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.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

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.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

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.)

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

But when the ark was brought to Gath, the hand of Jehovah came upon that city also with very great alarm. 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.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

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. is from , to agitate, to throw commotion, Septuagint, , tumult, commotion; compare , 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 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 , 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, ( ,) 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.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

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.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

the hand: 1Sa 5:6, 1Sa 7:13, 1Sa 12:15, Deu 2:15, Amo 5:19, Amo 9:1-4

with a very: 1Sa 5:11

and they had emerods: 1Sa 5:6, 1Sa 6:4, 1Sa 6:5, 1Sa 6:11, Psa 78:66

Reciprocal: Deu 28:27 – emerods 1Sa 6:3 – known 2Ki 23:2 – both small and great Psa 32:4 – hand Psa 107:40 – contempt Act 13:11 – hand Rev 16:2 – a noisome

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

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.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments