An etiological agent for the Philistine plague
The biblical data appear to center around the box as a vehicle for the disease, as well as the rodents that appear shortly thereafter, and are depicted in the “settlement” paid in gold. The Hebrew word akhbar for the rodents fails to distinguish between mice and rats. Rats would have carried Y. pestis, but bubonic plague fails to adequately explain the epidemic. Mice are a better option: they can carry diseases, and fit the other data relative to the historical text, i.e., box, idol, and settlement payment.
The gold-plated wooden box measured 2.5 × 1.5 × 1.5 cubits (Ex. 25.10-22; Ex. 37.5-10) [5], i.e., 1.1 × 0.7 × 0.7 m, giving a volume of roughly 500 l, offering a nest to mice but not rats. The former animals average 20 g [11] and are small enough to enter the box through a small aperture, possibly hidden by the gold covering. The latter animals average 300 g [12], requiring a wider aperture and more internal space. Mice nesting in the box would have explored their new habitat upon each the transfer of the box, thus offering an explanation for the box transmitting the disease.
Mice also explain the otherwise odd detail of a small Philistine idol falling on the floor. Once the box was hosted in the Philistine temple, the animals exiting the box from the same aperture, would have tipped over the statuette, eventually breaking the extremities after repeated falls (1Sa.5.2-5) [5].
The five replicas in gold of rodents and tumors to settle the dispute with the Hebrews (1Sa.6.3-5) [5] also favor mice over rats. Given the specific gravity of gold, just over 19 kg/l, a gold mouse would be shy of 400 g, while a rat would be shy of 6 kg. Considering 10–20 g tumors, the Philistines were paying roughly 3–4 kg of gold in total. Rat-like tumors would have resulted in 31–32 kg of gold, where the tumors would have only contributed marginally (additional 3–6%) to the gold already provided by the rats, raising the question of their raison d’être.
Linking mice to the box and to the disease singles out tularemia as the disease portrayed by the biblical text: mice are known to carry Francisella tularensis, the etiological agent for tularemia. Moreover, the text calls for a disease which originated from animals, can be communicated, can form tumors, and is deadly. Tularemia is a zoonotic disease that can be transferred to humans, manifests ulceroglandular formations, which tend to be misdiagnosed for signs of bubonic plague, and carries a 15% fatality rate when untreated, thus fitting all the criteria in the text [13].
Tularemia also the extratextual, criterion. Around 1715 BC the incidence of tularemia known as “Asiatic disease” originated in Canaan, and spread to Egypt via contaminated ships [14]. Tularemia would thus have occurred more than once in Canaan, and the recurrence would suggest that this geographical area was a reservoir for F. tularensis in the 2nd millennium BC.
An etiological agent for the Philistine plague
The biblical data appear to center around the box as a vehicle for the disease, as well as the rodents that appear shortly thereafter, and are depicted in the “settlement” paid in gold. The Hebrew word akhbar for the rodents fails to distinguish between mice and rats. Rats would have carried Y. pestis, but bubonic plague fails to adequately explain the epidemic. Mice are a better option: they can carry diseases, and fit the other data relative to the historical text, i.e., box, idol, and settlement payment.
The gold-plated wooden box measured 2.5 × 1.5 × 1.5 cubits (Ex. 25.10-22; Ex. 37.5-10) [5], i.e., 1.1 × 0.7 × 0.7 m, giving a volume of roughly 500 l, offering a nest to mice but not rats. The former animals average 20 g [11] and are small enough to enter the box through a small aperture, possibly hidden by the gold covering. The latter animals average 300 g [12], requiring a wider aperture and more internal space. Mice nesting in the box would have explored their new habitat upon each the transfer of the box, thus offering an explanation for the box transmitting the disease.
Mice also explain the otherwise odd detail of a small Philistine idol falling on the floor. Once the box was hosted in the Philistine temple, the animals exiting the box from the same aperture, would have tipped over the statuette, eventually breaking the extremities after repeated falls (1Sa.5.2-5) [5].
The five replicas in gold of rodents and tumors to settle the dispute with the Hebrews (1Sa.6.3-5) [5] also favor mice over rats. Given the specific gravity of gold, just over 19 kg/l, a gold mouse would be shy of 400 g, while a rat would be shy of 6 kg. Considering 10–20 g tumors, the Philistines were paying roughly 3–4 kg of gold in total. Rat-like tumors would have resulted in 31–32 kg of gold, where the tumors would have only contributed marginally (additional 3–6%) to the gold already provided by the rats, raising the question of their raison d’être.
Linking mice to the box and to the disease singles out tularemia as the disease portrayed by the biblical text: mice are known to carry Francisella tularensis, the etiological agent for tularemia. Moreover, the text calls for a disease which originated from animals, can be communicated, can form tumors, and is deadly. Tularemia is a zoonotic disease that can be transferred to humans, manifests ulceroglandular formations, which tend to be misdiagnosed for signs of bubonic plague, and carries a 15% fatality rate when untreated, thus fitting all the criteria in the text [13].
Tularemia also the extratextual, criterion. Around 1715 BC the incidence of tularemia known as “Asiatic disease” originated in Canaan, and spread to Egypt via contaminated ships [14]. Tularemia would thus have occurred more than once in Canaan, and the recurrence would suggest that this geographical area was a reservoir for F. tularensis in the 2nd millennium BC.
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