1. 1 Samuel 5:2 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

Why did the Philistines bring the ark into the house of Dagon (his temple)?

1 Samuel 5:2 (ESV)

2 Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it into the house of Dagon and set it up beside Dagon.

The Philistines understood that having defeated the Israelites in battle, their god Dagon had defeated the God of Israel, the Lord (cf. Jeremiah 43:12). By taking the ark of the Lord into the temple of Dagon, the defeated god is symbolically brought before the victorious god.1 To their minds the Lord is now meant to worship Dagon.2