What does 1 Samuel 5:7 mean?

The Philistines in Ashdod soon made the connection between the terrible outbreak of tumors in the city (1 Samuel 5:6) and the presence of the ark of the Lord God of Israel in their pagan temple (1 Samuel 5:1–2). This would have been an extremely easy conclusion to make. Very recently, in the temple of Dagon, the statue of Dagon had been mutilated and humiliated in front of the ark (1 Samuel 5:2–5).

Ashdod's people came to the wise conclusion that if the Lord God of Israel could cause tumors to swell up on their bodies, they could not possibly defeat Him. More importantly, their god Dagon could not defeat the Lord. Any idea they had that their god was stronger than Israel's god had clearly been an illusion, no matter the outcome of their most recent battle (1 Samuel 4:10–11). The Lord's hand was hard against them—He was afflicting them. Something had to be done; still, the people act as if the issue at hand is the physical ark, itself, so they make plans to move it (1 Samuel 5:8).