1 Samuel 4:11

11 and the ark of God hath been taken, and the two sons of Eli have died, Hophni and Phinehas.

1 Samuel 4:11 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 4:11

And the ark of God was taken
By the Philistines; which was suffered partly as a punishment to the Israelites, for fetching it from the tabernacle without the will of God, and for their vain confidence in it; and partly that the Philistines might have an experiment of the power and might of God, as Procopius Gazaeus observes, by what they would suffer through having it among them; some have thought that this was an emblem of Christ being delivered into the hands of the Gentiles, and of the Gospel being translated from the Jews to them: and the two sons of Eli,

Hophni and Phinehas,
were slain; which fulfilled the prophecy of the man of God, that they should both die in one day, ( 1 Samuel 2:34 ) . It is very probable they stood fast by the ark, and chose rather to die than to give it up freely; having received a charge from their father, that if the ark was taken, not to desire life, nor ever dare to come into his presence more, as Josephus ^F1 relates.

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FOOTNOTES:

F1 Antiqu. l. 5. c. 11. sect. 2.

1 Samuel 4:11 In-Context

9 Strengthen yourselves, and become men, O Philistines, lest ye do service to Hebrews, as they have done to you -- then ye have become men, and have fought.'

10 And the Philistines fight, and Israel is smitten, and they flee each to his tents, and the blow is very great, and there fall of Israel thirty thousand footmen;

11 and the ark of God hath been taken, and the two sons of Eli have died, Hophni and Phinehas.

12 And a man of Benjamin runneth out of the ranks, and cometh into Shiloh, on that day, and his long robes [are] rent, and earth on his head;

13 and he cometh in, and lo, Eli is sitting on the throne by the side of the way, watching, for his heart hath been trembling for the ark of God, and the man hath come in to declare [it] in the city, and all the city crieth out.