Text -- 1 Samuel 4:12-22 (NET)

Eli Dies

4:12 On that day a Benjaminite ran from the battle lines and came to Shiloh. His clothes were torn and dirt was on his head. 4:13 When he arrived in Shiloh, Eli was sitting in his chair watching by the side of the road, for he was very worried about the ark of God. As the man entered the city to give his report, the whole city cried out. 4:14 When Eli heard the outcry, he said, “What is this commotion?” The man quickly came and told Eli. 4:15 Now Eli was ninety-eight years old and his eyes looked straight ahead; he was unable to see. 4:16 The man said to Eli, “I am the one who came from the battle lines! Just today I fled from the battle lines!” Eli asked, “How did things go, my son?” 4:17 The messenger replied, “Israel has fled from the Philistines! The army has suffered a great defeat! Your two sons, Hophni and Phineas, are dead! The ark of God has been captured!” 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.”

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)

Wesley: 1Sa 4:13

Whereby he discovered a public and generous spirit, and a fervent zeal for God, and for his honour, which he preferred before all his natural affections, not regarding his own children in comparison of the ark, tho' otherwise he was a most indulgent father. And well they might, for beside that this was a calamity to all Israel, it was a particular loss to Shiloh; for the ark never returned thither. Their candlestick was removed out of its place, and the city sunk and came to nothing.

Wesley: 1Sa 4:18

Being so oppressed with grief and astonishment, that he had no strength left to support him.

Wesley: 1Sa 4:18

The gate of the city, which was most convenient for the speedy understanding of all occurrences.

Wesley: 1Sa 4:18

Old, and therefore weak and apt to fall; heavy, and therefore his fall more dangerous. So fell the high-priest and judge of Israel! So fell his heavy head, when he had lived within two of an hundred years! So fell the crown from his head, when he had judged Israel forty years: thus did his sun set under a cloud. Thus was the wickedness of those sons of his, whom he had indulged, his ruin. Thus does God sometimes set marks of his displeasure on good men, that others may hear and fear. Yet we must observe, it was the loss of the ark that was his death, and not the slaughter of his sons. He says in effect, Let me fall with the ark! Who can live, when the ordinances of God are removed? Farewell all in this world, even Life itself, if the ark be gone!

Wesley: 1Sa 4:20

Indeed the sorrows of her travail would have been forgotten, for joy that a child was born into the world. But what is that joy to one that feels herself dying? None but spiritual joy will stand us in stead then. Death admits not the relish of any earthly joy: it is then all flat and tasteless. What is it to one that is lamenting the loss of the ark? What can give us pleasure, if we want God's word and ordinances? Especially if we want the comfort of his gracious presence, and the light of his countenance?

Wesley: 1Sa 4:21

chabod - Where is the glory? The glory - That is, the glorious type and assurance of God's presence, the ark, which is often called God's glory, and which wast the great safeguard and ornament of Israel, which they could glory in above all other nations.

Wesley: 1Sa 4:22

This is repeated to shew, her piety, and that the public loss lay heavier upon her spirit, than her personal or domestic calamity.

JFB: 1Sa 4:13-18

The aged priest, as a public magistrate, used, in dispensing justice, to seat himself daily in a spacious recess at the entrance gate of the city. In his intense anxiety to learn the issue of the battle, he took up his usual place as the most convenient for meeting with passers-by. His seat was an official chair, similar to those of the ancient Egyptian judges, richly carved, superbly ornamented, high, and without a back. The calamities announced to Samuel as about to fall upon the family of Eli [1Sa 2:34] were now inflicted in the death of his two sons, and after his death, by that of his daughter-in-law, whose infant son received a name that perpetuated the fallen glory of the church and nation [1Sa 4:19-22]. The public disaster was completed by the capture of the ark. Poor Eli! He was a good man, in spite of his unhappy weaknesses. So strongly were his sensibilities enlisted on the side of religion, that the news of the capture of the ark proved to him a knell of death; and yet his overindulgence, or sad neglect of his family--the main cause of all the evils that led to its fall--has been recorded, as a beacon to warn all heads of Christian families against making shipwreck on the same rock.

Clarke: 1Sa 4:12

Came to Shiloh the same day - The field of battle could not have been at any great distance, for this young man reached Shiloh the same evening after the defeat

Clarke: 1Sa 4:12

With his clothes rent, and with earth upon his head - These were signs of sorrow and distress among all nations. The clothes rent, signified the rending, dividing, and scattering, of the people; the earth, or ashes on the head, signified their humiliation: "We are brought down to the dust of the earth; we are near to our graves."When the Trojan fleet was burnt, Aeneas is represented as tearing his robe from his shoulder, and invoking the aid of his gods: -

Tum pius Aeneas humeris abscindere vestem

Auxilioque vocare Deos, et tendere palmas

Virg. Aen. lib. v., ver. 685

"The prince then tore his robes in deep despair

Raised high his hands, and thus address’ d his prayer.

Pitt

We have a remarkable example in the same poet, where he represents the queen of King Latinus resolving on her own death, when she found that the Trojans had taken the city by storm: -

Purpueros moritura manu discindit amictus

Aen. lib. xii., ver. 603

She tears with both her hands her purple vest

But the image is complete in King Latinus himself, when he heard of the death of his queen, and saw his city in flames: -

- It scissa veste Latinus, Conjugis attonitus fatis, urbisque ruina

Canitiem immundo perfusam pulvere turpans

Ib., ver. 609

Latinus tears his garments as he goes

Both for his public and his private woes

With filth his venerable beard besmears

And sordid dust deforms his silver hairs

Dryden

We find the same custom expressed in one line by Catullus: -

Canitiem terra, atque infuso pulvere foedans

Epith. Pelei et Thetidos, ver. 224

Dishonoring her hoary locks with earth and sprinkled dust

The ancient Greeks in their mourning often shaved off their hair: -

Τουτο νυ και γερας οιον οΐζυροισι βροτοισι,

Κειρασθαι τε κομην, βαλεειν τ ’ απο δακρυ παρειων.

Hom. Odyss. lib. iv., ver. 197

"Let each deplore his dead: the rites of w

Are all, alas! the living can besto

O’ er the congenial dust, enjoin’ d to shea

The graceful curl, and drop the tender tear.

Pope

And again: -

Κατθεμεν εν λεχεεσσι καθηραντες χροα καλον

Ὑδατι τε λιαρῳ και αλειφατι· πολλα δε σ ’ αμφις

Δακρυα θερμα χεον Δαναοι, κειροντο τε χαιτας.

Ib., lib. xxiv., ver. 44

"Then unguents sweet, and tepid streams, we shed

Tears flow’ d from every eye; and o’ er the dea

Each clipp’ d the curling honors of his head.

Pope

The whole is strongly expressed in the case of Achilles, when he heard of the death of his friend Patroclus: -

Ὡς φατο· τον δ ’ αχεος νεφεος νεφελη εκαλυψε μελαινα

Αμφοτερῃσι δε χερσιν ἑλων κονιν αοθαλοεσσαν,

Χευατο κακ κεφαλης, χαριεν δ ’ ῃσχυνε προσωπον·

Νεκταρεῳ δε χιτωνι μελαιν ’ αμφιζανε τεφρη.

Iliad, lib. xviii., ver. 22

"A sudden horror shot through all the chief

And wrapp’ d his senses in the cloud of grief

Cast on the ground, with furious hands he sprea

The scorching ashes o’ er his graceful head

His purple garments, and his golden hairs

Those he deforms with dust, and these with tears.

Pope

It is not unusual, even in Europe, and in the most civilized parts of it, to see grief expressed by tearing the hair, beating the breasts, and rending the garments; all these are natural signs, or expression of deep and excessive grief, and are common to all the nations of the world.

Clarke: 1Sa 4:13

His heart trembled for the ark of God - He was a most mild and affectionate father, and yet the safety of the ark lay nearer to his heart than the safety of his two sons. Who can help feeling for this aged, venerable man?

Clarke: 1Sa 4:17

And the messenger answered - Never was a more afflictive message, containing such a variety of woes, each rising above the preceding, delivered in so few words

1. Israel is fled before the Philistines

This was a sore evil: that Israel should turn their backs upon their enemies, was bad; and that they should turn their backs on such enemies as th

Philistines, was yet worse; for now they might expect the chains of their slavery to be strengthened and riveted more closely

2. There hath also been a great slaughter among the people

A rout might have taken place without any great previous slaughter; but in this case the field was warmly contested, thirty thousand were laid dead on the spot. This was a deeper cause of distress than the preceding; as if he had said, "The flower of our armies is destroyed; scarcely a veteran now to take the field.

3. Thy two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead

This was still more afflictive to him as a father, to lose both his sons, the only hope of the family; and to have them taken away by a violent death when there was so little prospect of their having died in the peace of God, was more grievous than all

4. The ark of God is taken

This was the most dreadful of the whole; now Israel is dishonored in the sight of the heathen, and the name of the Lord will be blasphemed by them. Besides, the capture of the ark shows that God is departed from Israel; and now there is no farther hope of restoration for the people, but every prospect of the destruction of the nation, and the final ruin of all religion! How high does each wo rise on the back of the preceding! And with what apparent art is this very laconic message constructed! And yet, probably, no art at all was used, and the messenger delivered the tidings just as the facts rose up in his own mind

How vapid, diffused, and alliterated, is the report of the messenger in the Persae of Aeschylus, who comes to the queen with the tremendous account of the destruction of the whole naval power of the Persians, at the battle of Salamis? I shall give his first speech, and leave the reader to compare the two accounts

Ω γης ἁπασης Ασιδος πολισματα,

Ω Περσις αια, και πολυς πλουτου λιμην,

Ὡς εν μιᾳ πληγῃ κατεφθαρται πολυς

Ολβος, το Περσων δ ’ ανθος οιχται πεσον.

Ωμοι, κακον μεν πρωτον αγγελλειν κακα·

Περσαις, στρατος γαρ πας αλωλε βαρβαρων.

Of which I subjoin the following translation by Mr. Potter: -

Wo to the towns through Asia’ s peopled realms

Wo to the land of Persia, once the por

Of boundless wealth! how is thy glorious stat

Vanish’ d at once, and all thy spreading honor

Fallen, lost! Ah me! unhappy is his tas

That bears unhappy tidings; but constrain

Compels me to relate this tale of wo

Persians! the whole barbaric host is fallen

This is the sum of his account, which he afterwards details in about a dozen of speeches

Heroes and conquerors, ancient and modern, have been celebrated for comprising a vast deal of information in a few words. I will give three examples, and have no doubt that the Benjamite in the text will be found to have greatly the advantage

1.    Julius Caesar having totally defeated Pharnaces, king of Pontus, wrote a letter to the Roman senate, which contained only these three words: -

Veni, Vidi, Vici

I came, I saw, I conquered

This war was begun and ended in one day

2.    Admiral Hawke having totally defeated the French fleet, in 1759, off the coast of Brittany, wrote as follows to King George II.: -

"Sire, I have taken, burnt, and destroyed all the French fleet, as per margin. - Hawke.

3.    Napoleon Buonaparte, then general-in-chief of the French armies in Italy, wrote to Josephine, his wife, the evening before he attacked Field Marshal Alvinzi, the imperial general: -

" Demain j’ attaquerai l’ enemie; je le battrai; et j’ en finirai .

"To-morrow I shall attack the enemy; I shall defeat them, and terminate the business.

He did so: the imperialists were totally defeated, Mantua surrendered, and the campaign for that year (1796) was concluded

In the above examples, excellent as they are in their kind, we find little more than one idea, whereas the report of the Benjamite includes several; for, in the most forcible manner, he points out the general and particular disasters of the day, the rout of the army, the great slaughter, the death of the priests, who were in effect the whole generals of the army, and the capture of the ark; all that, on such an occasion, could affect and distress the heart of an Israelite. And all this he does in four simple assertions.

Clarke: 1Sa 4:18

When he made mention of the ark of God - Eli bore all the relation till the messenger came to this solemn word; he had trembled before for the ark, and now, hearing that it was captured, he was transfixed with grief, fell down from his seat, and dislocated his neck! Behold the judgments of God! But shall we say that this man, however remiss in the education of his children, and criminal in his indulgence towards his profligate sons, which arose more from the easiness of his disposition than from a desire to encourage vice, is gone to perdition? God forbid! No man ever died with such benevolent and religious feelings, and yet perished

Clarke: 1Sa 4:18

He had judged Israel forty years - Instead of forty years, the Septuagint has here εικοσι ετη, twenty years. All the other versions, as well as the Hebrew text, have forty years.

Clarke: 1Sa 4:19

And his daughter-in-law - This is another very affecting story; the defeat of Israel, the capture of the ark, the death of her father-in-law, and the slaughter of her husband, were more than a woman in her circumstances, near the time of her delivery could bear. She bowed, travailed, was delivered of a son, gave the child a name indicative of the ruined state of Israel, and expired!

Clarke: 1Sa 4:20

But she answered not - She paid no attention to what the women had said concerning her having borne a son; that information she regarded not.

Clarke: 1Sa 4:21

She named the child I-chabod - The versions are various on the original words כבוד I-chabod; the Septuagint, ουαιβαρχαβωθ ouaibrachaboth ; the Syriac, yochobor ; the Arabic, yochabad . But none of these give us much light on the subject. It is pretty evident they did not know well what signification to give the name; and we are left to collect its meaning from what she says afterwards, The glory is departed from Israel; the words literally mean, Where is the glory? And indeed where was it, when the armies of Israel were defeated by the Philistines, the priests slain, the supreme magistrate dead, and the ark of the Lord taken

This is a very eventful, interesting, and affecting chapter, and prepares the reader for those signal manifestations of God’ s power and providence by which the ark was restored, the priesthood re-established, an immaculate judge given to Israel, the Philistine yoke broken, and the people of the Most High caused once more to triumph. God humbled them that he might exalt them; he suffered his glory for a time to become eclipsed, that he might afterwards cause it to break out with the greater effulgence.

Defender: 1Sa 4:21

The presence of the Lord the "shekinah glory" (Exo 13:21) dwelled in the tabernacle, over the ark "between the cherubims" (1Sa 4:4), and neither the ark nor the tabernacle were ever to be moved unless the glory cloud itself, representing the Lord's presence, moved first. The presumptuous act of the elders, with Hophni and Phinehas, in taking the ark out of the tabernacle into the army camp resulted in the tragic loss of the "glory" itself, along with the divine presence."

