1 Samuel 5 is the fifth

chapter Chapter or Chapters may refer to: Books * Chapter (books), a main division of a piece of writing or document * Chapter book, a story book intended for intermediate readers, generally age 7–10 * Chapters (bookstore), Canadian big box bookstore ...

of the First Book of Samuel in the

Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...

of the

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

or the first part of the

Books of Samuel The Book of Samuel () is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Samuel) in the Old Testament. The book is part of the Deuteronomistic history, a series of books (Book of Joshua, Joshua, Book of Judges, Judges, Samuel, and Books of ...

in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Samuel Samuel is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the biblical judges to the United Kingdom of Israel under Saul, and again in the monarchy's transition from Saul to David. He is venera ...

, with additions by the prophets Gad and

Nathan Nathan or Natan may refer to: People and biblical figures *Nathan (given name), including a list of people and characters with this name * Nathan (surname) *Nathan (prophet), a person in the Hebrew Bible *Nathan (son of David), a biblical figu ...

, but modern scholars view it as a composition of a number of independent texts of various ages from c. 630–540 BCE. This chapter describes how the Ark of Covenant was taken by the Philistines, a part of the "Ark Narrative" (1 Samuel 4:1–7:1) within a section concerning the life of Samuel (1 Samuel 1:1–7:17).

Text

This chapter was originally written in the

Hebrew language Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and remained in regular use as a first language unti ...

. It is divided into 12 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

are of the

Masoretic Text The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; ) is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (''Tanakh'') in Rabbinic Judaism. The Masoretic Text defines the Jewish canon and its precise letter-text, with its vocaliz ...

tradition, which includes the

Codex Cairensis The Codex Cairensis (also: ''Codex Prophetarum Cairensis'', ''Cairo Codex of the Prophets'') is a Hebrew manuscript containing the complete text of the Hebrew Bible's Nevi'im (Prophets). It has traditionally been described as "the oldest dated He ...

(895),

Aleppo Codex The Aleppo Codex () is a medieval bound manuscript of the Hebrew Bible. The codex was written in the city of Tiberias in the tenth century CE (circa 920) under the rule of the Abbasid Caliphate, and was endorsed for its accuracy by Maimonides. ...

(10th century), and Codex Leningradensis (1008). Fragments containing parts of this chapter in Hebrew were found among the

Dead Sea Scrolls The Dead Sea Scrolls, also called the Qumran Caves Scrolls, are a set of List of Hebrew Bible manuscripts, ancient Jewish manuscripts from the Second Temple period (516 BCE – 70 CE). They were discovered over a period of ten years, between ...

including 4Q51 (4QSam; 100–50 BCE) with extant verses 8–12.Dead sea scrolls - 1 Samuel
/ref> Extant ancient manuscripts of a translation into

Koine Greek Koine Greek (, ), also variously known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek, Septuagint Greek or New Testament Greek, was the koiné language, common supra-regional form of Greek language, Greek spoken and ...

known as the

Septuagint The Septuagint ( ), sometimes referred to as the Greek Old Testament or The Translation of the Seventy (), and abbreviated as LXX, is the earliest extant Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible from the original Biblical Hebrew. The full Greek ...

(originally was made in the last few centuries BCE) include

Codex Vaticanus The Codex Vaticanus ( The Vatican, Bibl. Vat., Vat. gr. 1209), is a manuscript of the Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Old Testament and the majority of the New Testament. It is designated by siglum B or 03 in the Gregory-Aland numb ...

(B;

\mathfrak

^B; 4th century) and

Codex Alexandrinus The Codex Alexandrinus (London, British Library, Royal MS 1. D. V-VIII) is a manuscript of the Greek Bible,The Greek Bible in this context refers to the Bible used by Greek-speaking Christians who lived in Egypt and elsewhere during the early ...

(A;

\mathfrak

^A; 5th century).

Places

Ashdod Ashdod (, ; , , or ; Philistine language, Philistine: , romanized: *''ʾašdūd'') is the List of Israeli cities, sixth-largest city in Israel. Located in the country's Southern District (Israel), Southern District, it lies on the Mediterranean ...

