Philistines take away the ark of the LORD
4
📚And the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out to battle against the Philistines 📖 and camped beside Ebenezer; and the Philistines camped in Aphek. 4:1 The first part of this verse relates to 1 Sam 3:21.⚜
2 📚And the Philistines put themselves in array against Israel. And when they joined battle, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, and the Philistines killed about four thousand of the army in the field.
3 📚And when the people came into the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has the LORD caused us to be defeated by the Philistines today? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD from Shiloh for us, so that, when it comes among us, it may save us from the hands of our enemies”.
4 📚So the people sent men to Shiloh to bring from there the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts, who dwells between the cherubim. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.
4:3-4 The elders did well to inquire into the reason for the defeat. However, they did not wait for an answer from God, but expected the ark to do for them what only God could do. The ark had been a symbol of the Lord’s presence, but this truth had been perverted and the people thought that the mere presence of the ark, presided over by Eli’s evil sons Hophni and Phinehas, would bring them victory. It did not, and thinking it would do so was a very vain and foolish thing. If God is not with His people, nothing on earth can bring them victory. That which merely symbolizes God’s presence can never accomplish what God’s presence accomplishes. Compare David’s attitude in 2 Sam 15:25. Note on the ark at Ex 25:10-16. Note on the cherubim at Gen 3:24; Ex 25:18-20.⚜
5 📚And when the ark of the covenant of the LORD came into the camp, all Israel shouted 📖 with a great shout, so that the earth reechoed. 6 📚And when the Philistines heard the sound of the shout, they said, “What is the meaning of the sound of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews?” And they learned that the ark of the LORD had come into the camp.
7 📚And the Philistines were afraid, for they said, “God has come into the camp”. And they said, “Woe to us! For there has never been such a thing before.
4:6-7 This kind of superstition was to be expected among the Philistines who did not know the true God. They did not know that if God was not already with Israel in the battle, the ark could not bring Him there. Let us all know that in these New Testament times no ritual, no ceremony, no relic, no symbol, nor any other such thing that men can perform can bring God to men.⚜
8 📚Woe to us! Who will deliver us out of the hands of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness.
4:8 The Philistines knew something of God’s mighty acts in Egypt (1 Sam 6:6; Ex 9:16; Josh 2:8-10).⚜
9 📚Be strong, and act like men, O Philistines, so that you do not become slaves to the Hebrews, as they have been to you 📖. Act like men, and fight”.
10 📚And the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and each man fled to his tent. And there was a very great slaughter, for thirty thousand foot soldiers of Israel fell.
11 📚And the ark 📖 of God was taken, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were killed 📖.
Death of Eli, birth of Ichabod
12 📚And a man of Benjamin ran from the camp and came to Shiloh the same day with his clothes torn and with dust 📖 on his head. 13 📚And when he arrived, there Eli sat on a seat by the roadside watching, for his heart trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came into the city and told what had happened, the whole city cried out.
14 And when Eli heard the sound of the crying, he said, “What is the meaning of this uproar?” And the man came quickly and told Eli. 15 📚Now Eli was ninety-eight years old and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see. 16 📚And the man said to Eli, “I am the one who came from the battle lines. Just today I ran from the lines”. And he said, “What is happening there, my son?”
17 📚And the messenger answered and said, “Israel has fled before the Philistines, and also there has been a great slaughter among the people, and your two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been taken”.
18 📚And it happened, when he made mention of the ark of God, that Eli fell from the seat backwards at the side of the gate, and his neck broke and he died, for he was an old man, and heavy. And he had judged 📖 Israel forty years.
4:13-18 It is not said that Eli feared for his sons but only for the ark of God. He had already accepted God’s word about the death of his sons and knew he could not change that (1 Sam 2:34; 3:18). But the capture of the ark was such a shock that it killed him. It is not likely that he agreed with the foolish act recorded in v 4. In v 18 he is included among the judges of Israel.⚜
19 And his daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant and about to give birth. And when she heard the news that the ark of God had been taken, and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed down and gave birth, for her labour pains came on her. 20 📚And about the time of her death the women who stood near her said to her, “Don’t be afraid; for you have given birth to a son”. But she did not answer or pay attention.
21 📚And she named the child Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel”, because the ark of God had been taken, and because of her father-in-law and her husband. 22 📚And she said, “The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been taken”.
4:21-22 Ichabod means “no glory” or, possibly, “where is glory?” God’s presence rested above the ark of the covenant in the Most Holy Place (holy of holies) in the tabernacle – Ex 25:22; Ps 80:1; 99:1. When God permitted the ark to be taken it was a sign that His glory was departing. Compare Ps 78:61. The ark never returned to Shiloh. But God had not left His people and later His glory filled the temple Solomon built (1 Kings 8:10-11).⚜