1 Samuel 4:1-11

Philistines Take the Ark in Victory

1 Thus the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out to meet the Philistines in battle and camped beside ¹Ebenezer while the Philistines camped in ²Aphek.

2 The Philistines drew up in battle array to meet Israel. When the battle spread, Israel was defeated before the Philistines who killed about four thousand men on the battlefield *.

3 When the people came into the camp, the elders of Israel said, "³Why has the LORD defeated us today before the Philistines? ⁴Let us take to ourselves from Shiloh the ark of the covenant of the LORD, that it may come among us and deliver us from the power of our enemies."

4 So the people sent to Shiloh, and from there they carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts ⁵who sits above the cherubim; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.

5 As the ark of the covenant of the LORD came into the camp, ⁶all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth resounded.

6 When the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, "What does the noise 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.

7 The Philistines were afraid, for they said, "God has come into the camp." And they said, "⁷Woe to us! For nothing like this has happened before.

8 "Woe to us! Who shall deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who smote the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness.

9 "⁸Take courage and be men, O Philistines, or you will become slaves to the Hebrews, ⁹as they have been slaves to you; therefore, be men and fight."

10 So the Philistines fought and ¹⁰Israel was defeated, and ¹¹every man fled to his tent; and the slaughter was very great, for there fell of Israel thirty thousand foot soldiers.

11 And the ark of God was taken; and ¹²the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.

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1 Samuel 4:1-11 Meaning and Commentary

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 4:1-7, 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 4:8-11, the news of which being brought to Eli, he fell back and died, 1Sa 4:12-18 and to his daughter-in-law, who upon it fell into labour, and died also, 1Sa 4:19-22.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 12

1. 1 Samuel 7:12
2. Joshua 12:18; 1 Samuel 29:1
3. Joshua 7:7, 8
4. Numbers 10:35; Joshua 6:6
5. Exodus 25:22; 2 Samuel 6:2; Psalms 80:1
6. Joshua 6:5, 20
7. Exodus 15:14
8. 1 Corinthians 16:13
9. Judges 13:1; 1 Samuel 14:21
10. Deuteronomy 28:15, 25; 1 Samuel 4:2
11. 2 Samuel 18:17; 2 Samuel 19:8; 2 Kings 14:12; 2 Chronicles 25:22
12. 1 Samuel 2:34; Psalms 78:56-64

Footnotes 3

[a]. Lit "smitten"
[b]. Or "he"
[c]. Lit "smitten"