1 Samuel 5:1--6:9
captured <03947> [took.]
Ebenezer <072> [Eben-ezer.]
Ashdod <0795> [Ashdod.]
Ashdod, called Azotus by the Greeks, was one of the five satrapies of the Philistines, and a place of great strength and consequence. It was situated near the Mediterranean, between Askelon and Jamnia, thirty-four miles north of Gaza, according to Diodorus Siculus, and the Antonine and Jerusalem Itineraries. It is now called Shdood; and Dr. Richardson says they neither saw nor heard of any ruins there. "The ground," he observes, "around Ashdod is beautifully undulating, but not half stocked with cattle. The site of the town is on the summit of a grassy hill; and, if we are to believe historians, was anciently as strong as it was beautiful."
[Azotus.]
Dagon ....... Dagon <01712> [of Dagon.]
Dagon ... lying .............. Dagon <01712 05307> [Dagon was.]
back .... place <07725 04725> [set him.]
head <07218> [the head.]
Dagon ................. Dagon ................ Dagon's <01712> [of Dagon.]
The name of this idol, Dagon, signifies a fish: and it is supposed to be the Atergatis of the Syrians, corruptly called Derceto by the Greeks, which had the upper part like a woman, and the lower part like a fish; as Lucian informs us: [Derketous de eidos en Phoinike ethe‚sam‚n, the‚ma xenon; ‚misen men gyn‚; to de okoson ek m‚r¢n es akrous podas, ichtlyos our‚ apoteinetai;] "In Phoenicia I saw the image of Derceto; a strange sight truly! For she had the half of a woman, but from the thighs downward a fish's tail." Diodorus, (1. ii.) describing the same idol, as represented at Askelon, says, [to men pros¢pon echei synaikos, to d'allo s¢ma pan ichthyos.] "It had the head of a woman, but all the rest of the body a fish's." Probably Horace alludes to this idol, in De Art. Poet. v. 4; {Desinat in piscem, mulier formosa superne:} "The upper part a handsome woman, and the lower part a fish." If such was the form of this idol, then everything that was human was broken off from what resembled a fish.
Dagon ................. Dagon ................ Dagon's <01712> [the stump. or, the fishy part.]
priests <03548> [neither.]
<01869> [tread.]
attacked <03027> [the hand.]
<02914> [emerods.]
[thereof.]
The LXX. and Vulgate add: [Kai meson t‚s choras aut‚s anephy‚san myes kai egeneto synchysis thanatou megal‚ en t‚ polei; {Et ebullierunt vill‘ et agri in medio regionis illius, et nati sunt mures; et facta est confusio mortis magn‘ in civitate; "And [the cities and fields in Vulg.] the midst of that region produced mice; [Vulg. burst up, and mice were produced;] and there was the confusion of a great death in the city."
When <07200> [saw.]
ark <0727> [The ark.]
God ................. god Dagon <0430 01712> [upon Dagon our god.]
do <06213> [What shall.]
Gath <01661> [Gath.]
attacked <03027> [the hand.]
great deal <03966> [with a very.]
<02914> [and they had emerods.]
God ... Ekron ....... God .... Ekron ................ God <06138 0430> [God to Ekron.]
kill ... people <05971 04191> [us, to slay us and our people. Heb. me, to slay me and my people.]
people <05971> [us not, and our people. Heb. me not, and my people. a deadly.]
attacking <03027> [the hand.]
die <04191> [died.]
cry for help <07775> [the cry.]
ark <0727> [A.M. 2864. B.C. 1140. An. Ex. Is. 351. the ark.]
called <07121> [called.]
send <07971> [wherewith.]
empty <07387> [empty.]
guilt offering <0817> [a trespass.]
understand <03045> [known.]
five ..... gold .... five gold <02568 02091> [Five golden.]
leaders .......................... leaders <05633> [you all. Heb. them.]
mice <05909> [mice.]
Bochart has collected many curious accounts relative to the terrible devastations made by these mischievous animals. William, Archbishop of Tyre, records, that in the beginning of the twelfth century, a penitential council was held at Naplouse, where five and twenty canons were framed for the correction of the manners of the inhabitants of the Christian kingdom of Jerusalem, who they apprehended had provoked to bring upon them the calamities of earthquakes, war, and famine. This last he ascribes to locusts and devouring mice, which had for four years together so destroyed the fruits of the earth as to cause an almost total failure of their crops. It was customary for the ancient heathen to offer to their gods such monuments of their deliverance as represented the evils from which they had been rescued; and Tavernier informs us, that among the Indians, when a pilgrim goes to one of the pagodas for a cure, he brings the figure of the member affected, made of gold, silver, or copper, according to his circumstances, which he offers to his god.
honor <03519 05414> [give glory.]
grip <07043> [lighten.]
land ...... God ............. gods .... land <0430 0776> [off your.]
harden ............ treated <03513> [harden.]
<04714> [the Egyptians.]
harshly <05953> [wonderfully. or, reproachfully. did they not.]
send <07971> [the people. Heb. them.]
new cart ....................... cart <02319 05699> [new cart.]
placed <05927> [on which.]
objects <03627> [jewels.]
Beth Shemesh <01053> [Beth-shemesh.]
then <06213> [he. or, it.]
know <03045> [we shall.]
hand <03027> [not his hand.]
accident <04745> [a chance.]
