What is…
Dagon’s house

also known as: Beth-dagon (Josh.15:41; 19:27)

Hebrew: beth Dagon or beit Dagon

1 Samuel 5:2

This was the ancient sanctuary or temple of the false god Dagon.

Temples of Dagon in the Biblical record

1. Ashdod (Azotus)

   The main “house of Dagon” in the Bible is at Ashdod. After capturing the Ark of the Covenant, the Philistines put it in Dagon’s temple beside his statue. The statue falls face-down, then is found broken (head and hands cut off) on the threshold (1 Samuel 5:2–5). The text adds that priests of Dagon thereafter avoided stepping on that threshold.

   The same temple at Ashdod is mentioned again in 1 Maccabees 10:83–84 and 11:4, when Jonathan burns it.

2. Gaza

   Judges 16:23–30 describes a large temple of Dagon at Gaza. The Philistine lords gathered there to sacrifice and celebrate Samson’s capture. Samson pulled down the 2 central pillars and the building collapsed.

3. King Saul’s head

   After the battle of Gilboa, the Philistines “fastened his head in the temple of Dagon” (1 Chronicles 10:10). 1 Samuel 31:10 says they put Saul’s armor in the house of Ashtaroth and fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan. See: 1 Samuel 31:8-13

   Scholars disagree whether Chronicles means a Dagon temple at Beth-shan (excavations found 2 temples from the period of Philistine control) or that the head was sent as a trophy to a major Philistine sanctuary such as Ashdod or Gaza. The Chronicler does not name the city.

Two towns named Beth-dagon

These are settlements called Beth-dagon, not the temples in the Samson or Ark accounts:

Josephus also mentions a fortress called Dagon near Jericho, showing the name was used more widely.