Defender: 1Sa 4:22

This possibly refers specifically to the "shekinah glory cloud" (Exo 13:21), which had evidently been permanently residing in the temple at Shiloh until this time. It is also significant that Shiloh itself is never mentioned as the center of Israel's worship after this. Archaeological and Biblical evidence indicates that the city was eventually destroyed (Jer 7:14; Jer 26:6, Jer 26:9)."

TSK: 1Sa 4:12

with his clothes rent : These, as we have already remarked, were the general signs of sorrow and distress. 2Sa 1:2

with earth : Jos 7:6; 2Sa 13:19, 2Sa 15:32; Neh 9:1; Job 2:12

TSK: 1Sa 4:13

sat upon : 1Sa 1:9

his heart : Jos 7:9; Neh 1:3, Neh 1:4; Psa 26:8, Psa 79:1-8, Psa 137:4-6

TSK: 1Sa 4:14

What meaneth : 1Sa 4:6

TSK: 1Sa 4:15

ninety : 1Sa 3:2; Psa 90:10

and his eyes : Gen 27:1

were dim : Heb. stood

TSK: 1Sa 4:16

What is there done : Heb. What is the thing, 2Sa 1:4

my son : 1Sa 3:6; Jos 7:19

TSK: 1Sa 4:17

Israel : 1Sa 4:10, 1Sa 4:11, 1Sa 3:11

TSK: 1Sa 4:18

when he made : 1Sa 4:21, 1Sa 4:22; Psa 26:8, Psa 42:3, Psa 42:10, Psa 69:9; Lam 2:15-19

his neck : 1Sa 2:31, 1Sa 2:32, 1Sa 3:12, 1Sa 3:13; Lev 10:3; 1Co 11:30-32; 1Pe 4:17, 1Pe 4:18

And he had : ""He seems to have been a judge to do justice only, and that in south-west Israel.""

TSK: 1Sa 4:20

Fear not : Gen 35:17, Gen 35:18; Joh 16:21

neither did she regard it : Heb. and set not her heart, Psa 77:2

TSK: 1Sa 4:21

Ichabod : that is, Where is the glory, or, There is no glory

The glory : Psa 26:8, Psa 78:61, Psa 78:64, Psa 106:20; Jer 2:11; Hos 9:12

TSK: 1Sa 4:22

The glory : Psa 137:5, Psa 137:6; Joh 2:17

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)

Barnes: 1Sa 4:12

Runners who were swift of foot, and could go long distances were important and well-known persons (compare 2Sa 18:19-31). There seem to have been always professional runners to act as messengers with armies in the field (2Ki 11:4, 2Ki 11:6,2Ki 11:19, the King James Version "guards").

Earth upon his head - In token of bitter grief. Compare the marginal references.

Barnes: 1Sa 4:15

Dim - Rather, "set."The word is quite different from that so rendered in 1Sa 3:2. The phrase seems to express the "fixed"state of the blind eye, which is not affected by the light. Eli’ s blindness, while it made him alive to sounds, prevented his seeing the ripped garments and dust-besprinkled head of the messenger of bad news.

Barnes: 1Sa 4:18

A comparison of 2Sa 18:4, explains exactly the meaning of the "side of the gate,"and Eli’ s position. His seat or throne, without a back, stood with the side against the jamb of the gate, leaving the passage through the gate quite clear, but placed so that every one passing through the gate must pass in front of him.

Forty years - This chronological note connects this book with that of Judges. (Compare Jdg 3:11, etc.) It is an interesting question, but one very difficult to answer how near to the death of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the High Priest, Eli’ s forty years of judgeship bring him. It is probable that at least one high priesthood intervened.

Barnes: 1Sa 4:21

Is departed - Properly, "Is gone into captivity."

Barnes: 1Sa 4:22

The lesson of the ruin brought upon Churches by the covetousness and profligacy of their priests, which is here taught us so forcibly, and which has been again and again illustrated in Jews and Christians, is too solemn and important to be overlooked. When the glory of holiness departs from what should be a holy community, the glory of God’ s presence has already departed, and the outward tokens of His protection may be expected to depart soon likewise. (Compare Eze 10:18; Eze 11:23; Rev 2:5.) But though particular congregations may fall, our Lord’ s promise will never fail his people Mat 28:20.

Poole: 1Sa 4:12

The usual rites in great sorrows. See Gen 37:29 Jos 7:6 , &c.; 2Sa 1:2,11 .

Poole: 1Sa 4:13

Eli sat upon a seat placed there on purpose for him, that he might soon receive the tidings, which he longed for.

His heart trembled for the ark of God whereby he discovered a public and generous spirit, and a fervent zeal for God, and for his honour and service, which he preferred before all his natural affections and worldly interests, not regarding his own children in comparison of the ark, though otherwise he was a most indulgent father, and had reason to believe that they went out like sheep for the slaughter, according to Samuel’ s prediction.

Poole: 1Sa 4:16

I am he that came out of the army I speak not what I have by uncertain rumours, but what mine eyes were witnesses of.

Poole: 1Sa 4:18

He fell from off the seat backward being so oppressed with grief and astonishment, that he had no strength left to support him.

By the side of the gate to wit, the gate of the city, which was most convenient for the speedy understanding of all occurrences.

He was an old man, and heavy old, and therefore weak, and apt to fall;

heavy and therefore his fall more dangerous and pernicious.

He had judged Israel he was their supreme governor, both in civils and spirituals.

Poole: 1Sa 4:19

To wit, before her time, which is oft the effect of great terrors, both in women and in other creatures, Psa 29:9 .

Poole: 1Sa 4:20

Being overwhelmed with sorrow, and so uncapable of comfort.

Poole: 1Sa 4:21

The glory i.e. the glorious type and assurance of God’ s presence, the ark, which is oft called God’ s glory, as Psa 26:8 78:61 Isa 64:11 , and which was the great safeguard and ornament of Israel, which they could glory in above all other nations.

Poole: 1Sa 4:22

This is repeated to show her piety, and that the public and spiritual loss lay heavier upon her spirit than her personal or domestic calamity.

Haydock: 1Sa 4:12

Man. The Jews say that Saul carried these melancholy tidings, and that Goliah[Goliath] slew the sons of Heli. (Haydock)

Haydock: 1Sa 4:13

Stool. Hebrew cisse; "a throne or tribunal," where Heli sat to decide any controversies, and where he had blessed the mother of Samuel. (Calmet) ---

God. He had great reason to fear that this was the day when his sons would perish, and he apprehended that the ark would be in danger. (Haydock)

Haydock: 1Sa 4:17

Taken. Every sentence expresses something more distressing to the aged judge and father; the flight and slaughter of his people, the ruin of his children, and the loss of the ark, which must have filled all Israel with a mortal gloom and terror, lest God should have abandoned them. So many dismal circumstances oppressing the heart of Heli, he fainted away, and falling backwards, expired. (Haydock) ---

The Scripture takes notice of his great age, that we might not think that he killed himself in despair. (Salien)

Haydock: 1Sa 4:18

Named the ark, &c. There is great reason, by all these circumstances, to hope that Heli died in the state of grace; and by his temporal punishments, escaped the eternal. (Challoner) ---

But many of the Fathers condemn him, and the Scripture says nothing of his conversion, or of that of his children, so that the matter is doubtful. (Calmet) ---

Years. Hebrew, "and heavy." ---

Forty. Septuagint, "twenty," in which they are followed by many Fathers. (Eusebius; Sulpitius, &c.) ---

Some reconcile the two texts by saying, that Heli and Samson judged together for twenty years. But the Septuagint is probably corrupted, as the other versions agree with the original. (Calmet)

Haydock: 1Sa 4:19

Sudden, through extreme affliction. (Menochius) ---

Josephus says the child was only in his seventh month, but alive. Abulensis thinks he did not long survive his mother.

Haydock: 1Sa 4:21

Ichabod. That is, Where is the glory? or, there is no glory. We see how much the Israelites lamented the loss of the ark, which was but the symbol of God's presence amongst them. How much more ought Christians lament the loss of God himself, when by sin they have drove him out of their souls? (Challoner) ---

The ark is often called the glory of Israel, Isaias lxiv. 21., and Psalm xxv. 8. Ichabod might remind the people that the greatest loss had been sustained by them, as well as by his family. His mother had both in view the ark, Heli, and Phinees, her husband, (Haydock) when she exclaimed, ichabod, "Woe! or, Alas! the glory." (Mendoza) ---

The Scripture does not mention Ophni's posterity. But besides this posthumous son, Phinees had one elder, who now succeeded Heli in the pontificate, (Chap. xiv. 3.; Josephus; Salien, the year of the world 2940, the year before Christ 1113,) while Samuel took possession of the civil administration, and almost totally eclipsed the glory of Achitob. Many of the Fathers have even looked upon him as the high priest. But he was only a Levite, though, by dispensation, he acted sometimes as an extraordinary priest. (St. Jerome, contra Jov. i., and in 1 Cor.) He reduced the people to a sense of their duty, and taught them to trust in the true God alone, and they would be protected, though deprived of the ark. This was also presently restored to them. (Haydock)

Gill: 1Sa 4:12

And there ran a man of Benjamin out of the army,.... Out of the rank in which he was, before the whole army was quite broken up. This was a young man as Josephus ^b says, which is highly probable; though not at all to be depended on is what the Jews ^c say, that this was Saul, later king of Israel:

and came to Shiloh the same day; which, according to Bunting ^d, was forty two miles from Ebenezer, near to which the battle was fought; and that it was a long way is pretty plain by the remark made, that this messenger came the same day the battle was fought; though not at such a distance as some Jewish writers say, some sixty, some one hundred and twenty miles ^e; which is not at all probable:

with his clothes rent, and earth upon his head; which were both tokens of distress and mourning, and showed that he was a messenger of bad tidings from the army; See Gill on Jos 7:6.

Gill: 1Sa 4:13

And when he came,.... To Shiloh; he either passed by Eli, who being blind could not see him, 1Sa 4:15 or he came in at another gate of the city on the other side of it, as Abarbinel thinks; though the former seems more likely by what follows, he not choosing to deliver the bad news to Eli first, whom he knew it would very much grieve, and therefore slipped by him into the city:

lo, Eli sat upon a seat by the wayside watching: by the "hand" of the way, as the marginal reading, and which we follow; it seems to be a place where two ways or more met, and where was a way post erected, with an hand directing what places they led to. The text is, "he", or "it smote", as if his heart smote him for letting the ark go; so Kimchi ^f; here Eli had a seat placed, which, as the Targum says, was at the ascent of the way to the gate; and so the Septuagint has it, at the gate; and Josephus ^g says it was at one of the gates; either of his own house, or of the tabernacle, or rather of the city; here he was watching for news, to hear what he could, and as soon as he could, how it fared with the army, with his sons, and especially with the ark:

for his heart trembled for the ark of God; not so much for his sons, whose death he might expect from the divine prediction, but for the ark, about which he was doubtful; fearing lest it should fall into the hands of the uncircumcised Philistines, who would triumph upon it, and which would make sad the heart of every true Israelite, and reflect much dishonour on the God of Israel; and very probably he might tremble the more when he reflected on his own sin and folly in suffering his sons to take it with them. Eli here may represent a good man in pain for the church of God, and the interest of religion in declining times, both with respect to ministers of the word, and members of churches: as when Gospel ministers are removed by death, few raised up in their stead, and those that do appear in the ministry, either unregenerate, as it may be feared; or have not gifts and abilities qualifying them for it; or are of immoral lives and conversations, or propagate false doctrines, errors, and heresies: and also when among professors of religion and members of churches there is a great decay of powerful godliness; and they are got into a drowsy, sleepy, frame of spirit, are become lukewarm and indifferent to spiritual exercises, want zeal for the Gospel and cause of Christ; are careless about the honour and interest of religion, unstable and inconstant in doctrine and worship, and in their affections to one another, and the ministers of the word; and their conversation not as becomes their profession:

and when the man came into the city, and told it; how that the army of Israel was beaten, what a number of men was killed, among whom were the two sons of the high priest, and the ark was taken:

all the city cried out; that is, all the inhabitants of the city, having most of them perhaps relations and friends in the army, for whom they were concerned, fearing their lives were lost; but especially the loss of the ark was insupportable by them, it being of so much advantage to that city particularly, both with respect to things temporal and spiritual; wherefore, upon hearing this bad news, there was a general shriek and cry throughout the whole city.

Gill: 1Sa 4:14

And when Eli heard the noise of the crying,.... The shrieks of the men and women, which were very clamorous and terrible. Eli had his hearing, though not his sight; he could not see the distress in their countenances, but he heard the lamentations they made:

and said, what meaneth the noise of this tumult? it seems the people ran about, wringing their hands, and making doleful shrieks; the noise of which Eli heard, and the meaning of which he inquired after, or what should be the cause of it:

and the man came in hastily, and told Eli; or made haste, and came to him, and related all that is later expressed; for Eli was not in any house, but on a seat by the way side, and therefore could not be said to come "in" to him; but he came to him, where he was, being brought by some of the citizens Eli had inquired of what should be the meaning of this noise; and therefore without delay the man was hastened to give the whole account unto him, as it was highly proper he should, being the supreme magistrate.

Gill: 1Sa 4:15

Now Eli was ninety eight years old,.... Which is very properly observed, he being now come to the end of his days, and which also accounts for his blindness after mentioned:

and his eyes were dim, that he could not see; could not see the messenger, and read in his countenance, and perceive by his clothes rent, and earth on his head, that he was a bringer of bad tidings; or his eyes each of them "stood" ^h; were fixed and immovable, as the eyes of blind men be. In 1Sa 3:2 it is said, "his eyes began to wax dim"; but here that they "were" become dim; and there might be some years between that time and this, for Samuel then was very young, but now more grown up: though Procopius Gazaeus thinks that Eli was then ninety eight years of age, and that the affair there related was just before his death; but it rather appears to be some time before.

