So the people sent to Shiloh, and they brought from thence the ark of the covenant of Jehovah of hosts, who sitteth between the cherubim; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there by the ark of the covenant of God.
The Philistines have just beaten Israel in battle. Instead of asking why, the elders send to Shiloh for the ark — God's throne — and it arrives in the hands of Eli's two corrupt sons.
The mercy-seat — the lid resting on the ark — had one meaning in Israel:
The mercy-seat, with the ark upon which it rests, is the throne of Him who has taken His place in the midst of His people. He is the God who dwells between the cherubim, and appears in the cloud upon the mercy-seat.
The elders knew what kind of men Eli's sons were, and sent for the ark anyway:
The elders knew well how morally corrupt these young men were. Yet they were blind to one thing: the living God could never approve of these men publicly identifying with the ark. We are reminded here that it was "the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts, who is enthroned on the cherubim." That very expression insists on the absolute holiness of God.
Israel had an example from Moses in mind, but read it wrongly:
The Israelites put their confidence in the ark. They had misunderstood, or wrongly applied, what Moses said when Israel set out on their wilderness journeys: "And whenever the ark set out, Moses said, 'Arise, O LORD, and let your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate you flee before you.' And when it rested, he said, 'Return, O LORD, to the ten thousand thousands of Israel'" (Num. 10:35-36). Man's sinful heart easily appeals to Scripture examples to justify practices God never authorised. It lifts those Scriptures out of their setting and so misapplies them. Once Israel had settled in the land, no authority whatever allowed them to move the ark from its resting-place. God had in fact forbidden it (see Deut. 12:5, 11). God's presence, pictured by the ark, was not to come to them. They were to go to it!
The mistake did not die with Israel:
It never crosses their mind to come before God and learn from Him why He had abandoned His people. They pull God to themselves, so to speak. You can see the same thing today. Two Christianized nations fight against one another and each side says: God must be with us.
The short note about Eli's sons is the heaviest line in the verse:
What a fearful condition of things! The ark of God, in the company of ungodly men! Their wickedness was about to bring down on the whole nation the just judgement of a holy and righteous God. Nothing is more dreadful, nothing more offensive to God, than the daring attempt to tie His name and His truth to wickedness. Moral evil is bad enough in any circumstances. But to mix moral evil with the name and service of Him who is holy and true is the very highest and darkest form of wickedness. It can only bring down the heavy judgement of God… That one sentence, "Hophni and Phinehas were there with the ark of the covenant of God," sums up in a few words the terrible picture of Israel's moral condition.
It came down to what they trusted to save them:
They brought the ark of the covenant into the camp. They looked not to God, but to a symbol, to save them. They looked to outward orthodoxy and ignored moral condition.
The ark's arrival set off two opposite reactions:
They received it with wild shouts of triumph… The same superstitious fear, the opposite of faith, worked in both camps. It produced panic in the Philistines and short-lived confidence in the Israelites. In both it was total ignorance and unbelief.
God did not refuse to move. He came on His own terms:
The God who sits between the cherubim lets Israel lead Him, but He comes as Judge rather than Deliverer. He judges everything: first the priests, then the people, and last their enemies, after His glory has left Israel.
- Throne. The ark and its mercy-seat were God's throne among His people. The title here insists on His absolute holiness.
- Fetched. Israel pulled the throne to themselves instead of going to it. They misapplied Scripture to excuse a move God never authorised.
- Paired. Hophni and Phinehas carried the throne, tying God's name to wickedness already under judgement.
- Shouted. Israel's roar and the Philistines' terror sprang from the same superstition, not faith.
- Judged. God let Israel lead Him into the field, but He came as Judge — of the priests, then the people, then their enemies.
And it came to pass when the ark of the covenant of Jehovah came into the camp, that all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth shook.
Israel has already lost a battle to the Philistines. Their answer is to send to Shiloh for the ark of the covenant, the gold-covered chest that marked God's presence among them. The shout that greets it sounds like the noise of an army about to win. Was there anything behind the sound?
One writer hears in the shout the opposite of what it seemed to prove.
Israel brings the ark into the camp and receives it with "a mighty shout, so that the earth resounded." The great shout has a triumphant sound and the appearance of power. But in reality it only shows their lack of faith on the one hand, and their merely human confidence on the other. Faith moves quietly and moral power makes no noise.
The same display struck another writer as badly matched to the people making it.
All this was very impressive, but it was hollow. They ought to have known themselves much better than to make such an empty show. Their shout of triumph fitted badly with their low moral condition in God's sight. Those who know least of themselves always make the highest claims and take the highest position.
Israel had shouted before, at Jericho. The difference is not in the volume but in who called for the shout.
This was not a shout commanded by the Lord, as when the armies of the Lord marched round Jericho. It came from themselves, as they imagined the success of their own schemes. It was not the shout of obedience or of confidence in the Lord, but of confidence in their own plans.
Israel put nothing right before sending for the ark. It came into the camp in the hands of Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phinehas.
They made two mistakes: they thought they could command the Lord's presence through the symbol of the ark, and they depended on the ark instead of on the living God... Poor deluded people! They did not know the holiness of their God. They were blind to the way His name was dishonoured through Hophni and Phinehas. So they imagined that God would now step in for them, and they shouted, expecting victory over their enemies... What instruction for God's people in every age — telling everyone who has ears to hear that the Lord is with them, as He said to Asa through Azariah, only while they are "with Him." (2 Chron. 15:1-2.) Without meeting that condition they will be completely powerless before the enemy, and exposed to certain disaster.
