Continuing a chronological Bible study:
(1 Samuel 4:1) And the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out against the Philistines to battle and pitched beside Ebenezer, and the Philistines pitched in Aphek.
Samuel had grown to manhood, and the Lord had raised him and prepared him to be His prophet. Now Samuel, as the Lord's prophet, spoke the words of the Lord to all Israel. At that time Israel went to battle against the Philistines. The Israelites pitched beside a place later called Ebenezer, which would be so named in 1 Samuel 7:12. The Philistines pitched in Aphek, a city in the tribe of Judah, bordering on the Philistines.
(2) And the Philistines put themselves in array against Israel, and when they joined battle, Israel was defeated before the Philistines, and they killed of the army in the field about four thousand men.
The Philistines formed their battle line, and when Israel engaged with them, the Philistines defeated the Israelites and killed four thousand men.
(3) And when the people had come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, "Why has the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us fetch the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of Shiloh to us, that when it comes among us, it may save us out of the hand of our enemies."
When the people returned to their camp, the elders rightly perceived that the Lord Himself defeated them before the Philistines, but they failed to understand why or to seek counsel of the Lord. They were incredulous that the Lord should allow those heathens to defeat them. They had become complacent. I can't help but relate that to my country today. Americans have become so fat and lazy and smug, they take no notice of the dangers on the horizon, thinking those things never happen to us, or if they do, we always bounce back. People are oblivious of why they were ever blessed in the first place and have turned their backs on God. Likewise the Israelites did not look inward but foolishly placed their confidence in an external object, the ark, to save them. They did not look to the Lord.
(4) So the people sent to Shiloh that they might 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. (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 rang again.
The people sent word to Shiloh to bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord who would appear and dwell in the mercy seat between two cherubim that covered the seat. Eli's sons were there with the ark and presumably brought the ark to the camp themselves. When the ark came into the camp, the people shouted with great joy and confidence in their coming success. They shouted with such a great shout, the earth shook.
(6) And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, "What does the sound of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews mean?" And they understood that the ark of the Lord had come into the camp.
When the Philistines heard the shouting, they wondered among themselves what it meant. Then they perceived that it was the ark of the Hebrews' Lord.
(7) And the Philistines were afraid, for they said, "God has come into the camp." And they said, "Woe to us! For there has not been such a thing before. (8) Woe to us! Who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty Gods? These are the Gods who struck the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness."
The Philistines were then afraid when they realized the Israelites' God had come into their camp. They feared for their fate for they had never fought the Israelite God before, at least not so obvious a presence. They had heard about the ten plagues that were inflicted on the Egyptians, and they didn't think they stood a chance against their Gods, as they called Israel's Lord, because they were accustomed to their many gods.
(9) "Be strong and conduct yourselves like men, O you Philistines, that you be not servants to the Hebrews, as they have been to you. Conduct yourselves like men and fight!"
However, the Philistines gave themselves a pep talk. Since there was no one else to deliver them out of the hands of the Israelites' God, they had to depend on their own strength. It is interesting that they evidently thought the Hebrew God to be stronger than their gods, yet they presumed to fight against Him anyway. Of course, that could have been the Spirit of God spurring them on for His purposes. They did not want to become servants to the Israelites as they had previously been servants to them, so they had to gather their strength and fight.
(10) And the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and they fled every man to his tent, and there was a very great slaughter, for there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen.
The Philistines did fight, and they defeated Israel, killing thirty thousand of their army. The men who escaped death ran back to their tents.
(11) And the ark of God was taken, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain.
The Philistines had taken the ark of the Lord and had killed Hophni and Phinehas who had been with the ark.
(12) And there ran a man of Benjamin out of the army and came to Shiloh the same day with his clothes torn and with dirt on his head.
A Benjamite from the Israelite army ran that same day to Shiloh. His clothes were torn and there was dirt on his head which were signs of distress and mourning.
(13) And when he came, lo, Eli sat upon a seat by the wayside watching, for his heart trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came into the city and told it, all the city cried out.
When the man in mourning came into the city, it seems he bypassed Eli who sitting by the wayside watching for he feared for the fate of the ark of the covenant. He didn't so much fear for his sons as he expected their death because of the divine prophecy he had received. He now displayed honor for God and His ark above his sons, whereas God through prophecy had accused Eli of honoring his sons above Him (1 Samuel 2:29). Once again, I see Eli as a good man, but a weak one. However, it is true that he sinned when he should have honored God above his sons and dealt with them accordingly but didn't. The man in mourning came into the city and told what had happened in the battle, and all the people in the city cried out.
(14) And when Eli heard the noise of the crying, he said, "What does the noise of this tumult mean?" And the man came in hastily and told Eli. (15) Now Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes were dim that he could not see. (16) And the man said to Eli, "I am he who came out of the army, and I fled today out of the army." And he said, "What is there done, my son?"
When Eli heard the cries of the people, he asked what the commotion meant. The man came to tell him. Eli was very old and had become blind, so the man described himself to Eli. He told him he had come from the army, and Eli asked him for news of the battle.
(17) And the messenger answered and said, "Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has been also a great slaughter among the people, and your two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been taken."
The man told Eli that the Israelites had fled from the Philistines in defeat, and that there had been a great slaughter, including his two sons who were dead. He told him that the ark of God had been taken.
(18) And it came to pass, when he made mention of the ark of God, that he fell from off the seat backward by 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.
It was when the man told Eli that the ark of God had been taken, that he was so struck with grief that he fell backward off his seat and broke his neck. He was very old, probably with brittle bones, and he was heavy, so that his fall broke his neck and he died. It's noteworthy that Eli was heavy, meaning fat, and you don't normally think of men in Eli's position as fat men. That was usually the condition of gluttonous and wicked kings. But Eli had become fat with the best offerings of the people (1 Samuel 2:29). Eli had judged Israel for forty years.
(19) And his daughter-in-law, Phinehas's wife, was with child due to be delivered, and when she heard the tidings that the ark of God was taken and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and gave birth for her pains came upon her.
Eli's daughter-in-law, Phinehas's pregnant wife, was so distraught when she heard the news that the ark had been taken and that Eli and her husband were dead, that she went into labor.
(20) And about the time of her death the women who stood by her said, "Fear not, for you have borne a son." But she did not answer, neither did she regard it.
After she delivered the baby, she was dying. The women who stood by her tried to encourage her by telling her she had borne a son which was usually a matter of joy, but she did not answer them, nor did she seem to regard what they said at all.
(21) And she named the child Ichabod, saying, "The glory is departed from Israel," because the ark of God was taken and because of her father-in-law and her husband. (22) And she said, "The glory is departed from Israel for the ark of God is taken."
As she was dying, she named her child Ichabod which literally meant "no glory." She gave as her reason for naming him Ichabod, that the glory had departed from Israel because the ark of God had been taken and her father-in-law and her husband had died. That may have been what the women attending her thought was the reason, but Phinehas's wife repeated her reason, specifying it was only because the ark of God had been taken that the glory had departed from Israel, and that is why she named her child Ichabod. It was not because of the death of her father-in-law and her husband that she said the glory had departed, but only because the ark was taken.
I am struck by the sincere love of God and His ark displayed by Eli and his daughter-in-law. Although there was much sin and apathy in Israel that caused God to turn away from them and allow His ark to be taken by heathens and "suffered His glory for a time to become eclipsed," as Adam Clarke put it in his Commentary on the Bible, these two were so struck by sorrow and the horror of it, it killed them. Nothing brings such overpowering grief and feelings of desolation and even hopelessness than the thought that God has left us, that He has turned His back on us. Although they had become complacent, these two apparently had a deep love for God. They just needed to be reminded of that fact. However, it was too late for them as they died, but their lesson for us lives on forever. God hates a lukewarm Christian (Revelation 3:16).
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