1 Samuel 4:3

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 peoplefor armyis 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 Elderssee 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 recollected the words which Moses used when the Ark set forward, "Rise up, Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before thee" (Numbers 10:35): and how the Ark had led them to victory against Jericho (Joshua 6:6).

Possibly the Philistines, as upon a later occasion (2 Samuel 5:21), had brought the images of their gods into the field, and this suggested the idea of fetching the Ark. The superstition which confused the Symbol with the Presence was the natural result of the decay of religion.