Now the Israelites warred against the Philistines, but were overcome by them resulting in 4,000 Israelites being killed (I Sam. 4:2). The Israelites sent for the Ark of the Covenant which was at Shiloah. When the Ark entered the camp of the Israelites, there was a great shout that made the Philistines afraid. Nevertheless, the Philistines defeated the Israelites, killed 30,000, and captured the Ark (I Sam. 4:10-11).1.They brought it into the house of Dagon and set it by Dagon: No doubt, the Philistines were jubilant, and confident in the superiority of their god over the God of Israel. They had faced the God of Israel in battle, and believed their god Dagon had delivered them and defeated Israel. Now, the Ark of the Covenant of Israel’s God stood as a trophy in the temple of their god Dagon. The victory was complete!
i. The Philistine god Dagon was represented with a half man, half fish figure, and was said to be the father of Baal.
ii. “This deity was a personification of the generative and vivifying principle of nature, for which the fish with its innumerable multiplication was especially adapted, to set forth the idea of the giver of all earthly good.” (Keil and Delitszch)
2. There was Dagon, fallen on its face to the ground before the ark of the Lord: Had the glory of God departed? Not at all! God was more than able to glorify Himself among the Philistines and their pagan gods. God made this nothing statue bow down in worship before Him!
i. God will glorify Himself. Sometimes, when men disgrace the glory of God, we fear God will go without glory. We think the glory has departed. But when men and women will not glorify God, God will glorify Himself. You can count on it!
ii. God is glorifying Himself, but man is resisting God’s glory. See the Philistine priests, and the excuses they make? “Must have been an accident. Must have been an earthquake. Yes, some strange accident.” All the while they refuse to give glory to God!
3. Imagine the horror of the Philistine priests when they entered the temple of Dagon the next morning. They not only saw their god bowing down before the Lord, they also saw the head of Dagon and both the palms of its hands were broken off on the threshold; only the torso of Dagon was left of it. An accident two days in a row? And now, the head and hands of Dagon broken? How strange!
i. After seeing the superiority of the God of Israel, these Philistine priests had a choice. They could turn from their weak, inferior god Dagon, and begin serving the mighty, superior Lord of Israel. Or they could make a religious tradition instead! They chose the religious tradition: 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.
ii. These Philistine priests, like men confronted with the truth today, rejected God despite the evidence, not because of the evidence. They wanted to believe it was an accident.
iii. How could they believe something so ridiculous? Because worshipping the Lord instead of Dagon meant a huge change in thinking and living. The Philistine priests were unwilling to make those changes. It was easier when they took Dagon and set it in its place again. Setting Dagon up and gluing him together was easier than changing your life and your thinking.
4. “The head is the seat of wisdom; the hands, the instruments of action: both are cut off, to show that he had neither wisdom nor strength to defend himself nor his worshippers. Thus the priests, by concealing Dagon’s shame before, make it more evident and infamous.” (Poole)
So, remember to send God to your enemies camp(Satan), so that he can destroy Devil and his followers and their schemes, by revealing his own great power and strength like he showed to the Pharoah and the peoples of Philistines.
Source: David Guzik