1 Samuel 4:4-14

4 So the people sent [men] to Shiloh to bring back the ark of the covenant of the Lord of Hosts, who dwells [between] the cherubim.^[a] Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.

5 When the ark of the covenant of the Lord entered the camp, all the Israelites raised such a loud shout that the ground shook.

6 The Philistines heard the sound of the war cry and asked, "What's this loud shout in the Hebrews' camp?" When the Philistines discovered that the ark of the Lord had entered the camp,

7 they panicked. "The gods have entered their camp!" they said. "Woe to us, nothing like this has happened before.^[b]

8 Woe to us, who will rescue us from the hand of these magnificent gods? These are the gods that slaughtered the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness.

9 Show some courage and be men, Philistines! Otherwise, you'll serve the Hebrews just like they served you. Now be men and fight!"

10 So the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and each man fled to his tent. The slaughter was severe-30,000 of the Israelite foot soldiers fell.

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

Eli's Death and Ichabod's Birth

12 That same day, a Benjaminite man ran^[c] from the battle and came to Shiloh. His clothes were torn, and there was dirt on his head.

13 When he arrived, there was Eli sitting on his chair beside the road watching, because he was anxious about the ark of God. When the man entered the city to give a report, the entire city cried out.

14 Eli heard the outcry and asked, "Why this commotion?" The man quickly came and reported to Eli.

1 Samuel 4:4-14 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 4

This chapter is a narrative of a war between Israel and the Philistines, in the time of Samuel, and of the consequences of it. In the first battle, the Philistines had the better of the Israelites, which caused the latter to inquire into the reason of it, and who proposed to fetch the ark of the Lord, and did, to repair their loss, and prepare for a second battle, in which they hoped to succeed, and which struck a panic into their enemies, 1Sa 4:1-7, who yet encouraged and stirred up one another to behave in a courageous manner, and victory a second time was on their side, a great number of the Israelites were slain, among whom were Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, and the ark of God was taken, 1Sa 4:8-11, the news of which being brought to Eli, he fell back and died, 1Sa 4:12-18 and to his daughter-in-law, who upon it fell into labour, and died also, 1Sa 4:19-22.

Footnotes

• [a] Ex 25:22; Nm 7:89
• [b] Lit yesterday or the day before
• [c] 1 Sm 8:11; Jos 7:22