I love the Bible. When I arrive at certain passages I eagerly anticipate the rereading, recalling my surprised delight during my first pass through historical godly terrain. I find myself chuckling at the scenes that are described: we humans sure can be obtuse! Before we get to the fun and funny parts I enjoy every time, let's sketch a background for understandings sake.
A brief history
The ancient Israelites, as men are want to do, went into pleasure mode, doing whatever with whomever they willed, publicly becoming reprobates, all the while losing their dignity and decency as God's chosen people. Within their grasp was the living God - you cannot hold Him fast, but He was still in their midst way back when - and the crazy disobedient nuts didn't have the presence of mind to well, mind Him! Disobedience is something you and I can relate to, isn't this so, dear reader? Anyhow, when I say that God was within their grasp, I am referring to the ark of the LORD - a sacred artifact that represented God in the midst of the Hebrews, the ones He had set free from Egyptian enslavement - turned talisman in the hands of these men that wanted to win battles with a lucky charm, rather than by the might and will of the Living God. This too sounds kind of familiar... you and I, wanting our own way, minus God in the mix: it never really works out well when we take the path of least resistance that seems most appealing at the time of temptation, and this is true for our ancestors too. The Israelites, in 1 Samuel, paid a hefty price in blood, to the tune of thirty-four thousand dead men, four thousand in the first battle, thirty thousand in the second round of fighting, all in chapter four!
And the Philistines put themselves in array against Israel: and when they joined battle, Israel was smitten before the Philistines: and they slew of the army in the field about four thousand men. And when the people were come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, Wherefore hath the LORD smitten us to day before the Philistines? Let us fetch the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of Shiloh unto us, that, when it cometh among us, it may save us out of the hand of our enemies (1Samuel 4:2-3)
And;
And the Philistines fought, and Isreal was smitten, and they fled every man into his tent: and there was a very great slaughter; for there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen (1 Samuel 4:10)
What happened to these favoured sons of God? While you are guessing, I will disclose. They became pagans, dear one. They treated what is Holy and Divine, with rough hands and regressed minds. God is not a rabbits foot in a golden box, rubbed to win what we want! He isn't some kind of cosmic bank account we can cash out, to save us from ourselves when we want to play fast and loose with our souls.
God is moral, not mortal
There is always a price to pay when we choose to deviate from His will and ways:
1 We lose our sense of direction
2 We lose our sense of value in the eyes of self and other
3 We become self-serving at the expense of relationship
4 We become immoral
5 Dignity wanes
6 Decency disappears
7 Dagon it, we become pagan-is-tic
Now with this back drop, let's take a peak at the Philistines after they smote and slaughtered many an Israelite, capturing the ark of God, without realizing what trouble they had brought upon themselves. I sure hope you find this next bit as entertaining as I do, dear reader!
When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon. And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the LORD. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again (1 Samuel 5:2-3)
Their statue, fell face down, in front of the ark of God... take notice that they had to pick up their god and place him again... some god?! This reminds me of scripture that states:
That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:10-11)
God was letting the Philistines know that their little idol was no knock off the God block... He doesn't tolerate the worship of man made things. Let's go back in for more fun with those Philistines.
And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold; only the stump of Dagon was left to him. Therefore neither the priests of Dagon, nor any that come into Dagon's house, tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day (1 Samuel 5:4-5)
This reminds me of another warning from our Lord Jesus, found in Matthew 5:30
And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
Imagine the dumbfounded faces of the idol worshippers, to see their god's head and hands lopped off and set on the threshold! Rather than realize they worshipped a thing, they decided to circumvent the stony body parts, stepping OVER the threshold when they went in to worship the inanimate object of their affections and design: only the stump of Dagon was left of him. Kinda silly, isn't it?
🔥 Are you guilty of worshipping something, or perhaps someone, other than God? Just a question, don't get defensive now...
Idol worship is not uncommon and we don't always recognize when we are doing it - it is something to consider and pray about. Now back to the hilarity that turns to tragedy, and major private parts discomfort for the pagan Philistines, standing as a warning to each of us, that we must not take God's Almightiness lightly.
But the hand of the LORD was heavy upon them of Ashdod, and he destroyed them, and smote them with emerods, even Ashdod and the coasts thereof. And when the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said The ark of the God of Israel shall not abide with us: for his hand is sore upon us, and upon Dagon our god (1 Samuel 5:6-7)
Note, the men of Ashdod saw what was happening, but still stubbornly held to Dagon as their god... hmmmm, considering the destroying, the smoting, and the emerods (which we will get into presently), these men were kind of... slow on the truth uptake and still blinded by their own committed-to-a-lie pride. When they saw that the God of Israel, from whence the ark had come, was more powerful than their god (well of course He was/is, that thing was just a thing for goodness sakes), they wanted to move Him, the ark that is, out of the way! Kind of like when they thought they could step over the Dagon threshold into the house, to avoid their own head and hands being lopped off! I find the illogic ludicrously laughable every time. This too, is something we must watch out for, dear reader.
🔥 When faced with the truth, are you quick to concede being mistaken, wrong, stubborn, and prideful? Again, something to pray about, since the Truth always makes us free.
Now for the promised discussion about the suffering from emerods, endured by the remaining Philistines that were not immediately destroyed by God for taking the ark of the LORD and placing what is Holy, into an abhorrent temple dedicated to the worship of an idol god.
The following notes are taken from Got Questions:
Emerod - literally meaning "to swell", and the Hebrew word translated "emerods" literally means "mound." This is basically all we know about emerods, but the context has led historians and Bible commentators to conclude that the plague of emerods was actually an occurrence of tumors, boils, or possibly hemorrhoids or "piles." Most translations of 1 Samuel 5:6 say the affliction was "tumors"; the ISV says "tumors of the groin"; and the Darby translation says "hemorrhoids."
The emerods were a divine punishment on the Philistines when they defeated the Israelites and captured the Ark of the Covenant
Imagine that, dear reader... a mans private parts swelling, with tumors, boils, and hemorrhoids... are you squirming yet? God makes plain what He will not permit. We risk our lives, our well-being, and our health, each time we go against His commands:
1 Thou shalt have no other gods before me
2 Thou shalt not make utno thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth
3 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; ... (Exodus 20:3-5)
The Israelites were no better than their Philistine neighbours, despite all that God had done for them.
🔥 Do you go the way of the world too, dear reader, despite the warnings, despite historical evidence, that to go against God, is to go against your own wellbeing?
Dagon It, now is the time to take up our Bibles, swim around in the wisdom and soak it up! Each generation gets to choose, God or idol, truth or make believe... devilish death or saintly salvation.
You, and I, get to choose, and isn't that grand⁉️
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