1 Samuel Week 5
December 16, 2025
1 Samuel 4:1 – “And Samuel’s word came to all Israel. Now the Israelites went out to fight against the Philistines. The Israelites camped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines at Aphek.”
So, to know who the Philistines are, they are a descendant of Ham, one of the sons of Noah. As we will see in the Old Testament, the Philistines were a war loving people, they were continually in pursuit of the Israelites. War loving groups were very organized and prepared for battles, the Philistines had chariots and had an organized military, so in that, the Israelites were really not match against the Philistines. Here we see the Israelites are going out to fight against the Philistines, The Israelites set up at Ebenezer and the Philistines at Aphek. This all links together with the prophecy of Samuel that there would be a crisis among the Israelites. We are about to see what happens.
1 Samuels 4:2-3 – “The Philistines deployed their forces to meet Israel, and as the battle spread, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand of them on the battlefield. 3 When the soldiers returned to camp, the elders of Israel asked, “Why did the Lord bring defeat on us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the Lord’s covenant from Shiloh, so that he may go with us and save us from the hand of our enemies.”
We see here that the Philistines come to fight against the Israelites, and as we can see, Israel was defeated and they lost 4,000 men that day. Think about that, 4,000 dead bodies in a field, that is a lot of men. The remaining soldiers returned to the camp and they, and the elders, ask the question of why this happened, why God allowed them to be defeated? So, the Israelites come up with the idea that if they bring the ark of the covenant down with them that they would win the battle.
A couple of things to look at here:
The sons of Eli had desecrated the ark by removing it from the place it was supposed to remain, the Holy of Holies in the temple. If you remember, the ark would be placed in the holy of holies, it contained the ten commandments, a jar of manna and Aaron’s staff that had budded. Once the temple was set up and the ark placed where it would go appropriately, the presence of God would then fill the temple, usually represented with smoke.
The problem here is these people felt that if they brought the ark that all would be well; but they were worshipping the ark, not the One whose presence filled the temple. The ark practically became an idol to the Israelites. Without the presence of God, there was no power in the ark. We must be careful not to worship the creations of God, but to worship God Himself. They thought if they brought the ark, they would be guaranteed victory.
1 Samuel 4:4-5 – “So the people sent men to Shiloh, and they brought back the ark of the covenant of the Lord Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim. And Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God. 5 When the ark of the Lord’s covenant came into the camp, all Israel raised such a great shout that the ground shook.”
So, they send for the ark, and we see there the two sons of Eli are there also, and we already know they are not accepted by the Lord, in fact, if you remember, there is already a prophesy that they will both die the same day. This also represents, what I believe a lot of people do today: they are busy looking for what looks like a God answer and what God is truly looking for is a repentant heart! So, the ark shows up and when it gets there, they celebrate so loudly that the ground shook, they were celebrating as they felt they had all they needed now and they would win the battle. The problem is, as mentioned earlier, that they had the ark, but the presence of God was not there. Their focus was on a thing and not the Lord Himself.
The Israelites will then proceed to go back into battle without the presence, or permission, of God! How many times do we move, or go somewhere, before God tells us to go? This is when we get into so much trouble. We move, we take a stance, we believe a teaching, we follow a person or thing, and God is not at all involved with it.
1 Samuel 4:6-8 – “Hearing the uproar, the Philistines asked, “What’s all this shouting in the Hebrew camp?” When they learned that the ark of the Lord had come into the camp, 7 the Philistines were afraid. “A god has come into the camp,” they said. “Oh no! Nothing like this has happened before. 8 We’re doomed! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? They are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness.”
So, they bring the ark in, and they hear the shouting and they probably felt the earth moving under their feet, as we heard was happening, and the Philistines get scared. They knew about the God of the Israelites and how He delivered the Israelites out of Egypt and how He poured out the plagues on the Egyptians, they had fear of that God. They were scared because they knew they could not stand against this God and His power. So, we see this tremendous fear but the fact is, with this fear, God had a different plan and that plan was set in place because of the sins of the Israelites, the sins of the sons of Eli.
1 Samuel 4:9-11 – “Be strong, Philistines! Be men, or you will be subject to the Hebrews, as they have been to you. Be men, and fight!” 10 So the Philistines fought, and the Israelites were defeated and every man fled to his tent. The slaughter was very great; Israel lost thirty-thousand-foot soldiers. 11 The ark of God was captured, and Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, died.”
So, somebody stands up and tells them, “Look, if we back down and have fear, we will be subject to the Israelites, but they are subjects to you. What we see here is that there are already some Israelites that are serving the Philistines which alludes to the fact battles have already been won, and some land has been taken, by the Philistines.
The Philistines are then told, get up and go fight, that is what we have done, and that is what we need to do here, we cannot win the battles if we do not go and fight. The Philistines go and fight and we see a horrible thing here. The Israelites were beaten and they were beaten horribly, so much so, they ran and tried to hide from the Philistines. We see a few MAJOR events take place here:
1) 30,000 Israeli foot soldiers died that day.
