“But when they rose early on the next morning, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the Lord, and the head of Dagon and both his hands were lying cut off on the threshold. Only the trunk of Dagon was left to him.” – 1 Samuel 5:4
God’s people had been thoroughly defeated. However, that didn’t mean God was defeated!!! Israel had been repeatedly defeated by the Philistines because their leaders were incompetent and their religious leaders were ungodly, corrupt, and abusive. When they foolishly tried to use YHWH’s power by carrying the Ark of the Covenant into battle, it didn’t change the fact that they were led by sinful, foolish, weak, and wicked leaders. So YHWH permitted Israel to lose badly. Those despicable leaders were killed and the Ark fell into the hands of Israel’s enemies.
However, that didn’t mean that Israel’s God had failed, as the Philistines imagined. Quite the contrary! Because YHWH is THE King of Kings and Lord of Lords, it was His will for Israel to be crushed for their sins. It was His will for the Ark to fall into the hands of the Philistines. And when the Philistines tried to celebrate their god’s “victory” over YHWH, YHWH repeatedly humiliated their god, Dagon.
Each morning, the statue of Dagon would be found having fallen over during the night in a posture of submission before YHWH. One night, the fall caused Dagon’s statue to break into pieces. Israel was defeated because of its many sins but Israel’s God cannot be defeated. Remember this and never confuse the worldly standing of God’s people (especially when they’ve fallen into repeated sin and are led terribly) with the unchanging reality that God is always on His throne! #FollowJesus