Chapter 5

The Philistines put the Ark in the same temple with their god Dagon.  Each morning, Dagon is laying down face forward.  They set him up, he's down again the next morning.  Then they find his head and hands "cut off". 

Tumors afflict the men who don't die outright in Ashdod.  So they send the ark to first one city, then another.  In each place the people panic, many die, and the rest get tumors on them.  They finally decide to send the ark home.

2021 - It is interesting that God openly demonstrates His power and superiority over Dagon, and over all the area around Ashdod while the Ark is in that place, but we don't see anyone turn from their false worship and change over to worshiping God.  This is a pretty good example of the necessity of God's intention for salvation being required.  The evidence was convincing to anyone who cared to look.  Yet we hear of none being saved and turning to the God of the Hebrews.  They do eventually cry out for the Ark to be sent back.  Their "prize" has become a terrible thing to them.  Even knowing its power, they prefer to have the Hebrews take it back than to try and keep such power away from them.

2025 - This verse:  11 ...For there was a deathly panic throughout the whole city. The hand of God was very heavy there. [1Sa 5:11 ESV].  In NASB95 it says "...there was a deadly confusion throughout the city.", which I didn't think was very clear.  I looked at other translations.  I think the best way to understand this is the phrasing in CSB which says "the fear of death pervaded the city".  ESV is pretty good here too in using the phrase deathly panic.  They were so afraid that the ark was going to kill them, quickly and presumably painfully, that they were in a panic that kept them from rational thought.  So the confusion was not that they didn't know what was going to happen, but that they knew it was horrible and they were helpless to turn it aside.