Key Text: Phinehas’ wife said, The glory is departed from Israel: for the ark of God is taken (1 Samuel 4:22).
The Philistine federation was composed of five centers: Ashdod, Ekron, Ahkelon, Gaza, and Gath. Philistine alone knew the secret of working iron and their weapons were far superior to any weapons of the poverty-stricken Israelites. It happens that this federation was at war with Israel, “pitched beside Ebenezer” near Mizpah. It must be remembered that it was an international war as the instrument of God’s judgment upon Israel for idolatry and sin. Also, this was the fulfillment of the two prophetic messages from chapter 2 and chapter 3.
The Israelites believed that if they took the ark closer to the fighting, God’s presence would save them. Needing the aid of their God, they sent for the ark of the covenant out of Shiloh, and Eli’s sons, Hophni and Phinehas, brought it to the battlefield. The Israelites did not understand that the ark was merely a symbol of God’s presence. This means that they were trusting in the outward form of their religion rather than in God’s real super-natural power. In sending the ark of the covenant into battle, the Israelites wanted it to serve as a magical talisman. Believing that if the ark were with them in battle, God must be with them as well. Rather than symbolizing the holiness of God, the Israelites moved to manipulate God into sending a battlefield victory, which is a pagan view of God. So, when God’s own people fail to show respect to Him, they too are struck down. Israel desperately needed to recover a sense of the holiness and the power of God so that His people find favor with Him.
In the encounter, Israel was defeated and they lost four thousand men. The Ark was captured and Hophni and Phinehas were both slain. When Eli was told, he fell backwards off a seat and broke his neck and died. He was ninety-eight and nearly blind, and he had “judged Israel forty years.” Phinehas’ wife, who was about to give birth, heard the disastrous news, “bowed herself and travailed; for his pains came upon her.” She delivered a son and, dying, named him Ichabod (inglorious) and said, “The glory is departed from Israel” (4:21).
P.S. How do we force the presence and providence of God in a church, altar,
or cross?
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