To read some of the biblical descriptions of the time it was in Philistine hands, it might be more appropriate if the CDC guarded it, as what sounds like bubonic plague followed wherever it went.
from
1 Samuel Chapter 5:6-12
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New International version we read these as
6 The LORD’s hand was heavy on the people of Ashdod and its vicinity; he brought devastation on them and afflicted them with tumors.(a)
9 But after they had moved it, the LORD’s hand was against that city, throwing it into a great panic. He afflicted the people of the city, both young and old, with an outbreak of tumors.(b)
10 As the ark of God was entering Ekron, the people of Ekron cried out, “They have brought the ark of the god of Israel around to us to kill us and our people.”
11 So they called together all the rulers of the Philistines and said, “Send the ark of the god of Israel away; let it go back to its own place, or it[c] will kill us and our people.” For death had filled the city with panic; God’s hand was very heavy on it.
12 Those who did not die were afflicted with tumors, and the outcry of the city went up to heaven.
You will see that there are two footnotes for these entries which state the following
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a 1 Samuel 5:6[/url] Hebrew; Septuagint and Vulgate tumors. And rats appeared in their land, and there was death and destruction throughout the city
b 1 Samuel 5:9 Or with tumors in the groin (see Septuagint)
Tumours/buboes in the groin is a symptom of the Bubonic plague, which of course is thought to be caused by fleas carried by rats and vermin.
Jonny
The path to good scholarship is paved with imagined patterns. - David M Raup