The pattern did not die with Israel.
The people appear to give God's power great honour. When the ark comes into the camp they raise such a shout that "the earth resounded." In the same way the Christian world uses Christ's name to exalt itself while its own wrongdoing goes unjudged. The outward sign of God's presence is enough for this system, which boasts: We have the ark. Israel thinks that God cannot abandon them without exposing Himself to shame. But God does just that. He exposes Himself to shame, and lets the world seem to conquer Him.
Another writer notes how much cheaper the shouting is than the fighting.
There is no true power for the believer apart from obedience to God's word. There is no true joy or peace apart from subjection, and no lasting rest without submission to God's will as revealed in Scripture. There were great shouts in the camp when the ark arrived... But it was not the sound of shouting for victory, nor was the shout of a king among them. It was the expression of a vain and fatal confidence. There was more shouting than real or effective fighting. It was much easier to shout than to fight. In the same way today, it is easier to get excited at big meetings, stirring talks and thrilling music than to live a life devoted to God.
Three chapters later Israel meets the same enemy. This time the noise comes from a different direction.
What a contrast between Israel's boastful shout in 1 Sam. 4 and the Lord's thunder in 1 Sam. 7! The first was human pretension; the second, divine power. Humiliating defeat followed the first at once; splendid triumph followed the second... When the earth rang with Israel's pretentious shout, they could take notice of that. Men of the world can understand and appreciate self-assertion and self-confidence; but these are the very things that shut God out. On the other hand, a broken heart, a contrite spirit, a lowly mind, are His delight... The fullness of God always waits on an empty vessel.
- Sound. The shout rang with triumph and looked like power. It showed the opposite, because real faith moves quietly.
- Source. At Jericho the shout was commanded by the Lord; this one rose out of Israel's own plans and their confidence in them.
- Sin. Israel leaned on the symbol instead of the living God. He is with His people only while they are with Him.
- Substitute. Israel kept the outward sign of God's presence while wrongdoing went unjudged. That pattern outlived them.
- Silence. Boasting shuts God out. He answers the broken and contrite heart, because His fullness waits on an empty vessel.
And the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, and said, What is the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews? And they understood that the ark of Jehovah had come into the camp.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And the Philistines were afraid, for they said, God is come into the camp. And they said, Woe unto us! for there has not been such a thing heretofore.
Israel has just brought the ark into their camp, and the roar of their welcome reaches the enemy lines. The Philistines work out what the noise means and cry, "Woe to us!" — yet they will win the battle and carry that same ark away. (The commentators below quote an older translation, "God is come into the camp"; the ESV reads "A god has come into the camp.")
Israel had spoken of the ark as a thing that might rescue them. The Philistines spoke of it as a Person who had arrived — and that difference exposed how far Israel had drifted.
Their fear rested on a right sense of what the ark truly meant, for they said, "God is come into the camp." This was the terrible effect on the people of God of letting unholiness be linked with the ark of God. Sin had so hardened them that they had become less sensitive to the presence of God than their enemies. They had said of the ark, "When it comes among us, it may save us out of the hand of our enemies" (v. 3). When the ark did come into their midst, their enemies rightly said, "God is come" (v. 7).
The Philistines judged by the volume of the shout. They could not see the state of the people making it.
Naturally they supposed the shout of triumph rested on something real. They did not see what lay beneath the surface. They did not understand what it meant that the priesthood was defiled, the sacrifice despised, the temple dishonoured. They saw the outward symbol and imagined that power went with it. So they were afraid. How little they knew that their fear and Israel's triumph were alike groundless.
The dread on one side and the confidence on the other came from a single root. Neither army was dealing with God Himself.
Exactly the same superstitious fear was at work in both camps. It is the opposite of faith. It produced panic in the Philistines and short-lived confidence in the Israelites. In both it was total ignorance and unbelief.
Nothing like this had happened to them before. They remembered what Israel's God had done to Egypt, and still decided to fight Him. Only Israel's condition explains why that fight went their way.
The Philistines said, "God is come into the camp." They at once reminded themselves how Israel's mighty God had broken the power of Egypt. Then they steeled themselves to fight as they had never fought before. But by their own admission they were now going to fight God! In their superstitious ignorance they mistook a symbol for God Himself! Only Israel's frightful condition explains the second victory... Philistine defiance would have got what it deserved, if God's own people had not needed to be taught a terrible lesson.
Commentators apply the scene beyond Israel. A religious system can hold the outward sign of God's presence and still find that God abandons it.
In the same way, the Christian world uses Christ's name to exalt itself while its own sin goes unjudged. The outward sign of God's presence is enough for this system, which boasts: We have the ark. Israel thinks that God cannot abandon them without exposing Himself to shame. But God does exactly this: He exposes Himself to shame; He lets the world appear to conquer Him.
Three chapters later the fear has changed sides. Commentators count that change as progress, not loss.
In 1 Samuel 4:7, when their conscience was still untouched, Israel was unafraid, and it was the Philistines who were full of fear. Now, having experienced their weakness, the people are terrified, for they do not yet have the assurance that God is for them. In one sense this fear is no doubt wretched, but it is good to see it on the path of restoration. Isn't this better than the "great shout" Israel had raised before, that had made the earth tremble?
That restored Israel trusts no longer "in the ark of God, but rather in the God of the ark of the covenant" (Hamilton Smith).
- Symbol. The ark was the sign of God's presence. The Philistines saw the sign and said God Himself had come into the camp.
