MEDICINE Plague in the city of Azoth. According to the biblical account;the plague was sent as a plague from God to punish the Philistines who had desecrated the Ark of the Covenant by stealing it as a war trophy after defeating the Israelites. The winners;realized the cause of the epidemic;they returned the mighty sacred relic to the defeated. Print from a 17th century painting by Poussin;Nineteenth century.