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1 Samuel
Chapter Five
New King James Version (NKJV)
INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 5
This
chapter relates how that the ark being brought by the Philistines to Ashdod
and placed in the temple of their idol
that fell down before it
1 Samuel 5:1
that
the hand of the Lord was upon the men of Ashdod
and smote them with emerods
1 Samuel 5:6 and
being carried to Gath
the men of Gath were smitten likewise with the same
1 Samuel 5:8
and
after that the men of Ekron
whither it also was carried
1 Samuel 5:10.
1 Samuel 5:1 Then the
Philistines took the ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.
YLT
1And the Philistines have
taken the ark of God
and bring it in from Eben-Ezer to Ashdod
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 BuntingF17Travels of
the Patriarchs
&c. p. 122. 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.
1 Samuel 5:2 2 When
the Philistines took the ark of God
they brought it into the house of Dagon[a] and set it
by Dagon.
YLT
2and the Philistines take
the ark of God and bring it into the house of Dagon
and set it near Dagon.
When the Philistines took the ark of God
.... And had
brought it to Ashdod:
they brought it into the house of Dagon; a temple
dedicated to that idol
and in which his image stood; of which See Gill on Judges 16:23
and set it by Dagon; by the side of him
either in honour to the ark
as Abarbinel
designing to give it homage and
adoration
as to their own deity; for though the Gentiles did not choose to
change their gods
yet they would add the gods of other nations to them; and
such the Philistines might take the ark to be: or else
as Procopius Gazaeus
they brought it into their idol's temple
as a trophy of victory
and as a
spoil taken from their enemies
and which they dedicated to their idol. LaniadoF18Cli
Yaker
fol. 162. 4. observes
that the word here used signifies servitude
as
in Genesis 33:15 and
that the ark was set here to minister to
or serve their god Dagon. The temple
of Dagon at Ashdod or Azotus was in being in the times of the Maccabees
and
was burnt by Jonathan
"83 The horsemen also
being scattered in the field
fled to Azotus
and went into Bethdagon
their idol's temple
for safety. 84
But Jonathan set fire on Azotus
and the cities round about it
and took their
spoils; and the temple of Dagon
with them that were fled into it
he burned
with fire.' (1 Maccabees 10)
1 Samuel 5:3 3 And
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.
YLT
3And the Ashdodites rise
early on the morrow
and lo
Dagon is fallen on its face to the earth
before
the ark of Jehovah; and they take Dagon
and put it back to its place.
And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow
Either the
people
the inhabitants of the place
who came early to pay their devotions to
their idol
before they went on their business; or the priests of the idol
who
came to sacrifice in the morning:
and
behold
Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before
the ark of the Lord; as if he was subject to it
and giving adoration to it
and
owning it was above him
and had superior power over him:
and they took Dagon
and set him in his place again; having no
notion that it was owing to the ark of God
or to the God of Israel
that he
was fallen
but that it was a matter of chance.
1 Samuel 5:4 4 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[b] was left
of it.
YLT
4And they rise early in the
morning on the morrow
and lo
Dagon is fallen on its face to the earth
before
the ark of Jehovah
and the head of Dagon
and the two palms of its hands are
cut off at the threshold
only the fishy part hath been left to him;
And when they arose early on the morrow morning
.... For the
same purpose as before; unless they had any curiosity to indulge
to see
whether the ark and Dagon agreed better together
if they had any suspicion
that the former mischance was to be attributed to some variance and
disagreement between them:
behold
Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the
ark of the Lord: again
and in a worse condition than before:
and the head of Dagon
and both the palms of his hands
were cut
off upon the threshold; of the temple
upon which he fell with such force
that the
threshold cut off his head
and both his hands; which signified he had neither
wisdom to contrive for his own safety
nor strength and power to defend
himself; and therefore of what advantage could he be to his votaries? This may
be an emblem of the fall of idolatry in the Gentile world
before the preaching
of Christ and his Gospel in it; or of the idol of man's righteousness
which is
set up
though it cannot stand
against the righteousness of Christ
and of
man's renouncing that
when convinced of the weakness and insufficiency of it
and submitting to the righteousness of Christ:
only the stump of Dagon was left to him: his body
as
the Targum
his head and hands being cut off; or
as it is in the Hebrew text
only Dagon was left; that is
the fishy part of this idol; for "Dag"
signifies a fish; and
as Kimchi relates
this idol
from the navel upwards
had the form of a man
and from thence downwards the form of a fish; and it was
the lower part that was left; See Gill on Judges 16:23.
1 Samuel 5:5 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.
YLT
5therefore the priests of
Dagon
and all those coming into the house of Dagon
tread not on the threshold
of Dagon
in Ashdod
till this day.
