massaged for particular ends. So he permits the ark to be captured by the Philistines. And then, of course, Eli dies.
And then Ichabod is born. And that indicates that the glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured. So we pick up in chapter 5. Now the Ark of the Covenant is the Philistine, excuse me. the Philistines problem.
In chapter 6, it will be returned to Israel, but for tonight, we see two broad categories in this particular chapter.
The Ark in Dagon's Temple
Verses 1 to 5, the Ark in Dagon's Temple, and secondly, verses 6 to 12, the hand of the Lord against the Philistines. So those are the two things we're going to focus on tonight with reference to the Ark in Dagon's Temple, three sub-points. First, the victory of the Philistines. Secondly, the placement of the Ark.
And thirdly, the supremacy of Yahweh.
Victory of the Philistines
Remember the victory of the Philistines. I just sketched that. The Israelites went into battle against them and thought the Ark of the Covenant would secure victory for them. And, of course, it didn't.
The Ark, instead, was captured. Now the Ark was significant for various reasons. It indicated the Lord's rule, or it demonstrated something of the kingship of our God. As well, the Ark indicated something of God's reconciliation, therefore showing us something of the priestly character of our God.
And as well, the Ark of the Covenant signified revelation, the word of the living and true God. So the Ark of the Covenant was something vital to Israelite religion. But again, it's not to be treated like a holy horseshoe or like a three-leaf or four-leaf clover. It's the four-leaf that's the lucky one, right?
Okay. The four-leaf clover or some other rabbit's foot or some sort of item or object that was designed to bring favor to the one who held it. Now the significance of the defeat. This had never happened in Israel before. never had happened where pagans had put their hands upon the Ark of the Covenant and trotted it back to their own category.
God demonstrated in this that again he cannot be confined to the Ark and that he cannot be manipulated like the gods of the pagans. Gil says, they foolishly placed their confidence in an external symbol and not in the Lord himself. They ascribed salvation to that which only belongs to him, whether of a temporal or spiritual kind. So what we have in this section is something that had never occurred.
It indicates the darkness in Israel at this particular time. that they had lost the very thing that, at least on the surface, represented the presence of God among them. Certainly the glory of God had departed from Israel. Now
Placement of the Ark
notice, secondly, the placement of the Ark. Verse 1 of chapter 5, the Philistines took the Ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. When the Philistines took the Ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon and set it by Dagon. Now Dagon, as I understand it, is a god worshipped in Mesopotamia since at least the third millennium BC.
So Dagon had been around for a while. He was portrayed as a god of fertility and especially of grain. If you remember our studies in the book of Judges, it was Dagon, it was the temple of Dagon, that the people of the Philistines were reveling in when Samson brought down that temple upon those worshippers. As well, Dagon, or Baal rather, was later associated with his functions and so Baal was thus described as the son of Dagon.
Now as far as the idol itself is concerned, from the waist up he looked like a man and from the waist down he looked like a fish. So he was this sort of half-man, half-fish thing that the people worshipped. They had a temple for him and everything. And so what do the Philistines do?
They bring the Ark of the Covenant back to Philistia, they bring it to the house of Dagon, and they place Yahweh, the Ark of the Covenant, right next to Dagon. Now the placement of the Ark of the Lord in Dagon's temple was to highlight Dagon's victory over Yahweh. You need to understand the significance. This was symptomatic of warfare in these days.
It was the case that when an invading army won, they would take the idols or they would take the gods of the persons that they had conquered. This would show not only the conquest of the people, but certainly if their god had been captured, their god had been conquered along with the people, then the people were in a very desperate state. They were not going to recover. Samurai says, the practice of capturing an enemy's gods was common in warfare in the ancient Near East.
It was understood that a people whose gods were in enemy hands was completely conquered. So there is symbolism and significance in this description. And so what we read in verses 3 to 5 only highlight the glory of the God of Israel. He is brought there, at least probably in the minds of these Philistines, to show the conquest of Israel, to show the conquest of Israel's God, and to suggest that Yahweh now ought to bow before Gagon and render homage and service and worship and servitude to Dagon, this half-man, half-fish sort of idol.
Supremacy of Yahweh
So then we see the supremacy of Yahweh demonstrated. Notice the homage given to Dagon, not by Yahweh, but by the Philistines. Notice in chapter 5, verse 3a. And when the people of Ashdod arose early in the morning, there was Dagon.
Now, it's interesting. They were having their devotions. They were having their morning services. They rose early in the morning.
