Emerods

The disease of the Philistines, which is mentioned in 1Sa 5:6; 1Sa 5:12; 1Sa 6:17, is denominated, in the Hebrew, עפלים . This word occurs, likewise, in Deu 28:27; and it is worthy of remark, that it is every where explained in the keri, or marginal readings, by the Aramaean word, טחרים ; an expression which, in the Syriac dialect, where it occurs under the forms, טוראח and טחירא , means the fundament, and likewise the effort which is made in an evacuation of the system. The authors, therefore, of the reading in the keri appear to have assented to the opinion of Josephus, and to have understood by this word the dysentery. The corresponding Arabic words mean a swelling, answering somewhat in its nature to the hernia in men: a disease, consequently, very different from the hemorrhoids, which some persons understand to be meant by the word עפלים . Among other objections, it may also be observed, that the mice, which are mentioned, not only in the Hebrew text, 1Sa 6:5; 1Sa 6:12; 1Sa 16:18, but also in the Alexandrine and Vulgate versions, 1Sa 5:6; 1Sa 6:5; 1Sa 6:11; 1Sa 6:18, are an objection to understanding the hemorrhoids by the word under consideration, since if that were in fact the disease, we see no reason why mice should have been presented as an offering to avert the anger of the God of Israel. Lichtenstein has given this solution: The word, עכפרים , which is rendered mice, he supposes to mean venomous solpugas, which belong to the spider class, and yet are so large, and so similar in their form to mice, as to admit of their being denominated by the same word. These venomous animals destroy and live upon scorpions. They also bite men, whenever they can have an opportunity, particularly in the fundament and the verenda. Their bite causes swellings, which are fatal in their consequences, called, in Hebrew, עפלים . The probable supposition, then, is, that solpugas were at this time multiplied among the Philistines by the special providence of God; and that, being very venomous, they were the means of destroying many individuals.

Emerods, a painful disease with which the Philistines were afflicted (1Sa 5:6).

That is, hemorrhoids, the name of a painful disease occasioned by tumors, probably the piles, Deu 28:27 1Sa 5:12 .\par

Emerods. Deu 28:27; 1Sa 5:6; 1Sa 5:9; 1Sa 5:12; 1Sa 6:4-5; 1Sa 6:11. Probably hemorrhiodal tumors, or bleeding piles, are intended. These are very common in Syria at present, Oriental habits of want of exercise and improper food, producing derangement of the liver, constipation, etc., being such as to cause them.

(hemorrhoids, or bleeding tumors in the intestinal rectum, frequent in Syria still, owing to lack of exercise producing constipation). The images made of them mean images of the part affected (1Sa 5:6-12; 1Sa 6:4-11; Deu 28:27).

SEE HEIEMORRHOIDS.

Emerods. 1Sa 5:6; 1Sa 5:9. R. V. "tumours." The name of a painful disease sent upon the Philistines; probably it resembled the modern disease of the bleeding piles. It was customary with the heathens to offer to their gods figures of wax or metal representing the parts which had been cured of disease, whence it is inferred, in connection with 1Sa 6:5, that the priests and diviners of the Philistines recommended a similar course.

Hemorrhoids or tumours. One of the diseases of the Egyptians, and with which the Philistines were smitten when they had possession of the ark. They returned ’images’ of the same with the ark. Deu 28:27; 1Sa 5:6-12; 1Sa 6:4-17.

EMERODS.—See Medicine.

em´ẽr-odz עפלים, ‛ŏphālı̄m, טחרים, t^eḥōrı̄m): These words are used in the account of the plague which broke out among the Philistines while the captive Ark of the Covenant was in their land. ‛Ŏphālı̄m literally means rounded eminences or swellings, and in the Revised Version (British and American) is translated “tumors” (1Sa 5:6-12). In the Hebrew text of this passage the Ḳ^erē substitutes for it the word t^eḥōrı̄m, a term which occurs in the next chapter in the description of the golden models of these swellings that were made as votive offerings (1Sa 6:11-17). The swellings were symptoms of a plague, and the history is precisely that of the outbreak of an epidemic of bubonic plague. The older writers supposed by comparison of the account in 1 Sam with Psa 78:66 that they were hemorrhoids (or piles), and the older English term in the King James Version is a 16th-century form of that Greek word, which occurs in several medical treatises of the 16th and 17th centuries. There is, however, no evidence that this identification is correct. In the light of the modern research which has proved that the rat-flea (Pulex cheopis) is the most active agent in conveying the virus of plague to the human subject, it is worthy of note that the plague of tumors was accompanied by an invasion of mice (‛akhbōr) or rats. The rat is not specifically mentioned in the Bible, although it was as common in Canaan and Israelite times as it is today, a fact demonstrated by the frequency with which their bones occur in all strata of the old Palestinian cities, so it is probable that the term used was a generic one for both rodents.

The coincidence of destructive epidemics and invasions of mice is also recorded by Herodotus (ii.141), who preserves a legend that the army of Sennacherib which entered Egypt was destroyed by the agency of mice. He states that a statue of Ptah, commemorating the event, was extant in his day. The god held a mouse in his hand, and bore the inscription: “Whosoever sees me, let him reverence the gods.” This may have been a reminiscence of the story in Isa 37:36. For other references see PLAGUE.