1 Samuel 4 – Study

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: 1 Sam 4:1-11

1 Now the Israelites went out to fight against the Philistines. The Israelites camped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines at Aphek. 2 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.’

4 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. 6 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. 9 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.

A. Find Out:

1. What crisis was Israel facing? v.1,2
2. What did they think would be the answer? v.3
3. Who had to come with it? v.4
4. What was the effect upon Israel? v.5
5. What was the effect upon the Philistines? v.6-9
6. What was the outcome? v.10,11

B. Think:

1. What had the Ark been originally?
2. What did Israel think they could do by bringing the Ark?
3. How in this passage has the Lord fulfilled the principle of 2:30b and the prophecy of 2:34?

C. Comment:

     The Philistines were ongoing enemies of Israel. On this occasion Israel go to fight them but to their dismay they are defeated by them. There is no indication that Israel sought the Lord over this, and if they had done, they would have realised afresh what God had already said: He was against them because they disdained Him! Israel then did something that was akin to superstition.

       The Ark of the Covenant was a box that had resided in the innermost part of the tabernacle and had been considered the dwelling place of the presence of God (see Exodus 25:22). Israel thought that if they took the Ark with them, they would also bring the presence of the Lord and that would help them overcome the enemy. In the event it simply stirred up the Philistines to fight harder and the defeat was even greater with Eli’s two sons being killed, just as God had said they would. There is a temptation to try to manipulate events or circumstances to try to make the Lord work for us – but He is God Almighty and He doesn’t take sides! If we are willfully unrighteous, He will step back, and it is only our repentance that restores the relationship.

D. Application?

1. God calls us to follow Him, not to try to appease Him!
2. Repentance and belief in Jesus are the ONLY two things that move God’s heart to mercy.

Passage: 1 Sam 4:12-22

12 That same day a Benjaminite 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.

14 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?’

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.’

18 When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell backwards 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 for forty years.

19 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 labour and gave birth, but was overcome by her labour 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.

21 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.’

A. Find Out:

1. What was Eli thinking? v.13
2. What news was he told? v.17
3. What caused him to fall to his death? v.18
4. What caused his daughter-in-law to go into labour? v.19
5. What was her baby named? v.21
6. Why? v.21,22

B. Think:

1. What first of all, was the human tragedy here?
2. What greater tragedy was perceived by the people concerned?
3. Why do you think that was?

C. Comment:

     News is brought to Eli that causes him great shock, so much so that he falls from his seat, breaks his neck and dies! We might have expected the news of his sons’ deaths to have caused this shock, but it wasn’t that, it was the news of the capture of the Ark of God. Similarly, Eli’s daughter-in-law hears the news of the deaths of her husband, brother-in-law AND father-in-law, and yet it appears that it is more than this that pushes her into premature labour, it is the news of the loss of the Ark of God!   As she dies, she names her new baby by a name that reflects what she feels about the situation. In the midst of ungodliness these people know the truth about it!

     Two men have died for their sin of disdaining the Lord, a further man dies for his sin of negligence in respect of his sons, and now a woman dies because of premature birth and the loss of the Ark. For her perhaps, it seems as if any reason to struggle for life has gone! We thus see how the Ark, the symbol of the visible presence of God to these people, rated so highly to them. The tragedy is that they realised the significance of it but had done nothing previously to prevent it happening.  Prior to God’s judgement, it is never too late to repent!

D. Application?

1. Are we casual about the presence of God in our midst, allowing sin to provoke His exodus?
2. Do we value the Lord’s presence with us?