1 Samuel 4:10

10 pugnaverunt ergo Philisthim et caesus est Israhel et fugit unusquisque in tabernaculum suum et facta est plaga magna nimis et ceciderunt de Israhel triginta milia peditum

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 vae nobis non enim fuit tanta exultatio heri et nudius tertius vae nobis quis nos servabit de manu deorum sublimium istorum hii sunt dii qui percusserunt Aegyptum omni plaga in deserto

9 confortamini et estote viri Philisthim ne serviatis Hebraeis sicut illi servierunt vobis confortamini et bellate

10 pugnaverunt ergo Philisthim et caesus est Israhel et fugit unusquisque in tabernaculum suum et facta est plaga magna nimis et ceciderunt de Israhel triginta milia peditum

11 et arca Dei capta est duoque filii Heli mortui sunt Ofni et Finees

12 currens autem vir de Beniamin ex acie venit in Silo in die illo scissa veste et conspersus pulvere caput