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 13:31).
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. 5:5). 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. 28:27) 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. 5:11-12).
The counsel of the princes of the Philistines to the people’s question “What shall we do?” (1 Sam. 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. 6:2). 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. 6:5). 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. 6:12). Such are the Lord’s ways, always right! (Hos. 14:9).
God, the Judge, now in grace returns to His people. Only He is expecting them to acknowledge Him with humiliation.