- Shout. Their fear rested on the noise Israel made. They knew nothing of Israel's real state: a defiled priesthood and a despised sacrifice.
- Superstition. Panic in one camp and confidence in the other sprang from the same unbelief. Neither side was dealing with God Himself.
- Shattering. Men who said God had come still chose to fight Him — and won. God's own people needed the lesson more than the enemy needed the punishment.
- Surrender. Restoration begins when the fear moves back to Israel, and confidence moves from the ark of God to the God of the ark.
Woe unto us! who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods? these are the gods that smote the Egyptians with every plague in the wilderness.
The Philistines shout these words in panic when they learn the ark has reached Israel's camp. They knew what God had done in Egypt — yet hours later they won the battle and struck Israel with a great slaughter.
They remembered God's judgments on Egypt, but they were confused about what the ark was. They say "gods" in the plural because they were idol worshippers.
The Philistines hear that Israel has shouted so loudly because the ark had come into the camp, and their fear grows. They were idolaters, and mere formal religion was very familiar to them. They assume that the ark was Israel's god, which is more or less what Israel thought at this time. They are very worried, because Israel had not brought the ark into battle against the Philistines before, at least since entering the land. They remember that God — whom they call "gods" — had sent many plagues on Egypt. But they did not know that the ark did not even exist at that time!
The plural may also have had something visible behind it. One writer suggests they counted the two winged figures over the ark's lid as two gods.
They would probably show the ark some superstitious reverence. The nations never changed their gods, as foolish Israel did, but they were quite willing to add extra ones. They may have looked on the two cherubim, whose outstretched wings overshadow the mercy seat of the ark, as a pair of gods. After all, they say here, "Who can deliver us from the power of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with every sort of plague in the wilderness." They seem to mix up the mighty acts God had done in Egypt with those in the wilderness.
The Egyptians were struck in Egypt, not in the wilderness. Critics have called this a mistake in the text, but one commentator answers that these words are not the writer's own.
On the words about the plagues "in the wilderness," Wellhausen, the well known critic, remarks: "Either an excusable inaccuracy, or a copyist's slip." He meant that the Egyptians were not struck in the wilderness, but in their own land. However, Wellhausen did not see that the Philistines said this. They expressed their inaccurate knowledge of what had happened, and Samuel reports it as spoken by the Philistines.
The comparison between the two camps shames Israel.
Their fear rested on a true sense of what the ark meant, for they said, "God has come into the camp." This was the terrible effect on God's people of allowing unholiness to be linked with the ark of God. Sin had hardened them so much that they had become less sensitive to God's presence than their enemies were.
Both armies were wrong at the same moment — the fearful and the confident alike.
They naturally supposed that the shout of triumph was based on a reality. They did not see what lay beneath the surface. They did not understand what a defiled priesthood, a despised sacrifice and a desecrated temple meant. They saw the outward symbol and imagined that power went with it, so they were afraid. How little they knew that their fear and Israel's triumph were alike groundless.
Panic on one side and confidence on the other came from the same root.
It was exactly the same superstitious fear, the opposite of faith, that produced panic in the Philistines and short-lived confidence in the Israelites. In both it was total ignorance and unbelief.
Terror did not paralyse the Philistines. It pushed them into the fight, and God used them.
The Philistines were filled with fear, for they thought that the mighty God who had struck the Egyptians had indeed come into the camp. But their fear stirred up their courage, and they fought. God used them as His sword of judgment, and they struck Israel with a great slaughter... What an instruction for God's people in all ages! It tells everyone who has ears to hear that the Lord is with them only while they are "with Him." That is what He said to King Asa through the prophet Azariah (2 Chron. 15:1-2).
- Memory. Generations later, the nations still knew Israel's God by the plagues on Egypt. The Philistines had the details wrong: the ark did not even exist back then.
- Dread. The enemy said "God has come into the camp," and they were right. Sin had left God's people less alert to His presence than their enemies.
- Mistake. The Philistines saw the outward symbol and assumed power came with it. They never saw the defiled priesthood behind the shouting.
- Result. Fear drove the Philistines to fight, not flee. God used them as His sword. He is with His people only while they are with Him.
Shew yourselves valiant and be men, ye Philistines, that ye may not have to be servants to the Hebrews, as they have been servants to you be men, and fight.
The Philistine camp hears Israel's shout, learns the ark has arrived, and panics — then, in the same breath, they rouse each other to fight. Why did that fear fade so fast, and why did a call to be men beat the people who had the ark?
The Philistines reacted to what they could see. They took the shout as proof of real power. They knew nothing about the people who raised it.
They naturally assumed that the shout of triumph rested on something real. They did not see what was beneath the surface. They did not understand the meaning of a defiled priesthood, a despised sacrifice, a desecrated temple. They saw the outward symbol and imagined that power went with it, so they were afraid. How little they knew that their fear and Israel's triumph were both groundless.
One writer notes that unbelieving Israel had already made the same mistake.
The Philistines, like unbelieving Israel, look at the symbol of the Lord's presence instead of to the Lord Himself — whom they did not know. Their fear was only superstition, and they soon shake it off.
Israel brought the ark in to justify their sin, and that move was worse than useless.
The Philistine need have no fear of the ark when polluted Israel brings it into camp as approval for their sin. Israel's condition was such that God could not defend them. At such a time, to fall back on the symbol of His presence was to call down judgment on themselves.
Take courage and be men: that is the best encouragement people can give when they have no God to call on. Older translations read the call as "Be strong! Be men," and one writer sets it beside what faith says.
