1 Samuel 5

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The narrative opens without transition from Israel's catastrophe in chapter 4. The Ark of God — the throne of the LORD's presence — is now in Philistine hands. The place name Ebenezer ('stone of help') carries bitter irony: the place named for divine help has become the site of divine absence. Ashdod was one of the five principal Philistine cities and home to a major temple of Dagon.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The verb yatstsigu ('they set, stationed') implies deliberate placement as a trophy. In ancient warfare, capturing an enemy's cult object and displaying it in your own temple was a declaration that your god had defeated theirs. The Philistines are performing standard victory theology — and the narrator lets the reader feel the full weight of the insult before God responds.
2. Beit Dagon ('house/temple of Dagon') — Dagon was the chief deity of the Philistine pentapolis, likely a grain or fertility god. The name may derive from dagan ('grain') rather than dag ('fish'), though later tradition associated him with a fish-form.

Translator Notes

1. The phrase nofel lefanav artsah lifnei aron YHWH ('fallen on his face to the ground before the Ark of the LORD') uses the vocabulary of worship prostration. The narrator presents the scene with theological precision: the conquered idol lies face-down before the Ark — the posture of submission, not accident. The people of Ashdod restore Dagon to his place, attempting to reassert their theology, but the next morning will prove the first fall was no coincidence.
2. Note the shift from 'Ark of God' (aron ha'Elohim) in verses 1-2 to 'Ark of the LORD' (aron YHWH) here. When God acts in power, the narrator uses the covenant name YHWH.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The verb kerutot ('cut off') is a passive participle suggesting deliberate severance, not accidental breakage. The head and palms are specifically named because they represent a deity's two essential functions: the head for wisdom and authority, the hands for power and action. Without them, the idol is literally incapable of anything — it can neither think nor do.
2. The phrase raq dagon nish'ar alav ('only the dagon remained on/of him') is ambiguous. Dagon here may refer to the trunk/torso of the idol, or it may be a wordplay on dag ('fish'), suggesting a fish-shaped lower body. The KJV renders 'the stump of Dagon'; we use 'trunk' to convey the torso without importing the fish interpretation, which remains uncertain.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. This etiological note explains a living Philistine custom: priests and worshipers leap over the threshold rather than step on it. The narrator ties a known practice to Dagon's humiliation — every time a Philistine avoids that threshold, they unknowingly reenact their god's defeat. The phrase ad hayom hazeh ('to this day') anchors the narrative in the audience's observable reality.
2. The verb yidrekhu ('they tread, step on') from the root d-r-k can also mean 'to march upon' or 'to dominate.' The priests will not even place their feet on the spot where their god was dismembered — they treat the threshold as contaminated ground, though the narrator implies the contamination is Dagon's shame, not holiness.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The phrase vattichbad yad YHWH ('the hand of the LORD was heavy') echoes Exodus 9:3 where God's hand strikes Egypt's livestock. The verb kavad ('to be heavy') is the same root as kavod ('glory, weight'). The hand that carries glory also carries judgment — the weight of divine presence is unbearable for those who oppose it.
2. The Ketiv reads ba'ofalim (עֹפָלִים, 'tumors, swellings'), while the Qere tradition substitutes batechorim (טְחוֹרִים, 'hemorrhoids' or 'tumors of the lower body'). The LXX adds a detail about mice devastating the land. We render as 'tumors' following the Ketiv, which has the broadest semantic range.

Translator Notes

1. The Ashdodites reach the correct theological conclusion: the God of Israel is actively hostile to them and to Dagon. The phrase qashtah yado ('His hand is harsh/hard') uses the same root (q-sh-h) applied to Pharaoh's hardened heart. The Philistines recognize what Pharaoh resisted — this God's power is real and directed. Yet their response is not repentance but relocation: they will try to move the problem rather than submit to the God behind it.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The seranim (סַרְנֵי, 'rulers, lords') are the governors of the five Philistine cities — a political structure without parallel in Israel. The word seren may be related to the Greek tyrannos, reflecting Aegean origins of the Philistines. The decision to send the Ark to Gath is collective but futile: they treat the Ark like a political problem to be redistributed rather than a divine presence to be reckoned with.
2. The threefold repetition of aron Elohei Yisrael ('Ark of the God of Israel') in a single verse is emphatic — the narrator forces the reader to hear the full title again and again, as if the Philistines cannot stop talking about this object they cannot control.

Translator Notes

1. The mehumah gedolah me'od ('very great panic/confusion') is the same word used for the divine terror God sends against Israel's enemies in holy war (cf. Deuteronomy 7:23, Joshua 10:10, 1 Samuel 7:10). This is the language of YHWH as warrior — the same God who routed Pharaoh's army now routs a Philistine city. God is waging holy war without Israel on the battlefield.
2. The phrase miqqaton ve'ad gadol ('from the least to the greatest') indicates the plague is total — no social class provides immunity. The Qere reading of vayyisateru ('they broke out') suggests the tumors erupted visibly and painfully.

Translator Notes

1. The Ekronites' reaction is immediate terror — they cry out (vayyiz'aqu) before the plague even begins. The verb za'aq is the same cry-of-distress used for Israel's outcry in Egypt (Exodus 2:23). The irony is devastating: the Philistines now cry out exactly as the Israelites once did, but there is no Moses to intercede for them, and the source of their suffering is the very God who delivered Israel.
2. The accusation hesevu elai ('they have brought around to me') uses the first person singular — the individual Ekronite voice breaks through the collective, expressing personal dread. This god kills wherever He goes, and they are next in line.

Translator Notes

1. The phrase mehumat mavet ('death-panic, deadly confusion') combines the holy-war terror of mehumah with mavet ('death') — this is not mere illness but a city-wide encounter with mortality. The Philistine rulers are now begged to act, not consulted. The polite deliberation of verse 8 ('What should we do?') has been replaced by desperate imperative: 'Send it away!'
2. The final clause kavdah me'od yad ha'Elohim sham ('the hand of God was very heavy there') echoes verse 6 but escalates. The hand grows heavier with each city — Ashdod suffered, Gath suffered, and now Ekron faces death itself. The plague intensifies as the Philistines persist in keeping what does not belong to them.

Translator Notes

1. The verse divides the population into two groups: the dead and the tumor-stricken. There is no third category of the unaffected — God's judgment reaches every person in the city. The brevity of this verse carries narrative force: no elaboration is needed. The facts speak.
2. The final phrase vatta'al shav'at ha'ir hashamayim ('and the cry of the city went up to heaven') echoes the cry of Sodom reaching God (Genesis 18:20-21) and Israel's cry in Egypt (Exodus 2:23). But here the irony is inverted: these are the oppressors crying out, not the oppressed. The structure of Exodus is playing out in miniature — with the Philistines in Pharaoh's role.