What does 1 Samuel 5:2 mean?

A frequent practice during this era was for victorious nations to take idols and religious statues from conquered enemies. They would be brought home as more than simple trophies of battle. In that time, every nation claimed some relationship with one or a pantheon of gods. Sometimes, specific groups within a culture were favored by different deities. Battles were thought to be won and lost by the gods of those who served them. Capturing the religious icons of an enemy symbolized the defeat of their gods.

The Philistines had taken a god known as Dagon for their own, though it was worshiped in other places in one form or another. Some scholars suggest Dagon was a god of fish, grain, or clouds. Others are not certain; Dagon's early imagery seem connected to the sea, yet the Philistines themselves were not seafarers. The Philistines had a temple to Dagon in Ashdod, and that is where they brought the ark of the covenant of Israel's God.

The Philistines set the ark next to a large statue of Dagon in his temple. This was meant to show that Dagon had defeated Yahweh, the God of Israel, by defeating Yahweh's people in battle. From the Philistines' perspective, placing the ark next to Dagon's stature implied that Yahweh was inferior to Dagon; even that the "god" of Israel was submissive to the god of the Philistines.