1 Samuel 5:1

“And the Philistines took the ark of God, etc.] Which fell into their hands, Israel being beaten, and caused to flee, and the priests that had the care of the ark slain; and when possessed of it, they did not destroy it, nor take out of it what was in it, only took it up: and brought it from Ebenezer unto Ashdod. Ebenezer was the place where the camp of Israel was pitched, (<090401>1 Samuel 4:1) and near to which the battle was fought. Ashdod was one of the five principalities of the Philistines, the same with Azotus, (<440840>Acts 8:40). The distance between these two places, according to Bunting f97 was one hundred and sixty miles; though one would think the distance from each other was not…”

“THE PHILISTINES BRING THE ARK INTO THE HOUSE OF DAGON. (Sa1 5:1-2) Ashdod--or Azotus, one of the five Philistine satrapies, and a place of great strength. It was an inland town, thirty-four miles north of Gaza, now called Esdud.”

“5:1 Ebenezer: See study note on 4:1b. • Ashdod, one of the five important Philistine cities (see 6:17), was located along the same major trade highway (the Great Trunk Road) as Aphek.”

“took: Sa1 4:11, Sa1 4:17, Sa1 4:18, Sa1 4:22; Psa 78:61 Ebenezer: Sa1 4:1, Sa1 7:12 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…”

“The Ark in the Land of the Philistines. - Sa1 5:1-6. The Philistines carried the ark from Ebenezer, where they had captured it, into their capital, Ashdod (Esdud; see at Jos 13:3), and placed it there in the temple of Dagon, by the side of the idol Dagon, evidently as a dedicatory offering to this god of theirs, by whose help they imagined that they had obtained the victory over both the Israelites and their God. With regard to the image of Dagon, compounded of man and fish, i.e., of a human body, with head and hands, and a fish's tail, see, in addition to Jdg 16:23, Stark's Gaza, pp. 248ff., 308ff., and Layard's Nineveh and its Remains, pp. 466-7, where there is a bas-relief from Khorsabad,…”