carried it into the temple of Dagon, and set it beside his statue.
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, Sa1 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...
Commenting on 1 Samuel 5:1-5
When the Philistines took the ark of God,.... And had brought it to Ashdod: they brought it into the house of Dagon; a temple dedicated to that idol, and in which his image stood; of which See Gill on Jdg 16:23, and set it by Dagon; by the side of him, either in honour to the ark, as Abarbinel, designing to give it homage and...
the house of Dagon--Stately temples were erected in honor of this idol, which was the principal deity of the Philistines, but whose worship extended over all Syria, as well as Mesopotamia and Chaldea; its name being found among the Assyrian gods on the cuneiform inscriptions [RAWLINSON]. It was represented under a monstrous combination of a human head, breast, and arms, joined to the belly and tail of a fish.