Sunday Sermonette: Private Partz, Major Bummer, and General Payne-Diaz

Well, maybe. In the KJV, the Philistines are afflicted with hemorrhoids. (Actually it uses the archaic word emorods, but that ' s what it means.) In verse 9, they specifically had emorods in their " secret parts. " Hey, it isn ' t funny -- Preparation H had yet to be invented.However, later translators have decided that the Hebrew word has a more general meaning, and most translate it as tumors. One hypothesis is that this is intended as a reference to bubonic plague. A footnote in the New International Version, which I ' m giving here, says that the Septuagint has rats appearing in the land in verse 5, which would support that except that it ' s lacking in the Masoretic text which suggests it ' s an interpolation. The Septuagint also has tumors  in the groin, where the KJV has " secret parts, " and swollen lymph nodes in the groin is one symptom of bubonic plague. Make of it what you will.The whole point of this seems to be, as usual, to prove Yahweh ' s power and superiority over other Gods. We can deduce that he allowed the ark to be captured so he could carry out  this demonstration.I assume I don ' t have to tell you that Dagon is a statue. 5 After the Philistines had captured the ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.2 Then they carried the ark into Dagon ’s temple and set it beside Dagon.3 When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of theLord! They took D...
Source: Stayin' Alive - Category: American Health Source Type: blogs