Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Samuel 5:5
Therefore neither the priests of Dagon, nor any that come into Dagon’s house, tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day.
5. Therefore neither the priests, &c.] As a mark of reverence for the spot where their idol had lain. Zep 1:9 does not appear to contain any reference to this practice, which was peculiar to the temple at Ashdod.
unto this day ] The practice was still observed when the historian wrote.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
This custom still existed among the worshippers of Dagon so late as the reign of Josiah (see the marginal reference).
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 5. Tread on the threshold] Because the arms, c., of Dagon were broken off by his fall on the threshold, the threshold became sacred, and neither his priests nor worshippers ever tread on the threshold. Thus it was ordered, in the Divine providence, that, by a religious custom of their own, they should perpetuate their disgrace, the insufficiency of their worship, and the superiority of the God of Israel.
It is supposed that the idolatrous Israelites, in the time of Zephaniah, had adopted the worship of Dagon: and that in this sense 1Sa 1:9 is to be understood: In the same day will I punish all those who leap upon the threshold. In order to go into such temples, and not tread on the threshold, the people must step or leap over them and in this way the above passage may be understood. Indeed, the thresholds of the temples in various places were deemed so sacred that the people were accustomed to fall down and kiss them. When Christianity became corrupted, this adoration of the thresholds of the churches took place.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Out of a religious reverence, supposing this place to be sanctified, by the touch of their god, who first fell here, and being broken here, touched it more thoroughly than he did other parts. This superstition of theirs was noted and censured long after, Zep 1:9. Herein they manifested their stupendous folly, both in making a perpetual monument of their own and idols shame, which in all reason they should rather have buried in eternal oblivion; and in turning a plain and certain argument of contempt into an occasion of further veneration.
Unto this day; When this history was written, which if written by Samuel towards the end of his life, was a sufficient ground for this expression, this superstitious usage having then continued for many years.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
5. Therefore neither the priests . .. nor any . . . tread on the threshold of DagonA superstitiousceremony crept in, and in the providence of God was continued, bywhich the Philistines contributed to publish this proof of thehelplessness of their god.
unto this dayThe usagecontinued in practice at the time when this history waswrittenprobably in the later years of Samuel’s life.
1Sa5:6-12. THEPHILISTINES ARESMITTEN WITH EMERODS.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
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, Zep 1:9. In later times there was another deity worshipped at Ashdod; according to Masius s, the Philistine Venus, or Astarte, was worshipped in this place; though perhaps she may be no other than Atergatis, or Adergatis, which with Selden t 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 1Sa 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 comments on Jud 16:23].
s Comment. in Jos. xv. 47. t De Dis. Syr. Syntagu. l. 2. c. 3. p. 267.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(5) Unto this day.This curious memory of the disaster to the Dagon image in this Philistine temple at Ashdod long existed among the worshippers of the fish-god. Zephaniah (1Sa. 1:9), in the reign of King Josiah, mentions this among idolatrous observances which he condemns: In the same day I will punish all those that leap on (or over) the threshold.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
5. Neither the priests of Dagon, nor any tread on the threshold They deemed that place, on which the nobler portions of their god had fallen, a spot too holy for human feet to press. Here behold the blind infatuation of idolatry! They should have acknowledged Dagon’s nothingness before Jehovah, and have said that his head and hands, after such disgrace, were only to be trodden under foot, like the threshold of a door; but they only make this disgrace of their idol an occasion of plunging into deeper superstition.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Sa 5:5 Therefore neither the priests of Dagon, nor any that come into Dagon’s house, tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day.
Ver. 5. Therefore neither the priests of Dagon, &c. ] This they did either by way of veneration, as accounting the threshold sanctified by the touch of their idol. The Papists at this day, by a like superstition, refrain from treading on that part of mount Garganam, where the print of Michael the archangel’s foot is to be seen in marble. a Or else by way of detestation, as thinking that it was the falling of their idol upon that unhappy threshold that had dashed it in pieces. Like as the old Romans declined the dismal gate, b as they called it, because three hundred gentlemen going out thereat to fight with some neighbouring enemies perished; and the Pope in his solemn procession shunneth that street in Rome where Pope Joan was delivered, as some report of them. A. Lapide upon this text telleth us out of Tertullian, that the pagans kissed the thresholds of their temples: and in addition, that his papagans do at this day kiss the threshold of Peter’s church in Rome, when they enter into it.
a Pet. Martyr.
b Porta Scelerata.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
neither: Psa 115:4-7, Psa 135:15-18
tread: Jos 5:15, Zep 1:9
Reciprocal: Gen 32:32 – eat not Exo 20:23 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
5:5 Therefore neither the priests of Dagon, nor any that come into Dagon’s house, {c} tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day.
(c) Thus instead of acknowledging the true God by this miracle, they fall into greater superstition.