The
Book of First Samuel
Chapter 4
[1] And the word of Samuel came to all
[2] And the Philistines put themselves in array against
1)
Defeat (V 1,2)
Eli, the
High Priest and his wicked sons (Hophni & Phinehas)
Hannah, Elkanah and
their son Samuel..........established as the prophet of God
The Philistines are enemies of
The Philistines slew
4000 Israelites
[3] And when the people were come into the camp, the elders of
[4] So the people sent to Shiloh, that they might bring from thence the ark of
the covenant of the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth
between the cherubims: and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there
with the ark of the covenant of God.
[5] And when the ark of the covenant of the LORD came into the camp, all
[6] And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, What meaneth the noise of this
great shout in the camp of the Hebrews? And they understood that the ark of the
LORD was come into the camp.
[7] And the Philistines were afraid, for they said,
God is come into the camp. And they said, Woe unto us! for
there hath not been such a thing heretofore.
2)
Disdain (V 3-7)
The ark of the covenant
is to be brought from
The ark is a visible token of God’s presence,
where God will meet with His people
They are right in seeing they need help form
God to win the battle,
But they are wrong in how they go about
getting it- no repentance, no prayer, no humility
It had gone into battle before (Num 31:6,
Josh 6:6-8) and they want to force God to give victory
They regard the ark as a “good luck charm”
Hophni & Phineas carry the ark from
Two priests who have forsaken God, this
should have concerned
The people shouted with a great
shout.......what excitement BUT it is not grounded in God’s truth
This is meaningless and nothingness…… just a
lot of noise
[8] Woe unto us! who shall deliver us out of the hand
of these mighty Gods? these are the Gods that smote
the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness.
[9] Be strong, and quit yourselves like men, O ye
Philistines, that ye be not servants unto the Hebrews, as they have been to
you: quit yourselves like men, and fight.
[10] And the Philistines fought, and
[11] And the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni
and Phinehas, were slain.
3)
Disaster (V 8-11)
The Philistines had heard of the power that
the true
They know about the victories He has given
them
Yet, they arise to fight
They think their gods are
superior...............a resist the True GOD...........no submission!
God did not bless the sin of
God allowed the Philistines to slaughter
30,000 Israelites
Along with Hophni
& Phineas (They died as they lived, dishonoring
God)
The ark is captured and taken from
What an utter defeat and disgrace
[12] And there ran a man of Benjamin out of the army, and came to
[13] And when he came, lo, Eli sat upon a seat by the wayside watching: for his
heart trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came into the city, and
told it, all the city cried out.
[14] And when Eli heard the noise of the crying, he said, What
meaneth the noise of this tumult? And the man came in
hastily, and told Eli.
[15] Now Eli was ninety and eight years old; and his eyes were dim, that he
could not see.
[16] And the man said unto Eli, I am he that came out of the army, and I fled
to day out of the army. And he said, What is there
done, my son?
[17] And the messenger answered and said,
[18] And it came to pass, when he made mention of the ark of God, that he fell
from off the seat backward by the side of the gate, and his neck brake, and he
died: for he was an old man, and heavy. And he had judged
4)
Dimmed Vision (V 12-18)
A messenger comes to
When the city hears the news and cries out in
lamentation, Eli hears the cry & asks
Notice that Eli is upon a seat, watching
(heart concerned about the ark-He knew he was wrong)
Eli was watching but he can’t see ..... 98 years old and eyes are dim
Eli heard the terrible news; both boys are
dead (see 2:34) and the ark is taken
Heartbroken, Eli falls backward and breaks
his neck
Eli had judged
[19] And his daughter in law, Phinehas' wife, was
with child, near to be delivered: and when she heard the tidings that the ark
of God was taken, and that her father in law and her husband were dead, she
bowed herself and travailed; for her pains came upon her.
[20] And about the time of her death the women that stood by her said unto her,
Fear not; for thou hast born a son. But she answered not, neither did she
regard it.
[21] And she named the child I-chabod, saying, The glory is departed from
[22] And she said, The glory is departed from
5)
Disgrace (V 19-22)
Eli’s daughter- in- law is with child, upon
the news she goes into labor and delivers a son
For a Jewish woman, a son is a great joy yet
she would not regard it
(Jn 16:21)
She even lost the desire to live and is about
to die
The child is named Ichabod,
she states, for the glory of God is departed from
Had the glory left ?
Yes
The Glory of God was not gone because of the capture of
the ark, rather, the ark was captured
because the glory had departed
Sadly, this could be said about many churches
today II Tim 3:5
How could this happen ?
Because God is righteous
and judgment fell. But He
is also correcting a nation and will get Glory