Idols Fall Before the LORD

1 Samuel 5:1-12
    1 Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. 2 When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon and set it by Dagon. 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. 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 was left of it. 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. 6 But the hand of the LORD was heavy on the people of Ashdod, and He ravaged them and struck them with tumors, both Ashdod and its territory. 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.” 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. 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.
    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!” 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. 12 And the men who did not die were stricken with the tumors, and the cry of the city went up to heaven.

The idolatrous Philistines who defeated Israel, who had left their first love, now encountered the results of God’s presence of holiness and sovereign authority.  They dared bring the Ark of the Testimony of the LORD’s covenant with His chosen people into a pagan temple of the idol Dagon (fish), a Philistine deity of fertility which had the face and hands of a man and the tail of a fish.  God was not mocked by such irreverence, and the morning light found the idol flopped face first on the ground and pointed towards the Ark as if bowing down to the Lord.  They set the lifeless statue again before the Ark as if over the LORD, and this time the stone was broken at the head and hands, as of to show it had no life or ability to do anything as a lifeless idol (Habakkuk 2:18-19, Psalm 115:4-8).  The Philistines suffered with physical ailments as well, and then were so afraid they sent the Ark away before more judgement came upon them.  They even had their priests avoid stepping where their statue fell dead in their temple.  But where they sent the Ark suffered the same afflictions and led to Ekron where they refused to suffer under the hand of the LORD as the others, demanding that it be given back to God’s people rather than suffer destruction at His hands.  The text says that their cry went up to heaven, it rose to the sky as if to some empty hope in a false diety.  They did not know nor seek the true God for deliverance.  Even today those who worship other false gods and idols of their own creation refuse to acknowledge or bow to the Creator and Sovereign Lord who made them, choosing to escape His presence or send away those of His New Covenant in Jesus the Christ.  They fear the suffering but refuse to acknowledge it is just judgement for false worship.  In the end we knew that everyone will bow to Him and confess who He is (Isaiah 45:22-24, Philippians 2:10-11), the only God and Lord of all. Merely removing the Bible or believers from the temples of learning or academia will never remove accountability to the Lord nor His authority over them.  It only keeps them without head and hands like the dumb fish idol to be able to think and act in obedient acknowledgement and resulting worship of their Lord and Master.  All of man’s idols put before Him will fall before Him.