* Ebenezer *

Ekron Ekron (Philistine: 𐤏𐤒𐤓𐤍 ''*ʿAqārān'', , ), in the Hellenistic period known as Accaron () was at first a Canaanite, and later more famously a Philistine city, one of the five cities of the Philistine Pentapolis, located in pr ...

* Gath

Period

The events in this chapter happened at the end of judges period in Israel, about

1100 BC The 1100s BC is a decade which lasted from 1109 BC to 1100 BC. Events and trends * 1104 BC—Foundation of Cadiz, Spain.Strabo, ''Geographica'' 3.5.5 * 1100 BC—Tiglath-Pileser I of Assyria conquers the Hittites. * —Maya Calendar counts time ...

Analysis

The power of

Ark of the Covenant The Ark of the Covenant, also known as the Ark of the Testimony or the Ark of God, was a religious storage chest and relic held to be the most sacred object by the Israelites. Religious tradition describes it as a wooden storage chest decorat ...

on its own was demonstrated over the Philistines by the destruction of Dagon's image (verses 1–5) as well as the sickness and death of the people in Philistine cities (verses 6–12), implying that the ark actually possesses the necessary power for Isralite's victory, so the military defeat was with God's permission and the capture of the ark was a punishment for Israel's disrespect of it. This chapter gives prominence to 'the hand of YHWH' (verses 6, 7, 9, 11) that struck the Philistines with 'tumors', recalling the 'Exodus tradition' () on the 'supremacy of

YHWH The TetragrammatonPronounced ; ; also known as the Tetragram. is the four-letter Hebrew-language theonym (transliterated as YHWH or YHVH), the name of God in the Hebrew Bible. The four Hebrew letters, written and read from right to left, a ...

over other gods'. The events refer back to , while also provide 'a bridge between the conquest of the ark in chapter 4 and its return to Israel in chapter 6.

The Ark in Ashdod (5:1–7)

In the ancient Near East it was customary to carry idols of the gods of those who had been vanquished to the temple of the victors and to place them beside the idols of their gods, indicating the latter's supremacy over the former. However, here the power of YHWH over Dagon is displayed (verses 2–5) with Dagon twice humiliated in his own temple in Ashdod: on the first day, Dagon's statue was thrown down in front of the ark, and on the second statue's head and hands were cut off and were lying on the threshold (introducing an aetiological motif to explain why Ashdodites did not tread on the threshold of their temple).

Verse 1

:''And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it from Ebenezer unto Ashdod.'' *"

Philistines Philistines (; LXX: ; ) were ancient people who lived on the south coast of Canaan during the Iron Age in a confederation of city-states generally referred to as Philistia. There is compelling evidence to suggest that the Philistines origi ...

": a group of people coming from the northeastern Mediterranean area (which includes the island of

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

; cf.

Amos 9 Amos 9 is the ninth and last chapter of the Book of Amos in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. In the Hebrew Bible it is a part of the Book of the Twelve Minor Prophets. This book contains the prophecies attributed to ...

:7) and entering "Palestine" (which is derived from "Philistine") around 1200 BCE. *" Ebenezer": literally, "the stone, the help", where 'the second noun is in

apposition Apposition is a grammatical construction in which two elements, normally noun phrases, are placed side by side so one element identifies the other in a different way. The two elements are said to be ''in apposition'', and the element identifyi ...

to the first one'; apparently forming the name by which the stone was known. The expression is used here and in 1 Samuel 7:12, but unlike in 1 Samuel 4:1, the first word lacks the definite article. *"

": (Greek: "Azotus", Acts 8:40; now "Es-dûd"), one of the five major cities of the Philistines, situated on near the sea, about west of Jerusalem, north of Ashkelon. It was assigned to Judah (Joshua 15:47), but was only conquered in the reign of Uzziah (2 Chronicles 26:6). Jonathan Maccabaeus destroyed the city (1 Maccabee 10:84), but it was rebuilt after the Roman conquest of Judea.

Verse 2

:''When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon.'' * "

Dagon Dagon or Dagan (; ) was a god worshipped in ancient Syria, across the middle of the Euphrates, with primary temples located in Tuttul and Terqa, though many attestations of his cult come from cities such as Mari and Emar as well. In settl ...

