We as readers might consider their worship of the dead god Dagon to be quite foolish and premature, since Dagon has no power to thwart his towering temple from soon becoming a cemetery. But our fascination with the story should not blind us to the fact that the Philistines’ song of praise is total rubbish! It was not the power of Dagon, but the absence of Yahweh from Samson that gave the victory to the Philistines. Now we see that not only Samson bears shame; also the Lord. He gave Samson to the Philistines, and so his honour now gets trampled on.
23 Now the lords of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to rejoice, and they said, “Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hand.”