Sometimes when the Israelites fought an enemy, they would take the Ark of the Covenant into battle. After the Philistines killed 4,000 Israelite soldiers, the elders of Israel said, “Wherefore hath the Lord smitten us to day before the Philistines? Let us fetch the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of Shiloh unto us, that, when it cometh among us, it may save us out of the hand of our enemies” (1 Samuel 4:3). The Ark of the Covenant with the mercy seat represented God’s presence. We see this in an earlier passage in Numbers 10:35:
“And it came to pass, when the ark set forward, that Moses said, Rise up, Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before thee.”
Clearly, they believed the Lord would go before them to fight their battles and scatter the enemy. But the tabernacle had been profaned with the altering of the sacrifices and the immorality of the priests. Israel was defeated, the Ark of the Covenant was captured, Eli’s sons were slain, and when he received the news of the loss of the Ark and his sons, he fell off a chair backward and broke his neck. Eli’s daughter-in-law died in childbirth and her son was named Ichabod, meaning “no glory,” as the women who stood by exclaimed, “The glory is departed from Israel: for the ark of God is taken” (1 Samuel 4:22).
The Philistines took the Ark and brought it to the house of their god, Dagon, and set the Ark by their idol god. The next morning, they discovered Dagon had fallen on his face. They stood him up again, but the next morning “Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold; only the stump of Dagon was left to him. Therefore neither the priests of Dagon, nor any that come into Dagon’s house, tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day” (1 Samuel 5:4-5).
There is a lot to unpack in these two verses. Dagon, like the symbolic serpent in the Garden of Eden who was relegated to crawl on his belly, and the chief priests and Pharisees who encountered Jesus in Gethsemane and fell backwards (John 18:6), Dagon cannot stand in the Lord’s presence. Next time you are tempted by Satan, remember he doesn’t have a leg to stand on.
Once again, we encounter “palm of the hand” symbolism (kaph in Hebrew). We have seen the close ties to covenant making with kaph imagery before. As the soles of the feet of the priests rested in the waters of Jordan, the Lord parted the river allowing them to cross over to their promised land (see Joshua 3:13). As Jacob wrestles (or maybe is embraced) with a messenger of God, is given a new name, and is touched in the hollow of his thigh, the New and Everlasting Covenant is renewed for the next generation (see Genesis 32:24-32). As Jesus reminds us, “Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands,” (Isaiah 49:16) we remember His atoning grace and lovingkindness. All of these are kaph images.
But a false god cannot extend his covenant hand or even think to receive of God’s strength. He cannot and will not make a covenant with God. He cannot even cross the threshold into God’s glory.
Here we find another temple concept that Bible scholars call “liminal space.” Liminal space is the transition between varying degrees of glory. It defines the boundary of sacred space. We see this as Moses ascends Mount Sinai, or as the brother of Jared ascends Mount Shelem. We see it in the tabernacle with the outer courtyard, the Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies, where the Ark of the Covenant belongs. We see it in our modern temples with the Telestial, Terrestrial, and Celestial rooms. “And there are many kingdoms; for there is no space in the which there is no kingdom; and there is no kingdom in which there is no space, either a greater or a lesser kingdom” (D&C 88:37).
Dagon is cut off at the threshold so he cannot cross that liminal space into the Lord’s glory. The concept of liminal space is best expressed in the dedicatory prayer of the Kirtland Temple:
“And that all people who shall enter upon the threshold of the Lord’s house may feel thy power, and feel constrained to acknowledge that thou hast sanctified it, and that it is thy house, a place of thy holiness.” (D&C 109:13)
