1 Samuel 4:1-11. Defeat of Israel by the Philistines and Loss of the Ark 1. _Now Israel went out_ The Sept. and Vulgate contain an additional clause, which softens the abruptness of the transition: "And it came to pass in those days, that the Philistines gathered together to fight against Israel.... [ Continue Reading ]
_of the army_ Rather, IN THE BATTLE ARRAY, (Lat. _in acie_). In the first encounter the Israelites, though defeated with severe loss, were not put to flight, but retired to the camp (1 Samuel 4:3).... [ Continue Reading ]
_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... [ Continue Reading ]
_that they might bring_ Rather, AND BROUGHT. _the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts, which dwelleth between the cherubims_ Or, WHO SITTETH ENTHRONED UPON THE CHERUBIM. The full title is chosen to describe the Ark (_a_) as the symbol of the covenant between Jehovah and Israel, in virtue of wh... [ Continue Reading ]
_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 m... [ Continue Reading ]
Observe how vividly the successive emotions of the Philistines are painted: _astonishment_, when they heard the triumphant shout of the vanquished army: _dismay_, when they learnt its cause: manly _resolution_, when they had recovered from the first panic.... [ Continue Reading ]
_these mighty Gods_ The heathen polytheists naturally suppose that Israel like themselves had -gods many." _with all the plagues_ Better, WITH AN UTTER OVERTHROW, lit. -with every kind of smiting." The word used is the same as that rendered _slaughter_in 1 Samuel 4:10, and the allusion is to the ove... [ Continue Reading ]
_quit yourselves_ i.e. behave. Cp. 1 Corinthians 16:13. "To quit oneself" = "to acquit oneself," to release oneself from obligation by meeting the claims upon or expectations entertained of oneself. It is derived from Lat. _quietare_, through Fr. _quitter_. Cp. Milton, _Samson Agonistes_, 1709, "Sa... [ Continue Reading ]
_they fled every man into his tent_ The battle ended in a _sauve qui peut_, every man who could escaping to his own home. The use of the word _tent_is a relic of the nomad life in the wilderness. Cp. 2 Samuel 20:1.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Hophni and Phinehas were slain_ The "sign" given by the man of God that the whole doom pronounced against Eli's house would be executed (ch. 1 Samuel 2:34). The Psalmist's account of the catastrophe should be compared, Psalms 78:56-64.... [ Continue Reading ]
The Death of Eli... [ Continue Reading ]
_there ran a man of Benjamin_ Cp. 2 Samuel 18:19. The distance from Ebenezer to Shiloh was probably not more than twenty miles, so that a swift runner could easily arrive the same evening. Cp. _to-day_in 1 Samuel 4:16. There is a strange Jewish tradition that the man was Saul, who seized the tables... [ Continue Reading ]
_Eli sat upon a seat_ WAS SITTING UPON THE SEAT, (or, HIS SEAT). We must imagine him sitting upon his official seat by the outer gate of the tabernacle enclosure (1 Samuel 4:18, cp. 1 Samuel 1:9, note), not by the town gate on the road by which the messenger entered, for the news does not reach Eli... [ Continue Reading ]
_he said_ The Sept. adds - _to the men that stood by him_." _came in hastily_ MADE HASTE AND CAME through the town to the tabernacle enclosure which stood on a slight eminence.... [ Continue Reading ]
_his eyes were dim_ WERE SET, a different word from that of ch. 1 Samuel 3:2, found again in this sense only in 1 Kings 14:4. Eli was now totally blind.... [ Continue Reading ]
_I am he_ He has to announce himself to the blind old man who cannot see the tale of disaster which his dust-soiled, blood-stained garments tell all too plainly to the people. _the army_ Better, as in 1 Samuel 4:12, THE BATTLE-ARRAY. _What is there done_ Lit., _What was the affair?_Vulg. quid actu... [ Continue Reading ]
Observe the climax. Each blow is heavier than the preceding one. The rout of the army, the slaughter of the people, Eli's personal bereavement, the loss of the most precious treasure of Israel. The last blow is more than the aged High-priest can bear.... [ Continue Reading ]
_the ark of God_ National defeat and disgrace, family bereavement, were but trifles compared to the loss of the Ark, which seemed to prove that Jehovah had forsaken the people of his choice. "Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God?" _he had judged Israel forty years_ See note on 1... [ Continue Reading ]
Death of Eli's Daughter in Law 19. _his daughter in law_ Her death is recorded (_a_) as being a further fulfilment of the doom of Eli's house: (_b_) for the sake of her pathetic dying words about the Ark.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Fear not_ Cp. Genesis 35:16-19. But the attempt to comfort her was vain. The loss of the Ark so absorbed her mind, that even a mother's greatest joy (John 16:21) could not rouse her.... [ Continue Reading ]
_I-chabod_ The name means _No-glory_, or _Where is glory?_Cp. Rachel's significant name for Benjamin, _Ben-oni_= "Son of my sorrow" (Genesis 35:18). _The glory is departed from Israel_ In Exodus 16:10; Exodus 40:34-35, and many other passages, "the glory of the Lord" denotes the visible manifestatio... [ Continue Reading ]
The connexion will be made clearer by a literal translation as follows. AND SHE CALLED THE CHILD I-CHABOD, (SAYING, [THE] GLORY IS DEPARTED FROM ISRAEL), WITH REFERENCE TO THE ARK BEING TAKEN, AND WITH REFERENCE TO HER FATHER IN LAW AND HER HUSBAND. AND SHE SAID, [THE] GLORY IS DEPARTED FROM ISRAEL,... [ Continue Reading ]