Certainly, if a day-gone worshipping Philistine can get up early to meet with his half-man, half-fish God, you can pull yourselves out of bed to meet with the God of heaven and earth. That's what we ought to get from that. Just kidding. there ought to be some sort of encouragement to us. If these pagans will go to the house of Dagon early in the morning, certainly we can make it to an 11 o'clock worship service.
That's not even early in the morning. We're meeting with the High King of Heaven. We are meeting with the God of Gods, the Lord of Lords, the Supreme, Majestic, and Holy One, the One who has saved us from our sins and has redeemed us by His Son and has given us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Jesus Christ. It's truly amazing what the pagans are prepared to do for their gods.
And it's oftentimes amazing what Christians will not do for their God. But notice, when they come into the house of Dagon, there was Dagon, verse 3, fallen on its face to the earth before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and set it in its place again. Now forgive me if I laugh in the midst of this study, but this is why chapter 5 is here.
It is to elicit from the faithful laughter, humor. What the author is doing is showing us not only the supremacy of Yahweh, but the absolute stupidity of idolatry. The absolute folly of men who have to pick up their God and prop Him back up on His pedestal. The entirety of Holy Scripture tells us that the living and true God does not need for His people to prop Him up, but rather the living and true God set forth from Genesis to Revelation is the one who props up His people.
He is the one that sustains. He is the one that gives life. He is the one that gives blessing and beatitude to His people. It truly is an amazing reality that these pagans would still continue, subsequent to 1 Samuel chapter 5, to continue to worship this half-man, half-fish, grain god that had to be picked up, had to have his head glued back on, and had to have his hands glued back on.
I mean, this is folly. This is idolatry. This is what it looks like, and the author displays it. He couldn't display it in more beautiful ways.
So they find him on his face before the Ark of the Lord. Samara says the phrase on his face implies that Dagon was in a position of adoration of Yahweh. So they bring the Ark of the Covenant in here so that Yahweh will bow before Dagon. Well, what happens?
Dagon is now bowing before Yahweh. He falls down right before the Ark of the Covenant. It truly is an amazing scene. The people have to pick it up and set it in its place.
The irony is obvious. It should elicit humor from the faithful. If you have to pick up God and put him back into his place, he is not a God worth serving. If you have to pick up your God and dust him off, or glue his hands back on, or fasten his head back onto his torso, that is not a God worthy of adoration.
He is not a God worthy of praise. He is not a God worthy of worship. The Lord God Almighty carries His people. They do not carry Him.
The Lord God Almighty mends His people. He heals His people. He cares for His people. It is not the case that His people heal, mend, or care for Him.
Simply reversed. Now
Destruction of Dagon
notice the destruction of Dagon. Verses 4 and 5. Now we might grant verse 3 was a fluke. Maybe there was a strong wind in Ashdod that day and somebody left the temple window open and that gust hit Dagon just so and he fell on the earth and it only appeared that he was prostrate doing homage to Yahweh in the Ark of the Covenant.
Verses 4 and 5 do not allow for such an interpretation. What happens? The faithful go back. These are consistent worshipers.
These people go early in the morning. These people get up. Notice, verse 4, and when they arose early the next morning, they didn't whine because we have to go to church again. No, they went back to the temple of Dagon.
When they arose early the next morning, there was Dagon fallen on its face to the ground before the ark of the Lord. This wasn't a fluke. It wasn't because there was a strong dust in Ashdod. It wasn't because some inadvertent Philistine had left a window open in the temple.
No. Dagon falls again before the Ark of the Lord. And just in case we've missed the significance, the writer continues to describe the scene. The head of Dagon and both the palms of its hands were broken off on the threshold.
Only Dagon's torso was left of it. Davis says, Dagon is getting the godness not right out of him. Dagon is taking a beating from the true and living God. Dagon is being shown as the folly that he truly is.
And there is a very interesting contrast here. What happens here according to verse 4? The head of Dagon and both the palms of its hands were broken off on the threshold. Notice in verse 6, but the hand of Yahweh was heavy on the people of Ashdod.
Verse 7, for his hand is harsh toward us and Dagon our God. Verse 9, the hand of the Lord was against the city with a very great destruction. And then again in verse 11, the hand of God was very heavy there. So Dagon's been stripped of his hands by the one who has a hand that comes down in judgment.
Now, when the scripture, of course, ascribes hands to our God, we know it's using anthropomorphism because God is spirit. He does not have a body like man. This indicates something of his power, his might, his judgment, his ability to execute judgment upon these God-hating rebels in Philistia. And notice this whole idea of the threshold.
The threshold was believed to separate the common from the holy and was therefore treated with respect. They probably had a superstition about it. It seems to have carried on into Zephaniah's day. Zephaniah 1.9 speaks something of this.
