“They disregarded the Torah – either willfully, or because the knowledge of the laws regarding handling of the Ark was not properly taught generations to generation. They suffered the consequences for such disobedience. The Philistines are not beholden to our laws. They have no such sacred responsibility. However, they still were cursed because of their foolish boast that they’d been victorious over Yahweh – a notion that the pharaoh in Mosheh’s day learned by suffering his own plagues.”
