וַיַּשְׁכִּ֤מוּ אַשְׁדּוֹדִים֙ מִֽמָּחֳרָ֔ת וְהִנֵּ֣ה דָג֗וֹן נֹפֵ֤ל לְפָנָיו֙ אַ֔רְצָה לִפְנֵ֖י אֲר֣וֹן יְהוָ֑ה וַיִּקְחוּ֙ אֶת־דָּג֔וֹן וַיָּשִׁ֥בוּ אֹת֖וֹ לִמְקוֹמֽוֹ׃
Y el siguiente día los de Asdod se levantaron de mañana, y he aquí Dagón postrado en tierra delante del arca de SEÑOR: y tomaron á Dagón, y volviéronlo á su lugar.
Rabbeinu Bahya
Rashi, quoting Mechilta, explains the meaning of “on all the deities of Egypt I shall execute judgments” as that if these idols were made of wood, the wood would rot, whereas if they had been made of metal the metal would melt” [seeing that one cannot kill what has never been alive, the Mechilta wanted to illustrate what the words “judgments” when applied to idols could possibly mean. Ed.]
When the Torah gets around to reporting the carrying out of this plague in verse 29, the killing of the firstborn humans and animals is mentioned whereas there is no mention of the destruction of the idols. The reason is that the Egyptians had been alerted to the dying of the firstborn during that night and they therefore found out about it during the night seeing they were checking if this disaster was actually happening. They did not find out about the destruction of their idols until the morning when they visited their temples. We find that something similar occurred after the Philistines had captured the Holy Ark (Samuel I 5,3). We read there: ”Early the next day, the people of Ashdod found Dagon lying face down on the ground in front of the Ark of the Lord.” In the following verse we are told: “after they had picked up Dagon and put him back in his place the next morning they again found him lying prone on the ground in front of the Ark of the Lord. The head and both hands of Dagon had been cut off, lying on the threshold. Only Dagon’s trunk was left intact.” This is when it dawned on the Philistines that the plague inflicted on them as well as on their deities had been caused by the G’d of heaven. This is what the prophet Jeremiah 10,11 had in mind when he said: “Thus shall you say to them: ‘Let the gods, who did not make heaven and earth, perish from the earth and from under the heaven.’”
When the Torah gets around to reporting the carrying out of this plague in verse 29, the killing of the firstborn humans and animals is mentioned whereas there is no mention of the destruction of the idols. The reason is that the Egyptians had been alerted to the dying of the firstborn during that night and they therefore found out about it during the night seeing they were checking if this disaster was actually happening. They did not find out about the destruction of their idols until the morning when they visited their temples. We find that something similar occurred after the Philistines had captured the Holy Ark (Samuel I 5,3). We read there: ”Early the next day, the people of Ashdod found Dagon lying face down on the ground in front of the Ark of the Lord.” In the following verse we are told: “after they had picked up Dagon and put him back in his place the next morning they again found him lying prone on the ground in front of the Ark of the Lord. The head and both hands of Dagon had been cut off, lying on the threshold. Only Dagon’s trunk was left intact.” This is when it dawned on the Philistines that the plague inflicted on them as well as on their deities had been caused by the G’d of heaven. This is what the prophet Jeremiah 10,11 had in mind when he said: “Thus shall you say to them: ‘Let the gods, who did not make heaven and earth, perish from the earth and from under the heaven.’”