1 Samuel 4:17

17 And he that told answered, and said, Israel hath fled before the Philistines, and a great falling is made in the people of Israel; furthermore and thy two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, be dead, and the ark of God is taken. (And he who had given the report answered him, and said, Israel hath fled before the Philistines, and a great number of the people of Israel have fallen; and furthermore thy two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were killed, and the Ark of God was taken.)

1 Samuel 4:17 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 4:17

And the messenger answered and said
He delivered his account gradually, beginning with generals, and then proceeding to particulars, and with what he thought Eli could better bear the news of, and so prepared him for the worst; in which he acted a wise part:

Israel is fled before the Philistines;
they have given way and retreated, and which might possibly be done without great loss, and which, though it was bad news, might not be so very bad:

and there hath also been a great slaughter among the people;
this is worse news still; however, the number of the slain is not given, nor any mention of particular persons that were killed: so that, for any thing yet said, his own sons might be safe: but then it follows,

and thy two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead;
the news of which must be very affecting to him, and strike him closely; though he might expect and be prepared for it by what both the man of God and Samuel from the Lord had related to him:

and the ark of God is taken;
the thing he feared, and his heart trembled before for it; this was the closing and cutting part of the account; the messenger foresaw that this would the most affect him, and therefore referred it to the last.

1 Samuel 4:17 In-Context

15 And Eli was of fourscore years and eighteen, and his eyes (had) dimmed/his eyes (had) darkened, and he might not see.

16 And the man said to Eli, I am he that came from the battle, and I am he that fled today from the battle array. To whom Eli said, My son, what is there done? (My son, what is done there?)

17 And he that told answered, and said, Israel hath fled before the Philistines, and a great falling is made in the people of Israel; furthermore and thy two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, be dead, and the ark of God is taken. (And he who had given the report answered him, and said, Israel hath fled before the Philistines, and a great number of the people of Israel have fallen; and furthermore thy two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were killed, and the Ark of God was taken.)

18 And when he named the ark of God, Eli felled (off) from the seat backward beside the door, and was dead (and he died); for his neck was broken. For he was an eld man, and of great age; and he deemed Israel forty years.

19 And his daughter-in-law, Phinehas? wife, was with child, and nigh the child bearing; and when the message was heard/and when she (had) heard by the messenger, that the ark of God was taken, and that her father-in-law was dead, and (also) her husband, she bowed herself down, and childed; for sudden sorrows felled into her (for suddenly her pains came upon her).