Temple thresholds separated sacred space (the temple) from common space (the world outside the temple). With Dagon’s head and hands falling upon the threshold, the threshold would now be rendered sacred and thus not to be touched.1 The custom of stepping over the threshold is one that continued in Philistia for a long time,2 and even came to be practised by idolatrous priests in Jerusalem (see Zephaniah 1:4, Zephaniah 1:9).3 The mention of this custom here is an example of etiology whereby a past reason is given for a present reality.4
5 This is why the priests of Dagon and all who enter the house of Dagon do not tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day.