1 Samuel 4:3

_AND WHEN THE PEOPLE WERE COME INTO THE CAMP, THE ELDERS OF ISRAEL SAID, WHEREFORE HATH THE LORD SMITTEN US TO DAY BEFORE THE PHILISTINES? LET US FETCH THE ARK OF THE COVENANT OF THE LORD OUT OF SHILOH UNTO US, THAT, WHEN IT COMETH AMONG US, IT MAY SAVE US OUT OF THE HAND OF OUR ENEMIES._ Let us fetch the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of Shiloh unto us. Strange that they were so blind to the real cause of the disaster, and that they did not discern, in the great and general corruption of religion and morals (1 Samuel 2:1; 1 Samuel 7:3; Psalms 78:58), the reason why the presence and aid of God were not extended to them. Their first measure for restoring the national spirit and energy ought to have been a

1-9 Israel is smitten before the Philistines. Sin, the accursed thing, was in the camp, and gave their enemies all the advantage they could wish for. They own the hand of God in their trouble; but, instead of submitting, they speak angrily, as not aware of any just provocation they had given him. The foolishness of man perverts his way, and then his heart frets against the Lord, Proverbs 19:3, and finds fault with him. They supposed that they could oblige God to appear for them, by bringing the ark into their camp. Those who have gone back in the life of religion, sometimes discover great fondness for the outward observances of it, as if those would save them; and as if the ark, God's throne, in the camp, would bring them to heaven, though the world and the flesh are on the throne in the heart....

Verse 1 Samuel 4:3. _LET US FETCH THE ARK_] They vainly supposed that the ark could save them, when the God of it had departed from them because of their wickedness. They knew that in former times their fathers had been _beaten_ by their enemies, when they took not the ark with them to battle; as in the case of their wars with the Canaanites, Numbers 14:44-4; and that they had _conquered_ when they took this with them, as in the case of the destruction of Jericho, Joshua 6:4. From the latter clause they took confidence; but the _cause_ of their miscarriage in the former they laid not to heart. It was customary with all the nations of the earth to take their _gods_ and _sacred ensigns_ with them to...

In the evening of the defeat of the Israelites the elders held a council, and resolved to send for the ark, which is described in full, as implying that in virtue of the covenant God could not but give them the victory (compare Numbers 10:35; Joshua 3:10)....

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 WHEN THE PEOPLE CAME INTO THE CAMP,.... At Ebenezer, where they pitched their tents, and from whence they went out to battle, and whither they returned after their defeat: THE ELDERS OF ISRAEL SAID, WHEREFORE HATH THE LORD SMITTEN US TODAY BEFORE THE PHILISTINES? they were right in ascribing it to the Lord, who had suffered them to be defeated by their enemies, but it is strange they should be so insensible of the cause of it; there was a reason ready at hand, their sins and iniquities were the cause of it, the corruption of manners among them, their neglect of bringing their offerings to the Lord, and the idolatry that many of them were guilty of, at least secretly, 1 Samuel 2:24 to punish them for which, they were brought into this war, and smitten in it; and yet they wonder at it, that so it should be, that they the people of God should be smitten before Heathens a

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

1 SAMUEL 4:1 B. NOW ISRAEL. 1 SAMUEL 4:1 (E). From ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE ARK (_cf._ above, p. 273). 1 Samuel 4:1 b - 1 Samuel 4:11. The Israelites, Defeated by the Philistines, Fetch the Ark. They are again Defeated. 1 Samuel 4:1. Philistines: pp. 56f., 66f. EBEN-EZER: Stone of Help (_cf._ 1 Samuel 7:12). Sites of Eben-ezer and Aphek (1 Kings 20:26 *)

WHEREFORE... ? Figure of speech _Erotesis.App-6._ THE LORD. Hebrew. _Jehovah._ App-4. ENEMIES. Some codices, with four early printed editions, read "enemy"....

_And when_, &c. Connect closely with 1 Samuel 4:2 by rendering, AND THE PEOPLE CAME TO THE CAMP, AND THE ELDERS, &c. The use of the term _people_for _army_is characteristic of the time when there was no standing army, but a levy of all the men capable of bearing arms in time of war. _the elders of Israel said_ The officers of the army held a council of war, and resolved to fetch the Ark. On the _Elders_see note on 1 Samuel 8:4. _Wherefore hath the Lord smitten us_ The Israelites assume that their defeat came from Jehovah. Cp. Joshua 7:7-8. But instead of enquiring the cause of His displeasure, they fancy that His aid can be secured by the presence of the Ark. They may have recolle