On this account the ark, “the glory of God,” is now captive in His people’s enemies’ hands; but they cannot boast themselves in this. God is about to prove to them that nothing is more glorious than His glory humbled and captive. In this way, the humiliation of the cross glorified the Son of Man and God in Him (John 13:3131Therefore, when he was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him. (John 13:31)).
In the hands of Gentiles God is about to lay claim to His holiness in judgment. This judgment will be complete, falling on false gods, on men, and on the land of the Philistines.
The ark, God’s testimony, which cannot be associated with the people’s unfaithfulness, can no more be submitted to idols. In fact, it can rest only where it is pleased to dwell in grace. God leaves Israel in judgment, but only in order to return to Israel on the entirely new footing of grace, as we shall see in what follows. This is not yet rest, for “the ark of [His] strength” would not enter into this rest until the reign of Solomon, type of the reign of Christ.
We have said that the glory of God cannot be submitted to idols. Indeed, set this humiliated glory beside Dagon, as the men of Ashdod did, and the world’s idol will be overturned and broken. But this changes nothing about the worship that the world offers to its idol. It prefers its mutilated false gods, objects of disdain and derision, to the glory of God that makes it uncomfortable. “Therefore neither the priests of Dagon nor any that come into Dagon’s house tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day” (1 Sam. 5:55Therefore neither the priests of Dagon, nor any that come into Dagon's house, tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day. (1 Samuel 5:5)). Their superstitious practice itself remains as a permanent testimony to the degradation of their idol, and also proves that its judgment could bring them to God.
The presence of the ark also draws judgment down on the men who had thought to prevail over God, as we have said. For the Philistines there is misery and death. Anguish, secret pain, a shameful sore, the result of divine wrath (cf. Deut. 28:2727The Lord will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed. (Deuteronomy 28:27)) fall on them -”the cry of the city went up to heaven.” It went up to a heaven which was empty for them, while God was in their midst without their realizing it, judging them on earth. The result is, not that they turn to God, but that they send Him away, hoping to rid themselves of Him. At the same time we see here the egoism that characterizes the world. As long as Ashdod is undisturbed, what does it matter that Gath be tormented? As long as Gath is undisturbed, what does it matter that Ekron be tormented? They do not want to die, but that does not prevent death, accompanied by deadly dismay, from coming (1 Sam. 5:11-1211So 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. 12And the men that died not were smitten with the emerods: and the cry of the city went up to heaven. (1 Samuel 5:11‑12)).
The counsel of the princes of the Philistines to the people’s question “What shall we do?” (1 Sam. 5:88They 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. (1 Samuel 5:8)) is therefore without result. The people then question the priests and the diviners “What shall we do with the ark of Jehovah?” (1 Sam. 6:22And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, What shall we do to the ark of the Lord? tell us wherewith we shall send it to his place. (1 Samuel 6:2)). They do not know what to do with the throne of God, the mercy-seat, the vessel of the mind of God! Animated by the same spirit, the Gadarenes prayed the Lord to withdraw from their borders. It makes them uncomfortable because it judges them. For them the question is how they shall send this disturbing guest away, not whether they ought to send it away. It does not occur to them to address themselves to Him, but their clergy must surely know the way of being rid of God. This clergy, at least, despite their extreme ignorance is candid. Acknowledging God’s hand in these plagues, they try to determine how to “give glory to the God of Israel.” They tell the people not to harden their hearts against Him; they recall His exploits in Egypt; and, finally, they suggest a means of knowing whether it is really He who has caused this great evil or whether the thing was only accidental. All this denotes conscience in the absence of the light brought by revealed truth. God always takes account of conscience, even of an obscured conscience, and gives a clear answer.
The men had been stricken with hemorrhoids, and the land itself devastated by mice (1 Sam. 6:55Wherefore ye shall make images of your emerods, and images of your mice that mar the land; and ye shall give glory unto the God of Israel: peradventure he will lighten his hand from off you, and from off your gods, and from off your land. (1 Samuel 6:5)). Judgment was complete, as we have seen. At the counsel of the priests and diviners, they offer up golden hemorrhoids and golden mice as a trespass offering. A trespass offering—when they had made war against the people of God! when they had esteemed Dagon to he the master over the Sovereign God, the Creator of heaven and earth! An offering without the shedding of blood when atonement for sin was necessary!—But God takes account of the very least cry of conscience. He gives a clear answer, we have said, “The kine went straight forward on the way to Beth-shemesh; they went by the one high way, lowing as they went; and they turned not aside to the right hand or to the left” (1 Sam. 6:1212And the kine took the straight way to the way of Beth-shemesh, and went along the highway, lowing as they went, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left; and the lords of the Philistines went after them unto the border of Beth-shemesh. (1 Samuel 6:12)). Such are the Lord’s ways, always right! (Hos. 14:99Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein. (Hosea 14:9)).
God, the Judge, now in grace returns to His people. Only He is expecting them to acknowledge Him with humiliation.