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.
Ver. 6. But the hand of the Lord was heavy upon them of Ashdod.] For he will not always serve men for a sinning stock, though he oft bear long with them. Patientia laesa sit furor. These men hardened their hearts; God therefore hardeneth his hand, and hasteneth their destruction.
And he destroyed them.] With mice, say some, from 1 Samuel 6:4; with some other mortal disease, say others, besides that next mentioned; but that might give them their passport, and set them going.
And smote them with emerods.] In podicibus, so Vatablus rendereth it, which some understand de lue Venerea: others, a of a cancer or fistula: A long, narrow, suppurating canal of morbid origin in some part of the body; a long, sinuous pipe-like ulcer with a narrow orifice. others, of the dysentery or bloody flux: but most, of the emerods or piles, called Mariscae or Ficus, Obscaenus turgenti podice morbus. Let such belly gods, quorum non alia est cura quam cibum ingerere, digerere, egerere, that are good for nothing else but to fill privies, take heed of God's hand in this kind: as one well warneth shag haired ruffians to beware of the Plica Polonica, that dreadful disease.
a Josephus. Sidonius. Bernard.