The treatment shows the disdain the Philistines had for Israel, and reflects the degree to which Saul had been successful in throwing off the Philistine yoke. The decapitation was in accordance with the customs of the times and probably partially in retaliation for the manner in which Israel had treated Goliath (ch. 17:51-54). Saul’s head was placed in the temple of Dagon (1 Chron. 10:10), a shrine probably located in Ashdod (1 Sam. 5:2-7). This act would indicate that the Philistines gave Dagon credit for the great victory at Mt. Gilboa. They did not realize that they would have had no power at all, except it had been given them from above (John 19:11). The Philistines had had abundance of evidence of the superiority of Jehovah over Dagon (see 1 Sam. 5), but they preferred to depend on their own ability and rejected God.