Today is the 9th day of May. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I'm Brian. It's another day, right? It's another day to step forward. It's great to be here with you around the global campfire today. As we move

further and into this new territory in the book of First Samuel.

So we have read about Samuel and how his life came to be and how he grew up in the temple and how God called him and how it is that he became a prophet and that his first prophecy was really against the high priest and his sons. People that were really close to Samuel, people that were around him all the time.

And this is what happened. They all died. It was a battle with the Philistines. The

Ark of the Covenant has been captured and that's kind of

where we are the Ark of the Covenant has been captured so this symbol of God

being with the people is gone. It's under Philistine control. They're confused about that.

As you can imagine, and the Philistines are pretty excited about it. And so let's pick up the story,

First Samuel Five. about it. And so let's pick up the story first Samuel five six and seven today.

Now the Philistines had captured the Ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.

The Philistines took the Ark of God and brought it into the temple of Degon, where they positioned it beside

Degon.

When the residents of Ashdod got up early the next day, Degon was lying on the ground

before the Ark of the Lord.

So they took Daygon and set him back in his place.

But when they got up early the following day, Daygon was again lying on the ground

before the Ark of the Lord. The head of Dagon and his two hands were

sheered off and were lying at the threshold. Only Dagon's body was left intact.

For this reason to this very day neither Dagon's body was left intact.

For this reason to this very day, neither Dagon's priests, nor anyone else who enters

Degon's temple steps on Dagon's threshold in Ashdod. The Lord attacked the residents of Ashdod severely, bringing devastation on them.

He struck the people of both Ashdod and the surrounding area with sores. When the people of Ashdod and the surrounding area with sores.

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