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.