Therefore neither the priests of Dagon
nor any that come into
Dagon's house
.... Neither the priests that continually attended the worship
and service of Dagon
nor the people that came there to pay their devotions to
him:
tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day: but used to
leap over it
either reckoning it sacred because touched by their idol
which
fell upon it; or rather
as it should seem
in a way of detestation
because it
had been the means of cutting off the head and hands of their idol; and this
custom not only continued to the latter days of Samuel
the writer of this
book; but even among the Philistines in one place or another to the times of
Zephaniah
who seems to allude to it
Zephaniah 1:9. In
later times there was another deity worshipped at Ashdod; according to MasiusF19Comment.
in Jos. xv. 47.
the Philistine Venus
or Astarte
was worshipped in this
place; though perhaps she may be no other than Atergatis
or Adergatis
which
with SeldenF20De Dis. Syr. Syntagu. l. 2. c. 3. p. 267. is only a
corruption of Addir-dag
the magnificent fish
in which form Dagon is supposed
to be; so the Phoenician goddess Derceto
worshipped at Ashkelon had the face
of a woman
and the other part was all fish; though Ben Gersom says Dagon was
in the form of a man
and which is confirmed by the Complutensian edition of
the Septuagint
which on 1 Samuel 5:4 reads
"the soles of his feet were cut off"; which is a much better reading
than the common one
"the soles of his hands"
which is not sense; by
which it appears that he had head
hands
and feet; wherefore it seems most
likely that he had his name from Dagon
signifying corn: See Gill on Judges 16:23.
1 Samuel 5:6 6 But the hand of the Lord was heavy on
the people of Ashdod
and He ravaged them and struck them with tumors
[c] both
Ashdod and its territory.
YLT
6And the hand of Jehovah is
heavy on the Ashdodites
and He maketh them desolate
and smiteth them with
emerods
Ashdod and its borders.
But the hand of the Lord was heavy on them of Ashdod
.... Not only
on their idol
but on themselves; it had crushed him to pieces
and now it fell
heavy on them to their destruction:
and he destroyed them; either by the disease
after mentioned they were smitten with
or rather with some other
since that
seems not to be mortal
though painful; it may be with the pestilence:
and smote them with emerods; more properly
haemorrhoids
which
as Kimchi says
was the name of a disease
but he says not
what; Ben Gersom calls it a very painful disease
from whence comes a great
quantity of blood. JosephusF21Antiqu. l. 6. c. 1. sect. 1. takes it
to be the dysentery or bloody flux; it seems to be what we commonly call the
piles
and has its name in Hebrew from the height of them
rising up sometimes
into high large tumours:
even Ashdod and the coasts thereof; not only the inhabitants
of the city were afflicted with this disease
but those of the villages round
about.
1 Samuel 5:7 7 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.”
YLT
7And the men of Ashdod see
that [it is] so
and have said
`The ark of the God of Israel doth not abide
with us
for hard hath been His hand upon us
and upon Dagon our god.'
And when the men of Ashdod saw that it was so
.... That many
of their inhabitants were taken away by death
and others afflicted with a
painful disease; all which they imputed to the ark being among them:
they said
the ark of the God of Israel shall not abide with us; like the
Gergesenes
who besought Christ to depart their coasts
having more regard for
their swine than for him:
for his hand is sore upon us
and upon Dagon
our god
not the hand
of the ark
unless they took it for a god
but the hand of the God of Israel;
in this they were right
and seem to have understood the case better than the
other lords they after consulted; his hand was upon Dagon
as appeared his fall
before the ark
and upon them by smiting with the haemorrhoids
the memory of
which abode with the Philistines for ages afterwards; for we are toldF23Herodot.
Clio
sive
l. 1. c. 105. that the Scythians
having plundered the temple of
Venus at Ashkelon
one of their five principalities
the goddess inflicted upon
them the female disease
or the haemorrhoids; which shows that it was thought
to be a disease inflicted by way of punishment for sacrilege
and that it was
still remembered what the Philistines suffered for a crime of the like nature.
1 Samuel 5:8 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?” 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.
YLT
8And they send and gather
all the princes of the Philistines unto them
and say
`What do we do to the
ark of the God of Israel?' and they say
`To Gath let the ark of the God of
Israel be brought round;' and they bring round the ark of the God of Israel;
They sent therefore and gathered all the lords of the Philistines
unto them
.... The other four lords
for there were five with this; see Joshua 13:3
and said
what shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? they no doubt
told them what they and their idol had suffered on account of it
and the
resolution they were come to that it should be no longer with them; and therefore
desire to know what must be done with it
whether they should return it to the
people of Israel
or dispose of it somewhere else; it is probable some might be
for the former
but the greater part were not
and were for keeping it in their
possession somewhere or another:
and they answered
let the ark of the God of Israel be carried
about unto Gath; which was another of the five principalities of the Philistines
and not far from Ashdod; according to JeromF24Comment. in Hierem. c.
