>>24836233
Look dude, it was a time of chaos and weak government for the Israelites, so lions and bears wandered the countryside. When a random person involved in the history died to them people found some past impiety and assumed that was the cause, which it very well could have been. If Dave got mauled by a Lion and you know Dave swore yesterday you, as a bronze age Israelite, would rightly assume he was punished for swearing.

Also to my understanding it was young men, not children.

Stuff like this is only a problem for folk-sola-scriptura literalists.