Gill: 1Sa 4:16

And the man said unto Eli, I am he that came out of the army,.... It is very probable that the people Eli inquired of told him there was a messenger come from the army, though they did not choose to relate to him the news he brought:

and I fled today out of the army; so that as he was an eyewitness of what was done in the army, the account he brought was the earliest that could be had, in bringing which he had made great dispatch, having ran perhaps all the way:

and he said, what is there done, my son? has a battle been fought? on which side is the victory? is Israel beaten, or have they conquered? how do things go? he uses the kind and tender appellation, my son, to engage him to tell him all freely and openly.

Gill: 1Sa 4:17

And the messenger answered and said,.... He delivered his account gradually, beginning with generals, and then proceeding to particulars, and with what he thought Eli could better bear the news of, and so prepared him for the worst; in which he acted a wise part:

Israel is fled before the Philistines; they have given way and retreated, and which might possibly be done without great loss, and which, though it was bad news, might not be so very bad:

and there hath also been a great slaughter among the people; this is worse news still; however, the number of the slain is not given, nor any mention of particular persons that were killed: so that, for any thing yet said, his own sons might be safe: but then it follows:

and thy two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead; the news of which must be very affecting to him, and strike him closely; though he might expect and be prepared for it by what both the man of God and Samuel from the Lord had related to him:

and the ark of God is taken; the thing he feared, and his heart trembled before for it; this was the closing and cutting part of the account; the messenger foresaw that this would the most affect him, and therefore referred it to the last.

Gill: 1Sa 4:18

And it came to pass, when he made mention of the ark of God,.... Of the taking of that, it struck him to the heart, and killed him; the rest he bore tolerably well, the flight of Israel before the Philistines, the great slaughter made of them, the death of his two sons; but the taking of the ark was so dreadful to him, that he could not support under it:

that he fell from off the seat backward, by the side of the gate; which confirms the sense of 1Sa 4:13 though whether it was the gate of his own house, or of the tabernacle, or of the city is not certain; the latter is most probable: it seems the seat on which he sat had no back to it, and might be placed only for present convenience:

and his neck brake; the back part of it, the "vertebrae" of it, which has its name in Hebrew from the several joints in it:

and he died; not through the breaking of his neck, for it is very probable he died directly upon hearing the ark was taken, and which was the reason of his falling backward, and that brake his neck:

for he was an old man, and heavy; full of flesh, a very fat man, and so fell heavy, which occasioned the breaking of his neck:

and he had judged Israel forty years; had governed them in the capacity both of an high priest and judge, so that he must enter on his government when fifty eight years of age; the Septuagint version has it very wrongly twenty years. According to the Jews ⁱ, he died on the tenth of Ijar, answering to part of April and May, and his two sons and the ark taken; for which a fast was kept on it.

Gill: 1Sa 4:19

And his daughter in law, Phinehas's wife, was with child, near to be delivered,.... Was near her time, as it is commonly expressed. Ben Gersom derives the word from a root which signifies to complete and finish ^k; denoting that her time to bring forth was completed and filled up; though Josephus ^l says that it was a seven months' birth, so that she came two months before her time; the margin of our Bibles is, "to cry out" ^m; and so Moses Kimchi, as his brother relates, derives the word from a root which signifies to howl and lament, and so is expressive of a woman's crying out when her pains come upon her:

and when she heard the tidings that the ark of God was taken: which is mentioned first, as being the most distressing to her:

and that her father in law and her husband were dead; her father-in-law Eli is put first, being the high priest of God, and so his death gave her the greatest concern, as the death of an high priest was always matter of grief to the Israelites; and next the death of her husband, who should have succeeded him in the priesthood; for though he was a bad man, yet not so bad as Hophni, as Ben Gersom observes; and therefore the priesthood was continued in his line unto the reign of Solomon; and no notice is taken by her of the death of her brother-in-law:

she bowed herself, and travailed; put herself in a posture for travailing; perceiving she was coming to it, she fell upon her knees, as the word used signifies; and we are told ⁿ, that the Ethiopian women, when they bring forth, fall upon their knees, and bear their young, rarely making use of a midwife, and so it seems it was the way of the Hebrew women:

for her pains came upon her; sooner it is very probable than otherwise they would, which is sometimes the case, when frights seize a person in such circumstances: or were "turned upon her" ^o; they ceased, so that she could not make the necessary evacuations after the birth, which issued in her death; some render it, "her doors were turned" ^p, or changed; the doors of her womb, as in Job 3:10, though these had been opened for the bringing forth of her child, yet were reversed, changed, and altered, so as to prevent the after birth coming away, which caused her death, as follows.

Gill: 1Sa 4:20

And about the time of her death,.... Which quickly came on after she was brought to bed:

the women that stood by her; who were called to her labour, and assisted at it:

said unto her, fear not, for thou hast born a son; perceiving that she was very low spirited, endeavoured to cheer and comfort her, by observing to her that the worst was over; and besides she had brought forth a man child, which was usually matter of joy to a family, and particularly to the woman that bears it, which causes her to forget the sorrows and pains she has gone through in bearing it, Joh 16:21 but she answered not, neither did she regard it; said not one word in answer to them, nor was the least affected with joy and pleasure at what they related to her; being not only a dying woman, on the borders of another world, and so had no relish for temporal enjoyments, but also overcome with grief with what had happened, not only to her family, but more especially to the ark of God.

Gill: 1Sa 4:21

And she named the child Ichabod,.... Which some render, "where is the glory?" as in the margin of our Bibles; but it signifies "no glory", as Jarchi and Kimchi interpret it; her husband being dead, she gives her child its name; the reason for which name follows:

saying, the glory is departed from Israel: the God of glory, or the glorious Lord, was departed from Israel; the ark, the symbol of his presence, being taken from them, and carried captive by the enemy; see Psa 78:61.

because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father in law, and her husband; who were dead; these are the words either of the writer of this book, or, as Abarbinel thinks, of the women that assisted at her labour; who interpreted the name of the child, and suggested what were her intentions in giving this name, which she had only expressed in general terms; the particulars of which they thought fit to give, agreeably to her meaning, as they supposed; which were the taking of the ark, and the death of her father-in-law, and of her husband; but according to the same writer she before her death corrected the sense they put upon her intention in thus naming the child; showing that it was not on the account of the death of her father and husband that she supposed the glory to be departed, and therefore named her child Ichabod: but solely and alone because the ark was taken, as in the next verse.

Gill: 1Sa 4:22

And she said,.... Repeating what she had said before, for the confirmation of it, or as correcting what the women had said; and so may be rendered:

but she said; giving her own and only reason for the name of the child:

the glory is departed from Israel, for the ark of God is taken; so when the word, worship, and ordinances of God are removed from a people, the glory is gone from them; the God of glory is no more seen among them, who is so glorious in his nature, perfections, and works; and Christ, the Lord of life and glory, is no more held forth unto them in the glories of his person, offices, and grace; and the glorious Gospel of Christ is no more preached unto them, so full of glorious doctrines and promises; and the glorious ordinances of it no more administered: and, when this is the case, the glory is departed from a people; and which is owing to their formality, lukewarmness, unfruitfulness, negligent attendance on the worship of God, contempt of the word and ordinances, and an unbecoming walk and conversation.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: 1Sa 4:12

¹ tn Or perhaps, “the same day.” On this use of the demonstrative pronoun see Joüon 2:532 §143.f.

NET Notes: 1Sa 4:13

¹ tc Read with many medieval Hebrew mss, the Qere, and much versional evidence יַד (yad, “hand”) rather than MT יַךְ (yakh).

² tn Heb “his heart was trembling.”

³ tn Heb “and the man came to report in the city.”

NET Notes: 1Sa 4:14

¹ tn Heb “the sound of the cry.”

² tn Heb “the sound of this commotion.”

NET Notes: 1Sa 4:15

¹ tn Heb “were set” or “were fixed,” i.e., without vision.

NET Notes: 1Sa 4:16

¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Eli) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

NET Notes: 1Sa 4:17

¹ tn Heb “before.”

NET Notes: 1Sa 4:18

¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Eli) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tn Heb “the man.”

NET Notes: 1Sa 4:20

¹ tn Heb “and she did not set her heart.”

NET Notes: 1Sa 4:21

¹ sn The name Ichabod (אִי־כָבוֹד) may mean, “Where is the glory?”

Geneva Bible: 1Sa 4:12

And there ran a man of Benjamin out of the army, and came to Shiloh the same day with his clothes ^{( f )} rent, and with earth upon his head.

^{( f )} In token of sorrow and mourning.

Geneva Bible: 1Sa 4:13

And when he came, lo, Eli sat upon a seat by the wayside watching: for his heart ^{( g )} trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came into the city, and told [it], all the city cried out.

^{( g )} Lest it should be taken by the enemy.

Geneva Bible: 1Sa 4:17

And the messenger answered and said, Israel is fled before the Philistines, and there hath been also a great slaughter among the people, and thy two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, ^{( b )} are dead, and the ark of God is taken.

^{( b )} According as God had said before.

Geneva Bible: 1Sa 4:19

And his daughter in law, Phinehas' wife, was with child, [near] 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 ^{( i )} bowed herself and travailed; for her pains came upon her.

^{( i )} And positioned her body for her labour and delivery.

Geneva Bible: 1Sa 4:22

And she said, ^{( k )} The glory is departed from Israel: for the ark of God is taken.

^{( k )} She uttered her great sorrow by repeating her words.

Commentary -- Verse Range Notes

TSK Synopsis: 1Sa 4:1-22

1 The Israelites are overcome by the Philistines at Ebenezer.

3 They fetch the ark unto the terror of the Philistines.

10 They are smitten again, the ark taken, and Hophni and Phinehas are slain.

12 Eli at the news, falling backward, breaks his neck.

19 Phinehas's wife, discouraged in her travail with I-chabod, dies.

Maclaren: 1Sa 4:1-18

1 Samuel 4:1-18

The 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.' The one clause tells of the prophet's inspiration, the other of his message and its reception by the nation. This bond of union between the clauses has been broken by the chapter division, apparently for the sake of representing the revolt against the Philistines as due to Samuel's instigation. But its being so is very doubtful. If God had sent the army into the field, He would have prepared it, by penitent return to Him, for victory, as no defeat follows on war which He commands. Probably Samuel's mission made an unwholesome ferment in minds which were quite untouched by its highest significance, and so led to a precipitate rebellion, preceded by no religious reformation, and therefore sure to fail. It was twenty years too soon (1 Sam. 7:3). Samuel took no part in the struggle, and his name is never mentioned till, at the end of that period, he emphatically condemns all that had been done, and points the true path of deliverance, in' return to the Lord with all your heart.' So the great lesson of this story is that when Israel fights Philistines, unbidden and unrepentant, it is sure to be beaten,--a truth with manifold wide applications.

The first disastrous defeat took place on a field, which was afterwards made memorable by a great victory, and by a name which lives still as a watchword for hope and gratitude. Happy they who at last conquer where they once failed, and in the retrospect can say,' Hitherto the Lord helped,' both by defeat and by the victory for which defeat prepared a way! That opening struggle, bloody and grave as it was, was not decisive; for the Israelites regained their fortified camp unmolested, and held together, and kept their communications open, as appears from what followed.

1 Samuel 4:3-5 give us a glimpse into the camp of Israel, and 1 Samuel 4:6-9 into that of the Philistines. These two companion pictures are worth looking at. The two armies are very much alike, and we may say that the purpose of the picture is to show how Israel was practically heathen, taking just the same views of its relation to God which the Philistines did. Note, too, the absence of central authority. The elders' hold a kind of council. Where were Eli the judge and Samuel the prophet? Neither had part in this war. The question of the elders was right, inasmuch as it recognized that the Lord had smitten them, but wrong inasmuch as it betrayed that they had not the faintest notion that the reason was their own moral and religious apostasy. They had not learned the A B C of their history, and of the conditions of national prosperity. They stand precisely on the Pagan level, believing in a national God, who ought to help his votaries, but from some inexplicable caprice does not; or who, perhaps, is angry at the omission of some ritual observance. What an answer they would have got if Samuel had been there! There ought to have been no need for the question, or, rather, there was need for it, and the answer ought to have been clear to them; their sin was the all-sufficient reason for their defeat. There are plenty of Christians, like these elders, who, when they find themselves beaten by the world and the devil, puzzle their brains to invent all sorts of reasons for God's smiting, except the true one,--their own departure from Him.

The remedy suggested by the united wisdom of the leaders was as heathen as the consultation which resulted in it. Let us send for the ark.' Those who regarded not the God of the ark,' says Bishop Hall, think themselves safe and happy in the ark of God.' They thought, with that confusion between symbol and reality which runs through all heathen worship, and makes the danger of images,' whether in heathenism or in sensuous Christianity, that if they brought the ark, they brought God with it. It was a kind of charm, which would help them, they hardly knew how. Its very name might have taught them better. They call it the ark of the covenant of the Lord'; and a covenant has two parties to it, and promises favor on conditions. If they had kept the conditions, these four thousand corpses would not have been lying stiff and stark outside the rude encampment. As they did not keep them, bringing the chest which contained the transcript of them into their midst was bringing a witness of their apostasy, not a helper of their feebleness. Repentance would have brought God. Dragging the ark thither only removed Him farther away. We need not be too hard upon these people; for the natural disposition of us all is to trust to the externals of worship, and to put a punctilious attention to these in the place of a true cleaving of heart to the God who dwells near us, and is in us and on our side, if we cling to Him with penitent love. Even God-appointed symbols become snares. Baptism and the Lord's Supper are treated by multitudes as these elders did the ark. The fewer and simpler the outward observances of worship are, the less danger is there of the poor sensebound soul tarrying in them, instead of passing by means of them into the higher, purer air beyond.

