1 Samuel 4:6

_SO THE PEOPLE SENT TO SHILOH, THAT THEY MIGHT BRING FROM THENCE THE ARK OF THE COVENANT OF THE LORD OF HOSTS, WHICH DWELLETH BETWEEN THE CHERUBIMS: AND THE TWO SONS OF ELI, HOPHNI AND PHINEHAS, WERE THERE WITH THE ARK OF THE COVENANT OF GOD._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

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....

OF THE HEBREWS - This was the name by which the Israelites were known to foreign nations (compare Exodus 1:15; Exodus 2:6)....

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 PHILISTINES HEARD THE NOISE OF THE SHOUT,.... For it being so loud as to make the earth ring, it was heard in the camp of the Philistines, which might not be at any great distance from the camp of Israel; how far from each other were Aphek and Ebenezer is not certain; THEY SAID, WHAT MEANETH THE NOISE OF THIS GREAT SHOUT IN THE CAMP OF THE HEBREWS? they could not conceive what should be the reason of it, seeing they had no occasion to shout for joy, having been lately defeated; and a shout is made generally just before a battle is begun, and the onset made, or when victory is obtained; neither of which was the case now: AND THEY UNDERSTOOD THAT THE ARK OF THE LORD WAS COME INTO THE CAMP: this they understood by spies, which they sent to find out the meaning of the shout; which is more probable than that they came to the knowledge of it by deserters; seeing it is not very l...

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 *)

NOISE OF THE SHOUT. Figure of speech _Pleonasm._ App-6. Compare 1 Samuel 4:14. MEANETH. is. Compare Matthew 9:13; Matthew 26:26; Matthew 26:28....

_the Hebrews_ This name is used (_a_) by foreigners, as here (cp. ch. 1 Samuel 29:3): (_b_) by the Israelites in speaking of themselves to foreigners (Exodus 2:7): (_c_) when the Israelites are contrasted with foreigners (1 Samuel 13:3, _note_, 7). It is either (1) a derivative from _eber_, a word meaning _beyond_, and was originally applied to Abraham as coming _from beyond_the Euphrates: or (2) a patronymic from Eber (Genesis 10:21; Genesis 10:24), signifying _the descendants of Eber_....

The Loss of the Ark and End of Eli's House, 1 Samuel 4:1-22. _The Loss of the Ark._ 1 Samuel 4:1-11 And the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went out against the Philistines to battle, and pitched beside Ezenezer: and the Philistines pitched in Aphek. 2 And the Philistines put themselves in array against Israel: and when they joined battle, Israel was smitten before the Philistines: and they slew of the army in the field about four thousand men. 3 And when the people were come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, Wherefore hath the Lord smitten us today 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. 4 So the people sent to Shiloh, tha