1 Samuel
6:4 Then said they, What shall be the trespass offering which we shall return to him? They answered, Five golden emerods, and five golden mice, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines: for one plague was on you all, and on your lords.
6:5 Wherefore ye shall make images of your emerods, and images of your mice that mar the land; and ye shall give glory unto the God of Israel: peradventure he will lighten his hand from off you, and from off your gods, and from off your land.
2006-06-19 01:31:23 · 5 answers · asked by idspudnik 4 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Why would they make golden images of tumors or hemmeroids?
2006-06-19 02:20:13 · update #1
He afflicted the Philistines of Ashdod and its territories, Gath and Ekron, with piles while the sacred Ark was in their possession.—1 Samuel 5:6-12,
The Hebrew word rendered “piles” (Harkavy;NW),
“hemorrhoids” (Le), “tumors” (AS; RS), and “plague-boils” (AT), as at 1 Samuel 5:6, is ‛opha·lim′, denoting rounded swellings or eminences, hemorrhoids, or tumors at the anus. At 1 Samuel 6:11, 17 in the Masoretic text, the swellings afflicting the Philistines are referred to as techo·rim′, meaning “tumors.” In all six Scriptural occurrences of ‛opha·lim′ (piles), the Jewish Masoretes pointed this word with the vowels for techo·rim′ (tumors) and showed this latter term in the margin as the word to be read instead of ‛opha·lim′.
The five Philistine axis lords returned the Ark to Israel with a guilt offering to Jehovah, consisting partly of five golden images of the piles, that is, representations of these swellings. (1 Samuel 6:4, 5, 11, 17) In a somewhat similar manner, certain ancient peoples (particularly the Greeks and the Romans) invoked their deities for cures by presenting to them replicas of afflicted body parts, or they presented models thereof in gratitude for supposed cures.
It seems the Philstines were hoping for a cure by making a gold idol of their afflictions.
2006-06-19 03:13:08 · answer #1 · answered by Jeremy Callahan 4 · 2⤊ 1⤋
These are the gold tumors the Philistines sent as a guilt offering to the LORD -one each for Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath and Ekron.
2006-06-19 08:42:25 · answer #2 · answered by landkm 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Tumors
2006-06-19 08:38:00 · answer #3 · answered by southfloridamullets 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Here is the Hebrew:
H6076
עפ×
‛oÌphel
o'-fel
From H6075; a turior; also a mound, that is, fortress: - emerod, fort, strong hold, tower.
2006-06-19 09:01:14 · answer #4 · answered by Samuel J 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Haemorrhoids -- you know, swollen rear-end tissues :)
Five golden haemorrhoids...hmm..some offering!
2006-06-19 08:39:55 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