What right had these presumptuous elders to bring the ark from Shiloh? Eli was its guardian; and he, as appears probable from his anxiety about its fate, did not approve of its removal. But the people' took the law into their own hands. There seems some hint that their action was presumptuous profanation, in the solemn, full title given in 1 Samuel 4:4: The ark of the covenant of the Lord of Hosts which dwelleth between the cherubim,'--as if contrasting His awful majesty, His universal dominion over the armies of heaven and the embattled powers of the universe, and the dazzling light of that' glory,' which shone in the innermost chamber of the Tabernacle, with the unanointed hands that presumed to press in thither and drag so sacred a thing into the light of common day and the tumult of the camp. Nor is the profanation lessened, but rather increased, by the priestly attendants, Eli's two sons, themselves amongst the worst men in Israel. When Hophni and Phinehas are its priests, the ark can bring no help. Heathenism separates religion from morality altogether. In it there is no connection between worship and purity, and the Old Testament religion for the first time welded these two inseparably together. That tumultuous procession from Shiloh, with these two profligates for the priests of God, and the bearers thinking that they were sure of their God's favor now, whatever their sin, shows how completely Israel had forgotten its own law, and, whilst professedly worshipping Jehovah, had really become a heathen people. The reception of the ark with that fierce shout, which echoed among the hills and was heard in the Philistines' encampment, shows the same thing. Not so should the ark have been received, but with tears and confessions and silent awe. No man in all that host had ever looked upon it before. No man ought to have seen it then. Once a year, and not without blood sprinkled on its cover, the high priest might look on it through the cloud of incense which kept him from death, while all the people waited hushed till he came forth, but now it is dragged into the camp, and welcomed with a yell of mad delight, as a pledge of victory. What could display more strikingly the practical heathenism of the people?

1 Samuel 4:6-9 take us into the other camp, and show us the undisguised heathens. The Philistines think just as the other side did, only, in their polytheistic way, they do not use the name Jehovah,' but speak first of God' and then of gods' as having arrived in the camp. The nations dreaded each other's gods, though they worshipped their own; and the Philistines believed quite as much that Jehovah' was the Hebrew's God, as that Dagon' was theirs. There was to be a duel then between the two superhuman powers. The vague reports which they had heard of the Exodus, nearly five hundred years ago, filled the Philistines with panic. They had but a confused notion of the facts of that old story, and thought that Egypt had met the ten plagues in the wilderness.' The blunder is very characteristic, and helps to show the accuracy of our narrative. It would not have occurred to a legend-maker. It sounds strange to us that the Philistines' belief that the Hebrews' God had come to their help should issue in exhortations to fight like men.' But polytheism makes that quite a natural conclusion; and there is something almost fine in the truculent boldness with which they set their teeth for a fierce struggle. They reiterate to one another the charge to quit themselves like men'; and while they do not hide from themselves that the question whether they are to be still masters is hanging on the coming struggle, a dash of contempt for the Hebrews' who had been their slaves' is perceptible.

According to 1 Samuel 4:10, the Philistines appear to have begun the attack, perhaps taking the enemy by surprise. The rout this time was complete. The grim catalogue of disaster in 1 Samuel 4:10-11 is strangely tragic in its dreadful, monotonous plainness, each clause adding something to the terrible story, and each linked to the preceding by a simple and.' The Israelites seem to have been scattered. They fled, every man to his tent.' The army, with little cohesion and no strong leaders, melted away. The ark was captured, and its two unworthy attendants slain. Bringing it had not brought God, then. It was but a chest of shittimwood, with two slabs of lettered stone in it,--and what help was in that? But its cap-tare was the sign that the covenant with Israel was for the time annulled. The whole framework of the nation was disorganized. The keystone was struck out of their worship, and they had fallen, by their own sin, to the level of the nations, and even below these; for they had their gods, but Israel had turned away from their God, and He had departed from them. Superstition fancied that the presence of the ark secured to impenitent men the favor of God; but it was no superstition which saw in its absence from Shiloh His averted face.

Is there in poetry or drama a more vivid and pathetic passage than the closing verses of this narrative, which tell of the panting messenger and the old blind Eli? Eben-ezer' cannot have been very far from Shiloh, for the fugitive had seen the end of the fight, and reached the city before night. He came with the signs of mourning, and, as it would appear from verse 13, passed the old man at the gate without pausing, and burst into the city with his heavy tidings. One can almost hear the shrill shrieks of wrath and despair which first told Eli that something was wrong. Blind and unwieldy and heavy-hearted, he sat by the gate to which the news would first come; but yet he is the last to hear,--perhaps because all shrank from telling him, perhaps because in the confusion no one remembered him. Only after he had asked the meaning of the tumult, of which his foreboding heart and conscience told him the meaning before it was spoken, is the messenger brought to the man to whom he should have gone first. How touchingly the story pauses, even at this crisis, to paint the poor old man! A stronger word is used to describe his blindness than in 1 Samuel 3:2, as. the Revised Version shows. His fixed eyeballs were sightless now; and there he sat, dreading and longing to hear. The fugitive's account of himself is shameless in its avowal of his cowardice, and prepares Eli for the worst. But note how he speaks gently and with a certain dignity, crushing down his anxiety,--How went the matter, my son?' Then, with no merciful circumlocution or veiling, out comes the whole dismal story once again.

Eli spoke no more. His sons' death had been the sign given him years before that the threatenings against his house should be fulfilled; but even that blow he can bear. But the capture of the ark is more than a personal sorrow, and his start of horror overbalances him, and he falls from his seat (which probably had no back to it), and dies, silent, of a broken neck and a broken heart. His forty years of judgeship ended thus. He was in many respects good and lovable, gentle, courteous, devout. His kindly treatment of Hannah, his fatherly training of Samuel, his submission to the divine message through the child, his trembling for the ark,' his death at the news of its being taken, all indicate a character of real sweetness and true godliness. But all was marred by a fatal lack of strong, stern resolve to tolerate no evil which he ought to suppress. Good, weak men, especially when they let foolish tenderness hinder righteous severity, bring terrible evils on themselves, their families, and their nation. It was Eli who, at bottom, was the cause of the defeat and the disasters which slew his sons and broke his own heart. Nothing is more cruel than the weak indulgence which, when men are bringing a curse on themselves by their sin, restrains them not.'

MHCC: 1Sa 4:12-18

The defeat of the army was very grievous to Eli as a judge; the tidings of the death of his two sons, to whom he had been so indulgent, and who, as he had reason to fear, died impenitent, touched him as a father; yet there was a greater concern on his spirit. And when the messenger concluded his story with, " The ark of God is taken," he is struck to the heart, and died immediately. A man may die miserably, yet not die eternally; may come to an untimely end, yet the end be peace.

MHCC: 1Sa 4:19-22

The wife of Phinehas seems to have been a person of piety. Her dying regret was for the loss of the ark, and the departure of the glory from Israel. What is any earthly joy to her that feels herself dying? No joy but that which is spiritual and divine, will stand in any stead then; death is too serious a thing to admit the relish of any earthly joy. What is it to one that is lamenting the loss of the ark? What pleasure can we take in our creature comforts and enjoyments, if we want God's word and ordinances; especially if we want the comfort of his gracious presence, and the light of his countenance? If God go, the glory goes, and all good goes. Woe unto us if he depart! But though the glory is withdrawn from one sinful nation, city, or village after another, yet it shall never depart altogether, but shines forth in one place when eclipsed in another.

Matthew Henry: 1Sa 4:12-18

Tidings are here brought to Shiloh of the fatal issue of their battle with the Philistines. Bad news flies fast. This soon spread through all Israel; every man that fled to his tent brought it, with too plain a proof of it, to his neighbours. But no place was so nearly concerned as Shiloh. Thither therefore an express posted away immediately; it was a man of Benjamin; the Jews fancy it was Saul. He rent his clothes, and put earth upon his head, by these signs to proclaim the sorrowful news to all that saw him as he ran, and to show how much he himself was affected with it, 1Sa 4:12. He went straight to Shiloh with it; and here we are told,

I. How the city received it. Eli sat in the gate (1Sa 4:13, 1Sa 4:18), but the messenger was loth to tell him first, and therefore passed him by, and told it in the city, with all the aggravating circumstances; and now both the ears of every one that heard it tingled, as was foretold, 1Sa 3:11. Their hearts trembled, and every face gathered blackness. All the city cried out (1Sa 3:13), and well they might, for, besides that this was a calamity to all Israel, it was a particular loss to Shiloh, and the ruin of that place; for, though the ark was soon rescued out of the hands of the Philistines, yet it never returned to Shiloh again; their candlestick was removed out of its place, because they had left their first love, and their city dwindled, and sunk, and came to nothing. Now God forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, they having driven him from them; and the tribe of Ephraim, which had for 340 years been blessed with the presence of the ark in it, lost the honour (Psa 78:60, Psa 78:67), and, some time after, it was transferred to the tribe of Judah, the Mount Sion which he loved, as it follows there (Psa 78:68), because the men of Shiloh knew not the day of their visitation. This abandoning of Shiloh Jerusalem is long afterwards reminded of, and told to take warning by. Jer 7:12, " Go see what I did to Shiloh. From this day, this fatal day, let the desolations of Shiloh be dated."They had therefore reason enough to cry out when they heard that the ark was taken.

II. What a fatal blow it was to old Eli. Let us see, 1. With what fear he expected the tidings. Though old, and blind, and heavy, yet he could not keep his chamber when he was sensible the glory of Israel lay at stake, but placed himself by the way-side, to receive the first intelligence; for his heart trembled for the ark of God, 1Sa 4:13. His careful thoughts represented to him what a dishonour it would be to God, and what an irreparable loss to Israel, if the ark should fall into the Philistines' hands, with what profane triumphs the tidings would be told in Gath and published in the streets of Ashkelon. He also apprehended what imminent danger there was of it. Israel had forfeited the ark (his own sons especially) and the Philistines would aim at it; and now the threatening comes to his mind, that he should see an enemy in God's habitation (1Sa 2:32); and perhaps his own heart reproached him for not using his authority to prevent the carrying of the ark into the camp. All these things made him tremble. Note, All good men lay the interests of God's church nearer their hearts than any secular interest or concern of their own, and cannot but be in pain and fear for them if at any time they are in peril. How can we be easy if the ark be not safe? 2. With what grief he received the tidings. Though he could not see, he could hear the tumult and crying of the city, and perceived it to be the voice of lamentation, and mourning, and woe; like a careful magistrate, he asks, What means the noise of this tumult? 1Sa 4:14. He is told there is an express come from the army, who relates the story to him very distinctly, and with great confidence, having himself been an eye-witness of it, 1Sa 4:16, 1Sa 4:17. The account of the defeat of the army, and the slaughter of a great number of the soldiers, was very grievous to him as a judge; the tidings of the death of his two sons, of whom he had been so indulgent, and who, he had reason to fear, died impenitent, touched him in a tender part as a father; yet it was not for these that his heart trembled: there is a greater concern upon his spirit, which swallows up the less; he does not interrupt the narrative with any passionate lamentations for his sons, like David for Absalom, but waits for the end of the story, not doubting but that the messenger, being an Israelite, would, without being asked, say something of the ark; and if he could but have said, "Yet the ark of God is safe, and we are bringing that home,"his joy for that would have overcome his grief for all the other disasters, and have made him easy; but, when the messenger concludes his story with, The ark of God is taken, he is struck to the heart, his spirits fail, and, it should seem, he swooned away, fell off his seat, and partly with the fainting, and partly with the fall, he died immediately, and never spoke a word more. His heart was broken first, and then his neck. So fell the high priest and judge of Israel, so fell his heavy head when he had lived within two of 100 years, so fell the crown from his head when he had judged Israel about forty years: thus did his sun set under a cloud, thus were the folly and wickedness of those sons of his, whom he had indulged, his ruin at last. Thus does God sometimes set marks of his displeasure in this life upon good men who have misconducted themselves, that others may hear, and fear, and take warning. A man may die miserably and yet not die eternally, may come to an untimely end and yet the end be peace. Dr. Lightfoot observes that Eli died the death of an unredeemed ass, whose neck was to be broken, Exo 13:13. Yet we must observe, to Eli's praise, that it was the loss of the ark that was his death, not the slaughter of his sons. He does, in effect, say, "Let me fall with the ark, for what pious Israelite can live with any comfort when God's ordinances are removed?"Farewell all in this world, even life itself, if the ark be gone.

Matthew Henry: 1Sa 4:19-22

We have here another melancholy story, that carries on the desolations of Eli's house, and the sorrowful feeling which the tidings of the ark's captivity excited. It is concerning the wife of Phinehas, one of those ungracious sons of Eli that had brought all this mischief on Israel. It cost her her life, though young, as well as that of her father-in-law, that was old; for many a green head, as well as many a hoary head, has been brought by sorrow to the grave: it worketh death. By what is here related of her it appears,

I. That she was a woman of a very tender spirit. Providence so ordered it that, just at this time, she was near her time; and our Saviour hath said, Woe to those that are with child, or give suck, in such days as these, Mat 24:19. So little joy will there then be in the birth, even of a man-child, that it will be said, Blessed are the wombs that bear not, Luk 23:29. The amazing news coming at this unhappy juncture, it put her into labour, as great frights or other strong passions sometimes do. When she heard of the death of her father-in-law whom she reverenced, and her husband whom, bad as he was, she loved, but especially of the loss of the ark, she travailed, for her pains came thickly upon her (1Sa 4:19), and the tidings so seized her spirits, at a time when they needed all possible supports, that, though she had strength to bear the child, she, soon after, fainted and died away, being very willing to let life go when she had lost the greatest comforts of her life. Those who are drawing near to that trying hour have need to treasure up for themselves comforts from the covenant of grace, to balance, not only the usual sorrows, but any thing extraordinary that may add to the grief which they do not foresee. Faith, at such a time, will keep from fainting, Psa 27:13.

II. That she was a woman of a very gracious spirit though matched to a wicked husband. Her concern for the death of her husband and father-in-law was an evidence of her natural affection; but her much greater concern for the loss of the ark was an evidence of her pious and devout affection to God and sacred things. The former helped to hasten her travail, but it appears by her dying words that the latter lay nearer her heart (1Sa 4:22): She said, The glory has departed from Israel, not lamenting so much the sinking of that particular family to which she was related as the general calamity of Israel in the captivity of the ark. This, this was it that was her grief, that was her death.

1. This made her regardless of her child. The women that attended her, who it is likely were some of the first rank in the city, encouraged her, and, thinking that he concern was mostly about the issue of her pains, when the child was born, said unto her, Fear not, now the worst is past, for thou has borne a son (and perhaps it was her first-born), but she answered not, neither did she regard it. The sorrows of her travail, if she had no other, would have been forgotten, for joy that a man-child was born into the world. Joh 16:21. But what is that joy, (1.) To one that feels herself dying? No joy but that which is spiritual and divine will stand us in any stead then. Death is too serious a thing to admit the relish of any earthly joy; it is all flat and sapless then. (2.) What is it to one that is lamenting the loss of the ark? Small comfort could she have of a child born in Israel, in Shiloh, when the ark is lost, and is a prisoner in the land of the Philistines. What pleasure can we take in our creature-comforts and enjoyments if we want God's word and ordinances, especially if we want the comfort of his gracious presence and the light of his countenance? As vinegar upon nitre, so is he that sings songs so such heavy hearts.

