1 Samuel 4

The ark of the covenant is mentioned at least thirtyfive times in these three chapters and represents

Jehovah God, the central person in all of Israel’s history. The ark was the most important piece of furniture in the tabernacle and resided in the Holy of Holies. In the ark were the two tablets of the law, and on it was the golden “mercy seat” where God’s glorious presence dwelt. This was the throne of God from which He spoke to His people (Ex. 25:10–22). To the eye of faith, God is very evident and active in all the events recorded in these chapters. None of these events happened by accident; they were all part of God’s plan to chasten His people, judge sinners, and eventually establish His anointed king

No sooner does God begin to reveal His Word to His people than the enemy shows up to attack them. The Philistines are mentioned in Scripture as early as the days of Abraham (Gen. 21:32; see 10:14), and in the books of Samuel they’re mentioned over 150 times. They were originally a seagoing people from the Aegean region who invaded the territory along the Mediterranean coast (Phoenicia) and sought to control all of the land we know as Palestine. (The name “Palestine” is a form of the word “Philistine.”) The Philistines were very distressed when Israel conquered the Promised Land and many times attempted to drive them out. It’s likely that this particular battle was Israel’s response to one of those Philistine invasions.

Israel was defeated (vv. 1–10). Aphek was a northern Philistine city about three miles west of the Jewish city of Ebenezer (“stone of help”). Shiloh lay about twenty miles east of Ebenezer. In their initial confrontation, the Philistines defeated Israel and killed 4,000 men, and the elders of Israel were perplexed over this defeat. Wasn’t Israel God’s chosen nation, and didn’t He give them the land as their possession? Then why was Israel defeated by their idol-worshipping neighbors? If the elders had recalled the terms of God’s covenant, they would have realized that this shameful defeat was caused by Israel’s disobedience to God’s law (Lev. 26:39; Deut. 28:25).

The Lord had clearly told them how to fight their wars (Deut. 20), but instead of searching their hearts and confessing their sins, the people decided to imitate Moses and Joshua and take the ark of the covenant into the battle with them. (See Num. 10:33–36; Josh. 3—4 and 6.) But this approach was merely “using God” to accomplish their own purposes. Unlike Moses and Joshua, they didn’t seek the will of the Lord, they weren’t walking by faith, and they certainly weren’t seeking to glorify God. Even worse, the two wicked priests Hophni and Phinehas would be carrying the holy ark of God! How could God bless two sinful men whom He had already consigned to judgment (1 Sam. 2:29, 34—4:4,17)? But Israel’s hope was that the presence of the ark would save the Jews from the hand of their enemies.

When Hophni and Phinehas appeared in the camp carrying the ark of God, the soldiers and elders shouted enthusiastically, but their carnal self-confidence was just the prelude to another defeat. The ark may have been with them in the camp, but the Lord was against them. Their joyful shout may have bolstered their spirits, but it was no guarantee of victory. All it did was motivate the Philistine army to determine to fight harder and win the battle, which they did, killing 30,000 Jewish soldiers. God will not be “used” just to make sinful people achieve their own selfish purposes. God’s promise is, “Them who honor me I will honor” (2:30).

The ark was taken (v. 11a). Five times in verses 11–22 you find the phrase “the Ark of God was [is] taken” (vv. 11, 17, 19, 21–22). Never in the history of Israel had the ark of God ever fallen into enemy hands! So holy was the ark that it was kept behind the veil in the tabernacle and seen only by the high priest on the annual day of Atonement (Lev. 16). When the Jewish camp moved during the nation’s years of wandering, the first thing the high priest did was cover the ark with the veil (Num. 4:5–6), and only then would he attend to the other pieces of furniture.

The ark of God was the throne of God (2 Sam. 6: niv; also Ps. 80: and 99:1), but now God’s throne was in enemy territory! The Jews had forgotten that the ark was God’s throne in Israel only if Israel was submitted to Him and obedient to His covenant. Anything else was nothing but ignorant superstition, like people trusting good-luck charms. It wasn’t a sin to take the ark into battle if the people were truly devoted to the Lord and wanted to honor Him. God put the ark into pagan hands, but Eli’s two sons had lived like pagans while ministering before the ark, so what was the difference? God would use the ark to teach both the Jews and the Philistines some important lessons.

The two priests were slain (v. 11b). This fulfilled the Word of God spoken to Eli by the anonymous prophet (2:27–36) and to Samuel when he was called by the Lord (3:11–18). God had been longsuffering with Hophni and Phinehas as they desecrated His sacrifices and defiled His people, but now their time was up and their sins had found them out.

The high priest died (vv. 12–18). Eli knew that his sons had entered the Holy of Holies and taken the ark to the battlefield, but he was unable to stop them, just as he had been unable to control them in past years. He wasn’t worrying about his sons as he sat in his special seat by the tabernacle; he was trembling for the safety of the ark of God. But didn’t Eli realize that God was still on the heavenly throne even if His earthly throne had been cheapened and transformed into a good-luck charm? Wasn’t the Lord able to protect His own furniture and His own glory?

The messenger ran first to the busiest part of Shiloh and delivered the sad news of Israel’s defeat, and the people’s loud lamenting caught Eli’s attention. The messenger ran to Eli to gave him the bad news: Israel was defeated, there was a great slaughter, Hophni and Phinehas were both slain and—as if saving the worst news for the last—the ark of God had been taken by the Philistines. Eli must have suffered a stroke or a heart attack, for he fell back, broke his neck, and died. He was “a heavy man,” probably caused by eating too much meat from the sacrifices (2:29) and leading a sedentary life. The death of Eli and his two sons was the beginning of the fulfillment of God’s prophecy that Eli’s branch of the priesthood would be destroyed and a new line introduced.

The glory of God departed (vv. 19–22). The wife of Phinehas had more spiritual insight than her fatherin-law, her husband, and her brother-in-law. The two brothers used the ark as a good luck charm, Eli was concerned with the safety of the ark, but she was burdened for the glory of God. She named her son Ichabod—“the glory is gone”—and then she died. The presence of God’s glory in the camp was a special sign that the Israelites were the people of God (Ex. 40:34; Rom. 9:4), but now the glory had departed and God’s special favor was gone. When King Solomon dedicated the temple, the glory of God returned (1 Kings 8:10), but before the destruction of Jerusalem, the prophet Ezekiel saw the glory leave the temple and the city (Ezek. 8:4; 9:3; 10:4, 18; 11:22–23). Ezekiel also saw the future millennial temple and the return of the glory of God (Ezek. 43:1–5). The glory of God didn’t return to this earth until the birth of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world (Luke 2:8–11; John 1:14). Today, God’s glory dwells in His people individually (1 Cor. 6:19–20) and in His church collectively (Eph. 2:19–22).

So significant was this tragic event that Asaph the psalmist included it in one of his psalms (Ps. 78:60–61). But he tells us that much more happened than the capture of the ark by the Philistines, for the Lord abandoned the tabernacle at Shiloh and allowed the enemy to destroy it (Jer. 7:12–14; 26:6, 9). The Philistines eventually returned the ark and it remained first in Beth-Shemesh and then Kiriath Jearim (1 Sam. 6:13–21). The priests must have constructed some kind of tabernacle at Nob (1 Sam. 21:1ff.), but in Solomon’s day, it was at Gibeon (1 Chron. 21:29; 1 Kings 3:4). Eventually Solomon incorporated the tabernacle into the temple which he built (2 Chron. 5:5).

The wicked sons of Eli thought their scheme would save the glory of God, but it only took the glory of God away!