I Samuel 5, YHWH vs. Dagon

The Philistines have defeated the Israelites in battle and captured the ark of the covenant. The news kills the priest Eli.  Now the ark lies in Philistine hands.

I Samuel 5: 1-5, Dagon face down

After the Philistines had captured the ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.  Then they carried the ark into Dagon's temple and set it beside Dagon. 

When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the LORD! They took Dagon and put him back in his place.  

But the following morning when they rose, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the LORD! His head and hands had been broken off and were lying on the threshold; only his body remained. That is why to this day neither the priests of Dagon nor any others who enter Dagon's temple at Ashdod step on the threshold.

Dagon was probably a fertility god linked to grain harvests (say both Alter and Youngblood.)

The ark is carried as a trophy into the temple of Dagon.  But the presence of the ark in Dagon's temple means that the idol of Dagon keeps being knocked down and put in a subservient posture.  This makes a point that the priests of Dagon find hard to miss!  (The first time this occurs, the idol is just tipped over. But after being righted, the idol is then tipped over and its head and hands have been cut off!)

The phrase "to this day" presumably refers to the later time of the writer of I Samuel.

I Samuel 5: 6-8a, Devastation in the path of the ark

The LORD's hand was heavy upon the people of Ashdod and its vicinity; he brought devastation upon them and afflicted them with tumors. When the men of Ashdod saw what was happening, they said, "The ark of the god of Israel must not stay here with us, because his hand is heavy upon us and upon Dagon our god." 

So they called together all the rulers of the Philistines and asked them, "What shall we do with the ark of the god of Israel?" 

They answered, "Have the ark of the god of Israel moved to Gath." 

Devastation -- skin tumors, in particular -- hit the people of Ashdod. The people of Ashdod don't want the ark and so have it moved.

NIV Footnotes: In verse 6, the Septuagint and Vulgate add a phase about rats appearing in the land.  We will see in the next chapter that there was also a plague of rats.

I Samuel 5: 8b-12, Devastation in the path of the ark

So they moved the ark of the God of Israel.  But after they had moved it, the LORD's hand was against that city, throwing it into a great panic. He afflicted the people of the city, both young and old, with an outbreak of tumors. 

The people of Gath experience the same plague(s).

I Samuel 5: 10-12, Devastation in the path of the ark

So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. As the ark of God was entering Ekron, the people of Ekron cried out, "They have brought the ark of the god of Israel around to us to kill us and our people."  

So they called together all the rulers of the Philistines and said, "Send the ark of the god of Israel away; let it go back to its own place, or it will kill us and our people." For death had filled the city with panic; God's hand was very heavy upon it. Those who did not die were afflicted with tumors, and the outcry of the city went up to heaven.

And now the people of Ekron are inflicted.  (Some manuscripts imply that the tumors may have been in the groin.)  The solution is to send the ark back to Israel.

Both Robert Alter and Ronald Youngblood, in their commentaries, suggest that a plague that involves rats, is deadly, and creates "tumors", describes the bubonic plague.