CONTEXT
Part
2: Ch.4-7: The Ark taken and returned & Israel Restored
Ch.4:
The Philistines Capture the Ark & Eli Dies
Ch.5:
Fun & Games with the Philistines
Ch.6:
The Ark Returned to Israel
Ch.7:
Restoration of Israel & Removal of Philistines
FRAMEWORKS:
1 Samuel 4 :
The Philistines Capture the Ark & Eli Dies
v.1,2
Israel seek to oust the Philistines from their land and are
defeated
v.3,4
Israel take the Ark to battle as a good-luck charm
v.5-11
Israel are defeated and the Ark taken & Eli's sons killed
v.12-18
Eli dies when he hears the news
v.19-22
Ichabod born & named in recognition of Israel's fall
v.1,2
Israel seek to oust the Philistines from their land and are defeated
v.1
And
Samuel's word came to all Israel.
Now
the Israelites went out to fight against the Philistines. The
Israelites camped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines at Aphek.
v.2
The
Philistines deployed their forces to meet Israel, and as the battle
spread, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about
four thousand of them on the battlefield.
[Notes:
Samuel
is recognised across the whole of Israel. Meanwhile the Philistines
are still oppressing the nation so eventually Israel decide to
fight them off – but are defeated!]
v.3,4
Israel take the Ark to battle as a good-luck charm
v.3
When
the soldiers returned to camp, the elders of Israel asked, “Why
did the Lord
bring defeat
on us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the
Lord 's
covenant from Shiloh, so that he may go with us and save us from
the hand of our enemies.”
v.4
So
the people sent men to Shiloh, and they brought back the ark of
the covenant of the Lord
Almighty,
who is enthroned between the cherubim. And Eli's two sons, Hophni
and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.
[Notes:
The
returning army are challenged by the elders over their defeat
and suggest that the Ark be taken with the army to encourage them.
There may also be an element of ‘using' the Lord to get Him to
act on their behalf perhaps. What they fail to realise is the
serious nature of what they are suggesting because Moses had given
such severe instructions to Israel about the Ark that it should
never be seen by anyone [see Num 4] other than the chief priest
once a year. They are now treating it as a good-luck charm. What
is surprising is that the Lord doesn't strike them down at Shiloh
but He appears to allow it to go because the two ungodly sons
of Eli will have to accompany it [Eli is now too old and infirm
to go] and Israel are going to be dealt a severe lesson in what
follows.]
v.5-11
Israel are defeated and the Ark taken & Eli's sons killed
v.5
When
the ark of the Lord's
covenant came into the camp, all Israel raised such a great shout
that the ground shook.
v.6
Hearing
the uproar, the Philistines asked, “What's all this shouting in
the Hebrew camp?”
When
they learned that the ark of the Lord
had come into
the camp,
v.7
the
Philistines were afraid. “A god has come into the camp,” they
said. “Oh no! Nothing like this has happened before.
v.8
We're
doomed! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods?
They are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues
in the wilderness.
v.9
Be
strong, Philistines! Be men, or you will be subject to the Hebrews,
as they have been to you. Be men, and fight!”
v.10
So
the Philistines fought, and the Israelites were defeated and every
man fled to his tent. The slaughter was very great; Israel lost
thirty thousand foot soldiers.
v.11 The
ark of God was captured, and Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phinehas,
died.
[Notes:
The
Lord will not be manipulated and so does not stand up for Israel
who are now severely beaten by the Philistines, the ark taken,
and Eli's two sons killed.]
v.12-18
Eli dies when he hears the news
v.12
That
same day a Benjamite ran from the battle line and went to Shiloh
with his clothes torn and dust on his head.
v.13
When
he arrived, there was Eli sitting on his chair by the side of
the road, watching, because his heart feared for the ark of God.
When the man entered the town and told what had happened, the
whole town sent up a cry.
v.14
Eli
heard the outcry and asked, “What is the meaning of this uproar?”
The
man hurried over to Eli,
v.15
who
was ninety-eight years old and whose eyes had failed so that he
could not see.
v.16
He
told Eli, “I have just come from the battle line; I fled from
it this very day.”
Eli
asked, “What happened, my son?”
v.17
The
man who brought the news replied, “Israel fled before the Philistines,
and the army has suffered heavy losses. Also your two sons, Hophni
and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been captured.”
v.18
When
he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell backward off his chair by
the side of the gate. His neck was broken and he died, for he
was an old man, and he was heavy. He had led Israel forty years.
[Notes:
When
the news of the defeat is taken to Eli, together with the news
of the death of his two sons, he seems to cope with it, but at
the news of the Ark being taken,, whether by a heart attack or
simply by shock, he falls off his seat and breaks his neck and
dies.]
v.19-22
Ichabod born & named in recognition of Israel's fall
v.19
His
daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant and near the
time of delivery. When she heard the news that the ark of God
had been captured and that her father-in-law and her husband were
dead, she went into labor and gave birth, but was overcome by
her labor pains.
v.20
As
she was dying, the women attending her said, “Don't despair; you
have given birth to a son.” But she did not respond or pay any
attention.
v.21
She
named the boy Ichabod, [means
no glory or the glory has departed] saying,
“The Glory has departed from Israel”—because of the capture of
the ark of God and the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband.
v.22
She
said, “The Glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God
has been captured.”
[Notes:
The
recognition of the awfulness of what has just happened is marked
in a strange way. One of Eli's daughters-in-law is expecting a
baby and when she hears all the news it is such a shock to her
that she goes into labour. It is clearly such a difficult labour
that she is dying but with her dying breath she names her son
‘Ichabod' meaning ‘the glory has departed'. She clearly sees the
reality and the awfulness of what has happened, clearly the judgment
of God who appears to have departed from the nation with the death
of the priests and the taking of the Ark which had always been
seen as the dwelling place of God in the Tabernacle. Although
the glory has gone, His presence is still there in the form of
His prophet, Samuel, who has not been involved in any of what
has gone one. Possibly he was elsewhere in the Land when the elders
sent the Ark off with the army.]
CONTINUE
TO CHAPTER 5