1 Now the Philistines, having taken the ark of God, took it with them from Eben-ezer to Ashdod.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 1. What does it mean that the ark is carried away from the Stone of Help, except that the heralds of truth take away the mysteries of the Scriptures from that Christ whom the Jews await with a false expectation?
Bede · AD 735 The Philistines took the Ark of God, etc. The Gentiles received the word of the Gospel from Judea, where the Lord was born in the flesh, lived, and suffered, leaving the places of His dispensation sacred to the mysteries to this day.
2 They took the ark of God into the house of Dagon and put it by the side of Dagon.
John Chrysostom · AD 407 In short, if you believe the place is holy because the law and the books of prophets are there, then it is time for you to believe that idols and the temples of idols are holy. Once, when the Jews were at war, the people of Ashdod conquered them, took their ark and brought it into their own temple. Did the fact that it contained the ark make their temple a holy place?
Bede · AD 735 And they brought it into the temple of Dagon. And they brought faith into the world, which was set in wickedness, and concerning which the Lord said: When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, all his possessions are in peace; but if one stronger than he assaults him and overcomes him, he will take away all his armor in which he trusted, and divide his spoils (1 John…
3 And when the people of Ashdod got up early on the morning after, they saw that Dagon had come down to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord. And they took Dagon up and put him in his place again.
Theodoret of Cyrus · AD 458 So Dagon who was adored as God by them (although he was a dumb, senseless idol) was made to fall before the ark, and God prepared to stage a spectacle for the spectators, so that the Philistines might perceive the difference between false god and true God.In their folly, they raised him up again only to see him fallen a second time and brought to his knees, so to speak.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 2. That is, in the temple, where the ark of God had been placed. What then does it mean to restore Dagon to his place, if not, in light of the already known truth of spiritual sacraments, to examine the state of idolatry with subtle consideration?
Bede · AD 735 And when they rose early in the morning, etc. The signs of miracles becoming clear through the heralds of faith, the worship of idolatry fell away among those who were able to be converted to Christ; but, although it was betrayed and exposed, which is vanity, it was recovered among those who moved the weapons of perfidy against the truth.
4 And when they got up early on the morning after, Dagon had come down to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord; and his head and his hands were broken off on the doorstep; only the base was in its place.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 They rise again at dawn: because toward the love of the goodness they have heard, they now raise themselves with the certainty of deliberation. The first day, therefore, is one of testing, the next of recognition, and the third of deliberate certainty and offered profession.
Bede · AD 735 But the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands, etc. The head of all sin, the pride of the devil, and the work of idolatry; which, as if with two palms, was conducted by the profession of impiety, the ceremonies of praises and sacrifices, already separated from the related body, that is, the crowds of seducers adhering to it, was now, and about to be cast out, prepared b…
5 So to this day no priest of Dagon, or any who come into Dagon's house, will put his foot on the doorstep of the house of Dagon in Ashdod.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 4. For they present themselves as priests of Dagon, who do not tread upon the threshold. In these words it must be carefully observed that he did not say "the threshold," but "upon the threshold," so that the head and hands of Dagon are taught to be what must be trampled upon, which are reported to have been cut off upon the threshold.
Bede · AD 735 For this reason, the priests of Dagon do not tread, etc. For the reason that the devil is to be cast out and condemned in the end, all those who perversely follow him either by teaching or acting, prompted by him, shun considering and guarding against the time of his sentence and condemnation.
6 But the hand of the Lord was hard on the people of Ashdod and he sent disease on them through all the country of Ashdod.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 5. The hand of the Lord is the power of divine might. And because in the Azotians the beginnings of paganism are signified, what does it mean that the hand of the Lord is said to have been made heavy upon the Azotians? But He made His hand heavy upon Azotus when He moved the hearts of the Gentiles to conversion by the power of His might.
Bede · AD 735 But the hand of the Lord was heavy upon the Ashdodites, etc. Those who, having taken up the ark of God, grieve for Dagon's destruction and set up his ruin, are struck in their hind parts, and their land is ravaged by mice.
7 And when the men of Ashdod saw how it was, they said, Let not the ark of the God of Israel be with us, for his hand is hard on us and on Dagon our god.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 7. For when they saw temples destroyed, sacrifices ceasing, wives separated from husbands and husbands from wives, sons separated from parents and fathers from sons, what else could they think but that the hand of the Lord was heavy both upon them and upon their superstition?
Bede · AD 735 Seeing the men of Ashdod had such a plague, etc. Upon seeing the idol worshippers experience the power of Christ against their gods, they refuse to accept his faith, lest on account of this they might be compelled to renounce their whole host of gods.
8 So they sent for all the lords of the Philistines to come together there, and said, What are we to do with the ark of the God of Israel? And their answer was, Let the ark of the God of Israel be taken away to Gath. So they took the ark of the God of Israel away.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 8. Because it is said that the satraps of the Philistines gathered together, but why they gathered is not stated. Yet because the satraps are said to have responded and to have given counsel about carrying the ark around, it is clearly understood that they had been summoned to give counsel regarding that same ark.
Bede · AD 735 And the Gittites replied: Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried around, etc. And this carrying around of the ark suits the present time of our age, where each of the weak desires the difficult words of the Lord to be fulfilled by others rather than by themselves.
9 But after they had taken it away, the hand of the Lord was stretched out against the town for its destruction: and the signs of disease came out on all the men of the town, small and great.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 9. For the ark is carried around when the mysteries of the faith are preached openly and without fear. And because in the beginnings of the faith countless people were converted, a very great slaughter is reported to have been made throughout each of the cities.
Bede · AD 735 However, while they were carrying it around, the hand of the Lord came down, etc. Those who receive faith transiently and without fixed intention not only gain no advantage by believing, but also wretchedly deserve eternal punishment for the price of salvation.
10 So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And when the ark of God came to Ekron, the people of the town made an outcry, saying, They have sent the ark of the God of Israel to us for the destruction of us and of our people.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 11. The satraps, as we have said, are understood as the holy preachers. The Ekronites, who are interpreted as "barren," designate the unconvertible Gentiles.
11 So they sent and got together all the lords of the Philistines, and they said, Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it go back to its place, so that it may not be the cause of death to us and to our people: for there was a great fear of death through all the town; the hand of God was very hard on them there.
Bede · AD 735 They sent therefore, and gathered all the satraps of the Philistines, etc. Many believers of the nations today, though not in words, say: Abandon the faith, and let it return to the children of Israel, so that at last, having cut us off, they may be grafted according to nature into their own olive tree.
12 And those men who were not overtaken by death were cruelly diseased: and the cry of the town went up to heaven.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 13. Concerning the striking of the buttocks indeed, because we spoke of it above, it would not need to be discussed here, if nothing different were said here than was said there. What then is the meaning of what it says: "The men also who had not died were struck"? Were those who had died supposed to be bitten again as punishment for the ark?
Bede · AD 735 And the wailing of each city went up to heaven. And the murmur and impatience and the clamor of Sodom, falsely significant among the faithful, in whichever places, or persons, or certainly senses of the body, which are five for the cities of the Philistines, can never escape the strict judge, who foretelling such times with a dreadful sentence says: Nevertheless, when the Son o…