1 Samuel 5:6

6 ADONAI began oppressing the people of Ashdod; he ravaged them, striking Ashdod and its surrounding area with tumors.

1 Samuel 5:6 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 5:6

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 ^F21 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 disease, but those of the villages round about.

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FOOTNOTES:

F21 Antiqu. l. 6. c. 1. sect. 1.

1 Samuel 5:6 In-Context

4 but early the following morning, when they got up, Dagon was again fallen down with his face to the ground before the ark of ADONAI; this time, the head of Dagon and both hands lay there, severed, on the threshold; all that was left of Dagon was his torso.

5 This is why, to this day, the priests of Dagon and those entering his temple never walk on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod.

6 ADONAI began oppressing the people of Ashdod; he ravaged them, striking Ashdod and its surrounding area with tumors.

7 When the people of Ashdod came to understand what was happening, they said, "The ark of the God of Isra'el can't remain with us, because he is oppressing us and our god Dagon."

8 They summoned all the leaders of the P'lishtim and asked, "What are we to do with the ark of the God of Isra'el?" They answered, "Have the ark of the God of Isra'el carried to Gat." So they carried the ark of the God of Isra'el to Gat.