旧约 - 撒母耳记上(1 Samuel)第5章

And the Philistines took the ark of God, and brought it from Ebenezer unto Ashdod.
When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon.
And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the LORD. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again.
And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold; only the stump of Dagon was left to him.
Therefore neither the priests of Dagon, nor any that come into Dagon's house, tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day.
But the hand of the LORD was heavy upon them of Ashdod, and he destroyed them, and smote them with emerods, even Ashdod and the coasts thereof.
And when the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, The ark of the God of Israel shall not abide with us: for his hand is sore upon us, and upon Dagon our god.
They sent therefore 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 about unto Gath. And they carried the ark of the God of Israel about thither.
And it was so, that, after they had carried it about, the hand of the LORD was against the city with a very great destruction: and he smote the men of the city, both small and great, and they had emerods in their secret parts.
Therefore they sent the ark of God to Ekron. And it came to pass, 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 us, to slay 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 again to his own place, that it slay us not, and our people: for there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city; the hand of God was very heavy there.
And the men that died not were smitten with the emerods: and the cry of the city went up to heaven.
撒母耳记上第五章   第 5 章 

  撒上 5:1> 为何只有耶和华的约柜有异常能力,真假之神分别何在? 

  5:1 大衮是非利士人的主要神只,据说能降雨使五谷丰收。非利士人像邻近的民族一样,敬拜许多假神,认为有越多的神帮助就越安全。这是他们想夺取神约柜的原因,以为既然它帮助过以色列人,也会帮助他们。但是住在放置约柜的大衮庙的居民,开始生病死亡,因此他们觉得约柜是不祥之物。这是他们遇见的最大能力之源头──是人无法控制的能力。 

  撒上 5:6-7> 你是否愿意为真理的缘故聆听神,或者只因为受到伤害才去寻求祂? 

  5:6-7 非利士人虽然刚刚看到,以色列人的神大大地胜过他们的大衮神像,却不依照所得真知去行,直到遭灾的时候才惧怕。现代人也是一样,只有到遭受痛苦时,才去回应圣经真理。 

  撒上 5:8> 面对耶和华的权能,非利士人的态度如何? 

  5:8 非利士人由五个首领(或是五个王)治理。他们分别住在亚实突、亚实基伦、迦特、以革伦、迦萨。约柜先后被放在其中三个主要城市里,每次都使全城的人大大惊慌、束手无策。──《灵修版圣经注释》