Chapter 5

1 Now the Philistines had captured the ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. 2 The Philistines took the ark of God and brought it into the temple of Dagon, where they positioned it beside Dagon. 3 When the residents of Ashdod got up early the next day, Dagon was lying on the ground before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and set him back in his place. 4 But when they got up early the following day, Dagon was again lying on the ground before the ark of the Lord. The head of Dagon and his two hands were sheared off⁠ and were lying at the threshold.⁠ Only Dagon’s body was left intact. 5 (For this reason, to this very day, neither Dagon’s priests nor anyone else who enters Dagon’s temple steps on Dagon’s threshold in Ashdod.)⁠ 6 The Lord attacked the residents of Ashdod severely, bringing devastation on them. He struck the people of both Ashdod and the surrounding area with sores.⁠ 7 When the people of Ashdod saw what was happening, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel should not remain with us, for he has attacked both us and our god Dagon!” 8 So they assembled all the leaders of the Philistines and asked, “What should we do with the ark of the God of Israel?” They replied, “The ark of the God of Israel should be moved to Gath.” So they moved the ark of the God of Israel. 9 But after it had been moved the Lord attacked that city as well, causing a great deal of panic. He struck all the people of that city with sores. 10 So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. But when the ark of God arrived at Ekron, the residents of Ekron cried out saying, “They have brought the ark of the God of Israel here to kill our people!” 11 So they assembled all the leaders of the Philistines and said, “Get the ark of the God of Israel out of here! Let it go back to its own place so that it won’t kill us and our people!” The terror of death was throughout the entire city; God was attacking them very severely there. 12 The people who did not die were struck with sores; the city’s cry for help went all the way up to heaven.

Texts in conversation

Compare 1 Samuel 5:5 and Zephaniah 1:9

Hebrew Bible

Summary

Zephaniah condemns those who cross thresholds, a phrase that may refer to 1 Samuel 5 where Dagon’s priests avoided the temple threshold after the idol fell. That story may show how the idiom began, and Zephaniah uses it to criticize ritual practice.

Passages

1 Samuel 5:5

Hebrew Bible

3 When the residents of Ashdod got up early the next day, Dagon was lying on the ground before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and set him back in his place. 4 But when they got up early the following day, Dagon was again lying on the ground before the ark of the Lord. The head of Dagon and his two hands were sheared off and were lying at the threshold. Only Dagon’s body was left intact. 5 (For this reason, to this very day, neither Dagon’s priests nor anyone else who enters Dagon’s temple steps on Dagon’s threshold in Ashdod.) 6 The Lord attacked the residents of Ashdod severely, bringing devastation on them. He struck the people of both Ashdod and the surrounding area with sores. 7 When the people of Ashdod saw what was happening, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel should not remain with us, for he has attacked both us and our god Dagon!”

600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Samuel

Zephaniah 1:9

Hebrew Bible

7 Be silent before the Sovereign Lord, for the Lord’s day of judgment is almost here. The Lord has prepared a sacrificial meal; he has ritually purified his guests. 8 “On the day of the Lord’s sacrificial meal, I will punish the princes and the king’s sons, and all who wear foreign styles of clothing. 9 On that day I will punish all who leap over the threshold, who fill the house of their master with wealth taken by violence and deceit. 10 On that day,” says the Lord, “a loud cry will go up from the Fish Gate, wailing from the city’s newer district, and a loud crash from the hills. 11 Wail, you who live in the market district, for all the merchants will disappear and those who count money will be removed.

600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Zephaniah

References

"... The first reference to a cherub in the book of Ezekiel occurs in the middle of the prophet’s vision of Yahweh abandoning his temple (Ezekiel 8:1–11:25) in Ezekiel 9:3 ... The verse can be translated provisionally as follows: “And the glory of the god of Israel went up from upon the cherub, upon which it had been, to the miphtan of the house.” (This is usually translated “threshold”. Zimmerli has highlighted the use of the noun in 1 Samuel 5:4. In this passage, the head and hands of the Philistine god, Dagon, are found near the miphtan. This has caused Zimmerli to argue that the miphtan must refer to an entrance in the inner part of the temple and postulates that the term refers to the podium for the image of the deity. However, the taboo of treading on the miphtan of Dagon in 1 Samuel 5:5 - also see Zephaniah 1:9–10 - does indicate that it was close to the ground. There is a possible parallel between the miphtan and the gate of Dagon in Zephaniah 1:9–10, which does suggest that it was the threshold to the sanctuary. The term has been left transliterated) ..."

Alice Wood, Of Wings and Wheels: A Synthetic Study of the Biblical Cherubim (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2008), 95.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

1 Samuel31 chapters

Compare 1 Samuel 5:5 and Zephaniah 1:9

Summary

Passages

1 Samuel 5:5

Zephaniah 1:9

References

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