1 Samuel 5:1-3 - Dagon fell on his face before the ark of God

5:1

The Philistines had defeated Israel, they had also captured the ark of God and so thought that they had defeated God. They were very much mistaken about this. Remember also that Eli was distraught at the capture of the Ark. They were both very much mistaken and lacked understanding. Today the church often fails badly, and we may be dismayed when this happens. We are right to be dismayed, but it does not mean that “God is defeated”. We should be dismayed at man’s sin, at our failure, but God has not failed. 

5:2,3

In their ignorance the Philistines took the Ark to Ashdod and carried it into the temple of their god, Dagon. Dagon was a fertility god of some description. They probably thought that their god had defeated the God of Israel. They could not have been more wrong. In the morning they found the idol Dagon fallen down on its face before the ark. They completely failed to understand, and thought that putting the idol back upright would solve the problem. They didn’t seem to ask how the idol had fallen down in the first place, nor the symbolism of it having fallen down on its face before the Ark.