The Geneva Bible indicates this. Thus, instead of acknowledging the true God by the miracle, they fall to a further superstition. Verse 5. Therefore, neither the priests of Dagon nor any who come into Dagon's house tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day.
Yeah, that's a good response. That's fantastic. Don't bow to the God of Israel. Don't bow to Yahweh who has rendered this defeat upon your foolish God who's now got no head and no hands.
But just avoid the threshold. Engage in further superstition. Run farther from your God. Again, the idea here is that when we engage in idolatry, folly and stupidity and foolishness are the only things that follow in its wake.
And the account, as I've already indicated, was designed to demonstrate through humor the folly of idolatry. Read Davis on this section and he indicates something about how this was funny stuff. Think about it. This is your God.
He's fallen. His head fell off. His hands fell off. His people are busy propping him back up.
The children of Israel, subsequent to this event, would have read 1 Samuel 5 with triumph in their veins, with joy in their hearts. This is the power of God Most High demonstrated. And it's intriguing to me that in apparent weakness, in apparent weakness, God demonstrates this power and glory. I wonder if there is at least something of an illustration of the cross of Christ.
When Christ is upon that cross, it is shameful. There is the appearance of helplessness. There is the appearance of defeat. There is the appearance that the devil and his hosts and all the godless on the earth have actually won.
And yet it's in that that true triumph does result. Here God is, at least by all intents and appearances, confined to this ark and he's been captured by these godless Philistines. What happens? This is the means by which the Ark of the Covenant is transported throughout Philistia, wreaking havoc upon these God-haters.
It truly is a demonstration of power in apparent weakness in this particular situation. Davis indicates something of this. I want to read it at length. He says, what kind of a god is that?
Talking about Dagon. How would a godly Israelite respond upon hearing this story? With the only pious response, uproarious laughter. Yahweh, however, intends for his people to think, not merely to laugh, to realize that unlike a battered Dagon, Yahweh doesn't have to have someone come and set him up again.
He can fight Philistines by himself. He doesn't need his people to cheer him on. He will bring back his ark all by himself. Humor, yes, but didactic humor, teaching the self-sufficiency and supremacy of Yahweh.
And solemn humor. Humor. Don't begin to think, Israel, that you can manipulate the living God like a lucky charm for your own convenience. And don't begin to think that He needs you to support and carry Him.
If any carrying is to be done, He will carry you. I think that's very important for us to understand. Yes, the faithful might have slapped their knee and laughed at what was going on in the temple of Dagon, but they would have learned the lessons as well. We do not manipulate our God.
We do not need to prop up our God. Our God does not need to be carried. Our God does not need to be cheered. Our God does not need to be fed.
Our God does not need to be cared for by His creation. But rather, our God cares for his creation.
Idolatry in Isaiah and Today
The prophets pick up on the folly of idolatry. You can turn to the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 44. This is the most important lesson that we need to capture.
Because idolatry, brothers and sisters, is not confined to Dagon worship in Old Testament Philistia. But rather, idolatry is alive and well today. Our idols may not look like a half man, half fish, headless, handless sort of monstrosity. Our idols might look like money.
They might look like sex. They might look like drugs. They might look like anything that we put before God. But idols we most certainly have.
John says at the very end of his first epistle, my little children, Keep yourselves from idols. Why would he do that? Because of the propensity of the children of God Most High to reject the Lord and to wander back into idolatry. Calvin said our hearts are like idol factories.
Paul the Apostle deals with this situation at length in Romans 1. Now, they're not for the children of God. But certainly when we come to a knowledge of the Lord God Most High, we are not immediately confirmed in perfection and in righteousness. And there is a tendency for us to wander and to leave the God that we love.
In essence, idolatry is anything you put before God. And I think the idol of self is probably that one that is most pertinent to each and every one of us. Notice in the prophet Isaiah, chapter 44, verse 9, those who make an image, all of them are useless, and their precious things shall not profit. They are their own witnesses.
They neither see nor know that they may be ashamed. Who would form a god or mold an image that profits him nothing? Surely all his companions would be ashamed, and the workmen, they are mere men. Let them all be gathered together, let them stand up, yet they shall fear, they shall be ashamed together.
The blacksmith with the tongs works one in the coals, fashions it with hammers, and works it with the strength of his arms. Even so, he is hungry and his strength fails. He drinks no water and is faint. The craftsman stretches out his rule.
He marks out one with chalk. He fashions it with a plane. He marks it out with a compass and makes it like the figure of a man, according to the beauty of a man, that it may remain in the house. He cuts down cedars for himself and takes the cypress and the oak.
