Biblical Pathology

1 Samuel is cool.

Case in point: it mentions the bubonic plague!  I'd always loved the story of Dagon falling on his face in front of God's ark, but the next chapter is just as loaded with interesting material.  The Philistines get the bubonic plague!  No wonder they're so freaked out!  Rats invade their country, and they start getting tumors.  When they finally decide to send the ark of the covenant away, they send five gold tumors and five gold rats with it.  (That must have been an interesting project!)

Trippy? Yes.
True? Yes.

Boy, is this cool.

(And as a side note, has anyone out there ever seen a good book that gives details on the diseases/conditions mentioned in the Bible?  I've heard bits and pieces about research people have done into this, but I've never read a good, solid book on the subject.  The little bit I've heard is that people with a condition analogous to Nebuchadnezzer ("I am animal") have been clinically observed, that people have been known to sweat blood when under extreme stress, that the water and blood that flowed out of Jesus' pierced side was a sign that his pericardium had been punctured, and now I see that the bubonic plague was in the Bible too.  Anyway, if you know of any book that goes into more detail on this, let me know!)