1 Samuel 4:17

_AND WHEN ELI HEARD THE NOISE OF THE CRYING, HE SAID, WHAT MEANETH THE NOISE OF THIS TUMULT? AND THE MAN CAME IN HASTILY, AND TOLD ELI._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

12-18 The defeat of the army was very grievous to Eli as a judge; the tidings of the death of his two sons, to whom he had been so indulgent, and who, as he had reason to fear, died impenitent, touched him as a father; yet there was a greater concern on his spirit. And when the messenger concluded his story with, "The ark of God is taken," he is struck to the heart, and died immediately. A man may die miserably, yet not die eternally; may come to an untimely end, yet the end be peace....

Verse 1 Samuel 4:17. _AND THE MESSENGER ANSWERED_] Never was a more afflictive message, containing such a variety of woes, each rising above the preceding, delivered in so few words. 1. _Israel is fled before the Philistines_. This was a sore evil: that _Israel_ should _turn their backs upon_ _their enemies_, was _bad_; and that they should turn their backs on such enemies as the _Philistines_, was yet worse; for now they might expect the chains of their slavery to be strengthened and riveted more closely. 2. _There hath also been a great slaughter among the people_. A _rout_ might have taken place without any _great previous_ _slaughter_; but in this case the field was warmly contested, _thirty_ _thousand_ were laid dead on the spot. This was a deeper cause o

EXPOSITION 1 SAMUEL 4:1 AND THE WORD OF SAMUEL... ALL ISRAEL. This clause is rightly connected with the foregoing verse of the previous chapter in the Syriac and Vulgate. Attached to the fourth chapter, it gives a wrong sense, namely, that Samuel gave the command for the assembling of all Israel for battle with the Philistines. This is so plainly erroneous that the A.V. dissents from it by translating the _and _in the next clause by _now. _Joined to the previous chapter, it gives the true meaning. Because Samuel spake _by the word of Jehovah, _therefore _his word came to all Israel, _that is, it was a binding and authoritative command throughout the whole land; or, in other words, when Samuel was acknowledged to be Jehovah's prophet he also became the virtual judge of Israel, though probably he did not act with

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...

5. THE JUDGMENT OF ELI AND HIS SONS--ICHABOD CHAPTER 4 _ 1. The fulfilled prediction: The death of Eli's sons (1 Samuel 4:1)_ 2. The death of Eli (1 Samuel 4:12) 3. Ichabod (1 Samuel 4:19) Israel then renewed the conflict with the Philistines and suffered defeat. It seems that they acted in self-confidence, and when the battle was lost they readily acknowledged the hand of the Lord in the disaster: “Wherefore has the LORD smitten us today before the Philistines?” But there was no self-judgment, no repentance, no crying unto the Lord. The ark of the covenant of the LORD is brought out of Shiloh. They trust in the ark instead of Jehovah; they expect salvation from the ark of gold an

DEATH OF ELI, BIRTH OF ICHABOD. 1 Samuel 4:12. clothes rent, etc.: signs of mourning. 1 Samuel 4:18. forty; LXX twenty. AND HE... YEARS: formula used by Deuteronomic editor of Jg. (Judges 10:2 f; Judges 12:7; Judges 12:9; Judges 12:11; Judges 12:14; Judges 15:20) to conclude account

AND. Note the Figure of speech _Polysyndeton_ in 1 Samuel 4:17....

The Death of Eli...

_Death of Eli._ 1 Samuel 4:12-18 12 And there ran a man of Benjamin out of the army, and came to Shiloh the same day with his clothes rent, and with earth upon his head. 13 And when he came, lo, Eli sat upon a seat by the wayside watching: for his heart trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came into the city, and told _it,_ all the city cried out. 14 And when Eli heard the noise of the crying, he said, What _meaneth_ the noise of this tumult? And the man came in hastily, and told Eli. 15 Now Eli was ninety and eight years old; and his eyes were dim, that he could not see. 16 And the man said unto Eli, I _am_ he that came out of the army, and I fled today out of the army. And he said, What is there done, my son? 17 And the messenger answered and said, Israel is fled before the Philistines, and there hath been also a great slaughter