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 custom is the same in the two cases."[17]

"To this day." Another bit of nonsense often found among critics is the allegation that the words to this day always mean a couple of centuries or more, It is very refreshing to find this from Jamieson: "Unto this day means that the practice (of stepping over the threshold at Ashdod) continued at the time this history was written, probably in the later years of Samuel's life."[18] Another important consideration regarding such expressions is the possibility that the words were added by some later copyist.

What a strange thing it is that the Ashdodites themselves developed a custom that perpetuated the memory and significance of this disgraceful humiliation of their so-called god. As Clarke expressed it:

"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."[19]