1 Samuel 5:6-8

KJV 6 But the hand of the LORD was heavy upon them of Ashdod, and he destroyed them, and smote them with emerods, even Ashdod and the coasts thereof. 7 And when the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, The ark of the God of Israel shall not abide with us: for his hand is sore upon us, and upon Dagon our god. 8 They sent therefore and gathered all the lords of the Philistines unto them, and said, What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel? And they answered, Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried about unto Gath. And they carried the ark of the God of Israel about thither.

 

Revised English Version

1 Samuel 5:6-8

 

⁶But the hand of Yahweh was heavy on them of Ashdod, and he destroyed them and struck them with tumors, even Ashdod and its borders.⁷When the men of Ashdod saw that it was so, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel must not stay with us, for his hand is severe on us and on Dagon our god.” ⁸They sent therefore and gathered all the lords of the Philistines to them and said, “What should we do with the ark of the God of Israel?” They answered, “Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried over to Gath.” They carried the ark of the God of Israel there.

 

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6-7 The Philistine city that took the ark and because they felt they had defeated the Lord, He wanted to show them they were wrong and could not defeat Him. They realized after what had happened in their temple, which was God warning them, that God that Israel served was against them even if He did not have favor for Israel.

 

8 They decide to move the ark because they realize that if they ark has power with Israel they don’t want to give it back to them because they won’t be able to defeat them in war time. Gath was the city Goliath was from so there were giants there and they have that these men was bigger than God and could handle it.