“I Am the Lord!”

1 When the Philistines captured the ark of God, they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. 2 Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it into the house of Dagon and set it up beside Dagon. 3 And when the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and put him back in his place. 4 But when they rose early on the next morning, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the Lord, and the head of Dagon and both his hands were lying cut off on the threshold. Only the trunk of Dagon was left to him. 5 This is why the priests of Dagon and all who enter the house of Dagon do not tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day.

6 The hand of the Lord was heavy against the people of Ashdod, and he terrified and afflicted them with tumors, both Ashdod and its territory. 7 And when the men of Ashdod saw how things were, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for his hand is hard against us and against Dagon our god.” 8 So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?” They answered, “Let the ark of the God of Israel be brought around to Gath.” So they brought the ark of the God of Israel there. 9 But after they had brought it around, the hand of the Lord was against the city, causing a very great panic, and he afflicted the men of the city, both young and old, so that tumors broke out on them. 10 So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. But as soon as the ark of God came to Ekron, the people of Ekron cried out, “They have brought around to us the ark of the God of Israel to kill us and our people.” 11 They sent therefore and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines and said, “Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it return to its own place, that it may not kill us and our people.” For there was a deathly panic throughout the whole city. The hand of God was very heavy there. 12 The men who did not die were struck with tumors, and the cry of the city went up to heaven. – 1 Samuel 5:1-12 ESV

The Philistines got what they wanted: A lop-sided victory over the Israelites and, as an added bonus, the capture of the enemy’s gold-covered idol. The superstitious and idolatrous Philistines recognized the ark as an Israelite deity. When they had witnessed its arrival in the Israelite camp, the Philistines had taken notice.

…when they learned that the ark of the Lord had come to the camp, the Philistines were afraid, for they said, “A god has come into the camp.” – 1 Samuel 4:6-7 ESV

The polytheistic Philistines worshiped three different gods: Ashtoreth, Dagon, and Baal-Zebub. The Philistines made a habit of carrying images of their deities into battle (2 Samuel 5:21), so it was no surprise to them when the Israelites did the same thing. But they weren’t exactly pleased by the news.

“Woe to us! For nothing like this has happened before. Woe to us! Who can deliver us from the power of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with every sort of plague in the wilderness.” – 1 Samuel 4:7-8 ESV

Yet, their fears proved to be unfounded as they easily routed the enemy and captured the Israelite god. They returned to Ashdod with the ark in tow and placed it in the temple of their god, Dagon. It’s unclear whether they meant for the ark to be an offering to their own god or if they were equal opportunity idolaters who intended to add the Israelite god to their pantheon of pagan deities.

But whatever their reason for placing the ark in the temple of Dagon, they woke up to find that their deity was lying prostrate before the golden ark of the covenant. During the night, the statue of their “father of the gods” had fallen from its pedestal and was face-down before the Israelite “god.” This unexpected scene must have shocked the superstitious Philistines but they quickly remedied the problem by returning their god to his upright position.

This scene brings to mind a passage from the Book of Isaiah in which God ridicules the pathetic practice of idolatry.

“To whom will you compare me?
    Who is my equal?
Some people pour out their silver and gold
    and hire a craftsman to make a god from it.
    Then they bow down and worship it!
They carry it around on their shoulders,
    and when they set it down, it stays there.
    It can’t even move!
And when someone prays to it, there is no answer.
    It can’t rescue anyone from trouble.” – Isaiah 46:5-7 NLT

God pulled no punches when discussing His disdain for these man-made substitutes for Him.

“How foolish are those who manufacture idols.
    These prized objects are really worthless.
The people who worship idols don’t know this,
    so they are all put to shame.
Who but a fool would make his own god—
    an idol that cannot help him one bit?
All who worship idols will be disgraced
    along with all these craftsmen—mere humans—
    who claim they can make a god.” – Isaiah 44:9-11 NLT

“Such stupidity and ignorance!
    Their eyes are closed, and they cannot see.
    Their minds are shut, and they cannot think.
The person who made the idol never stops to reflect,
    ‘Why, it’s just a block of wood!
I burned half of it for heat
    and used it to bake my bread and roast my meat.
How can the rest of it be a god?
    Should I bow down to worship a piece of wood?’” – Isaiah 44:18-19 NLT

While it’s likely the Philistines questioned how their god had fallen, they were forced to help him get back on his feet. Having successfully returned their fallen deity to his place of prominence in his own temple, the Philistines went about their business. The next morning, the priests of Dagon returned to find their god had taken another unexpected spill during the night. This time, far more than their god’s reputation had been damaged.