25. fol. 151. B.
it is included in the remnant of Ashdod
Jeremiah 25:20 and
according to BuntingF25Travels of the Patriarchs
&c. p. 123.
but four miles from it. The Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions make this to
be the answer of the men of Gath
the one reading it
"and they of Gath
said
let the ark of God come to us;'and the other
"they of Gath answered
let the ark of the God of Israel be carried about;'for they suspected
as
Procopius Gazaeus observes
that the destruction did not come from God
but was
a disease arising from some pestilential cause. They perhaps imagined it was in
the air in and about Ashdod
or that though the situation of the ark was not
liked
in another place it might be otherwise
and more agreeable:
and they carried the ark of the God of Israel about thither; they seem not
to carry it directly to the place
but carried it in a round about way
as if
they had a mind to give it an airing
before they fixed it any where.
1 Samuel 5:9 9 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.
YLT
9and it cometh to pass after
they have brought it round
that the hand of Jehovah is against the city -- a
very great destruction; and He smiteth the men of the city
from small even
unto great; and break forth on them do emerods.
And it was so
that after they had carried it about
.... And at
last placed it in the city of Gath:
the hand of the Lord was against the city with a very great
destruction: greater than that at Ashdod
more persons were destroyed; the
distemper sent among them was more epidemic and mortal:
and he smote the men of the city
both small and great; high and low
persons of every class
rank
and station
young and old
men
women
and
children:
and they had emerods in their secret parts; and so had
the men of Ashdod; and the design of this expression is
not to point at the
place where they were
which it is well known they are always in those parts
but the different nature of them; the emerods or piles of the men of Ashdod
were more outward
these more inward
and so more painful
and not so easy to
come at
and more difficult of cure; for the words may be rendered:
and the emerods were hidden unto themF26וישתרו להם עפלים
"et absconditi erant"
Montanus; so Vatablus
Junius &
Tremellius. ; were inward
and out of sight; and perhaps this disease as
inflicted on them might be more grievous than it commonly is now. JosephusF1Ut
supra. (Antiqu. l. 6. c. 1. sect. 1.) wrongly makes these to be the
Ashkalonites
when they were the men of Gath.
1 Samuel 5:10 10 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!”
YLT
10And they send the ark of
God to Ekron
and it cometh to pass
at the coming in of the ark of God to
Ekron
that the Ekronites cry out
saying
`They have brought round unto us the
ark of the God of Israel
to put us to death -- and our people.'
Therefore they sent the ark of God to Ekron
.... Another
of the five principalities of the Philistines
about ten miles from Gath
where
Baalzebub
or the god of the fly
was worshipped:
and it came to pass
that as the ark of God came to Ekron; and had been
there some little time:
that the Ekronites cried out; when they perceived the
hand of God was upon them
as upon the other cities; these were the chief
magistrates of the city
with the lord of them
as appears by what follows:
saying
they have brought about the ark of the God of Israel to us; from one city
to another
and at length to us:
to slay us and our people; not that this was their
intention
but so it was eventually.
1 Samuel 5:11 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.
YLT
11And they send and gather
all the princes of the Philistines
and say
`Send away the ark of the God of
Israel
and it turneth back to its place
and it doth not put us to death --
and our people;' for there hath been a deadly destruction throughout all the
city
very heavy hath the hand of God been there
So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the
Philistines
.... As the men of Ashdod had done before on the same account
1 Samuel 5:8.
and said
send away the ark of the God of Israel; as these
lords were united in their government
and made one common cause of it against
Israel
one could not dispose of this capture without the consent of the rest;
otherwise the lord of Ekron
with his princes
were clearly in it that it was right
and best to send it away out of any of their principalities:
and let it go again to its own place; to the land
of Israel and Shiloh there
though to that it never returned more:
that it slay us not
and our people; that is
all of them
for great numbers had been slain already
as follows:
for there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city; a mortal
disease went through the whole city
and swept away a multitude of people:
the hand of God was very heavy there; it seems by
the expression to haste been heavier on the inhabitants of this city than upon
those of Ashdod and Gath
which made them the more pressing to get rid of the
ark.
1 Samuel 5:12 12 And the men who did not
die were stricken with the tumors
and the cry of the city went up to heaven.
YLT
12and the men who have not
died have been smitten with emerods
and the cry of the city goeth up into the
heavens.
And the men that died not were smitten with the emerods
.... As the
inhabitants of Ashdod and Gath had been; this shows that those that died did
not die of that disease
but of some other; very likely the pestilence:
and the cry of the city went up to heaven; not that it
was heard and regarded there
but the phrase is used to denote the greatness of
it
how exceeding loud and clamorous it was; partly on the account of the death
of so many of the inhabitants
their relations and friends; and partly because
of the intolerable pain they endured through the emerods. There is something of
this history preserved in a story wrongly told by HerodotusF2Clio
sive
l. 1. c. 105.
who relates that the Scythians returning from Egypt
passed through Ashkelon
a city of Syria (one of the five principalities of the
Philistines)
and that some of them robbed the temple of Venus there; for which
the goddess sent on them and their posterity the disease of emerods
and that
the Scythians themselves acknowledged that they were troubled with it on that
account.
──《John Gill’s
Exposition of the Bible》
New King James
Version (NKJV)