1 Samuel 5:4-6 - The Lord's hand was heavy on the people

5:4,5

The next morning the same thing had happened, but even worse this time. Dagon had again fallen down on his face before the Ark, but this time his head and hands had broken off. We human beings pride ourselves on being rational and intelligent, but if this was genuinely true the Philistines would have worked out by this point that their god Dagon wasn’t up to much. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Prov 9:10) and knowledge (Prov 1:7). When we abandon God our thinking becomes futile (Rom 1:22,23).

5:6

What should the Philistines have done? They should have repented, acknowledged that the Lord was God, given the evidence that they had seen in their temple. However, they did not. So the people were afflicted with “tumours”. These may not necessarily have been cancerous tumours. One suggestion is that they were afflicted with bubonic plague, a symptom of which can be lumps of various sorts.