5 Therefore neither the priests of Dagon, nor any who come into Dagon's house, tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod, to this day.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
This custom still existed among the worshippers of Dagon so late as the reign of Josiah (see the marginal reference).
Tread on the threshold - Because the arms, etc., of Dagon were broken off by his fall on the threshold, the threshold became sacred, and neither his priests nor worshippers ever tread on the threshold. Thus it was ordered, in the Divine providence, that, by a religious custom of their own, they should perpetuate their disgrace, the insufficiency of their worship, and the superiority of the God of Israel.
It is supposed that the idolatrous Israelites, in the time of Zephaniah, had adopted the worship of Dagon: and that in this sense 1-Samuel 1:9 is to be understood: In the same day will I punish all those who leap upon the threshold. In order to go into such temples, and not tread on the threshold, the people must step or leap over them; and in this way the above passage may be understood. Indeed, the thresholds of the temples in various places were deemed so sacred that the people were accustomed to fall down and kiss them. When Christianity became corrupted, this adoration of the thresholds of the churches took place.
Therefore neither the priests of Dagon, nor any that come into Dagon's house, (c) tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day.
(c) Thus instead of acknowledging the true God by this miracle, they fall into greater superstition.
Therefore neither the priests of Dagon, nor any that come into Dagon's house,.... Neither the priests that continually attended the worship and service of Dagon, nor the people that came there to pay their devotions to him:
tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day: but used to leap over it, either reckoning it sacred because touched by their idol, which fell upon it; or rather, as it should seem, in a way of detestation, because it had been the means of cutting off the head and hands of their idol; and this custom not only continued to the latter days of Samuel, the writer of this book; but even among the Philistines in one place or another to the times of Zephaniah, who seems to allude to it, Zephaniah 1:9. In later times there was another deity worshipped at Ashdod; according to Masius (s), the Philistine Venus, or Astarte, was worshipped in this place; though perhaps she may be no other than Atergatis, or Adergatis, which with Selden (t) is only a corruption of Addir-dag, the magnificent fish, in which form Dagon is supposed to be; so the Phoenician goddess Derceto, worshipped at Ashkelon had the face of a woman, and the other part was all fish; though Ben Gersom says Dagon was in the form of a man, and which is confirmed by the Complutensian edition of the Septuagint, which on 1-Samuel 5:4 reads, "the soles of his feet were cut off"; which is a much better reading than the common one, "the soles of his hands", which is not sense; by which it appears that he had head, hands, and feet; wherefore it seems most likely that he had his name from Dagon, signifying corn: See Gill on Judges 16:23.
(s) Comment. in Joshua. xv. 47. (t) De Dis. Syr. Syntagu. l. 2. c. 3. p. 267.
Therefore neither the priests . . . nor any . . . tread on the threshold of Dagon--A superstitious ceremony crept in, and in the providence of God was continued, by which the Philistines contributed to publish this proof of the helplessness of their god.
unto this day--The usage continued in practice at the time when this history was written--probably in the later years of Samuel's life.
This day - When this history was written, which if written by Samuel towards the end of his life, was a sufficient ground for this expression.
*More commentary available at chapter level.