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The Plague of the Philistines (1 Samuel v, 6–vi, 16)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2011

G. R. Driver
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Extract

According to ancient tradition the malady called with which the Israelites were once threatened and the Philistines were once plagued was “emerods” (E.V.), i.e. “hæmorrhoids” or “piles”, but according to modern scholars “buboes” or “plague-boils” (Hitzig). Which view is correct?

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 82 , Issue 1-2 , April 1950 , pp. 50 - 52
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1950

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References

page 50 note 1 I am much indebted in this note to Dr. J. F. D. Shrewsbury, Professor of Bacteriology in the University of Birmingham, for drawing my attention to the problem of and furnishing the medical information necessary to its solution.

page 50 note 2 This lepra has no connection with leprosy. Elsewhere “the boil of Egypt” is described as breaking forth in blisters (Exod. ix, 9–10) and ulcerous (Lev. xiii, 23), and as having generally the same symptoms as elephantiasis (ibid. 18–20), which is called A egypti peculiare malum (Plin, . N.H. XXVI, i, 5Google Scholar; cp. Lucret, . d.N.D. vi, 1114–15)Google Scholar.

page 50 note 3 The Ace. uplu, which is clearly cognate with these words, seems to denote some kind of boil, pock, or tumour (Holma, Beitr. z. ass. Lex. 63Google Scholar; cp. 11–15).

page 51 note 1 Pesh. () and Targ. (), followed by the Massoretes. The LXX's ν ταîς ἔδραις and Symm.'s εἰς τ κρυπτ (cp. Vulg.'s et partem corporis per quam stercora egeruntur) rest on the basic sense of the and suggest the existence of a lost Hebr. “buttock”.

page 51 note 2 Buboes or plague-boils cannot occur in the anus, where there are no lymphatic glands; they are found only in the neck, armpits, and groins.

page 51 note 3 Hæmorrhoids or emerods (an archaic form of the same word) are a bunch of small varicose veins and an overgrowth of connective tissue in the anus, where they may be external or internal; they are caused by straining at stool or obstruction of the portal circulation.

page 51 note 4 Cp. Joseph, , Ant. Jud. VI, i, 3Google Scholar, where the disease is explicitly called dysentery.

page 51 note 5 The Hebr, as here used may be compared with the cognate Arab. “had inverted, cracked eyelids”, which suggests open sores.

page 51 note 6 The Gr. Vss. have εἰς τς ἔδρας αὐτν, εἰς τ κρυπτ or κατ τν κρυπτν, and the Vulg. has in secretiore parts natium, all pointing to the rump or buttocks. The Pesh.'s “he smote them on their buttocks” and “their buttocks were cracked, ulcerated upon them” indicate the same part of the body.

page 51 note 7 Targ. (), followed by the Massoretes. The statement in the LXX that ποίησαν αυτοîς οἱ Γεθθαîοι ἔδρας (ibid. 9) agrees with this conclusion; for it is not buboes but hæmorrhoids that compel the sufferer to provide himself with a comfortable seat.

page 52 note 1 Hence the collocation of with and , which also are itching affections?

page 52 note 2 Hitzig ap. Wellhausen, Bücher Samuelis 63–4Google Scholar; Driver, “Deuteronomy” 3, 310Google Scholar.

page 52 note 3 Cf. Steier ap. Pauly's, Realencycl. d. class. Altertumsw. XXVIII [1930], 2403–4Google Scholar.

page 52 note 4 Actually, plague is transmitted by rats in two ways, either by fleas passing from them to men and biting them in default of their rodent hosts or through the handling of their carcases for the purpose of skinning them for the pelts. Mice do not normally harbour fleas capable of piercing the human skin.

page 52 note 5 Here the Gr. νες means the male privies just as the Lat. navis is occasionally used to denote the pudenda muliebria (Plaut., Macrob.).

page 52 note 6 Cf. Arist, . Hist. Anim. vi, 37Google Scholar, who notes that mice are apt to appear suddenly in the fields, eat the ripening corn, and as suddenly disappear.

page 52 note 7 There is then no need to suppose that the mice incapacitated the Philistine warriors by gnawing through their bowstrings, as they were supposed to do to those of Sennacherib's host (Herod, . Hist. II, cxli, 6Google Scholar)!

page 52 note 8 Smith, ‘Samuel’ 41Google Scholar.