1 Samuel 5:9

1Sa 5:9 And it was [so], that, after they had carried it about, the hand of the LORD was against the city with a very great destruction: and he smote the men of the city, both small and great, and they had emerods in their secret parts.

Ver. 9. And they had emerods in their secret parts.] Much worse than the inhabitants of Ashdod, as being more inward, and therefore more painful, and hard to come at, or to be cured. {a} Such as was that direful disease whereof died Jehoram, Antiochus, Arrius, Arminius, who died of an incessant pain in his belly.

{a} Secundum genus haemorrhoidis, et multo gravius, ut omnes testantur medici.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Sa 5:9. They had emerods in their secret (or hidden) parts — That is, internally, in their hinder parts; which is the worst kind of emerods, as all physicians acknowledge, both because their pains are far more sharp than those of the other kind, and because the malady is more out of the reach of remedies.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5:9 God often used great panic to incapacitate and overwhelm Israel’s enemies (14:15, 20; Deut 7:23; Ezek 22:5; Amos 3:9).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 9. The hand of the Lord was against the city] As it was at Ashdod, so it was at Gath. The Vulgate says, Et computrescebant prominenter extales eorum; which conveys the idea of a bloody flux, dysentery, and ulcerated anus; and it adds, what is not to be found in the Hebrew text, nor many of the versions, except some traces in the Septuagint, Et fecerunt sibi sedes pelliceas, "And they made unto themselves seats of skins;" for the purpose of sitting more easy, on account of the malady already mentioned.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

9. with a very great destruction] Better, with an exceeding great panic, causing utter consternation.

both small and great] i.e. both young and old: all the inhabitants.

and they had emerods in their secret parts] Better, and boils broke out upon them.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And it was so, that after they had carried it about,.... And at last placed it in the city of Gath:

the hand of the Lord was against the city with a very great destruction: greater than that at Ashdod, more persons were destroyed; the distemper sent among them was more epidemic and mortal:

and he smote the men of the city, both small and great; high and low, persons of every class, rank, and station, young and old, men, women, and children:

and they had emerods in their secret parts; and so had the men of Ashdod; and the design of this expression is, not to point at the place where they were, which it is well known they are always in those parts, but the different nature of them; the emerods or piles of the men of Ashdod were more outward, these more inward, and so more painful, and not so easy to come at, and more difficult of cure; for the words may be rendered:

and the emerods were hidden unto them (z); were inward, and out of sight; and perhaps this disease as inflicted on them might be more grievous than it commonly is now. Josephus (a) wrongly makes these to be the Ashkalonites, when they were the men of Gath.

(z) "et absconditi erant", Montanus; so Vatablus, Junius & Tremellius. (a) Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 6. c. 1. sect. 1.)

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Came upon, to punish, as on other occasions, to protect, Ezechiel i. 3., and xiii. 9. (Menochius) --- Parts. Literally, "Their lower intestines coming out, rotted," as [in] ver. 6. (Haydock) --- Hebrew, "their malady was concealed." (Grotius) --- The emerods attacked them inwardly, with the most excruciating pains, for which they could find no remedy. --- Skins. The ancients knew no greater luxury. (Homer, Odyssey i., and iii.) The Hebrew, &., take no notice of this particular; and there are many other omissions in the Books of Kings, which have been supplied from the Septuagint. (Calmet) --- The skins were used instead of breeches, and to hold up the plaster and other medicines. (Tirinus)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Or,

in their hidden parts, to wit, in the inwards of their hinder parts; which is the worst kind of emerods, as all physicians acknowledge, both because its pains are far more sharp and keen than the other, and because the malady is more out of the reach of remedies.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

9. Hand of the Lord was against the city — In Gath, as in Ashdod, the presence of the ark was the cause of plagues.

A very great destruction — Rather, a very great consternation; that is, by reason of the fearful plagues it spread. מהומה is from הום, to agitate, to throw commotion, Septuagint, ταραχος, tumult, commotion; compare השׁם, to amaze, in 1Sa_5:6.

In their secret parts — These words are adopted from the ancient versions, (Septuagint, Chaldee, Vulgate,) but have nothing to support them in the Hebrew text. Literally the Hebrew, as we render, stands thus: And there broke out on them boils. But what part of the body was thus affected we are not informed. The versions above named, and rabbinical tradition, however, with singular unanimity, represent the disease as affecting the anus. Hence the plausibility of rendering עפלים bleeding piles. This is supposed to receive support from Psa_78:66, where it is said, in reference to this very judgment, He smote his enemies in the hinder parts. But אחור, translated hinder parts, may more properly be rendered back, or backwards, as is done by De Wette, Lengerke, and Alexander, in their works on the Psalms. There is nothing, therefore, in the Hebrew Scriptures to sustain the reference of this disease to any one particular part of the body. For aught that appears to the contrary, these swellings or boils may have broken out all over the body. It may, perhaps, be worth noticing in this connexion that Herodotus (1,105) mentions a plague, which he calls the female disease, (θηλειαν νουσον,) as being inflicted by a goddess of the Philistines upon some Scythians who plundered her ancient temple at Ascalon. According to Hippocrates, this disease came from continual exercise on horseback, and resulted in the loss of virility, whereupon the victims clothed themselves in the attire, and betook themselves to the habits and employments, of women.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And they had emerods in their secret parts. The verb used here, sathar, is found in Hebrew only in this place, but is of common occurrence in Syriac and Arabic. Its ordinary meaning in both these languages is to "cover," "conceal," and the A.V, taking it in this sense, supposes that the boils were hidden, and translates as above. But the root has a double meaning, and signifies also "to destroy," though in this sense the Arabic has a slight difference in spelling, namely, shatara instead of satara. The old versions were evidently at a loss in understanding the meaning, though their renderings are suggestive, except the Syriac, which translates quite literally, but leaves thereby the difficulty untouched of the twofold meaning of the word, and the Syro-Arabic lexicons are uncertain which to choose. Some give, "and the emerods hid themselves in them," in the sense of gnawing and burrowing into the flesh, i.e. they became cancerous. Others take the alternative sense, and render, "and the emerods were burst upon them," i.e. became fissured and rent, and turned into open sores. Another translation has been proposed, namely, "the tumours or emerods brake out upon them;" but as the verb, both in the Hebrew and the Syriac, is passive, this rendering can scarcely be defended. Upon the whole, the most probable sense is that the tumours buried themselves deep in the flesh, and becoming thus incurable, ended in causing the death of the sufferers.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Hidden parts - In the inwards of their hinder parts: which is the worst kind of emerods, as all physicians acknowledge, both because its pains are far more sharp than the other; and because the malady is more out of the reach of remedies.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

But when the ark was brought to Gath, the hand of Jehovah came upon that city also with very great alarm. גּדולה מהוּמה is subordinated to the main sentence either adverbially or in the accusative. Jehovah smote the people of the city, small and great, so that boils broke out upon their hinder parts.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

And they were afflicted internally.וַיִשָֹּתְרוּ is identical with וַיִסָּתְרוּ for it is listed in the Masora among those words written with a 'שֹ' and explained as though it were written with a 'ס' meaning "there was a plague in the hidden parts of the body."

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.