The men who did not die were struck with tumors, and the cry of the city went up to heaven.
The downfall of Dagon (if the people had made a good use of it, and had been brought by it to repent of their idolatries and to humble themselves before the God of Israel and seek his face) might have prevented the vengeance which God here proceeds to take upon them for the indignities done to his ark, and their obstinate adherence to their idol...
Commenting on 1 Samuel 5:6-12
And the men that died not were smitten with the emerods,.... As the inhabitants of Ashdod and Gath had been; this shows that those that died did not die of that disease, but of some other; very likely the pestilence: and the cry of the city went up to heaven; not that it was heard and regarded there, but the phrase is used to denote...
the cry of the city went up to heaven--The disease is attended with acute pain, and it is far from being a rare phenomenon in the Philistian plain [VAN DE VELDE]. Next: 1 Samuel Chapter 6