"Be strong! Be men" is all the men of the world can say to encourage one another. But the man of faith relies on the Lord, and says with the apostle, "For when I am weak, then I am strong." … God has said, "Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD" (Jer. 17:5).
Courage was enough for the Philistines because that day the fight was man against man.
Here was the resource of the Philistines — "be men." Israel could not do this. If sin kept them from drawing on God's resources, they were weaker than other men. Israel's only hope was in God. If God was not there, and it was only man against man, an Israelite was no match for a Philistine.
The Philistines fight to keep a mastery they already hold. One writer turns that on readers who claim they have never served such masters.
Some now want to make a bold stand against the unbelieving ministers in Christendom. They may say, "We have not served them." Have you not? … This present struggle will be no light matter. … Waving handkerchiefs, making speeches of uncertain sound, yes, shouting until the earth rings with the noise — none of it will win the battle.
The Philistines put the outcome down to their own resolve. One writer looks past that to what God intended.
The Philistines had good reason to fear the God of Israel, who had plagued the Egyptians so long before. Even so, they were still determined to "be strong," so that they would not become the servants of Israel. Little did they know the mind of God, for He would use them to chastise His people, then deal with them. Later He would do the same with the Assyrian. He would use him as the rod of His anger against a rebellious people, then punish the Assyrians, who thought they had been the scourge of Israel by their own power.
- Symbol — The Philistines feared the ark, not the God whose presence it stood for. That is superstition, and it wore off fast.
- Surface — They could not see the defiled priesthood behind the shout. Their panic and Israel's confidence both rested on nothing.
- Strength — "Take courage, and be men" is all the world can say. Faith answers that it is strong when it is weak.
- Shortfall — Sin cut Israel off from God's help, so they were weaker than other men. Man against man, an Israelite was no match for a Philistine.
- Sovereign — The Philistines thought their nerve won the day. They were the rod God used on His people, and God deals with the rod afterwards.
And the Philistines fought, and Israel was routed, and they fled every man to his tent; and there was a very great slaughter, and there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen.
Israel had just lost a battle to the Philistines, so they carried the ark of the covenant into camp as a guarantee of victory. This verse records the collapse that followed, and it raises a hard question: why did the ark of God make the disaster worse?
Israel's shout when the ark arrived was loud enough to shake the ground. This verse shows what the shout was worth.
"And when the ark of the covenant of the Lord came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth rang again." How empty the shout! How hollow the boast! How worthless the pretension! Sadly, humiliating defeat followed, as it always must.
The ark stood for God's presence with His people. Israel wanted the object without the God behind it.
Israel found that they were beaten before the Philistines. So they thought of the ark of the Lord's covenant and throne, not as the emblem of His presence, but as a charm to rescue them from their enemies. There was a superstitious hope in the ark of the Lord, but no faith in Israel. It was no better than a lucky object, and they were no better than pagans in the way they used it. Where was the reverence for God that suited His people?
The Philistines feared the ark, and they still won the battle. Israel's own condition is what decided it.
The Philistines need have no fear of the ark when a defiled Israel brings it into camp as a stamp of approval on their wrongdoing. Israel's condition was such that God could not defend them. In that state, to fall back on the symbol of His presence was to call down judgment on themselves. So it happened: the people of God fall, the ark passes into the hands of the enemy, and the two sons of Eli die.
Both armies misread the ark. Their two mistakes did not carry equal guilt.
It was enough for Eli the high priest to know that God would be no party to His own dishonour, least of all at the hands of His own people. The Philistines might be wrong to fear that simply bringing the ark onto the field would settle the fight. But the Israelites were a hundred times more guilty. They flattered themselves that the ark, brought in this way, must prove their deliverance.
God's holiness threw down the Philistine idol Dagon in his own temple. Israel was no safer for being His own people.
If He is holy in the temple of Dagon, the idol must fall face down before Him. If that same holiness will strike the godless Philistine nation, it is no less intense toward His own people. In fact, as we well know, judgment will begin at the house of God. The prophet reminds the people that they alone as a nation had been known by God. That did not exempt them from punishment. Instead, it was the pledge that they would get it if needed: "Therefore I will punish you for your iniquities."
Defeat like this could look like weakness on God's side. The same ground later said otherwise.
In the days of Joshua the ark had gone before the armed men round the walls of Jericho, until they fell. The soldiers of Israel in the days of Eli must have recalled that striking passage in their history. They ordered the ark's presence among them, only to suffer the most humiliating defeat they had ever known… Was it from lack of power that God did not give them the victory? No. Twenty years later, on the same battlefield at Ebenezer, God gave Israel a remarkable victory.
Israel is not the last people to trust a sacred thing in place of God.
In the days of Eli the Israelites put their trust in the ark instead of in the Lord. In the last days of the kings of Judah the people put their trust in the temple instead of in God. In the same way, many today put their trust in belonging to a great religious system instead of in the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. They have the form of godliness in their religious connections, but they deny its power. That power lies in a living link with the exalted Son of God.
- Shout — Israel's loudest confidence came just before their worst defeat. The noise was boast, not faith.
- Charm — They wanted the sacred object without the God it stood for. That is superstition, not faith.
- State — Their own condition, not God's weakness, decided the battle. Grabbing the symbol only called judgment down on them.
- Nearness — Judgment begins at God's house. The holiness that topples an idol falls first on His own people.
- Now — The same warning stands today. A religious form without a living link to Christ has no power in it.
And the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.
One verse records three losses: Israel beaten, the ark of God in enemy hands, and Eli's two sons dead. Behind the defeat lies a deeper failure. Israel carried the symbol of God's presence into battle, but would not deal with the sin in their own camp.