Dagon had fallen face down before the Ark of the Lord again. This time his head and hands had broken off and were lying in the doorway. Only the trunk of his body was left intact. – 1 Samuel 5:4 NLT

And things were about to get worse for the people of Ashdod. Samuel records, “The hand of the Lord was heavy against the people of Ashdod” (1 Samuel 5:8 ESV). He intentionally uses the Hebrew word kāḇaḏ, which is the root word from which the Hebrew word for “glory” (kāḇôḏ) is derived. The glorious God of Israel was throwing His “weight” around and demonstrating that Dagon was no match for Him. While Dagon’s hands had been sheered off during his fall, the hand of the Lord came down hard on the citizens of Ashdod. He “struck the people of Ashdod and the nearby villages with a plague of tumors” (1 Samuel 5:6 NLT), and their god was powerless to do anything about it.

Terrified by the prospect of further acts of vengeance from the Israelite god, the Philistines voted to remove the ark and transport it to another Philistine city. Like an ancient game of hot potato, the citizens of Ashdod sent the ark packing and unknowingly transferred their pain to the unsuspecting people of Gath.

But when the Ark arrived at Gath, the Lord’s heavy hand fell on its men, young and old; he struck them with a plague of tumors, and there was a great panic. – 1 Samuel 6:9 NLT

The Gathites were quick to react and sent the ark to Ekron, hoping its departure would appease the wrath of the Israelite god. But the ark’s reputation preceded it and the people of Ekron refused to let it anywhere near their city. Instead, they demanded that the ark be returned to the Israelites.

“Please send the Ark of the God of Israel back to its own country, or it will kill us all.” – 1 Samuel 5:11 NLT

The hand of the Lord was heavy. His glory was too great. His sovereign power was on full display as He divinely orchestrated every aspect of this story, from the defeat of the Israelites to the desecration of the false god of the Philistines. From the shattering of Dagon’s hands to the outbreak of the deadly tumors, God was demonstrating His glory and greatness. The Israelites may have lost the battle, but their God was going to win the war. The enemy may have captured the ark, but they couldn’t control the all-powerful God of the universe.

The Philistines had already developed a healthy fear of the Israelite’s god.

“We can’t keep the Ark of the God of Israel here any longer! He is against us! We will all be destroyed along with Dagon, our god.” – 1 Samuel 5:7 NLT

…the deadly plague from God had already begun, and great fear was sweeping across the town. – 1 Samuel 5:11 NLT

Now, it was time for the Israelites to open their eyes and embrace the superior nature of their sovereign God. This entire story is intended to be a wakeup call to the disobedient Israelites, reminding them of His glory and unparalleled power. When news of His heavy-handed treatment of the Philistines reaches the ears of the Israelites and their missing ark is returned, they will know the truth about their God. He will have proven the very words recorded by the prophet Isaiah.

“I am the Lord, who made all things.
    I alone stretched out the heavens.
Who was with me
    when I made the earth?
I expose the false prophets as liars
    and make fools of fortune-tellers.
I cause the wise to give bad advice,
    thus proving them to be fools.” – Isaiah 44:24-25 NLT

“I am the Lord;
    there is no other God.
I have equipped you for battle,
    though you don’t even know me,
so all the world from east to west
    will know there is no other God.
I am the Lord, and there is no other.
   I create the light and make the darkness.
I send good times and bad times.
    I, the Lord, am the one who does these things.” – Isaiah 46:5-7 NLT

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Lord Their God

4 For Gaza shall be deserted,
    and Ashkelon shall become a desolation;
Ashdod’s people shall be driven out at noon,
    and Ekron shall be uprooted.

5 Woe to you inhabitants of the seacoast,
    you nation of the Cherethites!
The word of the Lord is against you,
    O Canaan, land of the Philistines;
    and I will destroy you until no inhabitant is left.
6 And you, O seacoast, shall be pastures,
    with meadows for shepherds
    and folds for flocks.
7 The seacoast shall become the possession
    of the remnant of the house of Judah,
    on which they shall graze,
and in the houses of Ashkelon
    they shall lie down at evening.
For the Lord their God will be mindful of them
    and restore their fortunes. – Zephaniah 2:4-7 ESV

God now turns His attention to the nations surrounding Judah. He has already warned that one aspect of the great day of the Lord will be His judgment of all humanity. He will “cut off mankind from the face of the earth” (Zephaniah 1:3 ESV).

Judah must face its future judgment, but God is not going to overlook the sins of the rest of mankind. And in this passage, He will point out five different nations that surround Judah and outline His plans for their future demise. Located north, south, east, and west of Judah, these neighboring countries become surrogates or stand-ins for all the nations of the earth. While they could not claim to be the people of God, they will still experience the judgment of God.

Each of them is marked by the worship of false gods represented by a litany of fabricated idols, the byproduct of man’s fertile imagination and creative capabilities. As the psalmist points out, they are not gods at all, and stand in stark contrast to the God of the universe.

For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols,
    but the Lord made the heavens.
Splendor and majesty are before him;
    strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.

Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples,
    ascribe to the Lord glory and strength!
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
    bring an offering, and come into his courts!
Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness;
    tremble before him, all the earth!

Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!
    Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved;
    he will judge the peoples with equity.” – Psalm 96:5-10 ESV

The one true God will judge all the people and nations who have chosen to worship their many false gods while ignoring His invisible, yet undeniable attributes. 

For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. – Romans 1:20-23 ESV

They will all answer for the same sin: Their rejection of God as the one true God.

And Zephaniah begins by listing four cities located in the region of Philistia, located just to the west of Judah: Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, and Ekron.  Except for Ekron, these are all coastal cities, providing access to the Mediterranean Sea. It is believed that the Philistines originated from the island of Crete (Caphtor) and migrated to the western coast of Canaan.

Their name derives from the Hebrew word Philistia. In Greek, that word became palaistinei, and it is why the land of Canaan is sometimes referred to as Palestine. The Philistines are sometimes referred to as the “Sea Peoples” because of their close ties with and dependence upon the sea. Their ships would have plied the waters of the Mediterranean, making the inhabitants of the ports of Gaza, Ashkelon, and Ashdod quite profitable. Each of the cities mentioned in verse four were governed by a “king” or “lord.” They were independent and autonomous realms, but when the need arose, the kings would form alliances in order to defend their lands or attack their common enemies.

Yet, God pronounces judgment on these five cities, addressing them indirectly, but very specifically.

Gaza shall be deserted (`azab – forsaken, abandoned)
Ashkelon shall become a desolation (shĕmamah – devastation, waste)
Ashdod's people shall be driven out at noon (garash –cast out, expelled)
Ekron shall be uprooted (`aqar – plucked up, rooted out)

The news is not good. Even the prophet Jeremiah wrote of God’s coming judgment against the Philistines.

For the time has come
to destroy all the Philistines.
The time has come to destroy all the help
that remains for Tyre and Sidon.
For I, the Lord, will destroy the Philistines,
that remnant that came from the island of Crete. – Jeremiah 47:4 NET

These “inhabitants of the seacoast” were going to discover the unmistakable and inescapable severity of God’s righteous wrath.

The word of the Lord is against you,
    O Canaan, land of the Philistines;
    and I will destroy you until no inhabitant is left. – Zephaniah 2:5 ESV

These are words that warn of annihilation, not just discipline. God was not going to punish them. He was going to eliminate them altogether. 

And it is only natural to question the reasoning behind God’s harsh treatment of these people. What had they done to deserve such drastic judgment at the hand of God? For nearly two centuries, the Philistines had played a major role in the lives of God’s people, using their advanced weaponry and superior military power to harass and hinder the Israelites in their quest to possess the land given to them by God as an inheritance.

Through the prophet, Amos, God provided further proof of the Philistines’ guilt and well-deserved judgment.

“The people of Gaza have sinned again and again,
    and I will not let them go unpunished!
They sent whole villages into exile,
    selling them as slaves to Edom.
So I will send down fire on the walls of Gaza,
    and all its fortresses will be destroyed.
I will slaughter the people of Ashdod
    and destroy the king of Ashkelon.
Then I will turn to attack Ekron,
    and the few Philistines still left will be killed,”
    says the Sovereign Lord. – Amos 1:6-8 NLT

And Ezekiel records more divine justification for the Philistines’ destruction, directly from the lips of God Himself.

“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: The people of Philistia have acted against Judah out of bitter revenge and long-standing contempt. Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will raise my fist of judgment against the land of the Philistines. I will wipe out the Kerethites and utterly destroy the people who live by the sea. I will execute terrible vengeance against them to punish them for what they have done. And when I have inflicted my revenge, they will know that I am the Lord.” – Ezekiel 25:15-17 NLT

The day would come when their coastal communities would become inhabited by Israelite shepherds, grazing their flocks on pasturelands that had formerly been the sites of prominent and powerful Philistine cities. God will remove the Philistines and replace them with the remnant of His chosen people.

The remnant of the tribe of Judah will pasture there. – Zephaniah 2:7 NLT

And this remnant will find shelter in the abandoned homes of the former residents of Ashkelon. The image of shepherds pasturing their flocks carries the idea of peace, tranquility, safety, and security. The day will come when a remnant of God’s people will once again occupy the land of Canaan. But on that day, they will no longer have to deal with the Philistines, Moabites, Ammonites, and all the other pagan residents of the land. These nations had become thorns in their sides and their false gods had become a constant snare to the people of God (Judges 2:3).

God is not done. His redemptive plan is not quite completed. His Son came and died on the cross in order to pay for the sins of mankind. But He must return. He has to come back again and complete the final stage of His Father’s divine will for the restoration of creation and the redemption of a remnant of sinful humanity.

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Message (MSG)Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson