1 Samuel 5:6

_BUT THE HAND OF THE LORD WAS HEAVY UPON THEM OF ASHDOD, AND HE DESTROYED THEM, AND SMOTE THEM WITH EMERODS, EVEN ASHDOD AND THE COASTS THEREOF._ The hand of the Lord was heavy upon them of Ashdod. The presumption of the Ashdodites was punished by a severe judgment that overtook them in the form of a pestilence. SMOTE THEM WITH EMERODS, х_ BA`POLIYM_ (H6076)] - tumors, bleeding piles, hemorrhoids (Psalms 78:66), in a very aggravated form. Since the pagans generally regarded diseases affecting the secret parts of the body as punishments from the gods for trespasses committed against themselves, the Ashdodites would be the more ready to look upon the prevailing epidemic as demonstrating the anger of God already shown against their idol....

6-12 The hand of the Lord was heavy upon the Philistines; he not only convinced them of their folly, but severely chastised their insolence. Yet they would not renounce Dagon; and instead of seeking God's mercy, they desired to get clear of his ark. Carnal hearts, when they smart under the judgments of God, would rather, if it were possible, put him far from them, than enter into covenant or communion with him, and seek him for their friend. But their devices to escape the Divine judgments only increase them. Those that fight against God will soon have enough of it....

Verse 1 Samuel 5:6. _SMOTE THEM WITH EMERODS_] The word עפלים _apholim_, from עפל _aphal_, to be _elevated_, probably means the disease called the _bleeding piles_, which appears to have been accompanied with dysentery, bloody flux, and ulcerated anus. The Vulgate says, _Et percussit in secretiori parte natium_; "And he smote them in the more secret parts of their posteriors." To this the psalmist is supposed to refer, Psalms 78:66, _He smote all his enemies in the HINDER PARTS; he put them to a_ _perpetual reproach_. Some copies of the _Septuagint have_ εξεζεσεν αυτοις εις τας ναυς, "he inflamed them in their ships:" other copies have εις τας ἑδρας, "in their posteriors." The _Syriac_ is the same. The _Arabic_ enlarges: "He smote them i

EMERODS - A corruption of “hemorrhoids.” It is mentioned Deuteronomy 28:27 among the diseases with which God threatened to punish the Israelites for disobedience....

EXPOSITION THE ARK OF GOD IN PHILISTIA (1 Samuel 5:1). 1 SAMUEL 5:1 THE PHILISTINES TOOK THE ARK OF GOD. The silence of Scripture is often as remarkable as what it tells us. From Psalms 78:60-19; Jeremiah 7:12; Jeremiah 26:9, we gather that from Aphek the Philistines marched upon Shiloh, and having captured it, put all whom they found there to the sword, a

BUT THE HAND OF THE LORD WAS HEAVY ON THEM OF ASHDOD,.... Not only on their idol, but on themselves; it had crushed him to pieces, and now it fell heavy on them to their destruction: AND HE DESTROYED THEM; either by the disease after mentioned they were smitten with, or rather with some other, since that seems not to be mortal, though painful; it may be with the pestilence: AND SMOTE THEM WITH EMERODS; more properly haemorrhoids, which, as Kimchi says, was the name of a disease, but he says not what; Ben Gersom calls it a very painful disease, from whence comes a great quantity of blood. Josephus u takes it to be the dysentery or bloody flux; it seems to be what we commonly call the piles, and has its name in Hebrew from the height of them, rising up sometimes into high large tumours: EVEN ASHDOD AND THE COASTS THEREOF; not only the inhabitants of the city were afflicted with this dis...

6. THE ARK IN THE HANDS OF THE PHILISTINES AND ITS RETURN CHAPTER 5 _ 1. The ark in the house of Dagon (1 Samuel 5:1)_ 2. The Philistines smitten by Jehovah (1 Samuel 5:6) The ark was brought to Ashdod, the leading city of the Philistines, and set up in the temple dedicated to Dagon, the chief god of the people. It was half fish and half man, the symbol of fertility. Before this idol the ark was set up. In their blindness they imagined that Dagon had conquered the God of Israel. The next morning they found Dagon fallen with his face to the earth before the ark. It was the Lord who did it and not an accident. The next morning the whole idol-image, except the fish-part, is fallen upon the ground. “The head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands lay cut off upon the threshold.” T

1 SAMUEL 5. THE ARK IN THE PHILISTINE CITIES. 1 Samuel 5:1. Ashdod. 1 Samuel 5:8. Gath. 1 Samuel 5:10. Ekron: see Joshua 11:22; Joshua 13:3; p 28. 1 Samuel 5:2. Dagon: see Judges 16:23 *. 1 Samuel 5:3. The Ark is thought of as possessing marvellous inherent powers; it brings disaster on

HAND. Put by Figure of speech _Metonymy_ (of Cause), App-6, for the judgments inflicted by it. EMERODS. See note on Deuteronomy 28:27....

_But the hand of the Lord_ Rather, AND. "The hand of the Lord" = the putting forth of His might. Chastisement now overtook the people as well as the god. _he destroyed them, and smote them with emerods_ A double calamity fell upon them (1) Their land was ravaged by a plague of mice. The present Heb. text leaves this to be inferred from ch. 1 Samuel 6:5, but the Sept. inserts here "And mice sprang up in the midst of their land, and there was a very deadly destruction in the city." This may be merely an inference from 1 Samuel 5:11 and 1 Samuel 6:5, but the numerous divergences of the Sept. from the existing Heb. text in chaps, 5 and 6 (making full allowance for obvious glosses and errors of transcription) seem to