1 Samuel 5:4

Contextual Overview

¹ Now the Philistines had taken the ark of God, and they brought it from Eben-ezer to Ashdod. ¹ After the Philistines captured the Ark of God, they took it from the battleground at Ebenezer to the town of Ashdod. ¹ Now the Philistines had taken the ark of God, and they brought it from Eben–ezer unto Ashdod. ¹ After the Philistines had captured the Ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. ¹ Now the Philistines had captured the ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. ¹ And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it from Eben-ezer to Ashdod. ¹ Now the Philistines had taken the ark of God, and they brought it from Eben-ezer to Ashdod. ¹Then the Philistines took the ark of God, and they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. ¹ When the Philistines captured the ark of God, they brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. ¹ Forsothe Filisteis token the arke of God, and baren awey it fro the stoon of help in to Azotus.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

the head: Isaiah 2:18, Isaiah 2:19, Isaiah 27:9, Jeremiah 10:11, Jeremiah 50:2, Ezekiel 6:4-6, Daniel 11:8, Micah 1:7

of Dagon: The name of this idol, Dagon, signifies a fish, and it is supposed to be the Atergatis of the Syrians, corruptly called Derceto by the Greeks, which had the upper part like a woman, and the lower part like a fish; as Lucian informs us:

וסךופןץע הו ויהןע ום ןיםיךח וטוחףבלחם, טוחלב מוםןם; חליףוח לום דץםח; פן הו ןךןףןם וך לחסשם וע בךסןץע נןהבע, יקטץןע ןץסח בנןפויםופבי. "In Phoenicia I saw the image of Derceto; a strange sight truly! For she had the half of a woman, but from the thighs downward a fish's tail."

Diodorus (1. ii.) describing the same idol, as represented at Askelon, says, פן לום נסןףשנןם וקוי דץםביךןע, פן הב̓ככן ףשלב נבם יקטץןע. "It had the head of a woman, but all the rest of the body a fish's."

Probably Horace alludes to this idol, in De Art. Poet. 4; Desinat in piscem, mulier formosa superne." "The upper part a handsome woman, and the lower part a fish." If such was the form of this idol, then everything that was human was broken off from what resembled a fish.

the stump: or, the fishy part

Reciprocal: Exodus 20:23 - General 1 Samuel 5:7 - upon Dagon our god 1 Samuel 6:5 - off your Isaiah 40:20 - shall not Hosea 10:2 - break down

Cross-References

Genesis 1:28
And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

Genesis 1:28
And God blessed them: and God said to them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.

Genesis 1:28
God blessed them and said, "Have many children and grow in number. Fill the earth and be its master. Rule over the fish in the sea and over the birds in the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

Genesis 1:28
God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply! Fill the earth and subdue it! Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that moves on the ground."

Genesis 1:28
And God blessed them, and God said to them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living animal that moveth upon the earth.

Genesis 1:28
God blessed them. God said to them, "Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

Genesis 1:28
And God blessed them [granting them certain authority] and said to them, "Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth, and subjugate it [putting it under your power]; and rule over (dominate) the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and every living thing that moves upon the earth."

Genesis 1:28
And God blesside hem, and seide, Encreesse ye, and be ye multiplied, and fille ye the erthe, and make ye it suget, and be ye lordis to fischis of the see, and to volatilis of heuene, and to alle lyuynge beestis that ben moued on erthe.

Genesis 1:28
And God blesseth them, and God saith to them, `Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule over fish of the sea, and over fowl of the heavens, and over every living thing that is creeping upon the earth.'

Genesis 1:28
God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And when they arose early on the morrow morning,.... For the same purpose as before; unless they had any curiosity to indulge, to see whether the ark and Dagon agreed better together, if they had any suspicion that the former mischance was to be attributed to some variance and disagreement between them:

behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord: again, and in a worse condition than before:

and the head of Dagon, and both the palms of his hands, were cut off upon the threshold; of the temple, upon which he fell with such force, that the threshold cut off his head, and both his hands; which signified he had neither wisdom to contrive for his own safety, nor strength and power to defend himself; and therefore of what advantage could he be to his votaries? This may be an emblem of the fall of idolatry in the Gentile world, before the preaching of Christ and his Gospel in it; or of the idol of man's righteousness, which is set up, though it cannot stand, against the righteousness of Christ, and of man's renouncing that, when convinced of the weakness and insufficiency of it, and submitting to the righteousness of Christ:

only the stump of Dagon was left to him: his body, as the Targum, his head and hands being cut off; or, as it is in the Hebrew text, only Dagon was left; that is, the fishy part of this idol; for "Dag" signifies a fish; and, as Kimchi relates, this idol, from the navel upwards, had the form of a man, and from thence downwards the form of a fish; and it was the lower part that was left; :-.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Samuel 5:4. Only the stump of Dagon was left — Literally, Only דגן dagon (i.e., the little fish) was left. It has already been remarked that Dagon had the head, arms and hands of a man or woman, and that the rest of the idol was in the form of a fish, to which Horace is supposed to make allusion in the following words: -

Desinat in piscem mulisr formosa superne

"The upper part resembling a beautiful woman; the lower, a fish."

All that was human in his form was broken off from what resembled a fish. Here was a proof that the affair was not accidental; and these proofs of God's power and authority prepared the way for his judgments.