2. This made her give her child a name which should perpetuate the remembrance of the calamity and her sense of it. She has nothing to say to the child, only it being her province, now that her husband was dead, to name the child, she orders them to call it I-chabod, that is, Where is the glory? Or, Alas for the glory! or, There is no glory (1Sa 4:21), which she thus explains with her dying lips (1Sa 4:22): " The glory has departed from Israel; for the ark of God is taken. Call the child inglorious, for so he is; the beauty of Israel is lost, and there appears no hope of ever retrieving it; never let the name of an Israelite, must less a priest, carry glory in it any more, now that the ark is taken."Note, (1.) The purity and plenty of God's ordinances, and the tokens of his presence in them, are the glory of any people, much more so than their wealth, and trade, and interest, among the nations. 2. Nothing is more cutting, more killing, to a faithful Israelite, than the want and loss of these. If God go, the glory goes, and all good goes. Woe unto us if he depart!

Keil-Delitzsch: 1Sa 4:12-14

The tidings of this calamity were brought by a Benjaminite, who came as amessenger of evil tidings, with his clothes rent, and earth upon his head - asign of the deepest mourning (see Jos 7:6), - to Shiloh, where the aged Eliwas sitting upon a seat by the side ( יך is a copyist's error for יד ) of the way watching; for his heart trembled for the ark of God,which had been taken from the sanctuary into the camp without thecommand of God. At these tidings the whole city cried out with terror, sothat Eli heard the sound of the cry, and asked the reason of this loud noise(or tumult), whilst the messenger was hurrying towards him with thenews.

Keil-Delitzsch: 1Sa 4:15

Eli was ninety-eight years old, and "his eyes stood," i.e., were stiff, so thathe could no more see (vid., 1Ki 14:4). This is a description of the so-called black cataract ( amaurosis ), which generally occurs at a very great agefrom paralysis of the optic nerves.

Keil-Delitzsch: 1Sa 4:16-18

When the messenger informed him of the defeat of the Israelites, the deathof his sons, and the capture of the ark, at the last news Eli fell back fromhis seat by the side of the gate, and broke his neck, and died. The loss ofthe ark was to him the most dreadful of all - more dreadful than the death ofhis two sons. Eli had judged Israel forty years. The reading twenty in theSeptuagint does not deserve the slightest notice, if only because it isperfectly incredible that Eli should have been appointed judge of thenation in his seventy-eight year.

Keil-Delitzsch: 1Sa 4:19-22

The judgment which fell upon Eli through this stroke extended still further. His daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was with child (near) to bedelivered. ללת , contracted from ללדת (from ילד : see Ges. §69, 3, note 1; Ewald , §238, c .). When she heard thetidings of the capture ( אל־הלּקח , " with regard to the being taken away ")of the ark of God, and the death of her father-in-law and husband, she fellupon her knees and was delivered, for her pains had fallen upon her ( lit . had turned against her), and died in consequence. Her death, however, wasbut a subordinate matter to the historian. He simply refers to it casually inthe words, "and about the time of her death," for the purpose of giving herlast words, in which she gave utterance to her grief at the loss of the ark, asa matter of greater importance in relation to his object. As she lay dying, the women who stood round sought to comfort her, bytelling her that she had brought forth a son; but " she did not answer, andtook no notice ( לב שׁוּת = לב שׂוּם , animum advertere ;cf. Psa 62:11), but called to the boy (i.e., named him), Ichabod ( כבוד אי , no glory), saying, The glory of Israel is departed ,"referring to the capture of the ark of God, and also to her father-in-law andhusband. She then said again, " Gone ( גּלה , wandered away,carried off) is the glory of Israel, for the ark of God is taken ."Therepetition of these words shows how deeply the wife of the godlessPhinehas had taken to heart the carrying off of the ark, and how in herestimation the glory of Israel had departed with it. Israel could not bebrought lower. With the surrender of the earthly throne of His glory, theLord appeared to have abolished His covenant of grace with Israel; for theark, with the tables of the law and the capporeth, was the visible pledge ofthe covenant of grace which Jehovah had made with Israel.

Constable: 1Sa 4:1--7:2

II. THE HISTORY OF THE ARK OF THE COVENANT 4:1b--7:1

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 older and longer ark narrative, which was a source document for the writer here.⁴⁹ More recently some scholars have come to believe that the old ark narratives were somewhat shorter. Conservative scholars generally believe that the ark narratives were not necessarily independent documents but may simply reflect the writer's particular emphasis on the ark here.⁵⁰

Constable: 1Sa 4:1-22

A. The Capture of the Ark 4:1b-22

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 seven times including a notation at the end of each text section (vv. 4, 11, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22). Following the reference to Samuel the prophet in 4:1 the writer did not mention him again until 7:3.

"The purpose of the story in 1 Sam. 4-6 of the ark's imprisonment in Philistia and its travels to different Philistine cities, as well as to Beth-Shemesh, is to give an historical background for the Philistines' rule over the whole country prior to the emergence of the Israelite state which could still accentuate Yahweh's supremacy as an unconquerable deity. The story explains how Yahweh finally became superior to his captors."⁵¹

The major historical element of continuity in this section is the fate of Eli's sons (4:9-11). The theological theme of fertility continues to be the primary unifying factor in the narrative.

Constable: 1Sa 4:12-18

2. The response of Eli 4:12-18

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 that it was the news that the Philistines had captured the ark, not that his two sons had died, that shocked Eli and caused him to die (v. 18).

There is a word play in the Hebrew text that helps us understand the significance of the departure of God's glory. The Hebrew word for "heavy" (v. 18) is kabed, and the word for "glory" (v. 21) is kabod. Rather than Israel enjoying glory from God's presence through Eli's priesthood, Eli himself had received the glory as his heavy weight evidenced. Eli's self-indulgence was responsible for the departure of God's glory from Israel and from his line of priests.⁶¹

The battle of Aphek recorded in this chapter took place in 1104 B.C. Since Eli was 98 years old when he died on hearing the news that the Philistines had taken the ark in this battle, he must have been born in 1202 B.C.⁶²

Constable: 1Sa 4:19-22

3. The response of Phinehas' wife 4:19-22

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 Lord appeared to have abolished His covenant of grace with Israel; for the ark, with the tables of the law and the capporeth [mercy seat], was the visible pledge of the covenant of grace which Jehovah had made with Israel."⁶³

Her words may also reflect a pagan viewpoint to some extent, that because the Philistines had stolen what represented Yahweh the Lord Himself had abandoned the nation. In view of God's promises and revealed plans for Israel, she should have known that He had not abandoned His people (cf. Matt. 28:20). Furthermore the Israelites knew that the true God is omnipresent.

Most of the Israelites evidently thought that since Israel had lost the ark it had lost God.⁶⁴ However because the people had not lived in proper covenant relationship with Him Israel had only lost God's blessing. They were disregarding God's Law, so God's glory had departed from Israel (v. 22; cf. Exod. 19:5-6). His people could not enjoy fertility.

Someone has said that if you feel far from God, you need to remember that He is not the one who moved. God has promised that if His people will draw near to Him He will draw near to them (2 Chron. 7:14; James 4:8; Heb. 10:22).

Guzik: 1Sa 4:1-22

1 Samuel 4 - The Capture of the Ark of the Covenant

A. The Ark is captured.

1. (1-2) Israel is defeated before the Philistines.

And the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out to battle against the Philistines, and encamped beside Ebenezer; and the Philistines encamped in Aphek. Then the Philistines put themselves in battle array against Israel. And when they joined battle, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand men of the army in the field.

a. Israel went out to battle against the Philistines: During this time, there was no great world power (such as Egypt or Assyria) seeking to dominate the region. So, Israel's battles were waged against her near neighbors, such as the Moabites, the Ammonites, or as here, the Philistines.

i. Israel could compete on more equal terms with Moab and Ammon, but the Philistines had much influence from far away Greece. Greek military equipment (such as helmets, shields, coats of mail, swords and spears) made the Philistines formidable opponents. The Philistines were the first people in Canaan to process iron, and they made the most of it.

ii. The Philistines were an immigrant people from the military aristocracy of the island of Crete (Amos 9:7). Small numbers of Philistines were in the land at the time of Abraham, but they only came in force soon after Israel came to Canaan from Egypt. They were organized into five city-states.

b. This was a difficult period for Israel. "Never did time seem more hopeless than when Samuel arose. The Philistines, strengthened not merely by a constant influx of immigrants, but by the importation of arms from Greece, were fast reducing Israel to the condition of a subject race." (Smith, Pulpit Commentary)

c. We shouldn't infer from the connection of the word of the Samuel came to all Israel and Now Israel went out to battle that the battle was led by the direction of Samuel's word. Some manuscript traditions (evident in the Septuagint) make it clear the Philistines initiated this conflict.

d. The battle ended in disaster: Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand men.

2. (3-4) The elders of Israel respond with a superstitious trust in the ark.

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 bring the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD from Shiloh to us, that when it comes among us it may save us from the hand of our enemies." 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.

a. Let us bring the Ark of the Covenant . . . it may save us from the hand of our enemies: The elders of Israel, after the battle with the Philistines, decided the next battle could be won if they took the Ark of the Covenant with their soldiers.

i. The Ark of the Covenant was the representation of the throne of God among the people of Israel. Kept in the most holy place of the tabernacle, it was never seen by the people. In that most holy place, only the high priest would enter and see the ark, and only once a year. Yet, they wanted to take this representation of the throne of God out of the holy of holies (it could be moved when the tabernacle was to be moved), cover it, and take it into battle with them. It would give them confidence God was really with them.

ii. The ark had gone into battle before. The ark went in front of the marchers around the city of Jericho (Joshua 6:6-8). Moses told the priests to lead the ark into battle against the Midianites (Numbers 31:6). Later, Saul brought the ark into battle (1 Samuel 14:18), as did David (2 Samuel 11:11). Later, during the rebellion launched by Absalom, David knew the ark was not a "lucky charm," so he sent it back to Jerusalem when he fled the city from Absalom (2 Samuel 15:24-25).

b. The elders of Israel were right in seeing they needed help from God to win the battle. But they were wrong in the way they went about getting help. Instead of humbly repenting and seeking God, they turned to methods that God never approved. They only cared if it would work.

i. They believed the presence of the ark would make God work for them. "Their idea was that God should be forced to fight for them. If He was not willing to do it for their sake, He would have to do it for His honour's sake." (Ellison)

ii. Simply, they are tempting God. This is the very thing Satan encouraged Jesus to do in His wilderness temptation, trying to "force" God into a miracle by suggesting Jesus leap off the pinnacle of the temple.

iii. No doubt, it seemed like a brilliant suggestion. It would work for certain! They must have been pleased to arrive at such a great solution.

c. But their belief is really only vain superstition. They regard the ark as the ultimate "good luck charm" and believe they can't lose with it present. Notice their words: that it may save us from the hand of our enemies. They are looking to the ark to save them, not the LORD Himself.

i. "Instead of attempting to get right with God, these Israelites set about devising superstitious means of securing the victory over their foes. In this respect most of us have imitated them. We think of a thousand inventions; but we neglect the one thing needful . . . They forget the main matter, which is to enthrone God in the life, and to seek to do his will by faith in Christ Jesus." (Spurgeon)

ii. "There are plenty of Christians, like these elders, who, when they find themselves beaten by the world and the devil, puzzle their brains to invent all sorts of reasons for God's smiting, except the true one, - their own departure from Him." (Maclaren)

d. Instead of trusting in the ark, they should be more concerned that the ark is being served, and carried, by priests who have forsaken the LORD: the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were with the Ark of the Covenant of God.

i. God had commanded the ark be carried and cared for by priests. They did the right thing in having priests to carry the ark. But they were doing a wrong thing, even if they did it in a right way.

3. (5) Israel's confidence in the Ark of the Covenant.

And when the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD came into the camp, all Israel shouted so loudly that the earth shook.

a. All Israel shouted so loudly that the earth shook: Someone passing by Israel's camp would have thought something tremendous was happening. Certainly, this would have been considered a great church service, and many would think they were really trusting in God. But for all the appearances, it was really nothing. All their noise and excitement meant nothing because it wasn't grounded in God's truth.

i. The Israelites probably felt they were better than the Philistines because the Philistines were pagans, worshipping false gods. Yet the Israelites were thinking and acting just like pagans, thinking they could manipulate God, and force Him into doing what they wanted Him to do.

ii. "Had they humbled themselves, and prayed devoutly and fervently for success, they would have been heard and saved. Their shouting proved both their vanity and irreligion." (Clarke)

b. "Now, beloved, when you are worshipping God, shout if you are filled with holy gladness. If the shout comes from your heart, I would not ask you to restrain it. God forbid that we should judge any man's worship! But do not be so foolish as to suppose that because there is loud noise there must also be faith. Faith is a still water, it flows deep. True faith in God may express itself with leaping and with shouting; and it is a happy thing when it does: but it can also sit still before the Lord, and that perhaps is a happier thing still." (Spurgeon)

4. (6-9) The Philistines' fear of the Ark of the Covenant.

Now 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?" Then they understood that the ark of the LORD had come into the camp. So the Philistines were afraid, for they said, "God has come into the camp!" And they said, "Woe to us! For such a thing has never happened before. "Woe to us! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness. Be strong and conduct yourselves like men, you Philistines, that you do not become servants of the Hebrews, as they have been to you. Conduct yourselves like men, and fight!"

a. We should compliment the Philistines on their understanding of the Ark of the Covenant (they knew it represented the presence of God), and on their knowledge of Israel's history.

i. They knew it was unusual - even unheard of - for the Israelites to bring the ark into battle (For such a thing has never happened before).

ii. They knew the God of Israel had defeated the Egyptians (who struck the Egyptians with all the plagues).

b. These mighty gods: Even though they did not understand very much about God, the Philistines recognized the superiority of the God of Israel. Yet, they will not submit to God, but simply determine to fight against Him all the more. If they really believed their gods were greater than the God of Israel was, they should not have been worried. If they believed the God of Israel to be greater than their gods, they should have submitted to Him.

i. We, like them, often know God is greater and deserves our submission. Yet we often resist God as well, instead of submitting to Him. Knowledge wasn't their problem. Submission to God was.

c. Be strong and conduct yourselves like men, you Philistines: The presence of the ark has not made the Philistines feel like giving up. Instead, it has made them feel they must fight all the harder to overcome the odds. They will show the courage that comes from desperation.

i. Godless Philistines can teach us something. Christians need to show more of this courage. Instead of giving up when things look bad, why not, trusting the LORD, fight all the harder? Why not dedicate yourself in submission to God all the more? Why not decide, God giving you the strength, you will not give up? Courage and persistence win many a victory, even some victories for evil. Shouldn't we show the same kind of courage and persistence for the LORD?

