Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Samuel 4:8

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.

8. these mighty Gods ] The heathen polytheists naturally suppose that Israel like themselves had ‘gods many.’

with all the plagues ] Better, with an utter overthrow, lit. ‘with every kind of smiting.’ The word used is the same as that rendered slaughter in 1Sa 4:10, and the allusion is to the overthrow of Pharaoh in the Red Sea, the shores of which are called wilderness in Exo 13:20, not to the ten plagues, for which a different word is used in Exodus. The effect of the news of the destruction of Pharaoh upon the Philistines is alluded to in the Song of Moses, “Sorrow shall take hold upon the inhabitants of Palestina” (Exo 15:14): and Rahab speaks of it as inspiring the Canaanites with terror (Jos 2:9-11).

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

This is a remarkable testimony on the part of the Philistines to the truth of the events which are recorded in the Pentateuch. The Philistines would of course hear of them, just as Balak and the people of Jericho did Num 22:5; Jos 2:10.

With all the plagues … – Rather, with every kind of plague equivalent to with utter destruction.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 8. These mighty Gods] miyad haelohim haaddirim, from the hand of these illustrious Gods. Probably this should be translated in the singular, and not in the plural: Who shall deliver us from the hand of this illustrious God?

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

These mighty Gods; they secretly confess the Lord to be higher and greater than their gods, and yet against their knowledge presume to oppose him. They mention the wilderness, not as if all the plagues of the Egyptians came upon them in the wilderness, but because the last and sorest of all, which is therefore put for all, to wit, the destruction of Pharaoh and all his host, happened in the wilderness, namely, in the Red Sea, which having the wilderness on both sides of it, Exo 13:18,20; 15:3,11; 15:22, &c., may well be said to be in the wilderness. Although it is not strange if these heathens did mistake and misreport some circumstance in a relation of the Israelitish affairs, especially some hundreds of years after they were done, such mistakes being frequent in divers heathen authors treating of those matters, as Justin, and Tacitus, and others.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

Woe unto us, who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods?…. Of whom they spoke in an ironical and sneering manner; or if seriously and through fear, they use their own Heathenish language, as if the Israelites had many gods, as they had, though mightier than theirs; though the Syriac and Arabic versions read in the singular, out of the hand of God, or the most strong God; and so the Targum, out of the hand of the Word of the Lord:

these are the gods that smote the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness: the ten plagues were inflicted on the Egyptians in the land of Egypt, and not in the wilderness; wherefore the Philistines may be supposed to be mistaken in this circumstance; which is not to be wondered at, since many historians who have written of the affairs of the Jews have been mistaken in them, as Justin, Tacitus, and others; nay, even Josephus himself in some things: but perhaps respect is had to the drowning of Pharaoh and his host in the Red sea, which had the wilderness of Etham on both sides of it; and this stroke was the finishing one of the plagues on the Egyptians. R. Joseph Kimchi supposes the word for wilderness has the signification of speech, as in So 4:3 and that the sense of the Philistines is, that God smote the Egyptians with all the plagues he did by his word, his orders, and commands; but now he was come in person, and would smite them by himself; this sense Abarbinel calls a beautiful one.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(8) These are the Gods that smote the Egyptians.No doubt the compiler of these Memoirs of Samuel has given us the very words of the Philistines, preserved in their national traditions of this sad time. They are the expression of idolaters who knew of Gods and dreaded their malevolent influence, but who had no conception of the One Most High God. The plural form Elohim, so often found in the sacred record for God, is used here; but whereas the inspired compilers would have written their qualifying adjective in the singular, the Philistine idolaters write theirs in the pluralElohim addirim: Mighty Gods.

It is noticeable that the Philistine exclamation of awe and terror is based outwardly upon the Egyptian traditions of the acts of the Lord. They studiedly ignore what they were all in that camp painfully conscious ofHis acts in their own land of Canaan. The Septuagint and Syriac Versions, and some commentators, add and before the words in the wilderness, to make the Philistine exclamation more in harmony with history, seeing that the plagues were inflicted before the Israelites entered the wilderness; but the very vagueness of the exclamation of fear speaks for its truth. They were little concerned with exact historical accuracy, and were simply conscious of some terrible judgment having fallen on the foes of this Israel, a judgment they not unnaturally connected with the Ark of the Covenant just arrived in the enemys camp: that Ark their ancestors remembered so often at the head of the armies of this Israel in their days of triumph.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

8. These mighty Gods These Philistines speak the language of polytheists, not knowing that the God of Israel is ONE LORD.

Smote the Egyptians with all the plagues The word rendered plagues means literally smiting, slaughter, and special reference is made to the destruction of Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea, which was on the border of the desert. In Exo 13:20; Exo 14:3; Exo 14:11-12, the Egyptian shore of the Red Sea is called the wilderness. The other plagues of Egypt may also be included, and the phrase the wilderness need not be pressed, as though these Philistines in such an allusion must needs make precise statements.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

1Sa 4:8. Who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty Gods? As no such thing had been done in all the former battles of the Israelites as bringing the ark into the camp, the Philistines, full of the ideas of local and tutelary deities, express their fear and surprise. It was, no doubt, in conformity to the ideas of the Philistines, that our translators render elohim, gods, in this place, though it would certainly have been rendered more properly, this mighty God, and this is the God, as in the seventh verse. It was a very common custom among the ancients to carry the most sacred symbols of their religion to war with them. As the Egyptians were not punished in the wilderness, Houbigant, following the Chaldee and Syriac, reads, and did wonders in the wilderness; agreeably to which the French version reads, who smote Egypt in the wilderness, outre toutes les autres plaies, besides all their other plagues.

