1 Samuel 4:12

12 Então um homem de Benjamim, correndo do campo de batalha chegou no mesmo dia a Siló, com as vestes rasgadas e terra sobre a cabeça.

1 Samuel 4:12 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 4:12

And there ran a man of Benjamin out of the army
Out of the rank in which he was, before the whole army was quite broken up. This was a young man as Josephus ^F2 says, which is highly probable; though not at all to be depended on is what the Jews ^F3 say, that this was Saul, later king of Israel:

and came to Shiloh the same day;
which, according to Bunting ^F4, was forty two miles from Ebenezer, near to which the battle was fought; and that it was a long way is pretty plain by the remark made, that this messenger came the same day the battle was fought; though not at such a distance as some Jewish writers say, some sixty, some one hundred and twenty miles ^F5; which is not at all probable:

with his clothes rent, and earth upon his head;
which were both tokens of distress and mourning, and showed that he was a messenger of bad tidings from the army; (See Gill on Joshua 7:6).

---

FOOTNOTES:

F2 Antiqu. l. 5. c. 11. sect. 3.
F3 Shalshalet Hakabala. fol. 8. 1. Jarchi in loc.
F4 Travels of the Patriarchs p. 123.
F5 Midrash Schemuel apud Abarbinel in loc.

1 Samuel 4:12 In-Context

10 Então pelejaram os filisteus, e Israel foi derrotado, fugindo cada um para a sua tenda; e houve mui grande matança, pois caíram de Israel trinta mil homens de infantaria.

11 Também foi tomada a arca de Deus, e os dois filhos de Eli, Hofni e Finéias, foram mortos.

12 Então um homem de Benjamim, correndo do campo de batalha chegou no mesmo dia a Siló, com as vestes rasgadas e terra sobre a cabeça.

13 Ao chegar ele, estava Eli sentado numa cadeira ao pé do caminho vigiando, porquanto o seu coração estava tremendo pela arca de Deus. E quando aquele homem chegou e anunciou isto na cidade, a cidade toda prorrompeu em lamentações.

14 E Eli, ouvindo a voz do lamento, perguntou: Que quer dizer este alvoroço? Então o homem, apressando-se, chegou e o anunciou a Eli.