The Ark of the Covenant is a chest for the original engraved tablets of the Ten Commandments, brought down Mount Sinai by Moses.

The ark has a number of different powers, according to the Bible. In one story, the Jordan River stopped flowing and remained still while a group of priests carrying the ark crossed the river. Other stories describe how the Israelites took the Ark with them into battle where the powers of the ark helped the Israelites defeat their enemies.

The first thing that happened is the humiliation of their god Dagon

1 Samuel 5:1-5 Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon and set it by Dagon. And when the people of Ashdod arose early in the morning, there was Dagon, fallen on its face to the earth before the ark of the LORD. So they took Dagon and set it in its place again. And when they arose early the next morning, there was Dagon, fallen on its face to the ground before the ark of the LORD. The head of Dagon and both the palms of its hands were broken off on the threshold; only Dagon’s torso was left of it. Therefore neither the priests of Dagon nor any who come into Dagon’s house tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day.

Dagon was represented with a half-man, half-fish figure, and was said to be the father of Baal.

The second thing was an outbreak of tumours and disease in the city of Ashdod

1 Samuel 5:6-8) But the hand of the LORD was heavy on the people of Ashdod, and He ravaged them and struck them with tumors, both Ashdod and its territory. And when the men of Ashdod saw how it was, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for His hand is harsh toward us and Dagon our god.” Therefore they sent and gathered to themselves all the lords of the Philistines, and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?” And they answered, “Let the ark of the God of Israel be carried away to Gath.” So they carried the ark of the God of Israel away.

After the humiliation of their god, outbreaks of tumours and disease afflicted them, forcing the Philistines to return the ark to the Israelites. Some stories describe how death would come to anyone who touched the ark or looked inside it.

The Ark had been among them for seven months, the Philistines, on the advice of their diviners, returned it to the Israelites, accompanying its return with an offering consisting of golden images of the tumours and mice wherewith they had been afflicted.

After they took the Ark to Gath

1 Samuel 5:9 So it was, after they had carried it away, that the hand of the LORD was against the city with a very great destruction; and He struck the men of the city, both small and great, and tumors broke out on them.

The ark of the covenant was now among the Philistines like a “hot potato,” in the children’s game, burning every city where it stayed. The Ekronites were not happy to see the ark but they still wouldn’t submit to the LORD God of Israel.

They finally send back the Ark to Israel 

If The Philistines had repented and turned towards the LORD, could have benefited from the ark. Instead it became a curse and a judgment to them.

The same is true of the presence of God among men today, which can be as a fragrance of life to some and the aroma of death to others (2 Corinthians 2:15-16).

2 Corinthians 2:15-16 For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one [we are] the aroma of death [leading] to death, and to the other the aroma of life [leading] to life. And who [is] sufficient for these things?

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