He secures it for himself among the trees of the forest. He plants a pine and the rain nourishes it. That it shall be for a man to burn. For he will take some of it and warm himself.
Yes, he kindles it and bakes bread. Indeed, he makes a god and worships it. He makes it a carved image and falls down to it. He burns half of it in the fire.
With this half, he eats meat. He roasts a roast and is satisfied. He even warms himself and says, ah, I am warm. I have seen the fire.
And the rest of it he makes into a god, his carved image. He falls down before it and worships it, prays to it, and says, deliver me. For you are my God. They do not know nor understand, for He has shut their eyes so that they cannot see, and their hearts so that they cannot understand.
And no one considers in his heart, nor is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned half of it in the fire. Yes, I have also baked bread on its coals. I have roasted meat and eaten it. Shall I make the rest of it an abomination?
Shall I fall down before a block of wood? He feeds on ashes, a deceived heart has turned him aside, and he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, is there not a lie in my right hand? I mean, this man uses this wood in very utilitarian ways. He cooks with it, he warms himself with it, and then he bows and he worships it.
Look over at chapter 46. Bel and Nebo, these were gods of the Babylonians. Remember, in the particular context here, the Lord God Most High is announcing that judgment will come upon Babylon, that the children of Judah will be freed from their exile. The agent of judgment upon Babylon is going to be Cyrus, the king of the Persians.
And so the prophet here is now describing what's going to happen when Cyrus and the Persians go to invade Babylon. Chapter 46, verse 1. Bel-Marduk was the city god of Babylon. and the head of the Babylonian pantheon. Nebo was Bel's son.
He was the city god of Borsippa, near Babylon, and the god of writing and wisdom. So Bel bows down. Nebo stoops. Their idols were on the beasts and on the cattle.
Your carriages were heavily loaded, a burden to the weary beast. They stoop. They bow down together. They could not deliver the burden, but have themselves gone into captivity.
So you see, the Persians caused Bel and Nebo to fall. Bel and Nebo are then put up on a cart and become a burden to the poor horses that got to trot them back into Persia. You see, what a display of folly here. Bel and Nebo can not only not save Babylon, But Bel and Nebo are going to be taken back to Persia, not to be worshipped and glorified, but more than likely to be melted down so that the fine, the silver and the gold and whatever it was manufactured with can be used by Persians to make earrings or nose rings or finger rings or whatever it is they want to make.
And then notice the contrast, verse 3, Listen to me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been upheld by me from birth. You see, you've got to uphold Bel and Nebo, but the God of heaven and earth upholds His people from birth. You have been carried from the womb. Even to your old age, I am He.
And even to gray hairs, I will carry you. I have made and I will bear. Even I will carry and will deliver you. Brethren, we need to understand that anything we seek to put in the place of God will ultimately fail.
God alone satisfies. This is the lie of idolatry. Drink this. Smoke this.
Inject this. Do this. Go here. Have this.
It will ultimately let you down. What we need is the living and true God. Not just so we're not let down. That's not my point.
But we give allegiance and worship and adoration and praise to the one alone who is worthy. We give him our time. We give him our resources. We give him our love.
We give him our hearts. We give him our affections. The Bible is not silent on the problem of idolatry. And again, the Bible does not indicate that idolatry is only Bel, Nebo, Dagon, Baal, Asherah, or the like.
Idolatry is anything that you and I put before the true and living God. Again, you may not be addicted to sex or drugs or rock and roll. You may not be addicted to mammon, but probably you're addicted to yourself in some way or other. And there is a fine line between loving ourselves the way that Jesus assumes that we will and loving ourselves in a way that is unrighteous, unholy, ungodly.
Narcissism is certainly an idol that can indeed trap many. And by the grace of God, we ought to resist it just like we would resist walking into the temple of Dagon and bowing before a half-man, half-fish, Headless, handless monstrosity. So beware. Or in the language of the apostle, little children, keep yourselves from idols.
Back to 1 Samuel chapter 5.
The Hand of the Lord Against Philistines
Notice, secondly, the hand of the Lord against the Philistines. Three sub points here. First, the means of judgment. Secondly, the response of the Philistines.
And thirdly, what I'll call the victory tour. the victory tour.
The Means of Judgment
But note first the means of judgment. The hand of the Lord was heavy on the people of Ashdod. I don't think it was a Wednesday night study. I think it was on a Sabbath day.
In one of the sermons, I had mentioned that the word glory is related to the word heavy. Does anybody remember that? Or have you ever heard that before? Heavy and glory are same semantics, same semantic range.
