Josh, Thanks for the article.

The diseases listed in this article would come under the judgement of pestilence.

"Beasts of the earth" refers to another form of judgement.

In Lev. 26 we see God's 4 judgements that come because of disobedience.

Lev.26:22 it talks of wild beasts that rob you of your children, destroy your cattle and make you few in number.

Then in vs. 25 it refers to the sword (war) and pestilence.

In verse 26 it speaks of famine.

We also see this in Ezekiel 14:13-21.

In verse 13 - famine;  verse 15 - beasts make the land desolate;    verse 17 - war;   verse 19 - pestilence.

Then in verse 21 God talks of His four sore judgements: sword, famine, beast and pestilence.

So all we have to do is look into the first covenant scriptures, the Tenach and we are told what kind of judgement the "beast" is referring to.

During a drought and famine it is easy to see how wild animals would come into populated areas looking for food and this would cause the above to happen regarding beasts of the earth.

Shalom,

Roberta