1 Samuel 4:10

10 So the Philistines fought. The people of Israel lost the battle. Every man ran back to his tent. A large number of them were killed. Israel lost 30,000 soldiers who were on foot.

1 Samuel 4:10 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 4:10

And the Philistines fought
With great ardour and spirit, quitted themselves like men of valour and courage, their case being desperate as they imagined, since God was in the camp of Israel:

and Israel was smitten:
were routed and beaten:

and they fled every man into his tent;
such of them as escaped the sword of the Philistines fled to their own houses in the several cities from whence they came; so the Targum,

``every man to his city''

so that their army was quite broken up:

and there was a very great slaughter
far greater than in the first battle:

For there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen;
their army chiefly, if not altogether, consisting of footmen, there being few horses in Israel; and if any cavalry now, these may be supposed to flee; before they lost only 4000, now 30,000; so that the ark was no security to them, which was suffered, to show their vain trust and confidence in it.

1 Samuel 4:10 In-Context

8 How terrible it will be for us! Who will save us from the power of those mighty gods? They struck down the people of Egypt in the desert. They sent all kinds of plagues on them.

9 "Philistines, be strong! Fight like men! If you don't, you will come under the control of the Hebrews. You will become their slaves, just as they have been your slaves. Fight like men!"

10 So the Philistines fought. The people of Israel lost the battle. Every man ran back to his tent. A large number of them were killed. Israel lost 30,000 soldiers who were on foot.

11 The ark of God was captured. And Eli's two sons Hophni and Phinehas died.

12 That same day a man from the tribe of Benjamin ran from the front lines of the battle. He went to Shiloh. His clothes were torn. He had dust on his head.