2) The ark of the covenant was captured; this is a much bigger deal than we could ever imagine.
3) Eli’s two son, Hophni and Phinehas died. This is what was prophesied a while ago and the Lord even told Samuel He was about to bring this to pass, and we see here it happens.
1 Samuel 4:12-13 – “That same day a Benjamite ran from the battle line and went to Shiloh with his clothes torn and dust on his head. 13 When he arrived, there was Eli sitting on his chair by the side of the road, watching, because his heart feared for the ark of God. When the man entered the town and told what had happened, the whole town sent up a cry.”
So, we see there is this man from the tribe of Benjamin who survived the battle and he goes running to Shiloh where the ark of the covenant came from. He had torn his clothes and had dust on his head, which were two signs of mourning in the Old Testament with the Jews. This Benjamite brings the message of what happened in the battle and that the ark was captured by the Philistines and that 30,000-foot soldiers were dead, and it sends the whole town into an uproar. Again, the ark was held in such high esteem that it broke the hearts of the Israelites. Now, the question again is: are they broken because they were worshipping the ark, or the presence that went with the ark? Either way, the people in this town are now in mourning after hearing what happened.
1 Samuel 4:14-16 – “Eli heard the outcry and asked, “What is the meaning of this uproar?” The man hurried over to Eli, 15 who was ninety-eight years old and whose eyes had failed so that he could not see. 16 He told Eli, “I have just come from the battle line; I fled from it this very day.” Eli asked, “What happened, my son?”
We then see Eli makes an inquiry, since he hears this loud outcry, to find out what has happened. Eli is now 98 years old, which is old in these times, and he could not see, which we talked about last week. The Benjamite says I have just come from the battle that took place and I ran from it, which is never a good sign, people do not run from battle lines if they are winning the battle, so Eli knows there is something serious here, with what was said, and the cries he heard. So, Eli asks what happened.
1 Samuel 4:17- “The man who brought the news replied, “Israel fled before the Philistines, and the army has suffered heavy losses. Also, your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been captured.”
The Benjamite then says that the Israelites lost the battle, there were many people who died, and your two sons, they are also dead. Then after all of that, the ark of God has been captured.
Let’s see what Eli’s response to this is:
1 Samuel 4:18 – “When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell backward off his chair by the side of the gate. His neck was broken and he died, for he was an old man, and he was heavy. He had led Israel forty years.”
Notice here that when the news about his sons was spoken, he did not fall? I think he knew, because of the prophecy that was spoken, that he expected for his sons to die in this battle. There was a prophecy about their death and it made sense to him. Remember, Samuel was told by the Lord that He was going to carry out the punishment on Eli’s family now. Notice though, it talks about how Eli could not see and he was very overweight, and when he heard about the ark, he fell off of his chair and his neck broke, and he died. So, after 40 years of being in his position, his time is over, and you would think at this point that it would be time for Samuel to step in. I know that Samuel had been prepped and prepared for this time.
1 Samuel 4:19-20 – “His daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant and near the time of delivery. When she heard the news that the ark of God had been captured and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she went into labor and gave birth, but was overcome by her labor pains. 20 As she was dying, the women attending her said, “Don’t despair; you have given birth to a son.” But she did not respond or pay any attention.”
So, one of the sons of Eli had a pregnant wife and when she heard about the ark of God and her father-in-law and her husband, she went into premature labor, and it was so overwhelming that it took her life. The interesting thing here is the order of things listed that affected her:
1) Ark of God was first. This tells me she was a woman of God, and the ark being captured was terribly overwhelming to her.
2) Her father-in-law was second. Think about this, we talked about these two sons of Eli were sleeping with the women at the tent of meeting. Well, if this was his wife, and he was sleeping with other women, I am sure that respect was not at the top of her list for Phinehas. So, her father-in-law was more of a concern than her husband.
3) Her husband was last in line. I think I just explained why I think he was at the bottom of the list, he was not a man of God, and he was not faithful to her. Those who were with this woman tried to encourage her in letting her know she had a son, which was a good thing in that culture, there was one who could carry on the name, but we already know what God had spoken over the house of Eli, they would lose the priesthood.
1 Samuel 4:21-22 – “She named the boy Ichabod, saying, “The Glory has departed from Israel”—because of the capture of the ark of God and the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband. 22 She said, “The Glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured.”
We see here that before the wife of Phinehas died she named her son Ichabod which actually means “The glory has departed from Israel.” Because of all of this that happened, it was clear that God was pouring out judgment on Israel, God had removed His glory and there were things going to happen that had happened all through the Old Testament. This is also what happens when there is sin in the house of the Lord and it is not dealt with, this is why this church believes in accountability and next year, we are going to make sure we try to tighten things up here, we want the house of the Lord to be in order, AMEN!