Chapter Overview
Summary
1 Samuel 5 narrates the Ark's triumphant self-vindication among the Philistines: Dagon's repeated prostration before the Ark, the plague of tumors on Ashdod, Gath, and Ekron, and the Philistines' panic. The chapter demonstrates divine agency even in apparent exile — a theme that shapes the whole Ark narrative's eventual restoration.
Notable Variants
The LXX has a notable addition at 5:6 ('and mice sprang up in their land' — the explanation for the golden mice of 6:4–5); minor expansions in the Philistine city-to-city Ark transfer.
Structural Notes
LXX 1 Samuel 5 has 12 verses, matching MT.
The Philistines captured the Ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.
Ark from Ebenezer to Ashdod tracks MT. The LXX's allophyloi ('Philistines') is consistent throughout.
The Philistines took the Ark of God and brought it into the temple of Dagon, and they set it beside Dagon.
Ark placed beside Dagon tracks MT. Dagon (the Philistine sea/grain god) vs. the Ark (YHWH's throne) creates the theomachy setup.
When the people of Ashdod rose early the next morning, Dagon had fallen face-down on the ground before the Ark of the LORD. They picked Dagon up and put him back in his place.
Dagon fallen face-down before the Ark tracks MT. 'Face-down' (epi prosōpon) is the prostration-posture word-field that the NT adopts for worship (Matt 17:6, Luke 17:16, 1 Cor 14:25).
When they rose early the next morning, Dagon had again fallen face-down on the ground before the Ark of the LORD. The head of Dagon and both palms of his hands had been cut off on the threshold — only the trunk of Dagon remained.
The severed head and palms on the threshold tracks MT. The detail — only the dagan ('trunk, fish-body') of Dagon remains — is a Hebrew wordplay lost in Greek: Dagon's name, Dagon's torso, and dagan (grain / fish) all pun.
This is why the priests of Dagon and all who enter the temple of Dagon do not step on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod — to this day.
The 'to this day' threshold-avoidance etiology tracks MT. Zephaniah 1:9 ('who leap over the threshold') echoes this tradition. The LXX preserves the ongoing cultic-taboo in Philistia that Israelite narrators had observed.
The hand of the LORD was heavy on the people of Ashdod. He devastated them and struck them with tumors — both Ashdod and its surrounding territory.
Masoretic (WLC)
וַיַּךְ אֹתָם בַּטְּחֹרִים
struck them with tumors
Septuagint (LXX)
καὶ ἐπήγαγεν αὐτοῖς καὶ ἐξέζεσεν αὐτοῖς εἰς τὰς ναῦς καὶ μέσον τῆς χώρας αὐτῆς ἀνεφύησαν μύες
struck them with tumors; and in the midst of their country mice sprang up
The LXX has a significant plus at 5:6: 'and mice sprang up in the midst of their country' — supplying the narrative explanation for the golden mice guilt-offering of 6:4–5.
Josephus (Antiquities 6.3.1) preserves the same mice-plague tradition. The MT's abrupt introduction of 'golden mice' at 6:4 (without preparation) suggests that the LXX reading — preserved at the plague-announcement here — may be closer to the original narrative.
The 'tumors' (hedras — 'seats, buttocks') is the LXX's euphemistic rendering of Hebrew techorim; hemorrhoids are the likely medical referent.
When the men of Ashdod saw what was happening, they said, "The Ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for His hand is harsh against us and against Dagon our god."
Ashdodites' recognition tracks MT.
They sent word and gathered all the tyrants of the Philistines to them and asked, "What should we do with the Ark of the God of Israel?" They answered, "Let the Ark of the God of Israel be moved to Gath." So they moved the Ark of the God of Israel there.
The Philistine lords' (sarnei → satrapōn in LXX) consultation tracks MT. The LXX's satrapōn ('satraps') is Persian-era vocabulary for governors — a slight anachronism in the LXX translator's rendering.
After they moved it there, the hand of the LORD was against the city, causing a very great panic. He struck the men of the city, from the least to the greatest, and tumors broke out on them.
The panic at Gath tracks MT. 'From the least to the greatest' (apo mikrou heōs megalou) is a standard LXX merism for universal affliction.
So they sent the Ark of God to Ekron. But when the Ark of God arrived at Ekron, the Ekronites cried out, "They have brought the Ark of the God of Israel around to us to kill us and our people!"
Ark to Ekron; Ekronite outcry tracks MT.
They sent word and gathered all the rulers of the Philistines and said, "Send the Ark of the God of Israel away — let it return to its own place so that it does not kill us and our people!" For a death-panic had gripped the entire city; the hand of God was very heavy there.
The Philistine lords' decision to return the Ark tracks MT.
The men who did not die were struck with tumors, and the cry of the city went up to heaven.
The survivors with tumors and the city-cry rising to heaven tracks MT. The 'cry rising to heaven' (kraugē tēs poleōs anebē eis ton ouranon) is covenantal-reversal theology: the oppressor's cry to heaven (Gen 4:10, 18:20–21, Exod 3:7, 22:23) now comes from the Philistine oppressors themselves.