Old Testament: 1 Samuel 5-6
Poetry: Psalm 65
New Testament: 2 Corinthians 7
Did you know Marduk had fifty names?
It’s OK if you don’t, because most people wouldn’t because we don’t normally know the number of names of ancient gods of dead civilizations.
But Marduk had fifty!
Two of my kids have four names, and sometimes that feels like three too many!
Why did he have that many?
Because scholars rarely agree on anything, there are many different reasons for this, but there was a common idea in the ancient world that what happened in the physical world was merely an echo of what was happening in the spiritual world. When Babylon took over other cities, they would claim that the god of Babylon, that is, Marduk, had defeated the god or gods of the city or tribe they just defeated. Marduk got a lot of name because Babylon overcame many enemies and they merged together the defeated gods with the great god so that he supplanted even their chief deity by the end of the poem of creation of the Babylonians.
The school-yard-like taunt between the ancient nations was “My god is bigger than your god!”
This is where we make it to our story today. The Philistines worship a god named Dagon/Dagan, and so when they defeat the Israelites, they wheel the Ark into the temple of Dagon. Because he is bigger, better and stronger than YHWH; right? At least, that’s what the Philistines think. But the destroyed, worshipping statue of their god boasts different things.
The Old Testament is full of imagery of the great power of God over other “gods.” In the Exodus, God is powerful over the Egyptian deities; he turns off Ra and brings low Pharaoh, among others. In the exile, God is shown to be powerful over his foes in both the last part of Job (where YHWH is subtlety compared to many gods) and in the return from exile, where his people walk free in the year he declared he would bring them back. Here in 1 Samuel, Dagan “worships” God by falling prostrate before him, and the Philistines, while trying to taunt and control God, decide the ark is more trouble than it’s worth.
Some ancient gods have no reality at all; the power of other gods seem to come from demons. (1 Corinthians 10:20) But no matter their reality, their falsehood, their existence or the lack thereof,
Our God is greater.
Our God is better.
“My God is better than your god!” And he actually is!
-Jake Ballard
Reflection Questions:
- Marduk. Enlil. Baal. Zeus. Jupiter. There are many gods of the ancient world that claim the title of top God. How can we know there can be only one true God? How would you talk to a friend who is open to the existence of multiple gods or even multiple pantheons of gods? How would you tailor your message to speak to them.
- We shouldn’t ignore the two different plagues. Why did the Philistines have a plague affect them? Why did the people of Beth Shemesh have a plague affect them? What do these two plagues teach us about God?