REFLECTIONS.The prophesy of Samuel concerning Eli’s house was soon spread, and men waited with suspense for the fulfilment, which quickly began in this war with the Philistines, which is here recorded, and happened towards the latter end of Eli’s government, about forty years after the death of Samson.

1. There was a pitched battle between the hosts of Israel and Philistia, wherein the former were worsted with the loss of four thousand men; nor need we wonder, when they seem neither to have consulted God in their war, nor to have repented of their sins.
2. On retiring to their camp, a council of war is held; wherein they seem not so much to have ascribed the stroke to God under an humbling sense of their deserts, as to express their anger for his Providence; and, instead of consulting his will, foolishly propose a contrivance of their own to secure their future victory, by bringing down the ark of God among them; as if the presence of that would ensure to them the power of him who dwelt between the cherubims over it. The resolution is no sooner taken than put in force, the ark sent for, and Eli’s ungodly sons bring it down: how little blessing could be hoped from the ark in such hands. Note; (1.) The afflictive providences which humble the penitent, exasperate the hardened, and make them fret against the Lord. (2.) They who are most destitute of the power of godliness have the greatest dependance on the form of it, are most zealous for the ark, the liturgy, the priesthood, and the ritual observances, and trust more in these for salvation, than in the blood, the merit, and grace of the Redeemer, working the spiritual renovation of their hearts. (3.) However good any establishment may be, whilst the ministers are graceless, the ark they bear will be an empty coffer, and no divine blessing can be expected to attend them.

3. Joy and triumph now swell the heart of every Israelite, and they shout till the earth rings with their acclamations. Note; They usually glory most in external privileges who have least experience of inward religion; and their shouting, like Israel’s, is the prelude not of victory, but of their everlasting shame and confusion.

4. The Philistines heard the shouts of Israel, and by their spies quickly learned the cause, which filled their host with consternation. Supposing the ark was Israel’s God, they express their apprehensions of his presence: they had not so shouted before, nor was the ark of God with them when they were before defeated; and reflecting upon the traditionary notices of the former wonders that God had wrought in Egypt, though they mistake the circumstances, they tremble for the consequences. However, their leaders encourage the soldiers not utterly to despond, but if the danger be great, to exert the greater courage to extricate themselves from it, reminding them of their former victories over Israel, and holding up to them the ignominy of servitude under those who had served them. Note; Their triumphing will be short, whose trust is formality, and whose hope is delusion. The event little corresponded with the sanguine expectations of the Israelites. They were smitten before their enemies, thirty thousand of them slain in the battle, among whom fell the wicked sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas; and, to crown the victory, that ark in which they trusted, falls into the hands of their enemies. Note; (1.) The wickedness of those who undertake a measure often makes a good cause suffer. (2.) The first and sorest judgments of God will fall upon the heads of wicked and faithless ministers. (3.) They who go out of God’s way, and act without his advice, can expect no success in their enterprizes.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

1Sa 4:8 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.

Ver. 8. Woe unto us! ] So at the siege of Mountabon, in France, when the Popish soldiers heard the people of God within the town singing a psalm, after which they ever expected a sally, they would so quake and tremble, crying, They come, they come! as if the wrath of God had been breaking out upon them. These faithless Philistines, followed by the furies of their own consciences, were woe begone, as we say, at the sight of God’s ark, as being the people of God’s wrath and of his curse.

With all the plagues in the wilderness. ] Or, Near the wilderness. That last sweeping plague – the drowning of them in the Red Sea – was near the wilderness of Etham, on the shore whereof their dead carcasses were cast up. Exo 14:30 Or it may be these frightened Philistines spoke at random, and according to their skill, as Bishop Bonner did when he said the martyrs were like to certain arrant heretics of whom Pliny maketh mention, that they daily sing antelucanos hymnos – psalms before daybreak.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

who . . . ? Figure of speech Erotesis. App-6.

the Gods = the Gods themselves.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

smote: Exo 7:5, Exo 9:14, Psa 78:43-51

Reciprocal: Exo 9:16 – for to Exo 10:1 – that I Exo 14:25 – for the Lord Deu 7:21 – a mighty God Deu 32:31 – General 1Sa 5:7 – saw 1Ki 20:23 – Their gods Psa 96:4 – For the Eze 20:9 – in whose Dan 4:9 – the spirit Act 13:17 – and with Rom 9:17 – that

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

1Sa 4:8. Who shall deliver us, &c. They had fought with men before; but now they thought they should have to fight with God, before whom none could stand. Here we see their unreasonableness and folly. They secretly confess the Lord to be greater than their gods, and yet presume to oppose him! That smote the Egyptians in the wilderness They seem to have had but a very imperfect and incorrect knowledge of the Israelitish affairs, and to have supposed that all those plagues which are recorded in their history had fallen on the Egyptians while the Israelites were in the wilderness, where they were when the last of these plagues befell them, and they were drowned in the Red sea. But it is not strange that these heathen should mistake some circumstances relating to the affairs of another people, with whom they had no friendly intercourse, but were in a state of almost continual hostility, especially as some hundreds of years had now elapsed since these events had taken place.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

4:8 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 {d} wilderness.

(d) For in the Red Sea in the wilderness the Egyptians were destroyed, which was the last of all his plagues.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes