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Answer
In 1 Samuel 5—6 (KJV), God afflicts the Philistines with emerods in His anger over their taking the Ark of the Covenant from the Israelites. The term “emerods” in the King James Version originates from a root word meaning “to swell,” and the Hebrew term for “emerods” translates to “mound.” This is essentially the extent of our knowledge about emerods, but based on the context, historians and Bible commentators suggest that the emerods plague likely involved tumors, boils, or possibly hemorrhoids or “piles.” Most translations of 1 Samuel 5:6 refer to the affliction as “tumors”; the ISV mentions “tumors of the groin”; and the Darby translation uses “hemorrhoids.”
The emerods served as a divine punishment on the Philistines following their victory over the Israelites and the seizure of the Ark of the Covenant on the day Eli and his sons perished. The Philistines transported the Ark to Ashdod, a city in Judah under Philistine control. They positioned the Ark in their temple beside the idol of Dagon, their pagan deity. The next morning, the Philistines discovered Dagon’s statue fallen before the Ark. After setting it upright, they found it toppled again the following day—this time with its head and hands broken off. Besides humiliating the Philistine god, God afflicted Dagon’s worshipers with “emerods,” which could signify boils, tumors, or severe, bleeding hemorrhoids (1 Samuel 5:1-6).
Recognizing that their suffering stemmed from the God of Israel, the Philistines rightly linked their affliction to the stolen Ark of the Covenant. However, they incorrectly believed that relocating the Ark would alleviate their troubles. They sent the Ark to Gath, another Philistine city. In Gath, God “struck the men of the city, both small and great, and they had emerods in their secret parts” «And it was s
Oh, that after they had carried it about, the hand of the LORD was against the city with a very great destruction: and he smote the men of the city, both small and great, and they had emerods in their secret parts.” «(1 Samuel 5:9, KJV), (1 Samuel 5:9, KJV). The Philistines tried again, sending the Ark on to Ekron, where the same thing happened: “And the men that died not were smitten with the emerods: and the cry of the city went up to heaven” «And the men that died not were smitten with the emerods: and the cry of the city went up to heaven.», (1 Samuel 5:12, KJV).
We have a couple of other clues as to what the emerods were. The condition was “devastating” to the Philistines and caused “a great panic” in Gath «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. », (1 Samuel 5:6,9) «And it was so, that, after they had carried it about, the hand of the LORD was against the city with a very great destruction: and he smote the men of the city, both small and great, and they had emerods in their secret parts. », (1 Samuel 5:6,9). Verse 12 indicates that Philistines were dying from the emerods. This doesn’t sound much like hemorrhoids, however severe. Then, in 1 Samuel 6:4, we have the additional detail that rats were somehow involved in the plague. It could very well be that God sent bubonic plague to the Philistines, spread by rats and causing boils and death. It is also possible that the rats were not spreading the emerods but simply destroying crops.
After seven months of suffering with emerods «Wherefore ye shall make images of your emerods, and images of your mice that mar t
He land; and you shall give glory unto the God of Israel: perhaps he will lighten his hand from off you, and from off your gods, and from off your land.” , (1 Samuel 6:5), the Philistines called for their priests and diviners and asked what was to be done about the Ark. Their advice was to send the Ark back to Israel with a guilt offering of “five gold tumors and five gold rats, according to the number of the Philistine rulers” “Then said they, What shall be the trespass offering which we shall return to him? They answered, Five golden emerods, and five golden mice, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines: for one plague was on you all, and on your lords.” , (1 Samuel 6:4). The smarting Philistines made the golden tumors and golden rats, placed the Ark on “a new cart,” and sent the Ark away “with two cows that have calved and have never been yoked” “Now therefore make a new cart, and take two milch kine, on which there hath come no yoke, and tie the kine to the cart, and bring their calves home from them.” , (1 Samuel 6:7). The cows “went straight up . . . keeping on the road and lowing all the way; they did not turn to the right or to the left” (verse 12), and thus the Ark was returned to Israel. The Bible doesn’t say when the tumors and rats disappeared from the cities of Philistia.
Interestingly, the pagan priests and prophets of Philistia cited the plagues of Egypt as a reason to send the Ark back to Israel. They asked their fellow Philistines, “Why do you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh did? When Israel’s God dealt harshly with them, did they not send the Israelites out so they could go on their way?” “Wherefore then do you harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? when hHe had worked wonders among them; yet they did not release the people, and they departed?”, (1 Samuel 6:6). The reputation of Israel’s God and the display of His power were so remarkable that even generations later, pagan nations still dreaded His wrath. The affliction of emerods was severe—what if it was just the beginning of ten plagues?
The term emerods is first mentioned in the KJV in Deuteronomy 28. The Lord pledged blessings to the Israelites if they heeded His voice and followed His commandments. Conversely, if they disobeyed, He threatened them with curses, including “the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed” “The LORD will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed.”, (Deuteronomy 28:27, KJV). The “botch of Egypt” refers to the boils that afflicted the Egyptians during the sixth plague “And it shall become small dust in all the land of Egypt, and shall be a boil breaking forth with blains upon man, and upon beast, throughout all the land of Egypt.”, (Exodus 9:9).
Whether the emerods were hemorrhoids, tumors of the private parts, or a symptom of the bubonic plague, the message is clear: God does not overlook the disobedience of humanity. He is holy and did not permit the Philistines to desecrate the Ark of the Covenant. The Lord is the one true God, and Dagon, the feeble god of the Philistines, could not rival His power and majesty.