5. (10-11) The ark goes into battle and Israel is defeated worse than before.

So the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and every man fled to his tent. There was a very great slaughter, and there fell of Israel thirty thousand foot soldiers. Also the ark of God was captured; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.

a. Israel was defeated: There were three reasons for the great defeat. First, the Philistines fought with the courage of underdogs. Second, the Israelites felt that the battle would be easy with the ark of the Covenant there, and did not try as hard. Finally, God did not bless Israel's superstitious belief in the power of the ark instead of the power of God.

i. We often make the same mistake the Israelites did. We believe that if God is with us, we don't need to try so hard. We think if God is on our side, the work will be easy. That may not be true at all!

ii. As it turned out, God did not feel obligated to bless the Israelites just because they took the ark into battle. He wouldn't allow His arm to be twisted by the superstitions of the Israelites. God is a Person, not a genie to be summoned at the will of man. You can't manipulate God.

b. There fell of Israel thirty thousand foot soldiers: Not only did Israel lose, they lost far worse than they did before taking the ark into battle. The loss which prompted them to take the ark saw about four thousand men of Israel fall (1 Samuel 4:2). Here, more than seven times as many men of Israel are killed.

i. In the late 1970's, a five-line inscription was found on a grain silo in the ruins of Izbet Sarteh. When deciphered, it was found to contain a Philistine account of this battle, the capture of the ark, even specifically mentioning the priest Hophni. This is the earliest known extra-biblical reference to an Old Testament event.

c. Can it get worse? Yes. The ark of God was captured. The very "thing" they though would win the battle was taken away! Israel had made an idol of the ark, and God often breaks of our idolatry by taking the idol away.

i. We can make good things idols. There was nothing wrong with the ark itself. God commanded them to make it. It was important to Israel. He told them to put the tablets of the law, a jar of manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, in the ark. Yet, even a good thing like the ark can be made an idol, and God won't tolerate our idols.

ii. The ark of God was captured. But the God of the ark was still on the throne in heaven, and guiding these circumstances for His glory. Israel thought they could ignore the God of the ark and find deliverance in the ark of God. But God showed He was greater than the ark.

d. Could it get worse? Yes. The two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died. The priests who were supposed to supervise the ark were killed in the battle. God promised the two sons of Eli would die on the same day as proof of His ultimate judgment on the house of Eli (1 Samuel 2:34). Now the proof of judgment has come.

i. "They died apparently as they had lived, in the very act of dishonoring God." (Blaikie)

B. Israel's great anguish at the loss of the ark.

1. (12-18) Eli hears of the loss of the Ark of the Covenant of God and dies.

Then a man of Benjamin ran from the battle line the same day, and came to Shiloh with his clothes torn and dirt on his head. Now when he came, there was Eli, sitting on 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 Eli heard the noise of the outcry, he said, "What does the sound of this tumult mean?" And the man came quickly and told Eli. Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes were so dim that he could not see. Then the man said to Eli, "I am he who came from the battle. And I fled today from the battle line." And he said, "What happened, my son?" So the messenger answered and said, "Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has been a great slaughter among the people. Also your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead; and the ark of God has been captured." Then it happened, when he made mention of the ark of God, that Eli fell off the seat backward by the side of the gate; and his neck was broken and he died, for the man was old and heavy. And he had judged Israel forty years.

a. A man of Benjamin ran from the battle line the same day, and came to Shiloh: The battle was fought near Aphek (1 Samuel 4:1), and it was at least twenty miles from Aphek to Shiloh. The messenger had a long way to go, the route was mostly up hill, and he carried very bad news.

i. Because the news was so bad, he came with his clothes torn and dirt on his head. These were some of the traditional signs of mourning. The messenger brought bad news, and he let his appearance reflect how bad the news was.

ii. According to an unfounded Jewish tradition, this unnamed messenger from the tribe of Benjamin was a young Saul.

b. Eli, sitting on a seat by the wayside watching, for his heart trembled for the ark of God: Eli anxiously waited back at the tabernacle for news of the battle. Eli is rightly more concerned about the fate of the ark than the fate of his sons.

i. Why is he so nervous? He might have been as foolishly confident as the soldiers of Israel were when the Ark of the Covenant came into their camp (1 Samuel 4:5). Instead, Eli knows he has let the ark go on an unwise, superstitious errand, and his conscience makes him fear it will end in disaster.

c. As Eli hears the commotion in the city regarding the loss of the battle, the priests, and the ark, he asks for information, and the messenger tells him the story of bad to worse to worser to worst: Israel has fled before the Philistines (bad), and there has been a great slaughter among the people (worse). Also your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead (worser); and the ark of God has been captured (worst).

d. Eli fell off the seat backward by the side of the gate; and his neck was broken and he died: Eli fell over and died at the news of the ark (when he made mention of the ark of God). It wasn't the news of Israel's loss in battle, or the slaughter of the army, or even the news of the death of his own sons, which killed him. It was the news that the Ark of the Covenant of God had been lost.

i. "No sword of a Philistine could have slain him any more powerfully; neither can you say whether his neck or his heart were broken first." (Trapp)

ii. God had promised that Eli's two sons were to die on the same day as a sign of judgment on the house of Eli (1 Samuel 2:34). God had not announced the promise that Eli would also die the same day. God tells us much in prophecy, but not everything. Some of it is only seen in its fullness after it has already happened.

2. (19-22) More tragedy among the family of Eli.

Now his daughter-in-law, Phinehas' wife, was with child, due to be delivered; and when she heard the news that the ark of God was captured, and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and gave birth, for her labor pains came upon her. And about the time of her death the women who stood by her said to her, "Do not fear, for you have borne a son." But she did not answer, nor did she regard it. Then she named the child Ichabod, saying, "The glory has departed from Israel!" because the ark of God had been captured and because of her father-in-law and her husband. And she said, "The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured."

a. Poor wife of Phinehas! Pregnant, she hears of the death of her husband, her brother-in-law, her father-in-law, a slaughter among the soldiers of Israel, a lost battle, and the capture of the Ark of the Covenant all on one day! The anguish is too great, and labor pains came upon her.

b. Then she named the child Ichabod: For a Jewish woman, news that a son had been born was wonderful news. But not for the wife of Phinehas on this day. To reflect her anguish, and the national tragedy upon Israel, she names the child Ichabod, meaning, "The glory has departed from Israel."

i. But she did not answer, nor did she regard it: Her grief was so great, it overcame her maternal joy at the birth of her son. To her, the loss was total, and she herself even lost the desire to live.

c. The glory has departed: The glory of God, displayed by His presence in the Ark of the Covenant, had departed from Israel. The Philistines now held it.

i. Had the glory of God truly departed? In one sense, yes. The glory left when Israel stopped repenting and trusting God and started superstitiously trusting in the ark itself. "The glory of God had indeed departed, but not because the ark of God had been captured; the ark had been captured because the glory had already departed." (Ellison)

ii. Tragically, the same could be said of many churches, many ministries, and many individual Christian lives: the glory has departed. There are still priests, there is still a tabernacle, but God is not enthroned in glory among them. There is the form of godliness, without the power (2 Timothy 3:5). You could write Ichabod across many churches, many ministries, many individual Christian lives!

iii. How could God allow something so terrible to happen? First, He allowed it as a righteous judgment upon Israel as a nation and the family of Eli. They simply received what they deserved. Secondly, God allowed it as a correction to the nation, so they would not trust in the ark of God, instead of trusting in the God of the ark. Finally, though it seemed so terrible to man, was it all that terrible to God? At this moment, was God wringing His hands in heaven, worried about how things would turn out? Worried about His own reputation? Worried about the Philistines and their gods? Looking at it this way, the glory had not departed one bit. Instead, God was just beginning to show His glory.

iv. Many circumstances we regard as a calamity, God uses in a marvelous way to glorify Himself. Israel was right to be sad at the loss of life and the ark on that day. But they should have had confidence, knowing God was well able to take care of Himself.

v. "Thus as God was no loser by this event, so the Philistines were no gainers by it; and Israel, all things considered, received more good than hurt by it, as we shall see." (Poole)

© 2001 David Guzik - No distribution beyond personal use without permission

Introduction / Outline

JFB: 1 Samuel (Book Introduction)

THE FIRST AND SECOND BOOKS OF SAMUEL. The two were, by the ancient Jews, conjoined so as to make one book, and in that form could be called the Book of Samuel with more propriety than now, the second being wholly occupied with the relation of transactions that did not take place till after the death of that eminent judge. Accordingly, in the Septuagint and the Vulgate, it is called the First and Second Books of Kings. The early portion of the First Book, down to the end of the twenty-fourth chapter, was probably written by Samuel; while the rest of it and the whole of the Second, are commonly ascribed to Nathan and Gad, founding the opinion on 1Ch 29:29. Commentators, however, are divided about this, some supposing that the statements in 1Sa 2:26; 1Sa 3:1, indicate the hand of the judge himself, or a contemporary; while some think, from 1Sa 6:18; 1Sa 12:5; 1Sa 27:6, that its composition must be referred to a later age. It is probable, however, that these supposed marks of an after-period were interpolations of Ezra. This uncertainty, however, as to the authorship does not affect the inspired authority of the book, which is indisputable, being quoted in the New Testament (1Sa 13:14 in Act 13:22, and 2Sa 7:14 in Heb 1:5), as well as in many of the Psalms.

JFB: 1 Samuel (Outline)

