1 Samuel 5

The ark of the covenant is mentioned at least thirtyfive times in these three chapters and represents

Jehovah God, the central person in all of Israel’s history. The ark was the most important piece of furniture in the tabernacle and resided in the Holy of Holies. In the ark were the two tablets of the law, and on it was the golden “mercy seat” where God’s glorious presence dwelt. This was the throne of God from which He spoke to His people (Ex. 25:10–22). To the eye of faith, God is very evident and active in all the events recorded in these chapters. None of these events happened by accident; they were all part of God’s plan to chasten His people, judge sinners, and eventually establish His anointed king

The five key cities of the Philistines were Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron, and each had a ruler or “lord” (6:16–17). The Philistines first put the ark into the temple of their god Dagon in Ashdod as evidence that Dagon was stronger and greater than Jehovah. At the beginning of the battle, the Philistines were frightened when they heard that the God of Israel was in the camp, but now they were making fun of Him and exalting their own gods. In their mythology, Dagon was the principal god of the Philistines and the father of Baal, the storm god, whose worship brought so much trouble to Israel.

However, Dagon didn’t have a chance, for Jehovah God was and is well able to take care of Himself! The next morning, the worshippers found Dagon prostrate before the ark like one of the worshippers. Like every dead idol, Dagon had to be righted again (Ps. 115), but things were even worse the next morning. The stump of Dagon was prostrate before the ark of the covenant, but his head and hands had been cut off and placed at the threshold of the temple! But that wasn’t the end, for the Lord not only humiliated the god of the Philistines, but he judged the people who worshipped that god. When the Philistines captured the ark and arrogantly treated the Lord as though He were just another god, they invited the judgment of God.

When you put the evidence together, it seems that the Lord sent infected mice or rats (1 Sam. 6:4) among the people and spread a terrible plague. According to the covenant, the Lord should have sent this affliction on the unbelieving Jews (Deut. 28:58–60), but in His grace, He punished the enemy. Some students believe this was the bubonic plague and that the people experienced painful inflammatory swellings of the lymph glands, especially in the groin. Others think it was a plague of tumors, perhaps severe hemorrhoids (see 1 Sam. 5:9), although it’s difficult to understand the part the rats played in this affliction. Whatever the punishment was, it pained and humiliated the Philistines who attributed their suffering to the presence of the ark.

But the five lords of the Philistines were anxious to preserve the glory of their victory. If they could prove that the calamity was a coincidence, they could retain the ark and continue to magnify Dagon’s superiority over Jehovah. The easiest way to do this was to move the ark to another city and see what happened, so they took it to Gath—and the same thing happened! Then they carried it to Ekron, where the people protested and told them to take it elsewhere! God killed a number of citizens (“deadly destruction”) and also sent a painful plague to the people of Ekron just as He had done to the inhabitants of Ashdod and Gath. God had vindicated Himself and proved that it was His hand that had destroyed the statue of Dagon and that brought affliction to the Philistine people. Nobody could call the eruption of these plagues a mere coincidence. But the lords of the Philistines still had to figure out how to get rid of the ark without humiliating themselves and perhaps bringing more judgment on their land.