1 Samuel 5:5 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 1 Samuel 5:1-5

Here is, I. The Philistines? triumph over the ark, which they were the more pleased, the more proud, to be now masters of, because before the battle they were possessed with a great fear of it, 1 Sam. 4:7. When they had it in their hands God restrained them, that they did not offer any violence to it, did not break it to pieces, as the Israelites were ordered to do by the idols of the heathen, but showed some respect to it, and carefully carried it to a place of safety. Whether their curiosity... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Samuel 5:5

Therefore neither the priests of Dagon, nor any that come into Dagon's house ,.... Neither the priests that continually attended the worship and service of Dagon, nor the people that came there to pay their devotions to him: tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day : but used to leap over it, either reckoning it sacred because touched by their idol, which fell upon it; or rather, as it should seem, in a way of detestation, because it had been the means of cutting off the... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Samuel 5:5

Tread on the threshold - Because the arms, etc., of Dagon were broken off by his fall on the threshold, the threshold became sacred, and neither his priests nor worshippers ever tread on the threshold. Thus it was ordered, in the Divine providence, that, by a religious custom of their own, they should perpetuate their disgrace, the insufficiency of their worship, and the superiority of the God of Israel. It is supposed that the idolatrous Israelites, in the time of Zephaniah, had... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Samuel 5:1-5

Foreshadowings. The facts given are— 1 . The Philistines, acting on polytheistic principles, place the ark in their heathen temple, thus ascribing to it Divine honour, and yet indicating its inferiority to Dagon. 2 . During the night their god Dagon falls to the ground. 3 . Supposing the fall to be the result of some unaccountable accident, they replace their god, and on the next day find him even broken to pieces. 4 . The event is memorialised by the establishment of a... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Samuel 5:5

Henceforward, therefore, his priests and other worshippers carefully abstained from treading on the door sill, where his nobler members had lain, unto this day. Apparently the Books of Samuel were written some time after the events recorded in them took place, and we have remarkable evidence of the permanence of the custom in Zephaniah 1:9 , where the Philistines are described as "those that leap on," or more correctly over, "the threshold." The custom, so curious in itself and so long... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - 1 Samuel 5:5

This custom still existed among the worshippers of Dagon so late as the reign of Josiah (see the marginal reference). read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - 1 Samuel 5:4-5

1 Samuel 5:4-5. Behold Dagon was fallen &c. Which showed that his former fall was not by chance, but by the power of God, before whom he could not stand. The head of Dagon, and both his hands, were cut off The head is the seat of wisdom; the hands the instruments of action; both are cut off, to show that he had neither wisdom nor strength to defend himself or his worshippers. Thus the priests, by concealing Dagon’s shame before, make it more evident and infamous. The stump Hebrew, ... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - 1 Samuel 5:1-12

The ark returns (5:1-7:1)Although God used the Philistines to judge Israel, he would not allow them to dishonour him. He showed that the capture of the ark did not mean that he was inferior to the Philistine god Dagon (5:1-5). Wherever the ark went it brought trouble to the Philistine people. A plague of mice seems to have spread a painful and deadly disease throughout the country, bringing widespread suffering and death (6-12; cf. 6:5).The Philistines felt fairly certain that the ark was the... read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - 1 Samuel 5:5

"This is why the priests of Dagon and all who enter the house Dagon do not tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day."Bennett labeled this as "an erroneous theory"[16] regarding the origin of stepping over the threshold, declaring that, "The rite is found elsewhere (Zephaniah 1:9)." Of course, such a criticism is incorrect. H. P. Smith pointed out that, "We cannot be sure that there is any connection between the two passages (the one here and that in Zephaniah 1:9), or that the... read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - 1 Samuel 5:5

5. Therefore neither the priests . . . nor any . . . tread on the threshold of Dagon—A superstitious ceremony crept in, and in the providence of God was continued, by which the Philistines contributed to publish this proof of the helplessness of their god. unto this day—The usage continued in practice at the time when this history was written—probably in the later years of Samuel's life. :-. THE PHILISTINES ARE SMITTEN WITH EMERODS. read more