v. God, Idol, Image
Jdg 16:23 Philistines .. to offer sacrifice to D
1Sa 5:2 they put her in the house of D .. next to D
1Ch 10:10 hung his head in the temple of D
Dagon (Heb. Dâgôn; ugar. Dgn; ac. Dagân and Dagûna). Unclear etymology. Some think that the name comes from the Heb. dág, “fish”, and Dagon is believed to have been a fish-god; others, from Heb. dâgân, “grain”, and they believe that he was the god of grains. Both etymologies, frequently defended, are doubtful; especially the first, despite the fact that half-fish and half-human gods existed in the ancient East, and the Greek coins of Aradus and Ascalon show figures of fish-gods. Divinity widely worshiped among the West Semites since the time of Sargon of Akkad. Since he was considered the father of Baal, he was an important god in the Ugaritic pantheon. His temple, adjacent to that of Baal, has been excavated at Ras Shamra. The Canaanites of Palestine also worshiped him, as evidenced by the fact that 2 towns in Joshua’s time – one in Judah (Jos 15:41) and the other in Asher (19:27) – were called Beth-Dagon, which means ” house (or temple) of Dagon. It is virtually certain that there was a temple to Dagon at both locations. According to H. Schm`kel, there are currently 3 villages in Palestine bearing the name Beit-Degan. The fact that Dagon appears in the OT as the main Philistine god suggests that they must have adopted this god when they invaded Palestine. In the OT there are 3 Dagon worship centers related to the Philistines: 1. The Dagon temple in Gaza, where Samson met his death (Jdg 16:21-30). 2. The temple of Dagon at Ashdod, to which the ark was brought after the battle of Aphek. He had a statue of Dagon, probably in human form, as his head, face, and palms are mentioned. It fell to the ground and broke 292 when the ark was in his temple (1Sa 5: 1-4). This or its successor existed until the 2nd century BC, when it was finally destroyed by Jonathan Maccabee (1 Macc. 10:83, 84-11:4). 3. The temple of Dagon at Beth-shan, to which the Philistines brought King Saul’s head and armor after the battle of Mount Gilboa, in which the king lost his life (1Sa 31:9,10; 1Ch 10 :6-10). Archaeological excavations, led by the University of Pennsylvania, at the Beth-shan mound, found a temple from the time of Ramses III, on the south side, in stratum V, which is believed to have probably been dedicated to Dagon. when the Philistines owned the city. Bib.: H. Schm`kel, RLA 11:99-101; A. Rowe, The Four Cananite Temples of Beth-sha (Philadelphia, 1940), I:22-30; AS Kapelrud, Baal in the Ras Shamra Texts (Copenhagen, 1952), pp 52-56, 64-66.
Source: Evangelical Bible Dictionary
Hebrew dag, fish. God of the middle Euphrates region, also worshiped in Syria and Palestine, who was adopted by the Philistines, who built a great temple for him in the city of Gaza, which was destroyed by Samson, when it was full of people to offer him a sacrifice to the Philistine divinity, Jc 16, 23-32. When Israel was defeated by the Philistines, the Ark was taken from Shiloh so that Yahweh could save the people, but it succumbed to the Philistines, who captured the Ark and took it from Eben Haézer to Ashdod, one of the cities of the Philistine Pentapolis, and they placed it in the temple next to their god D., but the next morning the idol D. was found fallen on the ground, and the inhabitants of Ashdod were punished by Yahweh, and the Ark was returned, 1 S 5, 1- 12. When Saul was defeated by the Philistines on Mount Gelboé, they took their weapons and deposited them in the temple of D. and his head nailed there, 1 Cro 10, 10. In the time of the Maccabees, Jonathan defeated Apollonius, governor of Calesiria chased him to Ashdod, where he took refuge with the troops in the temple of D., which was delivered by Jonathan to the flames along with those who were there, 1 M 10, 83-83; 11, 4.
Digital Bible Dictionary, Grupo C Service & Design Ltda., Colombia, 2003
Source: Digital Bible Dictionary
(Heb., daghon, probably fish). Chief god of the Philistines (eg, 1 Samuel 5). Originally worshiped by the Canaanites prior to the Philistine invasion of Canaan, as indicated by place names such as Beth-dagon in Judah (Jos 15:41) and in Asher (Jos 19:27). Either a fish god or the god of agriculture, from Dab, fish, or Dagan, grain. Saul’s head was placed in a temple of Dagon (1Ch 10:10). Samson destroyed the temple of Dagon in Gaza (Jdg 16:30).
Source: Hispanic World Bible Dictionary
God of crops, of fertility (the root of the word is related to another that in Hebrew means “grain”). The Philistines, who were originally a seafaring people, adopted him as their main deity after settling in Canaan, where he was worshiped before his arrival. They represented him with the torso and face of a man and the body of a fish. In their cult, which came from the lands of Syria and Mesopotamia, they officiated a kind of prophets who emitted the oracles in a state of †¢ecstasy. When Samson fell prisoner to the Philistines, they “gathered together to offer sacrifice to D. their god and to rejoice” and had the prisoner brought to D.’s temple, which Samson destroyed and also died (Judges 16:23-30). In the days of Eli, “when the Philistines captured the ark of God, they took it… to Ashdod…. and they brought her into D.’s house, and they put her next to D.† Two days later the idol was found knocked down and “D.’s head and the two palms of his hands† cut off, for which the Philistines recognized that Jehovah’s hand “is hard on us and on our god D.” (1Sa 5:2-7). Later, when they defeated Saul, they “put their weapons in the temple of their gods, and hung their heads in the temple of D.” (1Ch 10:10-11). Several temples of D. have been found in the land of Israel.
