1 Samuel 4:10

10 So the Philistines fought desperately, and Israel was defeated again. The slaughter was great; 30,000 Israelite soldiers died that day. The survivors turned and fled to their tents.

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 Help! Who can save us from these mighty gods of Israel? They are the same gods who destroyed the Egyptians with plagues when Israel was in the wilderness.

9 Fight as never before, Philistines! If you don’t, we will become the Hebrews’ slaves just as they have been ours! Stand up like men and fight!”

10 So the Philistines fought desperately, and Israel was defeated again. The slaughter was great; 30,000 Israelite soldiers died that day. The survivors turned and fled to their tents.

11 The Ark of God was captured, and Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were killed.

12 A man from the tribe of Benjamin ran from the battlefield and arrived at Shiloh later that same day. He had torn his clothes and put dust on his head to show his grief.