Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Samuel 4:12
And there ran a man of Benjamin out of the army, and came to Shiloh the same day with his clothes rent, and with earth upon his head.
12. there ran a man of Benjamin ] Cp. 2Sa 18:19. The distance from Ebenezer to Shiloh was probably not more than twenty miles, so that a swift runner could easily arrive the same evening. Cp. to-day in 1Sa 4:16.
There is a strange Jewish tradition that the man was Saul, who seized the tables of the law out of the hand of Goliath and fled!
out of the army ] Out of the battle-array, as in 1Sa 4:2.
with his clothes rent and with earth upon his head ] Signs of the deepest mourning. Cp. Jos 7:6; 2Sa 1:2; Homer, Il. XVIII. 23, and an exact parallel in Virg. Aen. XII. 609 611, describing the mourning of Latinus on the suicide of his queen Amata:
“It scissa veste Latinus
Coniugis attonitus fatis urbisque ruina,
Canitiem immundo perfusam pulvere turpans.”
“Bowed to the earth with woe on woe,
His consort dead, his town brought low,
The hapless king his raiment tears,
And soils with dust his silver hairs.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
12 18. The Death of Eli
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Runners who were swift of foot, and could go long distances were important and well-known persons (compare 2Sa 18:19-31). There seem to have been always professional runners to act as messengers with armies in the field (2Ki 11:4, 2Ki 11:6,2Ki 11:19, the King James Version guards).
Earth upon his head – In token of bitter grief. Compare the marginal references.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
1Sa 4:12
And there ran a man of Benjamin out of the army, and came to Shiloh the same day with his clothes rent, and with earth upon his head.
The tidings bringer
I. That useless lamentations after the event cannot compensate for weakness or misconduct during the event. It is well to repent with bitter tears over bygone follies, errors, and sins, over opportunities lost or wasted. It is unmanly, however, to waste the present in lamentations over the past, or to imagine that any tears can cause those things that have been done to be undone, or those things that have been left undone to be done.
II. That the vengeance of God sooner or later comes upon the unworthy. Hophni and Phinehas might for a time pursue with impunity their licentious and covetous propensities; but headlong destruction in the end came upon them and theirs. For ill-gotten gains, for ill-gotten power, for ill-gotten pleasures, a clay of reckoning will assuredly come.
III. That parental partiality is not sufficient excuse for the connivance at, or the perpetration of, injustice.
IV. That outward ritual, however decent and becoming in its due place, cannot compensate for moral deficiencies.
V. That in our words and in our actions we should have a delicate consideration for the feelings of others. The messenger mentioned in the text did this in his communication to Eli. To Elis question to the messenger, he breaks the sad news gradually and gently to the aged priest, rising by successive steps in his narrative from the lesser woes to the greater.
VI. That our errors often deprive us of the power of enjoyment, but leave us the capacity for suffering.
VII. That what the superstitious denominate premonitions of evil, are really oftentimes only the prickings of their own consciences. Eli sat upon a seat by the wayside watching, for his heart trembled for the ark of God. (R. Young, M. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 12. Came to Shiloh the same day] The field of battle could not have been at any great distance, for this young man reached Shiloh the same evening after the defeat.
With his clothes rent, and with earth upon his head.] These were signs of sorrow and distress among all nations. The clothes rent, signified the rending, dividing, and scattering, of the people; the earth, or ashes on the head, signified their humiliation: “We are brought down to the dust of the earth; we are near to our graves.” When the Trojan fleet was burnt, AEneas is represented as tearing his robe from his shoulder, and invoking the aid of his gods: –
Tum pius AEneas humeris abscindere vestem,
Auxilioque vocare Deos, et tendere palmas.
VIRG. AEn. lib. v., ver. 685.
“The prince then tore his robes in deep despair,
Raised high his hands, and thus address’d his prayer.”
PITT.
We have a remarkable example in the same poet, where he represents the queen of King Latinus resolving on her own death, when she found that the Trojans had taken the city by storm: –
Purpueros moritura manu discindit amictus.
AEn. lib. xii., ver. 603.
She tears with both her hands her purple vest.
But the image is complete in King Latinus himself, when he heard of the death of his queen, and saw his city in flames: –
_______ It scissa veste Latinus,
Conjugis attonitus fatis, urbisque ruina,
Canitiem immundo perfusam pulvere turpans.