The deaths of Hophni and Phinehas are not an accident of war. God had already told Eli what was coming. This verse records the first part of it.
Eli had sinned through his family, and on his family the judgment would come. His descendants would die in the prime of life. Hophni and Phinehas would die on the same day... The later history shows how solemnly these predictions came true. The Philistines killed Hophni and Phinehas in battle (1 Sam. 4:11). Sixty years later King Saul cut off Eli's descendants (1 Sam. 22:18). One hundred years after the prediction, King Solomon removed the last of Eli's house from the priesthood (1 Kings 2:27).
After an earlier defeat, Israel sent for the ark, expecting it to save them. But this was not faith. They wanted God's power without God Himself.
The people saw that the Philistines had beaten them. So they thought of the ark of the Lord's covenant and throne — not as the sign of His presence, but as a charm to rescue them from their enemies. They had a superstitious hope in the ark of the Lord, but no faith in Israel. It was no better than a good-luck token, and they used it no better than the heathen would... When people are in danger, few things come more naturally to the heart than using the Lord for themselves instead of trusting Him.
Reaching for the ark did not just fail to help them. It made matters worse.
Israel's condition was such that God could not defend them. In that state, falling back on the symbol of His presence only called down judgment on themselves.
The ark falling into Philistine hands was unthinkable. Yet God allowed it. He would not let His name stay attached to sin among His own people.
That one terrible fact — the ark of God in the house of Dagon — told the sad tale of Israel's complete failure and ruin. God must have reality, truth and holiness in those with whom He chooses to dwell. "Holiness befits your house, O LORD, forevermore." Having the Lord living among them was the highest privilege of all. But it demanded holiness. He could not connect His name with unjudged sin. Impossible. It would be a denial of His nature, and God cannot deny Himself.
The loss did not stop on the battlefield. Two more deaths follow, and a newborn is given a name that sums up the day.
The Philistines defeat them again. Hophni and Phinehas are killed and the ark is taken. Eli falls backward at the news and breaks his neck. Phinehas' wife, dying, gives her son a name that expresses the people's terrible condition. "And she named the child 'Ichabod,' saying, 'The glory has departed from Israel.'" The priesthood, as the link between God and Israel, had come to its final end.
The story does not end with the loss. What Israel could not protect, God defended for Himself, in the house of the Philistine god Dagon.
God will be God, however His people may fail. Israel completely failed to guard the ark of His testimony, and let it pass into the hands of the Philistines. When all was lost in man's hand, the glory of God shone out in power and splendour. Dagon fell, and the Lord's hand made the whole land of the Philistines tremble. His presence was unbearable to them, and they tried to get rid of it as soon as possible.
Israel's mistake did not die with them. The same instinct runs through later history and into our own day.
In the days of Eli the Israelites trusted the ark instead of the Lord. In the last days of the kings of Judah the people trusted the temple instead of God. Today many trust their membership of a great religious system instead of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. They have the form of godliness in their religious associations, but deny the power of godliness — a living link with the exalted Son of God.
- Sin. Eli's sons died on the day God had named. The verse fulfils a judgment already spoken. The rest of it unfolded over the next hundred years.
- Symbol. Israel wanted the ark without the God of the ark. They used Him for themselves instead of trusting Him. A sacred object handled that way is only a good-luck token.
- Surrender. God let the ark go rather than let His name shelter sin He had not judged. He must have reality in those He lives among.
- Severed. With the priests dead and the ark captured, the visible link between God and Israel ended, and a baby was named Ichabod — "the glory has departed."
- Sovereign still. What His people failed to guard, God defended alone. Dagon fell before the captured ark, and the Philistines could not wait to be rid of it.
And there ran a man of Benjamin out of the battle, and came to Shiloh the same day, with his clothes rent and with earth upon his head.
A man runs from the battlefield to Shiloh in one day, and his torn clothes tell the news before he speaks. Israel is beaten, Eli's sons are dead, and the ark of God is in enemy hands.
At the end of his run is a town that does not yet know, and an old priest already sick with fear for the ark.
A man of Benjamin brings the sad news to Shiloh, his clothes torn and earth on his head as a token of repentant mourning. At this time Eli is again sitting, not at the temple door, but by the wayside. He was fearful of the whole matter, and above all for the ark, for which he felt some responsibility. The man's message causes a noisy tumult in the city, which stirs Eli to ask what is happening. In response the messenger tells him personally about his own flight from the battle, and that Israel had suffered defeat and great slaughter. Then he adds that Eli's sons had been killed and the ark of God taken.
Torn clothes and earth on the head were part of a wider set of public mourning customs. One writer lists them, then adds what God asked for instead.
It was the habit of the Hebrews, as it still is in the East, to make a great display of their mourning. They would beat their breasts, cover their heads, and fast. They would put dust and ashes on their heads, neglect their hair, wear dull-coloured garments, tear their clothes, wear sackcloth, and so on... God does not want grieving people to be without feeling: the Lord wept at the grave of Lazarus, but He wanted reality in all things. He had to say to His people, "Rend your hearts and not your garments" (Joel 2:13).
The defeat was not an accident of war. Israel had brought the ark into camp as if it would back them while their sin stood unjudged.
The Philistines need have no fear of the ark when polluted Israel brings it into camp as a sanction for their sin. The condition of Israel was such that God could not defend them. In that state, to fall back on the symbol of His presence was to call down judgment on themselves. So it came to pass; the people of God are slain, the ark passes into the hands of the enemy, and the two sons of Eli are killed.
