1 Samuel 4

1 Samuel 4:1

E. The Ark of God (Chaps. 47)1. The Ark Captured (Chap. 4)4:1-4 The next three chapters follow the ark of the covenant of the LORD on a journey into and back out of enemy territory. God would defend His honor in the midst of the Philistines (chap. 5), but He would not defend the Israelites when He was in their midst because they had ceased to honor Him. When they went out to battle against the Philistines at Ebenezer, they lost four thousand men. In an effort to turn the tide, the elders had the ark of the covenant brought from Shiloh . . . into the camp. 4:5-11 The Israelites rejoiced greatly when they saw the ark, and the Philistines feared greatly because they knew the reputation of Jehovah. But they encouraged themselves and drew near to the battle once more. To their amazement, Israel . . . fled, thirty thousand foot soldiers were slain, the priests Hophni and Phinehas were killed, and the ark itself was captured! 4:12-22 When a runner went back to Shiloh and informed Eli that the ark had been captured, the old priest fell . . . backward . . . off his magistrate’s seat, broke his neck, and died. The bad news caused Phinehas’ wife to go into labor, and she died in childbirth. Hearing of the death of her father-in-law and her husband did not seem to affect her as much as the news that the ark had fallen into the hands of the Philistines. As she died, she named her son Ichabod, (inglorious), saying, “The glory has departed.”