What does 1 Samuel 5:4 mean?

Bringing idols and statues of enemy gods back as trophies of conquest was meant to show your god was superior to theirs. It implied you had dominated your enemy so thoroughly that you were able to take their god away from them and even force that god to submit to your own god. This is what the Philistines meant to do with Israel's Yahweh. They brought the ark of Yahweh into the temple of their idol, Dagon, as if Yahweh had come to worship a superior deity (1 Samuel 5:2). When they came back the next morning, though, the Dagon statue was lying face down on the ground in front of the ark in a position of worship. They stood the statue up again (1 Samuel 5:3).

Now they have returned the second day to find the Dagon statue in even worse shape. Not only is the statue face down on the ground in front of the ark again, but its head and hands have been removed and placed on the "threshold." This might refer to the pedestal on which the idol sat, or the entryway to its chamber. Either way, this fact implies several things. First, the severed head and hands means this was no natural, common accident. Second, a "threshold" is typically where people walk; to step on something degraded and dishonored it. In a somewhat literal way, the idol of Dagon has been violently, shamefully stripped of his power and authority—hands and head—while being forced to submit to Yahweh.

This must have raised an important question for the Philistines: Did Dagon really defeat Yahweh in that battle? Clearly, he had not. Cutting off the heads and hands of enemy soldiers was one of the brutal methods during this era for demonstrating complete dominance over other nations. The idea that Yahweh had somehow cut off Dagon's head and hands was clearly meant to humiliate the Philistines and their god. What happens next will continue to demonstrate that the Lord God, not Dagon, was the true power behind these events.