• OF ELKANAH AND HIS TWO WIVES. (1Sa 1:1-8)
• HANNAH'S PRAYER. (1Sa 1:9-18)
• SAMUEL BORN. (1Sa 1:20)
• HANNAH'S SONG IN THANKFULNESS TO GOD. (1Sa 2:1-11)
• THE SIN OF ELI'S SONS. (1Sa 2:12-17)
• SAMUEL'S MINISTRY. (1Sa 2:18-26)
• A PROPHECY AGAINST ELI'S HOUSE. (1Sa 2:27-35)
• THE LORD APPEARS TO SAMUEL IN A VISION. (1Sa 3:1-10)
• ISRAEL OVERCOME BY THE PHILISTINES. (1Sa 4:1-11)
• ELI HEARING THE TIDINGS. (1Sa 4:12-22)
• THE PHILISTINES BRING THE ARK INTO THE HOUSE OF DAGON. (1Sa 5:1-2)
• DAGON FALLS DOWN. (1Sa 5:3-5)
• THE PHILISTINES ARE SMITTEN WITH EMERODS. (1Sa 5:6-12)
• THE PHILISTINES COUNSEL HOW TO SEND BACK THE ARK. (1Sa 6:1-9)
• THE ARK AT KIRJATH-JEARIM. (1Sa 7:1-2)
• THE ISRAELITES, THROUGH SAMUEL'S INFLUENCE, SOLEMNLY REPENT AT MIZPEH. (1Sa 7:3-6)
• WHILE SAMUEL PRAYS, THE PHILISTINES ARE DISCOMFITED. (1Sa 7:7-14)
• OCCASIONED BY THE ILL-GOVERNMENT OF SAMUEL'S SONS, THE ISRAELITES ASK A KING. (1Sa. 8:1-18)
• SAUL, DESPAIRING TO FIND HIS FATHER'S ASSES, COMES TO SAMUEL. (1Sa 9:1-14)
• GOD REVEALS TO SAMUEL SAUL'S COMING, AND HIS APPOINTMENT TO THE KINGDOM. (1Sa 9:15-27)
• SAMUEL ANOINTS SAUL, AND CONFIRMS HIM BY THE PREDICTION OF THREE SIGNS. (1Sa. 10:1-27)
• NAHASH OFFERS THEM OF JABESH-GILEAD A REPROACHFUL CONDITION. (1Sa 11:1-4)
• THEY SEND TO SAUL, AND ARE DELIVERED. (1Sa 11:5-11)
• SAUL CONFIRMED KING. (1Sa 11:12-15)
• SAMUEL TESTIFIES HIS INTEGRITY. (1Sa 12:1-5)
• HE TERRIFIES THEM WITH THUNDER IN HARVEST-TIME. (1Sa 12:17-25)
• SAUL'S SELECTED BAND. (1Sa 13:1-2)
• HE CALLS THE HEBREWS TO GILGAL AGAINST THE PHILISTINES. (1Sa 13:3-4)
• THE PHILISTINES' GREAT HOST. (1Sa 13:5)
• THE ISRAELITES' DISTRESS. (1Sa 13:6-8)
• SAUL, WEARY OF WAITING FOR SAMUEL, SACRIFICES. (1Sa 13:9-16)
• JONATHAN MIRACULOUSLY SMITES THE PHILISTINES' GARRISON. (1Sa 14:1-14)
• SAUL SENT TO DESTROY AMALEK. (1Sa 15:1-6)
• HE SPARES AGAG AND THE BEST OF THE SPOIL. (1Sa 15:7-9)
• GOD REJECTS HIS FOR DISOBEDIENCE. (1Sa 15:10-11)
• SAMUEL SENT BY GOD TO BETHLEHEM. (1Sa 16:1-10)
• HE ANOINTS DAVID. (1Sa 16:11-14)
• THE ISRAELITES AND PHILISTINES BEING READY TO BATTLE. (1Sa 17:1-3)
• GOLIATH CHALLENGES A COMBAT. (1Sa 17:4-11)
• DAVID ACCEPTS THE CHALLENGE, AND SLAYS HIM. (1Sa. 17:12-58)
• JONATHAN LOVES DAVID. (1Sa 18:1-4)
• SAUL ENVIES HIS PRAISE. (1Sa 18:5-9)
• SEEKS TO KILL HIM. (1Sa 18:10-12)
• FEARS HIM FOR HIS GOOD SUCCESS. (1Sa 18:13-16)
• HE OFFERS HIM HIS DAUGHTER FOR A SNARE. (1Sa 18:17-21)
• JONATHAN DISCLOSES HIS FATHER'S PURPOSE TO KILL DAVID. (1Sa 19:1-7)
• SAUL'S MALICIOUS RAGE BREAKS OUT AGAINST DAVID. (1Sa 19:8-17)
• DAVID FLEES TO SAMUEL. (1Sa 19:18-23)
• SAUL PROPHESIES. (1Sa 19:24)
• DAVID CONSULTS WITH JONATHAN FOR HIS SAFETY. (1Sa 20:1-10)
• THEIR COVENANT RENEWED BY OATH. (1Sa 20:11-23)
• SAUL, MISSING DAVID, SEEKS TO KILL JONAHAN. (1Sa. 20:24-40)
• JONATHAN AND DAVID LOVINGLY PART. (1Sa 20:41-42)
• DAVID, AT NOB, OBTAINS OF AHIMELECH HALLOWED BREAD. (1Sa 21:1-7)
• HE TAKES GOLIATH'S SWORD. (1Sa 21:9)
• AT GATH HE FEIGNS HIMSELF MAD. (1Sa 21:10-15)
• DAVID'S KINDRED AND OTHERS RESORT TO HIM AT ADULLAM. (1Sa 22:1-8)
• DOEG ACCUSES AHIMELECH. (1Sa 22:9-16)
• SAUL COMMANDS TO KILL THE PRIESTS. (1Sa 22:17-19)
• ABIATHAR ESCAPES AND FLEES AFTER DAVID. (1Sa 22:20-23)
• DAVID RESCUES KEILAH. (1Sa 23:1-6)
• SAUL'S COMING, AND TREACHERY OF THE KEILITES. (1Sa 23:7-13)
• DAVID ESCAPES TO ZIPH. (1Sa 23:14-18)
• SAUL PURSUES HIM. (1Sa 23:19-29)
• DAVID IN A CAVE AT ENGEDI CUTS OFF SAUL'S SKIRT, BUT SPARES HIS LIFE. (1Sa 24:1-7)
• HE URGES THEREBY HIS INNOCENCY. (1Sa 24:8-15)
• SAMUEL DIES. (1Sa 25:1-9)
• THE CHURLISH ANSWER PROVOKES HIM. (1Sa 25:10-13)
• ABIGAIL PACIFIES HIM. (1Sa. 25:14-35)
• NABAL'S DEATH. (1Sa 25:36-44)
• SAUL COMES TO THE HILL OF HACHILAH AGAINST DAVID. (1Sa 26:1-4)
• DAVID STAYS ABISHAI FROM KILLING SAUL, BUT TAKES HIS SPEAR AND CRUSE. (1Sa. 26:5-25)
• SAUL HEARING THAT DAVID WAS FLED TO GATH, SEEKS NO MORE FOR HIM. (1Sa 27:1-4)
• DAVID BEGS ZIKLAG OF ACHISH. (1Sa 27:5-12)
• ACHISH'S CONFIDENCE IN DAVID. (1Sa 28:1-6)
• SAUL SEEKS A WITCH, WHO, BEING ENCOURAGED BY HIM, RAISES UP SAMUEL. (1Sa. 28:7-25)
• DAVID MARCHING WITH THE PHILISTINES TO FIGHT WITH ISRAEL. (1Sa 29:1-5)
• THE AMALEKITES SPOIL ZIKLAG. (1Sa 30:1-5)
• BUT DAVID, ENCOURAGED BY GOD, PURSUES THEM. (1Sa 30:6-15)
• AND RECOVERS HIS TWO WIVES AND ALL THE SPOIL. (1Sa. 30:16-31)
• SAUL HAVING LOST HIS ARMY AT GILBOA, AND HIS SONS BEING SLAIN, HE AND HIS ARMOR-BEARER KILL THEMSELVES. (1Sa 31:1-7)
• THE PHILISTINES TRIUMPH OVER THEIR DEAD BODIES. (1Sa 31:8-10)
• THE MEN OF JABESH-GILEAD RECOVER THE BODIES AND BURY THEM AT JABESH. (1Sa 31:11-13)

TSK: 1 Samuel (Book Introduction)

The First Book of SAMUEL, otherwise called " The First Book of the KINGS."

TSK: 1 Samuel 4 (Chapter Introduction)

Overview

1Sa 4:1, The Israelites are overcome by the Philistines at Ebenezer; 1Sa 4:3, They fetch the ark unto the terror of the Philistines; 1Sa 4:10, They are smitten again, the ark taken, and Hophni and Phinehas are slain; 1Sa 4:12, Eli at the news, falling backward, breaks his neck; 1Sa 4:19, Phinehas’s wife, discouraged in her travail with I-chabod, dies.

Poole: 1 Samuel (Book Introduction)

FIRST BOOK OF SAMUEL OTHERWISE CALLED

THE FIRST BOOK OF THE KINGS.

THE ARGUMENT.

IT is not certainly known who was the penman of this Book, or whether it was written by one or more hands; nor is it or any great importance; for since there are sufficient evidences that God was the chief author of it, it matters not who was the instrument. As when it appears that such a thing was really an act of parliament, or of the council-table, it is not considerable who was the clerk or which was the pen that wrote it. And this is the less material in such historical hooks, wherein there is but little which concerns the foundation of faith and good life, and therefore it was not necessary to name the writer of them. It may abundantly suffice that there were in these times divers prophets and holy men of God; as Samuel, and Nathan, and Gad, and David himself, who might each of them write some part of this and the following book. But if any man will out of perverseness doubt or deny that these wrote it, yet this I suppose no discreet and impartial man will deny, that it is wholly incredible that such books should be written in their times, and recommended to the church as a part of the Holy Scriptures, and so received by the succeeding generation, without their approbation, who had so great a power and authority in the church and commonwealth of Israel.

Poole: 1 Samuel 4 (Chapter Introduction)

SAMUEL CHAPTER 4

The Israelites are smitten by the Philistines at Eben-ezer, 1Sa 4:1,2 . They fetch the ark from Shiloh; receive it with a great shout, to the terror of the Philistines, 1Sa 4:3-8 ; who yet take courage, and a second time beat the Israelites: the ark is taken; the two sons of Eli are slain, 1Sa 4:9-11 ; which Eli hearing, falleth backward from his seat, and breaketh his neck, 1Sa 4:12-18 . His daughter-in-law falls in labour, nameth her son Ichabod, and dieth, 1Sa 4:19-22 .

MHCC: 1 Samuel (Book Introduction)

In this book we have an account of Eli, and the wickedness of his sons; also of Samuel, his character and actions. Then of the advancement of Saul to be the king of Israel, and his ill behaviour, until his death made way for David's succession to the throne, who was an eminent type of Christ. David's patience, modesty, constancy, persecution by open enemies and feigned friends, are a pattern and example to the church, and to every member of it. Many things in this book encourage the faith, hope, and patience of the suffering believer. It contains also many useful cautions and awful warnings.

MHCC: 1 Samuel 4 (Chapter Introduction)

(1Sa 4:1-9) The Israelites overcome by the Philistines.

(1Sa 4:10, 1Sa 4:11) The ark taken.

(1Sa 4:12-18) The death of Eli.

(1Sa 4:19-22) The birth of Ichabod.

Matthew Henry: 1 Samuel (Book Introduction)

An Exposition, with Practical Observations, of The First Book of Samuel

This book, and that which follows it, bear the name of Samuel in the title, not because he was the penman of them (except of so much of them as fell within his own time, to the twenty-fifth chapter of the first book, in which we have an account of his death), but because the first book begins with a large account of him, his birth and childhood, his life and government; and the rest of these two volumes that are denominated from him contains the history of the reigns of Saul and David, who were both anointed by him. And, because the history of these two kings takes up the greatest part of these books, the Vulgar latin calls them the First and Second Books of the Kings, and the two that follow the Third and Fourth, which the titles in our English Bibles take notice of with an alias: otherwise called the First Book of the Kings, etc. The Septuagint calls them the first and second Book of the Kingdoms. It is needless to contend about it, but there is no occasion to vary from the Hebrew verity. These two books contain the history of the last two of the judges, Eli and Samuel, who were not, as the rest, men of war, but priests (and so much of them is an appendix to the book of Judges), and of the first two of the kings, Saul and David, and so much of them is an entrance upon the history of the kings. They contain a considerable part of the sacred history, are sometimes referred to in the New Testament, and often in the titles of David's Psalms, which, if placed in their order, would fall in these books. It is uncertain who was the penman of them; it is probable that Samuel wrote the history of his own time, and that, after him, some of the prophets that were with David (Nathan as likely as any) continued it. This first book gives us a full account of Eli's fall and Samuel's rise and good government, ch. 1-8. Of Samuel's resignation of the government and Saul's advancement and mal-administration, ch. 9-15. The choice of David, his struggles with Saul, Saul's ruin at last, and the opening of the way for David to the throne, ch. 16-31. And these things are written for our learning.

Matthew Henry: 1 Samuel 4 (Chapter Introduction)

The predictions in the foregoing chapters concerning the ruin of Eli's house here begin to be fulfilled; how long after does not appear, but certainly not long. Such sinners God often makes quick work with. Here is, I. The disgrace and loss Israel sustained in an encounter with the Philistines (1Sa 4:1, 1Sa 4:2). II. Their foolish project to fortify themselves by bringing the ark of God into their camp upon the shoulders of Hophni and Phinehas (1Sa 4:3, 1Sa 4:4), which made them secure (1Sa 4:5) and struck a fear into the Philistines, but such a fear as roused them (1Sa 4:6-9). III. The fatal consequences of it: Israel was beaten, and the ark taken prisoner (1Sa 4:10, 1Sa 4:11). IV. The tidings of this brought to Shiloh, and the sad reception of those tidings. 1. The city was put into confusion (1Sa 4:12, 1Sa 4:13). 2. Eli fainted away, fell, and broke his neck (1Sa 4:14-18). 3. Upon hearing what had occurred his daughter-in-law fell in labour, bore a son, but died immediately (1Sa 4:19-22). These were the things which would make the ears of those that heard them to tingle.

Constable: 1 Samuel (Book Introduction)

Introduction

Title

First and Second Samuel were originally one book called the Book of Samuel in the Hebrew Bible. The Greek Septuagint translation of the Old Testament (made ca. 250 B.C.) was the first to divide it into two books. The Septuagint translators titled these books 1 and 2 Kingdoms. That division has persisted ever since and has even been incorporated into subsequent editions of the Hebrew Bible (since A.D. 1517). The title "Samuel" was given by Jerome in his Latin translation, the Vulgate (ca. A.D. 400).

The Jews gave the name "Samuel" to it because Samuel is the first major character in the book. Samuel anointed both Saul and David, so in this respect he was superior to them both.

Date and Writer

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) and some of it even after the division of the kingdom following Solomon's death (e.g., 1 Sam. 27:6). These features have made it difficult to date the book.

"Our guess is that the author was a high state official in frequent attendance at the court, enjoying the full confidence of David and his household, who served David throughout his reign in Jerusalem and also Solomon during the early years of his reign, and whose duties may have been connected with literary work."¹

Most conservative scholars prefer the view that Samuel may have written or been responsible for noting the record of earlier events in the book (chs. 1-24). Then some unidentifiable writer put it in its final form later, perhaps soon after Solomon's death.

Rationalistic critics of the book tend to believe it was the result of much more piecing together, and some of them date its final form as late as 500 B.C.²

Scope

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.³ David reigned for 40 and one-half years (2 Sam. 2:11; 5:5). This means he came to power in 1011 B.C. Saul also reigned for 40 years (Acts 13:21) so he became king in 1051 B.C. We can estimate the date of Samuel's birth fairly certainly on the basis of chronological references in the text to have been about 1121 B.C.⁴ Thus the Book of Samuel covers about 1121-971 B.C., or about 150 years of history.

We should note that the first part of 1 Samuel overlaps historically with the end of the judges period that we find in the Book of Judges. Apparently Samson was born just a few years before Samuel. Samson's 20-year judgeship evidently began shortly before the battle of Aphek (1104 B.C.) at which time Eli died (1 Sam. 4:18). It ended not many years before the battle of Mizpah (1084 B.C.) when the Philistine domination of Israel ceased temporarily (1 Sam. 7:13). Samuel's ministry therefore probably ran concurrent with that of Samson until Samson died. Saul began to reign about 35 years after Samson died (i.e., 1051 B.C.). Samuel evidently lived about 30 years after that.⁵

Old Testament History
Events	Biblical References
Creation to Israel's move to Egypt	Genesis 1-50
The Exodus	Exodus 1-18
Israel at Mt. Sinai	Exodus 19--Numbers 10
The Wilderness Wanderings	Numbers 11-21
Israel on the Plains of Moab	Numbers 22--Joshua 2
The Conquest and Division of Canaan	Joshua 3-24
The Amphictyony	-Judges 1-1 Samuel 7
The Reign of Saul	1 Samuel 8-31; 1 Chronicles 10
The Reign of David	2 Samuel 1-24; 1 Chronicles 11-29
The Reign of Solomon	1 Kings 1-11; 2 Chronicles 1-9
The Divided Monarchy	-1 Kings 12-2 Kings 17; 2 Chronicles 10-31
The Surviving Kingdom of Judah	2 Kings 18-25; 2 Chronicles 32-36
The Return under Zerubbabel	Ezra 1-6
The Return under Ezra	Ezra 7-10
The Return under Nehemiah	Nehemiah 1-13

Message⁶

First and 2 Samuel are really one story. The translators divided them into two books for convenience, not because of subject matter.

First Samuel records Israel's transition from amphictyony to monarchy.

The key passage that explains this transition is 8:4-7. Two statements from this passage are especially significant.

The human desire that produced the transition expressed itself in verse 5: "Now appoint a king for us to judge us like all the nations." God had brought Israel into existence as a nation to be unlike all the nations (Exod. 19:5-6). The essence of its uniqueness was Yahweh's rule over it as King. God wanted Israel to be a demonstration for all the world to see how glorious it can be to live under the authority of God.