God Himself later told Israel to go and look at what was left of Shiloh. One writer reads its ruins as the clearest comment on Israel's whole history.
Israel's history is a commentary on Israel's disobedience! Jehovah's unchanging holiness is written on the ruins of Shiloh. Its desolation is a clear testimony to God's displeasure at people turning away from Himself. "Go now to my place that was in Shiloh, where I made my name dwell at first, and see what I did to it because of the evil of my people Israel" (Jer. 7:12). Yet every one of the three hundred and fifty years and more that the ark stayed there declares the Lord's great patience with His rebellious people!
The runner saved the ark for the end of his report. One writer weighs that against what the old priest was waiting to hear.
To Eli's credit, he "trembled for the ark of God." When he heard of its capture, his heart stopped and he fell, never to rise again. The messenger seemed least concerned about the fate of the ark, as his mentioning it last would suggest. But to the aged priest it was the most tragic event of that dark and fatal day.
Eli's failure was great. Yet the loss that broke him was not the loss of his sons.
Great as his failure had been, his heart was true, and the ark of God — Christ in type — was everything to this faithful soul... He had great natural affection, but it was the ark that had the chief place in his soul, and the news of its capture broke his heart.
- Same day. The runner covers the ground to Shiloh in one day, and the news is complete: defeat, slaughter, Eli's sons dead, the ark taken.
- Torn clothes. The signs of mourning were real and public. But God asks through Joel for torn hearts, not torn garments.
- Empty symbol. Carrying the ark into battle as cover for unjudged sin did not protect Israel; it called down judgment on them.
- Ruined place. Shiloh's ruins are God's standing lesson: a holy place gives no cover to people who turn away from Him.
- Named last. The messenger mentioned the ark last; Eli held it first — what you put at the end of your list shows what you value least.
And when he came, behold, Eli was sitting upon the seat by the way-side watching; for his heart trembled for the ark of God. And the man came to tell it in the city, and all the city cried out.
Eli, the old priest, sits by the road waiting for news from the battle. The army, his own two sons and the ark of God are all at risk that day — and the verse tells us which of them his heart was shaking over.
The verse names one fear, and it is not the fear you would expect from a father whose sons were in the fight.
Israel was fighting the enemy, and Hophni and Phinehas were in the battle. Still, the heart of Eli trembled for the ark of God (13). His first thought was the ark. When the news of Israel's defeat reaches the old priest, he hears in silence of the great slaughter among the people and of the death of his two sons. But at the mention of the capture of the ark of God, he fell back, struck down.
The ark — the chest that stood for God's presence among Israel — had been carried out to the battlefield. Why Israel sent it is the real problem.
That is how the battle was set when the people, finding that the Philistines were beating them, thought of the ark of the Lord's covenant and throne — not as the sign of His presence, but as a charm to rescue them from their enemies. So there was a superstitious hope in the ark of the Lord, but no faith in Israel. It was no better than a lucky charm, and they were no better than pagans in the way they used it. ... They thought of themselves; they dreaded the Philistines. ... Few things come more naturally to the heart in danger than using the Lord, not in faith, but selfishly.
Eli's dread was real. He also had the power to stop the very thing he now dreaded.
The news of the capture of the ark caused the death of Eli. But why did he allow it to be taken to the war? Weakness and indecision were the ruin of the old priest. ... May God in His mercy keep us from this trap, which suits a nature that loves an easy life. May He give us grace to stand firm where God's interests are at stake.
Another writer names the sin behind that weakness, and turns it on every parent.
Think of it — he honored his wicked sons above the Lord! Could sin be greater or guilt more serious? Parents who allow and approve their children in any evil way, and do not use their authority to restrain and punish them, in effect honor them more than God. They care more for their children's good name than for His glory, and they want to honor their children more than to honor Him.
The man who failed as a father cared more for God's honour than for his own family. In that sense the verse speaks well of him.
The godliness of poor, guilty Eli shines out in this disaster. ... He had judged himself, and had humbly accepted God's judgment on himself and his sons (1 Sam. 3:18). Now his thought is only for the ark of the Lord. "His heart trembled for the ark of God." (v. 13). When the messenger speaks of it, Eli falls from his seat and dies (v. 18). His death does not come from the judgment on his family. It comes from the dishonor done to the Lord, and from His departure from among His people.
Eli's grasp of spiritual things was not deep. One conviction, though, held firm:
We cannot rate the spiritual understanding of the high priest very highly. Yet he knew enough to be sure that God would take no part in His own dishonour, least of all at the hands of His own people. The Philistines might be wrong to fear that simply bringing the ark onto the field would settle the fight. But the Israelites were a hundred times more guilty, since they flattered themselves that the ark, brought in this way, was bound to save them.
Eli's grief over the ark ran deeper than his grief as a father. One writer says why.
Great as his failure had been, his heart was true, and the ark of God — a picture of Christ — was everything to this faithful soul. ... He had deep natural affection, but it was the ark that held first place in his soul. The news that it had been captured broke his heart, and he fell off his seat and died. He was certainly under God's hand of judgment. Even so, God would not let him die without this striking testimony to His old servant.
- Watching — His sons were in the fight, yet Eli waited by the road for news of one thing. His first thought was the ark.
- Charm — Israel had used the ark as a lucky object, not as the sign of God's presence. That is using the Lord selfishly instead of trusting Him.
- Weakness — Eli trembled over a disaster he had the power to prevent. Indecision ruined him, and honouring his sons above God was the root of it.
