Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Samuel 5:3

And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon [was] fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the LORD. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again.

3. Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth ] In the attitude of homage to the ark. Jehovah does not leave the Philistines to fancy that their god has conquered Him. He will shew that He is “the living God.” “The idols shall be moved at his presence” (Isa 19:1).

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Verse 3. They of Ashdod arose early on the morrow] Probably to perform some act of their superstition in the temple of their idol.

Dagon was fallen upon his face] This was one proof, which they little expected, of the superiority of the God of Israel.

Set him in his place again.] Supposing his fall might have been merely accidental.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

They of Ashdod, i.e. the priests of Dagon.

Arose early on the morrow; either to worship Dagon according to their manner, or being curious and greedy to know whether the neighbourhood of the ark to Dagon had made any alteration in either of them, that if Dagon had received any damage, they might, if possibly they could, repair it, before it came to the peoples knowledge, as indeed they did, to prevent their contempt of that idol, by which the priests had all their reputation and advantage.

Set him in his place again; supposing or pretending that his fall was wholly casual.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

3, 4. they of Ashdod aroseearlyThey were filled with consternation when they found theobject of their stupid veneration prostrate before the symbol of thedivine presence. Though set up, it fell again, and lay in a state ofcomplete mutilation; its head and arms, severed from the trunk, werelying in distant and separate places, as if violently cast off, andonly the fishy part remained. The degradation of their idol, thoughconcealed by the priests on the former occasion, was now moremanifest and infamous. It lay in the attitude of a vanquished enemyand a suppliant, and this picture of humiliation significantlydeclared the superiority of the God of Israel.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, e.] 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.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

The next morning the Ashdodites found Dagon lying on his face upon the ground before the ark of Jehovah, and restored him to his place again, evidently supposing that the idol had fallen or been thrown down by some accident.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

(3) Dagon was fallen upon his face.This Dagon was one of the chief Philistine deities, and had temples not only in Ashdod and in Gaza, but in the cities of Philistia. (See St. Jerome on Isa. 46:1.) The idol had a human head and hands, and the body of a fish. Philo derives the word Dagon from dagan, corn, and supposes the worship to have been connected with Nature worship. The true derivation, however, is from Dag, a fish, which represents the sea from which the Philistines drew their wealth and power. In one of the bas-reliefs discovered at Khorsabad, and which, Layard states, represents the war of an Assyrian kingprobably Sargonwith the inhabitants of the coast of Syria, 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 re sembling 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.

There can be hardly any doubt, argues Keil, that we have here a representation of the Philistine Dagon. 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.
This strange image the men of Ashdod, on the morrow of their triumphal offering of the Ark of the Lord before the idol shrine, found prostrate on the temple floor, before the desecrated sacred coffer of the Israelites.
They at once assumed that this had taken place owing to some accident, and they raised again the image to its place.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

3. Dagon fallen upon his face before the ark Not only will Jehovah not give his glory to another, nor his praise to graven images, but he will make idols themselves fall before him, (comp. Isa 19:1; Isa 46:1-2,) and thereby proclaim that he alone is God.

Set him in his place again Not knowing the cause of his fall, but perhaps supposing that it was by accident. How dim and low their notions of Deity!

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

(3) And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the LORD. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again.

Had the men of Ashdod only considered this as a supernatural work, instantly they must have seen in it the finger of God.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

1Sa 5:3 And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon [was] fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the LORD. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again.

Ver. 3. And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, ] viz., To their devotions, the fittest time for which the heathens generally held to be the top of the morning: for they thought that the gods sat in their temples, and waited for their morning salutations.

Behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth. ] Before the Lord, who seemed to be asleep all this while, as David elegantly speaketh in Psa 78:65-66 , but now showeth his power, by beating Dagon upon his own dunghill, and smiting his worshippers on their hinder parts, paying their posteriors, as men use to deal by puny boys.

Before the ark of the Lord. ] Who endureth not a co-rival. There is a tradition, that when the child Jesus came into Egypt, all the idols of that nation fell to the ground: according to that of the psalmist, “Worship him, all ye gods.” Sure it is, that when Christ, of whom the ark was a type, came in the flesh and sent abroad the gospel, thereby “bringing life and immortality to light,” the oracles of Apollo and other heathen idols ceased. Plutarch sweateth in giving some fond reasons of that sudden deep silence among their deities: but the truth is, Christ was “come a light into the world, that whosoever believed on him should not abide in darkness.” Joh 12:46

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

the morrow. Septuagint adds “and entered into the house of Dagon, they looked and “behold, &c. behold. Figure of speech Asterismos. App-6.

the LORD. Hebrew. Jehovah. in contrast with Dagon. App-4.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Dagon was: Exo 12:12, Psa 97:7, Isa 19:1, Isa 46:1, Isa 46:2, Zep 2:11, Mar 3:11, Luk 10:18-20, 2Co 6:14-16

set him: Isa 19:1, Isa 40:20, Isa 41:7, Isa 44:17-20, Isa 46:1, Isa 46:2, Isa 46:7, Jer 10:8

Reciprocal: 1Sa 5:7 – upon Dagon our god 1Sa 6:1 – the ark 1Sa 6:5 – off your 1Sa 11:14 – renew Isa 41:6 – helped Isa 44:11 – all his Jer 22:28 – a despised Jer 48:13 – ashamed Act 19:28 – and cried

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge