When the ark of the covenant of Yahweh came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth rang again.
"Every sort of plague in the wilderness"  (1 Samuel 4:8).  "The words in the wilderness do not compel us to refer all of the plagues against the Egyptians to the wilderness."[3]  The expression "every sort of plague" surely indicates that the Philistines were well informed about the history of Israel's deliverance from Egypt.  It is unbecoming of writers to make a "big deal" out of alleged "mistakes" like this in the language of the Philistines.  We reject the assertion that, "The writer here ... put mistakes or deliberate falsehoods into the mouths of his characters."[4] The Philistines doubtless said exactly what is written here!  In apparently ascribing all of the plagues to the wilderness, there was a natural inclusion with "the wilderness" of the nation of Egypt which lay directly beyond it.  This type of speech is common.