Text -- 1 Samuel 4:7-22 (NET)

4:7 The Philistines were scared because they thought that gods had come to the camp. They said, “Too bad for us! We’ve never seen anything like this! 4:8 Too bad for us! Who can deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all sorts of plagues in the desert! 4:9 Be strong and act like men, you Philistines, or else you will wind up serving the Hebrews the way they have served you! Act like men and fight!” 4:10 So the Philistines fought. Israel was defeated; they all ran home. The slaughter was very great; thirty thousand foot soldiers fell in battle. 4:11 The ark of God was taken, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phineas, were killed.

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 -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: 1Sa 4:7

¹ tn The Hebrew text has a direct quote, “because they said, ‘Gods have come to the camp.’” Even though the verb translated “have come” is singular, the following subject should be taken as plural (“gods”), as v. 8 indicates. Some emend the verb to a plural form.

² tn Traditionally “woe to.” They thought disaster was imminent.

NET Notes: 1Sa 4:10

¹ tn Heb “and they fled, each to his tents.”

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?”