5:81 Samuel 5:8

The verse records the carrying of the captured ark of the God of Israel from Ashdod to Gath after calamity struck the place where it was kept.PP 581.2–3+1 When disease struck Ashdod, its leaders blamed the presence of the ark and recognized that Israel's God was afflicting them.ST Jan 12, 1882+1 Perplexed about what to do with it, and seeking to escape the destruction associated with it, they decided to send it to Gath.ST Jan 12, 1882+2

What they had taken in triumph had become a burden and a curse to them.SG4 107.2+1 It was carried from place to place in terror, with destruction following its course.SG4 107.2+1 Changing its location did not end the affliction, for the plague followed the ark to Gath.ST Jan 12, 1882+2 There destruction continued, many people died, and the people feared keeping it any longer, so it was then sent on to Ekron, bringing affliction wherever it went.ST Jul 24, 1884+3

Although Israel had lost it, God's presence still attended the ark.ST Jan 12, 1882+1 The same invisible divine presence that had been the strength and glory of obedient Israel brought terror and destruction on transgressors of God's holy law.ST Jan 12, 1882+1 Israel's defeat did not make the sacred ark an ordinary object or place it under the power of Dagon or the Philistines.ST Jul 24, 1884 Its presence brought judgment rather than the protection or strength the Philistines had hoped to gain.ST Jul 24, 1884+1

God had not cast Israel aside and would not let the Philistines exult long.PP 585.5 He used the Philistines to punish unfaithful Israel, and then used the ark as it was carried about among them to punish the Philistines.PP 585.5 God often employs bitter enemies to punish the unfaithfulness of His professed people, the wicked triumph only for a time while Israel suffers chastisement, and then they too must meet the sentence of a holy, sin-hating God, for wherever iniquity is cherished swift and unerring divine judgment follows.PP 585.5