The real meaning of the people's request comes out in verse 7: ". . . they have rejected me from being king over them." During the period of the judges, religious apostasy spread and characterized Israel. The people refused to obey their King. It is this attitude that finds expression in verse 5. The people wanted to substitute the false for the true. This is the essence of sin, and it results in idolatry. Every idol is a witness to man's need of God. When people reject the true God they must put something in His place to meet that need. Human beings must have a god.

Israel turned from God as her King in 1 Samuel. She desired a king like the other nations. This book shows the immediate effects of that desire.

One of the great revelations of 1 Samuel is how from the human viewpoint God adapts to continue His reign.

This statement appears to contradict 8:7, but it does not. The people rejected Yahweh, but they did not dethrone Him. The first act is possible, the second is not. This is a major lesson of 1 Samuel. The great revelation of this book is not primarily its three central figures: Samuel, Saul, and David. It is Yahweh reigning by adapting to human situations and moving surely and steadily toward the fulfillment of His purposes. In spite of disobedience or obedience, failure or success, rebellious or loyal people, the reign of God moves on. We see this great lesson in the history of 1 Samuel's three central figures: Samuel, Saul, and David.

The writer introduced Samuel's story with his mother Hannah's experience with God. Hannah was a great woman of faith who lived in the judges period. Her faith became God's foothold for advance. Her song reveals a profound appreciation for Yahweh as the God who reigns over all (2:6-8, 10). The similarities between this prayer and Mary's Magnificat in Luke 1 are interesting and noteworthy.

Samuel was a prophet. In one sense he was the first of the prophets (Acts 3:24). Of course, Moses was a prophet and so was Abraham, but Samuel was the first of the order of prophets who mediated between God and the Israelites during the monarchy. The kings of Israel and Judah were never mediators between God and the people in the sense of speaking for God to the people. When the Israelites rejected Yahweh as their king, He withdrew from close communion and intimate fellowship with them. He never recognized their kings as standing between Himself and them to mediate His Word to the people. He chose their kings for them. He allowed their desire for a human king to work itself out in ultimate disaster through the centuries that followed. Yet He never spoke to the people through the king. He always spoke to them through the prophets. Samuel was the first of these. David, of course, was a king and a prophet. The role of the kings was to govern the people. The role of the prophets was to reveal God's will to them.

With Samuel the office of prophet in Israel emerges as that of Yahweh's authoritative representative to His people. Samuel became the king-maker finding and anointing both Saul and David. >From now on when God had a message for the people it normally did not come directly to the king but to the king and the people through the prophet. The prophet's office was always superior to that of Israel's kings. (You have the privilege of speaking for God to your generation. You have a high calling similar to that of Israel's prophets.) When Israel rejected Yahweh as her king, God chose Samuel, the child of a woman's simple faith, trained him in the tabernacle, and called him when he was only a boy. Then He gave him a message to deliver and sent him to anoint Saul as the king after the people's own heart, and David as the king after God's own heart. The prophets became God's mediators, His messengers, and the interpreters of His law. Thus Yahweh reigned though He adapted His methods of ruling by raising up the prophets. He called Samuel as the first of these mediators. During the monarchy God provided guidance through two offices rather than through one as He had done previously. The kings provided political leadership, and the prophets gave the people spiritual leadership. God had previously provided both types of leadership through single individuals namely Moses, Joshua, and the judges.

Saul's story is one of the most tragic in Scripture. It is unusually fascinating and has tremendous power in its appeal to our lives. When God placed Saul on Israel's throne He answered the prayer of His rebellious people in 8:5. God "gave them their request, but sent a wasting disease among them" (Ps. 106:15; NASB).

Saul was a revelation to the Israelites of what the possession of "a king like the nations" really meant. He had unusual physical strength, but he was fitful and he failed the people. He had mental acumen, but he was moody and eventually turned into a madman. He was sluggish and dull spiritually lacking in spiritual insight and power, and eventually he abandoned Yahweh for a witch.

His reign was also a disaster. At the beginning of his reign, Israel was virtually without a leader. At its end it was under the control of an enemy neighbor. Saul was never able to expand the borders of Israel because he never was strong enough to dominate his enemy neighbors. David on the other hand did both of these things. At the end of Saul's reign, Israel had almost destroyed itself through its wars with the Philistines.

David's story is one of the most glorious in Scripture. After Saul, God gave His people another king, but this time he was a man after God's own heart.

God prepared David for the throne by putting him through training as a shepherd in the fields, a courtier in the palace, and an "outlaw" in exile. (By "outlaw" I do not mean David was lawless but that he lived outside Saul's control.) His shepherd training prepared him to care for and protect the Israelites under his charge. His courtier experience prepared him to deal with high governmental leaders. His "outlaw" years perfected the disciplines that enabled him to become a strong ruler. These disciplines included relying on God in every situation, practicing self-restraint, and leading his people.

In all David's training God was reigning, moving forward to the fulfillment of His plans and purposes. God had previously done this by making the child of faith, Samuel, His prophet. He had also done this by making outwardly promising Saul a revelation to the nation of her sins in turning away from God.

The second great revelation of this book is that people cooperate with God by either being loyal or by being disloyal to Him.

In Samuel's case he had opportunity to glorify God because of his parentage, his call by God, and his appointment as God's prophet. He responded obediently, with loyalty to God. Consequently God's messages got delivered, and God's work moved ahead. Samuel was an instrument of blessing.

In Saul's case he had opportunity to glorify God too. His opportunity came in his call by God, his anointing by Samuel, his friendship with Samuel, his popularity with the people, and his personal abilities. He responded disobediently, with disloyalty to God as seen in his vacillating and self-will. Consequently he failed as a king, and he died under the judgment of God. His life was a failure.

In David's case his opportunities were his call, his anointing, his waiting, and his suffering. He responded obediently, with loyalty to God. Consequently he became God's instrument of progress and blessing. He was a success.

Each man had his opportunity, made his response, and experienced the consequences of his response. Two obeyed, one disobeyed. All cooperated with God in fulfilling His ultimate purposes either to his own blessing or to his own blasting.

As a result of these two major revelations I would summarize the message of 1 Samuel as follows. God will accomplish His purposes regardless of man's personal response to Him. However man's response to God's revealed will determines a person's own success or failure in life.

First Samuel teaches us the methods of the sovereign God. All territory is within God's jurisdiction, every person is under His control, and all events are in His hands. All of God's plans and purposes are moving toward accomplishment. He makes use of all antagonistic facts and forces as well as all positive facts and forces. He also makes use of all the agents He has chosen to use regardless of their responses. Paul's comments in 2 Tim. 2:20-21 are very much to the point here.

First Samuel also teaches us that God's ultimate victory is independent of the attitudes and actions of individuals and groups of people (e.g., Israel) toward Him. Nevertheless the ultimate destiny of individuals and groups of people depends on their attitudes and actions toward Him.

Samuel was obedient, was God's instrument, and experienced deliverance. Saul was disobedient, was God's instrument, and experienced destruction. David was obedient, was God's instrument, and experienced deliverance. My attitudes and actions do not determine God's ultimate victory, but they do determine my ultimate destiny. Everything depends on my choices and me regarding my earthly destiny. Nothing depends on me regarding God's ultimate victory. God uses all people, loyal and rebellious, to produce His ultimate purposes. However we determine the outcome of our lives by our attitudes and responses to Him. We see these principles working themselves out around us all the time. Dr. Walvoord is an example of a Samuel or a David in our day. The DTS graduates in prison are examples of the Sauls of our day.

Constable: 1 Samuel (Outline)

Outline

I. Eli and Samuel chs. 1-3

A. The change from barrenness to fertility 1:1-2:10

1. Hannah's condition 1:1-8

2. Hannah's vow 1:9-18

3. Hannah's obedience 1:19-28

4. Hannah's song 2:1-10

B. The contrast between Samuel and Eli's sons 2:11-36

1. Eli's sons' wickedness 2:11-17

2. Hannah's godly influence on Samuel and its effect 2:18-21

3. Eli's lack of influence on his sons and its effect 2:22-26

4. The oracle against Eli's house 2:27-36

C. God's first revelation to Samuel ch. 3

1. Samuel's call 3:1-18

2. Samuel's ministry 3:19-4:1a

II. The history of the ark of the covenant 4:1b-7:1

A. The capture of the ark 4:1b-22

1. The battle of Aphek 4:1b-11

2. The response of Eli 4:12-18

3. The response of Phinehas' wife 4:19-22

B. Pagan fertility foiled by God ch. 5

C. The ark returned to Israel by God 6:1-7:1

1. The plan to terminate God's judgment 6:1-9

2. The return of the ark to Bethshemesh 6:10-18

3. The removal of the ark to Kiriath-jearim 6:19-7:1

III. Samuel and Saul 7:2-15:35

A. Samuel's ministry as Israel's judge 7:2-17

1. Samuel's spiritual leadership 7:2-4

2. National repentance and deliverance 7:5-14

3. Samuel's regular ministry 7:15-17

B. Kingship given to Saul chs. 8-12

1. The demand for a king ch. 8

2. The anointing of Saul 9:1-10:16

3. The choice of Saul by lot 10:17-27

4. Saul's effective leadership in battle 11:1-11

5. The confirmation of Saul as king 11:12-12:25

C. Kingship removed from Saul chs. 13-15

1. Saul's disobedience at Gilgal 13:1-15

2. Saul's struggle against the Philistines 13:16-14:23

3. Saul's cursing of Jonathan 14:24-46

4. Saul's limited effectiveness in battle 14:47-52

5. Yahweh's final rejection of Saul ch. 15

IV. Saul and David 1 Sam. 16-31

A. David's rise as the new anointed 16:1-18:5

1. God's selection of David for kingship ch. 16

2. The reason for God's selection of David ch. 17

3. The results of God's selection of David ch. 18:1-19:17

B. David driven out by Saul 19:18-20:42

1. God's deliverance in Ramah 19:18-24

2. Jonathan's advocacy for David ch. 20

C. David in exile chs. 21-31

1. David's initial movements chs. 21-22

2. Saul's pursuit of David ch. 23

3. David's goodness to two fools ch. 24-26

4. The end of Saul's reign 27-31

(Continued in notes on 2 Samuel)

Constable: 1 Samuel

1 Samuel

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Copyright 2003 by Thomas L. Constable

Haydock: 1 Samuel (Book Introduction)

THE FIRST BOOK OF SAMUEL;

otherwise called,

THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS.

INTRODUCTION.

This and the following Book are called by the Hebrews, the Books of Samuel, because they contain the history of Samuel, and of the two kings, Saul and David, whom he anointed. They are more commonly named by the Fathers, the First and Second Book of Kings. As to the writer of them, it is the common opinion that Samuel composed the first book, as far as the twenty-fifth chapter; and that the prophets Nathan and Gad finished the first and wrote the second book. See 1 Paralipomenon, alias 1 Chronicles, xxix. 19. (Challoner) --- The authors of the Third and Fourth Books of Kings were also prophets, but we know not exactly their names. These works have nevertheless been always esteemed authentic (Haydock) and canonical. (Worthington) --- Ven. Bede takes occasion to observe, from the Books of Kings (or as the Septuagint read, "of kingdoms;" Haydock) being placed after that of Judges, that the everlasting kingdom of Christ will succeed the general judgment. The translation of the priesthood and of the regal dignity, recorded in these books, denote also that Christ would united both in his own person; as the two wives of Eleana intimated, that both Jews and Gentiles would acknowledge the same Lord. (St. Jerome; St. Augustine; &c.) --- The transactions of Heli, Samuel and Saul, and the persecutions which David sustained from the latter, form the subject of the first book, (Haydock) during the space of 100 years. All the four books carry down the sacred history near 600 years, from the year of the world 2849 till the transmigration of Juda, in the year 3420. (Calmet) (Usher)

Gill: 1 Samuel (Book Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO 1 SAMUEL

This book, in the Hebrew copies, is commonly called Samuel, or the Book of Samuel; in the Syriac version, the Book of Samuel the Prophet; and in the Arabic version, the Book of Samuel the Prophet, which is the First Book of the Kings; and the Septuagint version, the Book of the Kingdom: it has the name of Samuel, because it contains an history of his life and times; and the Jews say ^a it was written by him; and as it may well enough be thought to be, to the end of the twenty fourth chapter; and the rest might be written by Nathan and Gad, as may he gathered from 1Ch 29:29 as also the following book that bears his name; and both may be called the Books of Kings, because they give an account of the rise of the kings in Israel, and of the two first of them; though some think they were written by Jeremiah, as Abarbinel; and others ascribe them to Ezra: however, there is no doubt to be made of it that this book was written by divine inspiration, when we consider the series of its history, its connection and harmony with other parts of Scripture; the several things borrowed from it, or alluded to in the book of Psalms, particularly what is observed in Psa 113:7, seems to be taken out of 1Sa 2:8, and the sanction which the Lord gives to it, by referring to a fact in it, whereby he stopped the mouths of the Scribes and Pharisees cavilling at his disciples, Mat 12:3, compared with 1Sa 21:3, yea, even, as Huetius ^b observes, some Heathen writers have by their testimonies confirmed some passages in these books, which they seem to have been acquainted with, as Nicolaus of Damascus ^c, and Eupolemus ^d; it contains an history of the government of Eli, and of the birth of Samuel, and his education under him; of the succession of Samuel in it, and the resignation of it to Saul, when he was chosen king; of his administration of his office, and of things done in the time of it, both before and after his rejection, and of the persecution of David by Saul, and is concluded with his death.

Gill: 1 Samuel 4 (Chapter Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 4

This chapter is a narrative of a war between Israel and the Philistines, in the time of Samuel, and of the consequences of it. In the first battle, the Philistines had the better of the Israelites, which caused the latter to inquire into the reason of it, and who proposed to fetch the ark of the Lord, and did, to repair their loss, and prepare for a second battle, in which they hoped to succeed, and which struck a panic into their enemies, 1Sa 4:1, who yet encouraged and stirred up one another to behave in a courageous manner, and victory a second time was on their side, a great number of the Israelites were slain, among whom were Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, and the ark of God was taken, 1Sa 4:8, the news of which being brought to Eli, he fell back and died, 1Sa 4:12 and to his daughter-in-law, who upon it fell into labour, and died also, 1Sa 4:19.