With the arrival of the ark in Gath, that city and its surrounding regions also experienced various tumours. Again, the Philistine rulers were reluctant to acknowledge and recognize that it was the Lord who was responsible for their suffering. They did not want to send the ark back to Israel because to do so would have been to acknowledge that the Lord had defeated Dagon.1 By sending the ark to Ekron, they hoped, once again, that Ekron would remain unaffected by tumours and thus serve to confirm that the tumours came by chance. However, just as Pharaoh refused to listen to his officials (Exodus 10:7; Exodus 12:31–33), the leaders of the Philistines did not listen to the cries of the people of Ekron to send the ark away.2
9 But after they had brought it around, the hand of the LORD was against the city, causing a very great panic, and he afflicted the men of the city, both young and old, so that tumors broke out on them.