The Philistines Capture the Ark
Thus the word of Samuel came to all Israel. 1Sa 29:11Sa 5:11Sa 7:121Ki 20:301Sa 3:11Jos 12:18Jos 15:53Jos 19:30
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. Lam 3:401Sa 17:211Sa 17:8Jos 7:12Jos 7:5-8Psa 106:40-41Psa 44:9-10Psa 79:7-8
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 1with us to save us from the hand of our enemies.” 2Ti 3:51Co 10:1-5Num 10:351Ch 17:11Pe 3:211Sa 14:182Sa 15:25Amo 5:21-22
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. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God. 2Sa 6:2Num 7:89Psa 80:1Psa 99:12Ki 19:151Sa 2:12-171Sa 2:22Act 19:15-16
When the ark of the covenant of the LORD entered the camp, all the Israelites raised such a great shout that it shook the ground. Jos 6:5Job 20:5Amo 6:3Jdg 15:14Jer 7:4Jos 6:20Mic 2:11
On hearing the noise of the shout, the Philistines asked, “What is this loud shouting in the camp of the Hebrews?” Exo 32:17-18
And when they realized that the ark of the LORD had entered the camp, the Philistines were afraid. “The gods have entered 2their camp!” they said. “Woe to us, for nothing like this has happened before. Deu 32:30Exo 14:25Exo 15:14-16 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. Exo 7:5Exo 9:14Psa 78:43-51 Take courage and be men, O Philistines! Otherwise, you will serve the Hebrews just as they served you. Now be men and fight!” 1Co 16:13Jdg 13:12Sa 10:12Eph 6:10-11Isa 33:1Jdg 10:7Deu 28:47-48Isa 14:2
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. 1Sa 4:22Ki 14:12Deu 28:25Lev 26:172Sa 18:17Psa 78:60-641Ki 12:161Ki 22:36 The ark of God was captured, and Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, died. 1Sa 2:34Psa 78:64Isa 3:111Sa 2:32Psa 78:60-61
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. Jos 7:62Sa 1:22Sa 15:32Job 2:12Neh 9:12Sa 13:19 When he arrived, there was Eli, sitting on his chair beside the road and watching, because his heart trembled for the ark of God. 1Sa 1:91Sa 4:18Jos 7:9Neh 1:3-4Psa 137:4-6Psa 26:8Psa 79:1-8
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. 1Sa 3:21Ki 14:4Gen 27:1Psa 90:10
“I have just come from the battle,” the man said to Eli. “I fled from there today.” 2Sa 1:41Sa 3:6Jos 7:19
“What happened, my son?” Eli asked.
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.” 1Sa 3:111Sa 4:10-11
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 3Israel forty years. 1Sa 4:21-221Pe 4:17-18Psa 69:91Co 11:30-321Sa 2:31-321Sa 3:12-131Sa 4:13Lam 2:15-19
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!” Gen 35:17-18Jhn 16:21Psa 77:2
But she did not respond or pay any heed. And she named the boy Ichabod, 4 saying, “The glory has departed 5from Israel,” because the ark of God had been captured and her father-in-law and her husband had been killed. Psa 26:8Jer 2:11Psa 78:61Psa 78:641Sa 4:11Hos 9:12Psa 106:20
“The glory has departed from Israel,” she said, “for the ark of God has been captured.” Jhn 2:17Psa 137:5-6