Source: Christian Bible Dictionary
guy, GOD
Vet, main divinity of the Philistines with a temple in Gaza, Ashdod, etc. (1 Chron. 10:10). The one in Gaza was destroyed by Samson (Judges 16:21-30). In Ashdod, Dagon miraculously fell twice before the ark of God; and in his second fall his head and hands were broken, leaving only his body, which was in the form of a large fish with a human head (1 Sam. 5: 1-9; 15:41; 19:27) . There were other similarly shaped idols among the ancients, particularly the goddess Derceto or Atergates.
Source: New Illustrated Bible Dictionary
God of the Philistines who occasionally appears in the Bible (Jos. 15.41 and 19. 27) and who is presented as especially dangerous to the Israelites. The last temple mentioned in the Bible is the one destroyed by Jonathan the Maccabee, in the city of Ashdod (1 Mac. 10. 83).
It was a divinity of Persian origin, whose cult spread throughout Syria and Cappadocia and tempted the Israelites on occasions.
Pedro Chico González, Dictionary of Catechesis and Religious Pedagogy, Editorial Bruño, Lima, Peru 2006
Source: Dictionary of Catechesis and Religious Pedagogy
God of the Philistines. The existence of cities with the name “Beth-dagon” (possibly in honor of the god Dagon) in the territories of Judah and Asher, seems to indicate that the cult of this deity was already well rooted in Canaan when Israel conquered the Promised Land. (Jos 15:41; 19:27) The Philistines are believed to have adopted the worship of Dagon from the Canaanites.
There is no unanimous opinion as to the origin of the name “Dagon”. Some scholars associate it with the Hebrew word dagh (fish), while others associate it with the Hebrew term da·ghán (grain). In 1 Samuel 5:4 it is said of Dagon fallen on the ground: † œOnly the fish part had been left on him †, his head and the palms of his hands had been cut off. The Hebrew term that in this text is translated †œDagon† is rendered in most of the Spanish versions by †œthe trunk† , while others translate it †œthe part that had a fish† (DK, Mod), †œthe trunk in fish-shaped† (Str) or †œthe fish part† (NM).
One of the biblical accounts that mentions Dagon tells of the occasion in which Samson grabbed the two central load-bearing columns and knocked down the house where Dagon was worshiped, killing the Philistines gathered there. (Jg 16:21-30) It was also in the house of Dagon at Ashdod that the Philistines deposited Jehovah’s sacred Ark after capturing it as spoils of war. The image of Dagon fell face down before the Ark on the threshold of the temple twice, and the second time it broke into several pieces. Perhaps in order not to desecrate the place where the pieces had fallen, both the priests and others who entered the temple made a habit of not stepping on the threshold. (1Sa 5:2-5) When the Philistines began to experience the painful effects of hemorrhoids and the devastation of their crops by gerbils, they recognized that the hand of the God of Israel had moved against them and their god Dagon. (1Sa 5:6, 7; 6:5) On another occasion, when the Philistines discovered the body of King Saul among the fallen on Mount Gilboa, they cut off his head and, after informing the houses of their idols already all the people fixed it in the house of Dagon. (1Sa 31:8-10; 1Ch 10:8-10)
The Philistines may have been in the habit of carrying the god Dagon into battle. (2Sa 5:21.)
Source: Dictionary of the Bible
In the OT Dagon is one of the main deities of the Philistines, worshiped in Gaza (Judg. 16.21-23) in the time of Samson, in Ashdod (until the time of the Maccabees, 1 Maccabees 10.83-85; 11.4) and at Beth-san in the days of Saul and David (1 Sam. 5.2–7; 1 Chr. 10.10 with 1 Sam. 31.10). The true origin of this god’s name has been lost to antiquity, and even its precise nature is uncertain. The general idea that he was a fish god does not seem to have any foundation; it is suggested in Jerome (BDB, pp. 1121), and is first clearly expressed by Kimhi in ss. XIII AD (Schmökel), who was influenced only by the external resemblance between “Dagon” and the Heb. dāḡ, ‘fish’. The fish-tailed divinity that appears on the coins of Arvad and Ascalon is linked to Atargatis, and has no express relation to Dagon (Dhorme and Dussaud). The Hebrew word common dāḡān ‘grain, wheat’ (BDB, pp. 186) may be derived from, or originated from, the name of the god Dagon or Dagan; it is therefore possible that he was a god of vegetation or grain (cf. WF Albright, Archeology and the Religion of Israel³, 1953, pp. 74 and 220, n. 15).
From at least 2500 BC onwards, Dagan was worshiped throughout Mesopotamia, especially in the Middle Euphrates region, where he had a temple at Mari (18th century BC), adorned with bronze lions (see illustration). in A. Champdor, Babylon, 1959; trans. cast Babylon, 1963). Dagon entered the composition of many personal names.
in the ss. XIV BC and even earlier, Dagon had a temple at Ugarit in N Phenicia, identified by two stelae…