Golden Tumors and Golden Mice

I read a few chapters of the Bible this last night. In 1 Samuel we learn that the people of Israel were conquered by the Philistines, who take the Ark of the Covenant. You remember the Ark. It was the MacGuffin in the first Indiana Jones picture. In that movie it was shown to have superpowers. Here it knocks over an image of Dagon (who later caused all kinds of trouble up the road from me in Innsmouth) and gives tumors to the Philistines. They don't want to be remembered as stubborn idiots like that Pharaoh in Exodus, so they load the Ark onto a cart, strap it to a cow, and send it on its way. First though they put five golden tumors and five golden mice on the cart.

What gives? The tumors and mice tell us a lot about the nature of the problem they were dealing with. Quick now, name an historically common, rodent borne illness that spreads rapidly, presents with tumors, and causes widespread death. If you said "bubonic plague" you've won a hundred GlennBucks. If not, you really should try reading books.

Okay, while in possession of the Ark their people get the plague. What makes the most sense for a learned person of that time and place? A bit of sympathetic magic. They figured they were on the wrong side of a powerful god so they would make amends by giving Him something of value. They gave Him gold in the shape of the things afflicting them figuring that would cause Him to take the troubles with him. To be completely sure they didn't give the cart a driver. If the cow went straight down the road to the nearest Israeli town then they would know that they had done the right thing. If it just wandered around then they would have to keep working on the problem. Since this story made it into the Bible I'll bet you can probably figure out what happened.

Great story. Really interesting insight into the minds and cultures of these ancient peoples. I just wonder what a golden tumor would look like.