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Texts -- 1 Samuel 4:18-22 (NET)

Context
4:18 When he mentioned the ark of God , Eli fell backward from his chair beside the gate . He broke his neck and died , for he was old and heavy . He had judged Israel for forty years . 4:19 His daughter-in-law , the wife of Phineas , was pregnant and close to giving birth . When she heard that the ark of God was captured and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead , she doubled over and gave birth . But her labor pains were too much for her. 4:20 As she was dying , the women who were there with her said , “Don’t be afraid ! You have given birth to a son !” But she did not reply or pay any attention . 4:21 She named the boy Ichabod , saying , “The glory has departed from Israel ,” referring to the capture of the ark of God and the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband . 4:22 She said , “The glory has departed from Israel , because the ark of God has been captured .”

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Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

  • The Danites' defeat of the inhabitants of Laish appears cruel and unjustified (cf. 9:45-49). The town that seemed so desirable to the spies was really vulnerable and isolated. Its advantages proved to be weaknesses. Since God...
  • Statements in the Book of Samuel imply that someone who had witnessed at least some of the events recorded wrote it. However the original writer must have written most of it after Samuel's death (i.e., -1 Sam. 25-2 Sam. 24) a...
  • The Book of Samuel covers the period of Israel's history bracketed by Samuel's conception and the end of David's reign. David turned the kingdom over to Solomon in 971 B.C.3David reigned for 40 and one-half years (2 Sam. 2:11...
  • I. Eli and Samuel chs. 1-3A. The change from barrenness to fertility 1:1-2:101. Hannah's condition 1:1-82. Hannah's vow 1:9-183. Hannah's obedience 1:19-284. Hannah's song 2:1-10B. The contrast between Samuel and Eli's sons 2...
  • First Samuel first contrasts Israel's last two judges (Eli, a failure, and Samuel, a success) and then Israel's first two kings (Saul, a failure, and David, a success).11The first major section of Samuel sharply contrasts obe...
  • In the previous paragraphs two statements about the main characters described them and framed the paragraph: they did not regard the Lord, and they despised the Lord's offerings (vv. 12, 17). Likewise in this one the writer d...
  • The rest of the chapter explains why God would put Eli's sons to death (v. 25). The specific criticism that the man of God (a prophet, cf. 9:9-10) directed against Eli and his sons was two-fold. They had not appreciated God's...
  • Most serious students of 1 Samuel have noted the writer's emphasis on the ark of the covenant beginning here in the text. Critical scholars have long argued that 4:1b-7:1 and 2 Samuel 6 are the only remaining fragments of an ...
  • A new subject comes to the forefront in this section and continues to be a significant motif throughout the rest of Samuel. It is the ark of the covenant. The writer drew attention to the ark in this chapter by mentioning it ...
  • The deaths of Hophni and Phinehas, who accompanied the soldiers into battle, were the sign God promised Eli that He would remove the priestly privilege from Eli's descendants eventually (2:34). The writer carefully recorded t...
  • Likewise the news of the loss of the ark is what distressed Phinehas' wife more than the news of the deaths of her husband, father-in-law, and brother-in-law (vv. 21-22)."With the surrender of the earthly throne of His glory,...
  • The primary purpose of this chapter, I believe, is to demonstrate the superiority of Yahweh over Dagon, the fertility god of the Philistines.655:1-5 Having captured the ark the Philistines brought it from Ebenezer to their ma...
  • Not all the people who later assembled to see the ark were as careful as those from Bethshemesh, however. The Mosaic Law specified that no one was to look into the ark or that person would die (Num. 4:5, 20; cf. 2 Sam. 6:6-7)...
  • Armed with trust in God and courage Jonathan ventured out to destroy Israel's enemy in obedience to God's command to drive out the inhabitants of Canaan (cf. 9:16). He would have made a good king of Israel. Saul remained in G...
  • God used a humble weapon to give His people a great victory in response to one person's faith. This is another instance of God bringing blessing to and through a person who committed himself to simply believing and obeying Go...
  • God had announced that Saul would deliver His people from the hand of the Philistines (9:16). However, Saul frustrated God's purpose by not following the Lord faithfully. Consequently the Philistines got the better of Saul an...
  • Ackroyd, Peter R. The First Book of Samuel. Cambridge Bible Commentary on the New English Bible series. Cambridge, Eng.: University Press, 1971._____. "The Verb Love--'Aheb in the David-Jonathan Narratives--A Footnote."Vetus ...
  • Isaiah next tried to move Ahaz to faith (vv. 10-12), then denounced the king for his failure to trust Yahweh (vv. 13-15), and finally forecast a calamity worse than the division of Israel's united kingdom (vv. 16-17).7:10 Evi...
  • This section develops the ideas that preceded by unfolding the characteristics of Yahweh that His people needed to appreciate in view of the shocking news that their new Moses would be Cyrus. It opens with an emphasis on God ...
  • 1:4 The prophet now began speaking to his readers and telling them what the Lord had said to him. Throughout this book, an indication that the Lord had told Jeremiah something is often the sign of a new pericope, as here (cf....
  • This message demonstrates a structure that is quite typical of many others in the Book of Jeremiah (cf. 11:1-17; 17:19-27; 34:8-22). First there is an explanation of Yahweh's will (word, law; vv. 1-7), then a description of I...
  • This section consists of four parts: a summary of Jeremiah's Temple Sermon (vv. 2-6), the prophet's arrest and trial (vv. 7-16), the elders' plea for his life (vv. 17-19, 24), and the incident involving Uriah and his executio...
  • "God would not share His dwelling place with other gods,' and the sanctuary had been polluted with idolatry. God's worship center at Shiloh was removed shortly after His glory had departed from it (1 Sam. 4:1-4, 10-11, 19-23;...
  • 25:15-16 The Philistines to Judah's west had also scorned the Israelites and had sought to destroy them (cf. Judg. 13-16; 1 Sam. 4; 13; 31; 2 Sam. 5; 2 Kings 18:8; 2 Chron. 21:16-17; 28:18). Therefore the Lord would stretch o...

Expositions Of Holy Scripture (Maclaren)

  • 1 Samuel 4:1-18The first words of verse 1 are closely connected with the end of chapter 3.,and complete the account of Samuel's inauguration. The word of the Lord' came to Samuel, and the word of Samuel came to all Israel.' T...
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