More Than Meets The Eye

Then the LORD’s heavy hand struck the people of Ashdod and the nearby villages with a plague of tumors. When the people realized what was happening, they cried out, “We can’t keep the Ark of the God of Israel here any longer! He is against us! We will all be destroyed along with Dagon, our god.” [1 Samuel 5.6-7] 

There is more going on here than initially meets the eye. The plague of tumors was only part of the problem. Consider the following:

“What sort of guilt offering should we send?” they asked. And they were told, “Since the plague has struck both you and your five rulers, make five gold tumors and five gold rats, just like those that have ravaged your land. [1 Samuel 6.4]

Rats had evidently become a problem not only for the people of Ashdod initially, but also for the other Philistine towns of Gath and Ekron where the Ark was moved to and kept as well. 

Now, for all the educated people today, it is plain to see that the tumors were almost certainly associated with the rat problem. As modern science is well aware, the Bubonic Plague is transmitted from rats to humans by means of fleas causing swollen lymph nodes (among other nasty symptoms).

However, the ignorant (uneducated) Philistine people of Biblical times believed the tumors and rats were a curse from God because they had taken the Ark of the Covenant into their possession.

But, what is really interesting is that the Philistine people put their ridiculous assumption that God was behind the plague to an even more ridiculous test. And, it should be noted that the odds were enormous against their test proving it was indeed God behind the plague! Here's what they did:

So these instructions were carried out. Two cows were hitched to the cart, and their newborn calves were shut up in a pen. Then the Ark of the LORD and the chest containing the gold rats and gold tumors were placed on the cart. And sure enough, without veering off in other directions, the cows went straight along the road toward Beth-shemesh, lowing as they went. The Philistine rulers followed them as far as the border of Beth-shemesh. [1 Samuel 6.10-12]

It was a well-known fact that the scientific maternal instinct of cows would never have allowed them to leave their calves in the way they did. But they did.

So, while we might thumb our noses at the idea of "God" being behind the plagues citing science as the real cause, science cannot account for TWO momma cows (not just ONE) leaving their newborn calves and pulling the cart (with the Ark) unsupervised back to its rightful owners.

Sadly, even with this historical Biblical record, God's people today almost unanimously choose to look at sickness and disease (including tumors - see Deuteronomy 28.27) as purely scientific AND subsequently treat these curses with scientific remedies instead of repentance and seemingly ridiculous healing faith in Jesus Who offers redemption from all the curses defined in the Bible.

But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” [Galatians 3.13]

The Philistines, loathed as they were by Israel, had a far more accurate grasp of their "circumstances" back then than modern Christians do today. 

Father, as ridiculous as it may seem, help me - help Your people - to trust Your Word over scientific knowledge and fact. May we be found profoundly repentant and preposterously full of faith in Jesus, the Redeemer from all the curses for disobedience. So be it..