": a Philistine idol, also a Semitic deity, identified in Ugaritic texts as the father of Baal.

Verse 6

:''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.'' *"Tumors" (KJV:

emerods ''Emerods'' is an archaic term for hemorrhoids. Derived from the Old French word , it was used as the common English term until the nineteenth century, after which it was replaced in medicine by a direct transliteration of the Ancient Greek Etymo ...

): or "bleeding piles", or more probably "boils".

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges is a biblical commentary set published in 56 volumes by Cambridge University Press between 1878 and 1918. Many volumes went through multiple reprintings, while some volumes were also revised, usually by ...

1 Samuel 5
Accessed 28 April 2019. The mention of "mice" in the next chapter together with "tumors" indicates that this outbreak could be

bubonic plague Bubonic plague is one of three types of Plague (disease), plague caused by the Bacteria, bacterium ''Yersinia pestis''. One to seven days after exposure to the bacteria, flu-like symptoms develop. These symptoms include fever, headaches, and ...

. Greek Septuagint and

Latin Vulgate The Vulgate () is a late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. It is largely the work of Saint Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels used by the Roman Church. Later, of his own initia ...

contain an addition "''And in the midst of their land rats sprang up, and there was a great death panic in the city.''"

The Ark in Gath (5:8–9)

Gath may have been chosen to host the ark, because there was no temple of Dagon there, as 'the Philistines attributing the plague to the antagonism between YHWH and Dagon'.

Verse 8

:'' So they sent and gathered all the lords of the Philistines unto them, 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 around to Gath.” And they carried the ark of the God of Israel there.' *"Lords": from Philistine plural word , '; the singular form "''seren''" is cognate with the Greek word "''tyrannos''" (English: "tyrant"). *" Gath": now called " Tell-es-Sâfi", east of Ashdod, located at the foot of the mountains of Judah. It was the hometown of Goliath (1 Samuel 17:4), and where David took refuge from the persecutions of Saul (1 Samuel 21:10, 1 Samuel 27:3).

The Ark in Ekron (5:10–12)

The description of the plagues inflicted on Ekron seems to indicate a greater severity than those on Ashdod and Gath. The underlying message could be that the longer the Philistines retained the ark, the harder the punishment from the God of Israel would be.Keil, Carl Friedrich; Delitzsch, Franz
''Commentary on the Old Testament'' (1857-1878). 1 Samuel 5
Accessed 24 Juni 2018.

Verse 10

:''Therefore they sent the ark of God to Ekron.'' :''And it came about that as the ark of God came to Ekron, that the Ekronites cried out, saying, “They have brought about the ark of the God of Israel to slay us and our people.”'' MEV *"

": now "Tel Miqne" (Hebrew) or "Khirbet el-Muqanna" (Arabic), the most northerly of the five major Philistine cities, about north of Gath, west of Jerusalem. It was allotted to the tribe of Judah (Joshua 15:45-46), and was occupied in a short period by the Israelite (Judges 1:18). *"To slay us and our people": in Hebrew literally "to me, to slay my people" (also in 1 Samuel 5:11); the singular form seems to denote the 'lord' of the city acting as a spokesperson.

Notes

References

Sources

Commentaries on Samuel

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General

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External links

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

translations: *
Shmuel I - I Samuel - Chapter 5 (Judaica Press)
Hebrew text and English translation ith Rashi's commentary">Rashi.html" ;"title="ith Rashi">ith Rashi's commentaryat Chabad.org *

translations: *
''Online Bible'' at GospelHall.org
(ESV, KJV, Darby, American Standard Version, Bible in Basic English) *
1 Samuel chapter 5. Bible Gateway
{{DEFAULTSORT:Samuel 1 05 05 First Book of Samuel chapters">05 Dagon">First Book of Samuel chapters">05 Dagon Ark of the Covenant Ekron">Dagon Ark of the Covenant">Dagon">First Book of Samuel chapters">05 Dagon Ark of the Covenant Ekron Ashdod Gath (city)