What does it mean that the people put Dagon back in his place?
1 Samuel 5:3 (ESV)
3And when the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the LORD. So they took Dagon and put him back in his place.
The god of the Philistines needs to be helped back into his place in the temple.1 Presumably he was some kind of statue that had to be picked up to stand upright once again. He was a human creation, a useless idol that had to be propped up by his worshippers (cf. Isaiah 40:20).2
3 And when the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the LORD. So they took Dagon and put him back in his place.