1 Samuel 5:6–12

But the hand of the LORD was heavy on the people of Ashdod, and He ravaged them and struck them with tumors, both Ashdod and its territory. And when the men of Ashdod saw how it was, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for His hand is harsh toward us and Dagon our god.” Therefore they sent and gathered to themselves all the lords of the Philistines, and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?”

And they answered, “Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried away to Gath.” So they carried the ark of the God of Israel away. So it was, after they had carried it away, that the hand of the LORD was against the city with a very great destruction; and He struck the men of the city, both small and great, and tumors broke out on them.

Therefore they sent the ark of God to Ekron. So it was, as the ark of God came to Ekron, that the Ekronites cried out, saying, “They have brought the ark of the God of Israel to us, to kill us and our people!” So they sent and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines, and said, “Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it go back to its own place, so that it does not kill us and our people.” For there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city; the hand of God was very heavy there. And the men who did not die were stricken with the tumors, and the cry of the city went up to heaven.

The Hebrew word translated as “with tumors” (בָּעֳפָלִים, ba-ah-pahl-eem) is vague. (This is typical of Hebrew.) It’s a reference to hills, thick places, or swellings. Because of a later mention about rats (in 1 Samuel 6:5), many have speculated that the Philistines were afflicted with the bubonic plague.

That cannot be known for sure. We only know that the affliction was severe enough that the Philistines said, “Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it go back to its own place, so that it does not kill us and our people.”

People were dying to get rid of the ark—literally.

The real lesson here is in the astonishingly stupid moves the Philistines make with the ark. It starts out in Ashdod, in the temple of Dagon. This does not go well, especially for Dagon (who is apparently a statue, or at least was until he fell apart in the presence of the ark.)

But then comes the fun part. The lords of the Philistines decide to send the ark to Gath, the city of Goliath. They don’t say why this would make any sense. They can’t; it doesn’t make any sense.

They were better off when the ark was busting up some silly statue. Now the people of Gath are getting the brunt of the affliction. So, what do these geniuses do next?

They send the ark to Ekron—another Philistine city. What happens there is just what you’d expect. So, the Ekronites cry out, telling the lords of the Philistines, “Get that thing out of here!”

The lords of the Philistines are out of their depth.

These Monday—Friday DEEPs are written by Mike Slay. The Weekend DEEPs are written by Matt Richardson. To subscribe to all the DEEPs click here:

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV stands for the English Standard Version. © Copyright 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NIV stands for The Holy Bible, New International Version®. © Copyright 1973 by International Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved. KJV stands for the King James Version.