What Does 1 Samuel 5:3 Mean?
And when the men of Ashdod rose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon lay fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD. And they took Dagon, and returned him to his place.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the LORD. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again.THE KEY
The idol falls, and its worshipers return it to a “place” whose Hebrew root means to stand.
THE MEANING
Dagon cannot hold himself upright before the ark; the people have to put him back where he belongs. The Hebrew word for that place carries the idea of standing, so the image’s apparent authority depends on the hands that restore it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Occupying a sacred place does not make an image powerful: Dagon has to be returned there by the people who worship him.
THE ROOT
מְקוֹמוֹ
meqomo
GROWS FROM
קום
qum
Rise, stand.
The Hebrew word for “place” is מָקוֹם (maqom), formed from קום (qum), “rise, stand.” Dagon has fallen, yet the people return him to a place whose name carries the idea of standing.
ALSO GROWS
maqom: Place, standing place
מָקוֹם
This is the word used for Dagon’s place after he falls.
heqim: Raise, set up, establish
הֵקִים
This causative form of the root evokes the standing his worshipers must restore to the fallen image.
וַיָּשִׁבוּ
vayyāshîvû
GROWS FROM
שוב
shuv
Turn back, return.
“returned him to his place” in this verse is vayyāshîvû. The Hebrew says they returned Dagon to his place. The same root can describe a turning back toward God, so the verse’s physical reset opens a question of what receives a person’s return.
ALSO GROWS
teshuvah: Return, turning back
תְּשׁוּבָה
This noun carries the root’s sense of returning, as in Hosea’s call to return to the LORD.
meshuvah: Turning away, backsliding
מְשׁוּבָה
This branch shows that a turn can also be away from the one who is sought.
פָּנָיו
pānāw
GROWS FROM
פנה
pānāh
Turn or face toward; the related noun carries the sense of face or presence.
The Hebrew places Dagon on his face and then says he is before the ark, using forms from the same face-family. English separates those phrases; Hebrew holds the image’s face and its position before the ark together.
ALSO GROWS
pānîm: Face, surface, presence
פָּנִים
This noun underlies the phrase “upon his face.”
liphnê: Before, in front of
לִפְנֵי
This form belongs to the same face-family and locates Dagon directly before the ark.
THE PATTERN
An image that cannot stand or act on its own must be carried and restored by the people who treat it as power.
And when they rose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon lay fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the LORD; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold; only the fish-body, Dagon, was left to him.Bel kneels, Nebo stoops. Your images are upon the beasts and upon the cattle. What you lift is a load for the faint beast.Nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, for he himself gives to all life and breath and all things.THE THREAD
Turn back, Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled in your crookedness.The verb translated “set him in his place again” comes from שׁוּב (shuv), “return,” the same root as Hosea’s call to return. Here people return a fallen image to its place; Hosea speaks of a fallen people turning back to the LORD.
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