Back in chapter 4, verse 22, it said, the glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured. Notice in verse 6, the hand of the Lord was heavy. It's the same word. God's glory had departed from Israel, but God's glory, in terms of his judgment, is now in Philistia.
And so what we find is that God Most High manifests His glory through judgment. He manifests it through salvation, to be sure, but He manifests it through judgment as well. So heavy, the idea of something being heavy, valuable, honorable. It's not lightweight, it's heavy, it's glorious, it's worthy of honor.
That word is employed in this particular section. Notice, the hand of the Lord was heavy on the people of Ashdod, and he ravaged them and struck them with tumors, both Ashdod and its territory. Now the covenant people were promised that if they had violated the covenant that God made with them, Deuteronomy 28, 27, the Lord will strike you with the boils of Egypt, with tumors, with the scab, and with the itch from which you cannot be healed. Brethren, that's enough to hopefully keep a covenant member on track.
That is enough, I hope, that would argue for us to toe the line. I mean, who wants boils, tumors, scab, and itch? None of us. And yet how many of us will continue to wander into our paths of idolatry, resisting the God of heaven and earth?
But this word tumors is interesting. And there's been a couple of ideas proposed as to what is taking place. The first is the disease of dysentery or hemorrhoids. In fact, in the King James and the Geneva Bible, it's translated emrods.
I don't know why that makes me laugh, but emrods, OK, in the King James and in the Geneva Bible. And the rest of the translations, English translations, that I have all translated as tumors. John Gill says it this way, and smote them with emrods. Wow, again, that's just a terrifying thought.
Smote them with emrods, more properly hemorrhoids, which as Kim Chi says, was the name of a disease, but he says not what. Ben Gershom calls it a very painful disease from whence comes a great quantity of blood. Josephus takes it to be the dysentery or bloody flux. It seems to be what we commonly call the piles, and it has its name in Hebrew from the height of them rising up sometimes into high, large tumors.
Certainly that would be a painful judgment from God upon the Philistines. As well, another theory or another idea, and this seems to be supported by the margin of the New King James, is that bubonic plague is what is in view. In chapter 6 at verses 4 and 5, you'll see that rats ravaged the land. In fact, there's a variant reading, if you have the New King James and you look at the note for chapter 5, verse 6, both the Vulgate and the Septuagint, VG is Vulgate, that's a Latin, that was the version of Jerome. that he translated the Bible into Latin.
That's the Vulgate. The LXX is the Septuagint. It's a great translation of the Old Testament. Both of those translations in chapter 5 at verse 6 indicate something of rats.
And in the midst of their land, rats sprang up. And there was a great death panic in the city. We don't need to adopt that variant, necessarily. I'm just saying that that is probably what the new King James is alluding to.
In fact, in the note for 5.6, it says, probably bubonic plague. And so the reference to rats, at least in chapters 6, 5, and 6, lead many to explain it as the bubonic plague, which was carried by rats. Davis says, since we hear of rats ruining the land in 6.5, some scholars think the tumors may have been the swelling in the armpits, groin, and sides of the neck that are symptomatic of bubonic plague, of which rats are carriers. So, specifically, can I say with absolute certainty, whatever it was, the hand of Yahweh was heavy upon the Philistines.
There was blood, there was pain, there was probably itch, there was a lot of discomfort, and there was a lot of death. So God lashes out in judgment against these people. Lashes is not good. God executes judgment. upon these pagans for having worshipped Dagon, for being those who reject the true and living God.
The Response of the Philistines
Now notice the response of the Philistines, verses 7 to 9. They knew it was Yahweh, verse 7. They knew it, notice. And when the men of Ashdod saw how it was, they said, the ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for his hand is harsh toward us, and Dagon our God." They knew it.
In fact, if you look back at chapter 4 for just a moment, remember when the Philistines are kind of whooping themselves up for battle. They're going through their process. They're getting amped up. They're firing one another up to go meet the Israelites on the field of battle.
They know that the Israelites have brought the Ark of the Covenant. For a moment, the Philistines are scared, but they say, you know what? We've got to deal with these guys. Notice in 4.9. 4a.
Woe to us! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? That's not good theology. It is the Almighty God of Israel, but their pagans will at least understand why they would say these mighty gods.
These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness. Isn't this an interesting principle? They knew that the God of heaven and earth struck the Egyptians dead. Why in the world did they not think it could happen to them?
