Chapter 4: God Needs No Army

The Philistines carried the Ark from the battlefield to Ashdod, one of their five major cities, and brought it into the temple of their god Dagon. Dagon was the chief god of the Philistines, a large idol in the shape of a man. They placed the Ark right beside him, the way a conqueror displays a captured trophy next to his own throne. (1 Samuel 5:1-2)

When the people of Ashdod came into the temple early the next morning, Dagon had fallen face down on the ground before the Ark of the Lord. (1 Samuel 5:3) They picked him up and set him back in his place.

The next morning, Dagon had fallen again. But this time it was worse. His head and both his hands had broken off and were lying at the entrance of the temple. Only the trunk of Dagon was left. (1 Samuel 5:4)

No one had entered the temple during the night. No army had marched in. No prophet had spoken a word. The God of Israel had not needed a single human being to defend His honor. Dagon, the god the Philistines trusted with their harvests, their wars, and their children, lay in pieces on the floor of his own house.

From that day on, the priests of Dagon and everyone who entered his temple at Ashdod would not step on the entrance where their god had been found broken. (1 Samuel 5:5)