- Truth — That same trembling proves his heart was right toward God. What killed him was the dishonour done to the Lord, not the loss of his family.
- Chief place — The ark, a picture of Christ, held first place in his soul, above natural love. That test measures any heart.
And Eli heard the noise of the crying, and said, What is the noise of this tumult? And the man came hastily, and told Eli.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
Now Eli was ninety-eight years old; and his eyes were set, that he could not see.
Eli is ninety-eight and blind. He sits by the road outside Shiloh while a runner brings news from the battlefield. The verse stops the story to give us his age and his failed eyesight. Commentators read both details as more than medical notes.
Scripture mentions Eli's failing sight earlier in his life too. One writer reads the failure of his eyes as a warning to every believer:
There is meaning in the words, "his eyes began to grow dim, so that he could not see." The bodily weakness was all too sadly a picture of his spiritual condition... There is no standing still in spiritual things. You are either going forward or going backward, all the time. Let both reader and writer beware.
The number is not a compliment. It measures how long God had waited before acting:
Though Eli had lived ninety-eight years, his end was sad, and he was the last of his family to live long. For a long time God had patiently borne with the evil of the priestly family. But now He had to give Israel clear evidence that His patience is not the same as letting sin pass. The sudden swiftness of God's judgment was meant to put the fear of God into the hearts of all Israel.
Eli himself was not a corrupt man. That is what makes his case so searching:
The ark of God was dear to this honoured man. Would anyone suppose that he was himself the cause of its capture and of Israel's defeat? Yet it was so. And this brings into view a most solemn principle in the way God governs His people. He holds us responsible not only for the sin we commit, but for the sin we allow. To share in wrongdoing is to take the blame for it. And the holier a person is himself, the more weight his approval gives to the dishonour of God's name.
The messenger reports four disasters, and the ark comes last. Eli hears of defeat, slaughter and the death of both his sons without falling. It is the last item that kills him:
The godliness of poor, guilty Eli shines out in this disaster... With a self-judged heart he had humbly accepted God's judgment on himself and his sons. Now his thought is only for the ark of the Lord... What leads to his death is not the judgment on his family. It is the dishonour done to the Lord, and His departure from among His people.
Another writer counts Eli, for all his weakness, among God's own:
"Precious in the Lord's eyes is the death of His saints"; and, however weak, Eli was surely one of them. The report that the ark had been taken was too much for him. It overshadowed every other sorrow of that terrible day for him.
Commentators differ on what that grief shows. Another writer reads Eli's religion as a matter of form:
Certainly it was serious that the ark had been captured. But Eli's merely formal religion put more weight on the ark than on obedience to God's word. Since the ark was taken, it was to him as though God Himself had been taken away! Yet God was caring more for His own glory than Eli was.
Eli's death is not merely a family tragedy. The priesthood was the appointed link between God and Israel, and it snapped:
There are three offices, as is often said, through which God deals with His people — prophet, priest, and king. The priesthood... had utterly failed. Eli died broken-hearted, his two sons killed, and the ark of God taken. There was no restoring of the ark until the king restored it, though God upheld His own glory... But a prophet is God stepping in by His own sovereign choice. God could not be shut out from that, and He had prepared Samuel as He had prepared Moses.
- Dim — Eli's blindness pictures his inner state. He was a leader who could no longer see clearly, and in spiritual things nobody stands still.
- Delayed — Ninety-eight years measure God's patience with a corrupt priestly house. But patience is not approval, and the reckoning came in one day.
- Allowed — God holds us responsible for the sin we commit and for the sin we allow. When a good man tolerates evil, his approval only adds weight to the dishonour of God's name.
- Dear — What killed Eli was not the loss of his sons but the loss of the ark. Writers differ on whether that was real love for God or mere form, but his death is precious to God.
- Displaced — The priesthood failed, but God did not abandon His people. He raised up Samuel as prophet, and later a king who brought the ark back.
And the man said to Eli, I am he that came out of the battle, and I have fled to-day out of the battle. And he said, What has taken place, my son?
Outside Shiloh, an old priest sits by the road, waiting for news of a battle he had dreaded. A survivor reaches him, says he has just fled the fighting, and Eli asks how it went — a question whose answer will kill him.
The messenger's appearance tells the news before he speaks, and Eli is not at his usual post.
A man of Benjamin brings the sad news to Shiloh, his clothes torn and earth on his head as a sign of mourning. At this time Eli is again sitting, not at the temple door, but by the wayside. He was afraid about the whole matter, and especially about the ark, for which he felt some responsibility. The man's message causes a noisy tumult in the city, and this stirs Eli's questioning.
Older translations read, "What is there done, my son?" — the wording the commentators below use. Eli speaks to a stranger as a father would.
The aged Eli sat on a seat by the wayside watching, because his heart trembled for the ark of God. Great as his failure had been, his heart was true, and the ark of God — a picture of Christ — was everything to this faithful soul. With touching, trembling words the aged priest said, "What is there done, my son?"... He had great natural affection, but it was the ark that had the chief place in his soul, and the news of its capture broke his heart.
The reply comes in four blows, each heavier than the last. The order matters.
"What is there done, my son?" was his question to the messenger. "Israel has fled before the Philistines." This is sad news for the high priest and judge of Israel. "And there has also been a great slaughter among the people." This is worse still. "And your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead." What must the aged man have felt on hearing this! But all this he can bear. And is this all? No; there is another announcement still. "And the ark of God is taken!"
Where the messenger puts that last item shows what he cared about least.
