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1 Samuel 5 Bible study: The LORD's hand was heavy
Dagon fell before the LORD's ark twice, and the second time his head and the palms of his hands lay cut off on the threshold (5:4). Two verses later "the LORD’s hand was heavy" on Ashdod (5:6). In Hebrew hands and hand are one word, yad, and in the whole chapter no Israelite lifts one.
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“When the people of Ashdod arose early on the next day, behold, Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before the LORD’s ark. They took Dagon and set him in his place again.”
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“In 1 Samuel 5, Dagon was found fallen before the LORD's ark on two mornings.”
Is that in 1 Samuel 5, or not? Make your call.
What's really going on
Before the LORD's ark
"Now the Philistines had taken God’s ark, and they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod" (5:1). They "brought it into the house of Dagon and set it by Dagon" (5:2). The chapter doesn't say why they set it there. "When the people of Ashdod arose early on the next day, behold, Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before the LORD’s ark" (5:3) (tap fallen). "They took Dagon and set him in his place again" (5:3). The next morning they found him the same way, and more: "the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off on the threshold. Only Dagon’s torso was intact" (5:4) (tap threshold). The chapter doesn't say who did it or how. It says where he lay: "before the LORD’s ark" (5:3, 5:4). In the whole chapter no Israelite speaks or acts.
Where it leads to Jesus
One God, and one Lord
1 Samuel 5:3leads to1 Corinthians 8:6
"Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before the LORD’s ark" (5:3), and the men of Ashdod said, "his hand is severe on us and on Dagon our god" (5:7). Writing "concerning the eating of things sacrificed to idols", Paul says, "we know that no idol is anything in the world, and that there is no other God but one" (1 Corinthians 8:4), and "yet to us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we live through him" (1 Corinthians 8:6). The New Testament doesn't cite 1 Samuel 5, so setting them side by side is a reading. Some read the chapter as showing in a story what Paul states: there is no other God but one. Others read each in its own setting: Paul is writing about eating things sacrificed to idols and goes on to care for "the weak" (1 Corinthians 8:9), while 1 Samuel 5 tells of the LORD's hand on the cities of the Philistines.
Honest questions
Questions people ask about 1 Samuel 5
That was a taste
The rest of 1 Samuel 5 is waiting in Favor
- Dagon's hands, and the LORD's hand
- Ashdod, Gath, Ekron
- Dagon, from Judges to Ashdod
- The hand that struck Egypt
- 8 questions as you read
- 10 more Hebrew words
- A short check at the end
- Your notes, saved as you go
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The Hebrew word behind it
יָדyadsay YAD
Brown-Driver-Briggs: "hand", and "Fig. = strength, power". Strong's: "a hand". The chapter uses it five times. The second morning, "the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off on the threshold" (5:4). Then "the LORD’s hand was heavy on the people of Ashdod" (5:6); the men of Ashdod said, "his hand is severe on us and on Dagon our god" (5:7); at Gath, "the LORD’s hand was against the city" (5:9); and at Ekron, "The hand of God was very heavy there" (5:11). The Philistines had asked in the chapter before, "Who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods?" (4:8). The next chapter keeps asking about his hand (6:3, 6:5, 6:9), and two chapters on, "The LORD’s hand was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel" (7:13).
For your group
1 Samuel 5 Bible study questions
- 1After Dagon fell, the people of Ashdod "set him in his place again" (5:3). What do you keep propping back up in your life, even after it has let you down?
- 2The men of Ashdod said, "The ark of the God of Israel shall not stay with us" (5:7). Why do you think people push God away when he comes close, instead of turning to him?
- 3In this chapter no one from Israel lifts a hand; it is "the LORD’s hand" that is heavy on Ashdod (5:6). Where do you need to trust God to act in something you can't change yourself?
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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home