Why in the world is man so presumptuous and man so arrogant and man so sure of himself that when he sees all around him calamity, misfortune, difficulty, trial, affliction, what obviously can appear to be the very judgment of God Most High, he says, but that won't happen to me. This is corporate folly on the part of the Philistines. They knew what Yahweh of Israel was capable of, and yet they bring the Ark of the Covenant into the house of Dagon, and they set it right next to him. And then Dagon not only falls once, he falls twice.
He loses his head. He loses his hands. And for whatever reason, this doesn't cause them at that point to say, we need to get this thing out of here. Now, verse 6 causes them to say, we need to get this thing out of here.
We don't like the heavy hand of the Lord upon us. So they knew that the judgment was from Yahweh. And it's interesting, they knew it was a judgment against them and against Dagon. Exodus 12.12, when God announces his plan for Egypt.
He says, I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and against all the gods of Egypt, I will execute judgment. I am the Lord. So it's not only against them, it's against their gods. Now again, the biblical authors are not telling us that there really is gods in Egypt. that Dagon really is a living God.
No, it is just simply to say that in the destruction of these so-called gods, it is evident that they weren't gods to begin with. Because what is definitional for God is that he cannot be destroyed. God is independent. God is everlasting.
God is incorruptible. God is infinite. All those things are true of God. And so to predicate that or say that about a half-fish, half-man, headless, handless monstrosity is to be a liar.
And so they knew that it was Yahweh. So what do they do? They sought instruction from the lords of the Philistines in verse 8. Therefore they sent and gathered to themselves all the lords of the Philistines and said, what shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?
That's easy. Get it out of here. We don't need to be the lords of the Philistines to figure that out. Send it to God.
Now, think about how friendly Philistine cities were to one another. I mean, if you ever get a visitation from God, please don't send it to my house if you care whatsoever about me. If the Lord ravages your home with emeralds, please don't say, go find Butler. It's what's happening in Philistia.
You see, God is marching city to city to city, bringing vengeance and judgment and destruction upon the idolaters. It's truly amazing. And they're doing it. Send it to Gath.
Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried away to Gath. Man, you really don't like Gathites, do you, in Ashdod? That's not the point. We just want it out of here.
So they carried the Ark of the God of Israel away. So it was after they had carried it away that the hand of the Lord was against the city with a very great destruction. And he struck the men of the city, both small and great, and tumors broke out on them. Wherever the ark of the Lord goes, there comes his judgment.
He goes from Ashdod, and now he goes to Gath. So what do they do in Gath? Well, you know, we've never really liked the city of Ekron. Why don't we send it to the Ekronites?
The Ekronites are a little bit more savvy. They send out a delegation to the city gates and say, wait a minute, we don't want it here either. Do you see what's happening? God systematically is bringing judgment upon Philistia.
And they know it, they understand it, and they don't want it. They want to depart, they want to get rid of it. The only logical response, whether you're a lord, whether you're a plowman in Philistia, is get it away from us. Because as long as the God of Israel is in our midst, He is going to bring judgment upon us.
And quite frankly, it is a judgment that we cannot bear death, destruction, blood, pain, misery, suffering.
The Victory Tour
Verse 10, this is what I call the victory tour. They sent the Ark of God to Ekron. So it was, as the Ark of God came to Ekron, that the Ekronites cried out saying, They have brought the ark of the God of Israel to us to kill us and our people. Now they've not only got the God of Israel but they've got Ashtonites and they've got Gathites.
Nobody likes Ekronites. You see what began in the temple of Dagon and Ashton moved to Gath, moved to Ekron and brought destruction and judgment in its way. You see, you may think you've captured the God of Israel. You may think you've tamed him.
You may think you've domesticated him. You may think that he's going to bow to your God, but he demonstrates in this passage that that is absolute insanity. Verse 11, so they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines and said, send away the ark of the God of Israel. and let it go back to its own place, so that it does not kill us and our people. For there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city.
The hand of God was very heavy there. And the men who did not die were stricken with the tumors, and the cry of the city went up to heaven." Samura says, in this way, the God of Israel marches through the enemy territories victoriously. He later says, this is certainly a triumphant march of the Ark of Yahweh through enemy territory from one city to another. So you see, 1 Samuel chapter 5, while it may appear to be an interesting story, and you know, the King James and the Geneva Bible get props for using the word emeralds, all of that is very, very curious and interesting.
But what's the chapter about? The supremacy of God. The folly of idolatry. Some might say, why in the world would you spend time reading and studying 1 Samuel 5?
Because we live in a 1 Samuel 5 situation. There is idolatry everywhere we look. And not just out there, but within the context of the professing church. We need to guard our hearts.
We need to make sure that we take heed to the admonishment to keep ourselves from idols. It's always intrigued me how the psalmist ends Psalm 119. Psalm 119. What is the theme of Psalm 119?
The theme of Psalm 119 is how great the Word of God is. Isn't it? I mean, it's a long psalm. A hundred and seventy-six verses or a hundred and seventy-five verses about how great, how wonderful, how glorious, how majestic the Word of the Living God is.
You would think that the man who wrote verses 1 to 175 was a man who was in lockstep with his God all the time. Doesn't end. I have gone astray like a lost sheep. Seek your servant, for I do not forget your commandments." Now certainly he could be talking about the time before his conversion, or he could be talking in the spirit and in the vein of 400.
I'm prone to wander. I'm prone to leave the God that I love. I'm prone to wander back to Dagon's temple. I don't know.
Something about that half-man, half-fish, headless, handless monstrosity is appealing to me. You know, it's an intriguing thing. When we look at that man in Isaiah 44, if we were to stand in a bush, or stand behind a bush and watch him cut down a tree and chop up his tree and start burning some of that tree so that he can warm his hands and he can roast his roast and then he takes some of that tree and he props it up and he starts bowing down to it, we would be behind the bush saying, what an idiot. What a fool that man is, doesn't he know how crazy he is?
And yet have we ever given any thought whatsoever to some of the folly that we engage in? If somebody was standing behind a bush watching us, would they be able to say, look at what that fool is doing? He professes the name of the living God. He says that Jesus has saved him from his sins.
He says that the King of kings and Lord of lords is his King and his Lord. And yet, look at what he's doing. It may not be bowing before a tree, but it may be bowing before yourself. It may be bowing to mammon.
It may be bowing to whatever. You see, brethren, idolatry is not simply a Philistine problem. It is a systemic problem among the sons of men. And it is something that we need to be on the guard for.
In this passage, as I've already mentioned, we learn the sovereignty of God. The Lord God brings judgment upon Israel for thinking they could manipulate Him. The Lord God brings judgment upon Israel for thinking that they could trot the Ark of the Covenant out as a holy horseshoe that would ensure victory over Philistines. When God, or when people try and treat God that way, God would rather that his art be captured and go into the hands of filthy Philistines than to let Israelites think that they have the ability to domesticate him, to tame him, and to use him as they see fit.
As well, we see the judgment upon the Philistines for thinking they could capture God, and that they could domesticate God, that they could make a Dagon worshiper out of Yahweh. And we see the judgment upon all who exchange the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man. I do think there's some merit to seeing the apparent weakness. The ark has been captured.
The ark has been subdued. The ark is under Philistine control. And yet, in the midst of that, God exercises his sovereign power to bring about victory, the same way that Jesus is delivered up into the hands of his enemies. Jesus is on the cross.
Jesus, in apparent weakness and helplessness, is bringing decisive victory against the devil, against our sin, and against those forces that oppose us. We've looked at the folly of idolatry. Well, we can look at one more passage. Romans chapter 1.
Romans chapter 1. Actually, we've got a few minutes. We can do a little bit more here. We missed Sunday night.
I don't know how churches not have a Sunday night service. I felt weird at five not being in church. I'm supposed to be in church! Good way to keep the day, as far as I can tell.
All right,
Idolatry and Romans 1
Romans chapter 1, verse 18. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth and unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them. For God has shown it to them, for since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even as eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse. Because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts and their foolish hearts were darkened.
Professing to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. Therefore, God also gave them up to uncleanness in the lusts of their hearts to dishonor their bodies among themselves who exchanged the truth of God for the lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason, God gave them up to vile passions.
For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise, also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another. Men with men committing what is shameful and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due." Now, there are other several sins mentioned, but I just want to focus on this one. If you look at Canada today, if you look at America today, you say, wow, homosexuality is epidemic.
I'm not just picking on this one sin because it's somehow, you know, the most wicked of all sins. Heterosexual fornication, hating your parents, maliciousness, covetousness, strife, deceit, all those things are indicated here. I just want to show you something. Look at America and Canada and say, well, we've got a real problem with homosexuality.
No, we have a real problem with idolatry. We have a real problem with idolatry. Note the flow of the passage. They exchange the glory of the incorruptible God.
It's idolatry that God judges by giving them over. It is the result, homosexuality, hating your parents, being malicious, being covetous, being full of strife, being proud, boasters. All those are symptomatic of the larger issue that is idolatry. You know what?
Homosexuals and children that hate their parents, they don't need behavior modification. They need the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have an idolatry problem in Canada and America. We have an idolatry problem everywhere.
But that's what's developed by the apostle. That's what verse 21 says. Although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. professing to be wise, they became fools, and they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man." So you see, it is what they believe concerning God. It is their rejection of the true and living God, their embrace of the idols.
On the heels of that, verse 24, verse 26, verse 28, God gave them over. And Paul is not making this up. This is, interestingly enough, not novel or new with the Apostle. The Apostle is recycling, rehearsing, alluding to and dealing with what Psalm 106 had already said many, many years before.
In Psalm 106, verses 19 to 21, an indictment of Israel. They made a calf in Horeb and worshipped the molded image. Thus, they changed their glory into the image of an ox that eats grass. Isn't that what Paul says?
They exchange the glory of the incorruptible God for that which is corruptible? Well, this is what Israel did before them. They forgot God, their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt, wondrous works in the land of Ham, awesome things by the Red Sea. Therefore He said that He would destroy them had not Moses, His chosen one, stood before Him in the breach to turn away His wrath lest He destroy them.
You see, Paul is taking what was true of Israel in the old covenant, and he is teasing that out and saying, this is the condition of all men everywhere. They've exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God. As a result, God gives them over. And the sins and the symptoms that we see in the nation simply evidences the reality that they have rejected the true and living God.
Notice 106 in verse 41. Actually verse 40, therefore the wrath of the Lord was kindled against his people so that he abhorred his own inheritance and he, notice, gave them into the hand of the Gentiles and those who hated them ruled over them. Just like 24, 26, and 28 in Romans 1, he gave them over. When Israel bows before calves, God gives them over.
When the nations of the earth bow before calves, what do you think God is going to do? He is going to give them over. When we see rampant sexual immorality, we see rampant drug abuse, we see rampant dishonor from children to their parents, we see societal breakdown. This is an indicator, not that we have a sex problem, not that we have an authority problem, not that we have a need for more policing.
All those things are symptoms and we may need to address them, but the primary issue is that men need to hear of Christ and Him crucified. The best thing we can do for homosexuals, the best thing we can do for children that are dishonorable to their parents, The best thing we can do for liars and people who are proud and boasters is give them the gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And then finally, the pervasiveness of idolatry. John Stott said it this way in his exposition of the book of Acts, specifically chapter 17.
I love the way he puts this together, and I'm not necessarily endorsing all that John Stott ever said. I can't say or ever will say because he's not with us anymore, but here's what Stott said concerning idolatry. All idolatry, whether ancient or modern, primitive or sophisticated, is inexcusable, whether the images are metal or mental, material objects of worship or unworthy concepts in the mind. For idolatry is the attempt either to localize God, confining him within the limits which we impose, whereas he is the creator of the universe, or to domesticate God, making him dependent on us, taming him, whereas he is the sustainer of human life. or to alienate God, blaming Him for His distance and silence, whereas He is the ruler of nations and not far from any of us, or to dethrone God, demoting Him to some image of our own contrivance or craft, whereas He is our Father from whom we derive our being.
In brief, all idolatry tries to minimize the gulf between the Creator and His creatures in order to bring Him under our control. More than that, it actually reverses the respective positions of God and us, so that instead of our humbly acknowledging that God has created and rules us, we presume to imagine that we can create and rule God. There is no logic in idolatry. It is a perverse, topsy-turvy expression of our human rebellion against God.
And the Philistines, with their half man, half fish, certainly show us that in 1 Samuel chapter 5. I said that was the last. This is the last. Dagon fell before the Ark of the Covenant.
Islam will fall. Romanism will fall. Buddhism will fall. Shintoism will fall.
Atheism will fall. Every religion of every man that is opposed to the God of heaven and earth will fall before the Ark of the Covenant. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 tells us that he must reign till what? All of his enemies are made his footstool. Dagon is living proof that we ought not to fear the rise of this religion or that religion, but we ought to be encouraged about the continual rise and progress and triumph of the kingdom of our God and his Christ.
Well, let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Father, we thank you for your Word, and we thank you for the lessons that you teach us. And God, may you indeed write these things upon our hearts and keep us from this proneness to wander and this proneness to leave the God that we love. Help us to be faithful. Help us to persevere.
Help us to be those who are in Scripture and in prayer and among the people of God for your glory and for our well-being. As well, God, we pray for idolaters that come to this church, those outside of Christ. We pray that you would be merciful and bless the preaching of the gospel to the salvation of sinners. We pray for our young people and our children growing up in a land filled with idols.
We pray that they would, from their youth, remember their creator, that you would set your hand of mercy and love upon them, that they would know your grace and your kindness, and they would confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. And we pray this in his most blessed name. Amen.