To his credit, he "trembled for the ark of God." When he heard that the ark was taken, his heart stopped, and he fell, never to rise again. The messenger seemed least concerned about the fate of the ark, as his mentioning it last shows. But to the aged priest it was the most tragic event of this dark and fatal day.
The ark was the chest that marked God's presence with Israel. The army had carried it into battle expecting it to save them.
The high priest had no great spiritual insight. Yet he knew enough: God would take no part in His own dishonour, and least of all at the hands of His own people. The Philistines might be wrong to fear that just bringing the ark onto the field would settle the fight. But the Israelites were a hundred times more guilty. They flattered themselves that the ark, brought in this way, must save them.
The man who asked "What is there done?" had helped bring the disaster about himself.
Would anyone suppose that this honoured man, who held the ark of God so dear, was himself the cause of its capture and of Israel's defeat? Yet it was even so. And this brings into view a most solemn principle of God's government of His people. He holds us responsible not only for the sin we commit, but for the sin we allow.
Commentators differ on how to read Eli's collapse. Some see a true heart broken over God's dishonour; others see a religion that had become mere form.
It was serious that the ark had been captured. But Eli's merely formal religion put more weight on the ark than on obedience to God's word. Since the ark was taken, it was to him as though God Himself had been taken away! But God was caring more for His own glory than Eli was.
- Watching — Eli sat by the road, not at the temple door. He was afraid about the whole matter, and most of all about the ark.
- Asking — he calls a stranger "my son." His chief anxiety was not his family.
- Answered — defeat, slaughter, his two dead sons, and last of all the ark. The messenger named it last; Eli felt it first.
- Why — God would take no part in His own dishonour. Israel treated the ark as a sure rescue, and that made them more guilty than the Philistines who feared it.
- Cause — the man who trembled for the ark had helped lose it. God holds us responsible for the sin we allow, not only for the sin we commit.
And the messenger answered and said, Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has been also a great slaughter among the people, and thy two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God is taken.
The Philistines have routed Israel's army. A runner from the battlefield reaches the old priest Eli with four pieces of news. The verse is the report itself — and the order in which the messenger delivers it says as much as the words.
The four items are not a random list. Each lands heavier than the one before, and Eli can absorb three of them.
Eli had not personally shared in the sin of his nation and his sons. He himself was clearly a godly man... His question to the messenger was, "How did it go, my son?" "Israel has fled before the Philistines." That is sad news for the high priest and judge of Israel. "And there has also been a great defeat among the people." That is worse still. "Your two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead." What must the aged man have felt on hearing this! But all this he can bear. And is that all? No; there is one more announcement still.
The messenger and Eli did not weigh the news the same way. One writer takes the order of the report as a clue to the runner's own heart:
To his praise, Eli "trembled for the ark of God." When he heard that it was taken, his heart stopped beating, and he fell, never to rise again. The messenger seemed least concerned about the fate of the ark, as his mentioning it last would suggest. But to the aged priest it was the most tragic event of that dark and fatal day.
The deaths reported here were not an accident of war. God had announced them in advance, and the rest of the sentence ran on for the next hundred years.
Eli had sinned through his family, and on his family the judgment would come. His descendants would die in the prime of life; Hophni and Phinehas would meet their death in one day. Everyone left of his house would be driven out of the priest's office and left begging for bread. The later history gives the solemn fulfilment of these predictions. Hophni and Phinehas are killed in the conflict with the Philistines (1 Sam. 4:11). Sixty years later King Saul cut off the descendants of Eli's house (1 Sam. 22:18). One hundred years after the prediction, King Solomon removed the last of Eli's house from the priesthood (1 Kings 2:27).
Israel reached for the ark — the symbol of God's presence — and expected it to win the battle for them.
So the battle was set. The people found that the Philistines were beating them, and they thought of the ark of Jehovah's covenant and throne — not as the emblem of His presence, but as a charm to rescue them when facing their enemies. There was a superstitious hope in the ark of Jehovah, but no faith in Israel. It was no better than a lucky charm; and they were no better than heathens in the way they used it... There are few things more natural to the heart when in danger than using the Lord — not in faith, but for self.
The privilege was real, but it came with a demand.
God must have reality, truth and holiness in those with whom He chooses to dwell... It was a privilege of the very highest order to have Jehovah dwelling among them; but it demanded holiness. He could not connect His name with unjudged sin. Impossible. It would be a denial of His nature, and God cannot deny Himself.
The old man survives the news of his sons and dies at the news of the ark.
A heavier judgment than any so far falls, and the link of the priesthood is broken. Failing as he was, it is not the loss of his sons that touched him most. His heart was still true to God. Whatever his grief at their untimely death, the fatal announcement is that the ark of Jehovah was taken. If the ark was gone, so was his work as a priest. The visible link between Jehovah and His people was now in Philistine hands, and that caused his death.
But the ark in enemy hands was not the end of the story.
After much patience with the evil of His people, and with the sons of Eli, Jehovah allowed the enemy to take the ark, the symbol of His presence. But as the Philistines were soon to learn, God could safeguard His glory even among the enemies of His people.
- Order — The four reports grow heavier, and the ark comes last. Eli bore the first three and died at the fourth.
- Warning — God had already promised both deaths in one day. The rest of that judgment ran on for a hundred years.
- Charm — Israel used the ark as a lucky object, not as the sign of God's presence. Superstition is not faith.
- Holiness — God will not tie His name to unjudged sin, because that would mean denying His own nature.
- Glory — The Philistines could carry off the symbol of His presence, but they could not hold His glory captive.