1 Samuel 5:1-12 - Inappropriate Appropriation of God

1 Samuel 5:1-12

The Philistines and the Ark

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.

This capture and absconding of the Ark of God’s Covenant with the people of the LORD by the ungodly solely in an attempt to gain His power to get national and personal victory ended badly because it was an inappropriate appropriation of God’s presence and power represented by the place of meeting Him and storing His word there.  They imagined that a holy relic gave them power as they saw demonstrated for the people of God, not realizing that the power was of God (Psalm 68:35) and not them, just as in the second covenant of grace with we who are in Christ are in His power and strength (1 Corinthians 1:18, 4:20, 2:4-5) of the word of the gospel of truth and not in any holy relic (Romans 1:23, 1 Thessalonians 1:9, 1 Corinthians 10:14, 1 John 5:21) as some erroneously have put false hope into over the centuries under the guise of religious power.  These Philistines took the ark of God to Ashdod into the house of the idol god Dagon and reaped the consequences of their error in misappropriating the LORD as if He was in the box of the Ark and would lend them some power by possessing it.  They could not understand that the Ark was part of a holy place where He met the high priest to atone for sins, not a magic source of grace or deliverance of itself.  It contained the word of God and other reminders of His work for the people of God, but it was also condemnation for the ungodly and these suffered cancerous afflictions for their blasphemy.  The result was the dismemberment of their lifeless Dagon statue idol and led them to passing the Ark off to Gath where there was further great destruction, and then to the Ekronites to stop the further suffering of the afflictions at the hand of God’s judgment on them for their inappropriate appropriation of this place from the house of the holy.  The Ekronites had the good sense and fear of the LORD to reject the present and told their rulers to send it back where it belonged after also suffering destruction and disease by unholy possession of the holy things of God.  This is a warning still to reject making objects of worship to replace the Lord and His word and work which physical objects are made only to remind us of, not to become or replace true worship (John 4:23, Acts 14:15, 17:24, 25) in spirit and truth.  We are called therefore to just say ‘no’ to holy relics and bowing to other idols, and instead just worship the Lord according to His word.  Appropriate appropriation of God is through the person and work of His Son alone in whom is all wisdom and power (1 Corinthians 1:24, Revelation 5:12, 7:12) and victory.  Keep yourselves from idols.