Reading for February 16th

 Read 1 Samuel 5.1-12. In 5.1-12: The Lord's triumph. In the ancient Near East, wars between nations were interpreted as contests between their respective gods. This story explains that even though the Philistines defeated Israel, the Lord was superior to Dagon, a Philistine god. In verse 1: Ashdod was one of five principal Philistine cities. The other four were Ashkelon, Ekron, Gath, and Gaza. In verse 2: Beside Sagon means beside the idol or statue of Dagon in is temple or house. Dagon was a Canaanite fertility god adopted by the Philistines. In verse 3: After the first night the Philistines find the idol Dagon bowing prostrate before the ark. In verses 4-5: This is an etiology for the practice of jumping over thresholds in order to avoid offending the spirits of a particular building or space (compare Zeph 1.9). In verses 6-12: The tumors and mice (in the next chapter) have led to the identification of this outbreak as bubonic plague, which was common in costal areas. According to this story, however, the plague is the Lord's doing. In verse*: The lords of the Philistines are the rulers of the five Philistine cities. The word for lord here ("seren") is Philistine and cognate with the Greek word "tyrannos" or tyrant. Comments or Questions..