Dawn over the springs of Aphek: reeds and still pools in the foreground, a town mound far off on one side, and across the green plain a scatter of small dark tents with threads of campfire smoke at the foot of the hills, under a calm pale sky.

The Book of

1 Samuel 4

Israel carries the ark into battle like a lucky charm. By nightfall the glory has departed.

22 verses≈ 5 min4 peopleBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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In this chapter

Where we are

1–7SamuelA boy who listenedChapter 4
8–15SaulA king like the nations
16–20David risesThe LORD looks at the heart
21–27David huntedThe anointed one waits
28–31Saul fallsEndor and Gilboa

The Philistines Capture the Ark

Thus the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now the Israelites went out to meet the Philistines in battle and camped at Ebenezer, while the Philistines camped at Aphek.

The Philistines arrayed themselves against Israel, and as the battle spread, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who struck down about four thousand men on the battlefield.

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When the troops returned to the camp, the elders of Israel asked, “Why has the LORD brought defeat on us before the Philistines today? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD from Shiloh, so that it may go with us to save us from the hand of our enemies.”

So the people sent men to Shiloh, and they brought back the ark of the covenant of the LORD of Hosts, who sits enthroned between the cherubim.

“The gods have entered their camp!” they said. “Woe to us, for nothing like this has happened before. Woe to us! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness.

1 Samuel 4:9

So the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and each man fled to his tent. The slaughter was very great—thirty thousand foot soldiers of Israel fell.

Late afternoon on the open plain, seen from far behind: a column of Philistine soldiers carries the gold ark away westward on its poles, dust hanging in the low sun, behind them an empty trampled field and a few abandoned tents.

The ark of God was captured, and Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, died.

Question

Quick question

Israel had just lost a battle, and the elders asked the right question. Then they gave the wrong answer.

Why did the elders bring the ark from Shiloh?

The Death of Eli

That same day a Benjamite ran from the battle line all the way to Shiloh, with his clothes torn and dirt on his head.

Evening beside the road at Shiloh's plain stone gate: the old, heavy priest Eli sits on a wooden chair, his clouded eyes turned toward the road, both hands gripping the chair's arms, the tabernacle's linen court small on the slope behind.

When he arrived, there was Eli, sitting on his chair beside the road and watching, because his heart trembled for the ark of God.

his heart trembled for the ark of God

1 Samuel 4:13

When the man entered the city to give a report, the whole city cried out.

Eli heard the outcry and asked, “Why this commotion?” So the man hurried over and reported to Eli.

Now Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his gaze was fixed because he could not see.

The Benjamite

“I have just come from the battle,” the man said to Eli. “I fled from there today.”

Eli

“What happened, my son?” Eli asked.

The Benjamite

The messenger answered, “Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has been a great slaughter among the people. Your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are both dead, and the ark of God has been captured.”

As soon as the ark of God was mentioned, Eli fell backward from his chair by the city gate, and being old and heavy, he broke his neck and died.

And Eli had judged Israel forty years.

Reflect

“His heart trembled for the ark of God”

Eli loved the ark of God. Yet for years he would not stop his sons. He cared about the right thing and still let the wrong thing slide. Is there something in your life like that: a love for God that sits beside a sin you keep excusing? Write down one thing He is asking you to deal with now.

Shiloh at nightfall: the tabernacle's white linen court and dark tent quiet on the slope with no smoke on the altar, and below in the small town one doorway glowing with lamplight, two women's shapes at its threshold far off, under a calm darkening sky.

Now Eli’s daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant and about to give birth. When she heard the news of the capture of God’s ark and the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband, she collapsed and gave birth, for her labor pains overtook her.

As she was dying, the women attending to her said, “Do not be afraid, for you have given birth to a son!” But she did not respond or pay any heed.

0:22

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

And she named the boy Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel,” because the ark of God had been captured and her father-in-law and her husband had been killed.

1 Samuel 4:22

Pray

The glory is God’s

Israel treated the ark like a box that could carry God into their battles, and they lost it. The glory is God’s own presence, not something we can use. Confess the ways you have tried to use God for your own plans. Ask Him to be with you on His terms, and thank Him that His glory came near for good in Jesus Christ.

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1 Samuel 4

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A verse to carry with you

“The glory has departed from Israel,” she said, “for the ark of God has been captured.”

1 Samuel 4:22

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