Ib., ver. 609.
Latinus tears his garments as he goes.
Both for his public and his private woes:
With filth his venerable beard besmears,
And sordid dust deforms his silver hairs.
DRYDEN.
We find the same custom expressed in one line by Catullus: –
Canitiem terra, atque infuso pulvere foedans.
EPITH. Pelei et Thetidos, ver. 224.
Dishonouring her hoary locks with earth and sprinkled dust.
The ancient Greeks in their mourning often shaved off their hair: –
,
, ‘ .
HOM. Odyss. lib. iv., ver. 197.
“Let each deplore his dead: the rites of wo
Are all, alas! the living can bestow
O’er the congenial dust, enjoin’d to shear
The graceful curl, and drop the tender tear.”
POPE.
And again: –
‘
, .
Ib., lib. xxiv., ver. 44.
“Then unguents sweet, and tepid streams, we shed;
Tears flow’d from every eye; and o’er the dead
Each clipp’d the curling honours of his head.”
POPE.
The whole is strongly expressed in the case of Achilles, when he heard of the death of his friend Patroclus: –
‘
,
, ‘
‘ .
Iliad, lib. xviii., ver. 22.
“A sudden horror shot through all the chief,
And wrapp’d his senses in the cloud of grief.
Cast on the ground, with furious hands he spread
The scorching ashes o’er his graceful head:
His purple garments, and his golden hairs.
Those he deforms with dust, and these with tears.”
POPE.
It is not unusual, even in Europe, and in the most civilized parts of it, to see grief expressed by tearing the hair, beating the breasts, and rending the garments; all these are natural signs, or expression of deep and excessive grief, and are common to all the nations of the world.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The usual rites in great sorrows. See Gen 37:29; Jos 7:6, &c.; 2Sa 1:2,11.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And there ran a man of Benjamin out of the army,…. Out of the rank in which he was, before the whole army was quite broken up. This was a young man as Josephus b says, which is highly probable; though not at all to be depended on is what the Jews c say, that this was Saul, later king of Israel:
and came to Shiloh the same day; which, according to Bunting d, was forty two miles from Ebenezer, near to which the battle was fought; and that it was a long way is pretty plain by the remark made, that this messenger came the same day the battle was fought; though not at such a distance as some Jewish writers say, some sixty, some one hundred and twenty miles e; which is not at all probable:
with his clothes rent, and earth upon his head; which were both tokens of distress and mourning, and showed that he was a messenger of bad tidings from the army; [See comments on Jos 7:6].
b Antiqu. l. 5. c. 11. sect. 3. c Shalshalet Hakabala. fol. 8. 1. Jarchi in loc. d Travels of the Patriarchs, &c. p. 123. e Midrash Schemuel apud Abarbinel in loc.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The tidings of this calamity were brought by a Benjaminite, who came as a messenger of evil tidings, with his clothes rent, and earth upon his head – a sign of the deepest mourning (see Jos 7:6), – to Shiloh, where the aged Eli was sitting upon a seat by the side ( is a copyist’s error for ) of the way watching; for his heart trembled for the ark of God, which had been taken from the sanctuary into the camp without the command of God. At these tidings the whole city cried out with terror, so that Eli heard the sound of the cry, and asked the reason of this loud noise (or tumult), whilst the messenger was hurrying towards him with the news.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Death of Eli. | B. C. 1120. |
12 And there ran a man of Benjamin out of the army, and came to Shiloh the same day with his clothes rent, and with earth upon his head. 13 And when he came, lo, Eli sat upon a seat by the wayside watching: for his heart trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came into the city, and told it, all the city cried out. 14 And when Eli heard the noise of the crying, he said, What meaneth the noise of this tumult? And the man came in hastily, and told Eli. 15 Now Eli was ninety and eight years old; and his eyes were dim, that he could not see. 16 And the man said unto Eli, I am he that came out of the army, and I fled to day out of the army. And he said, What is there done, my son? 17 And the messenger answered and said, Israel is fled before the Philistines, and there hath been also a great slaughter among the people, and thy two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God is taken. 18 And it came to pass, when he made mention of the ark of God, that he fell from off the seat backward by the side of the gate, and his neck brake, and he died: for he was an old man, and heavy. And he had judged Israel forty years.
Tidings are here brought to Shiloh of the fatal issue of their battle with the Philistines. Bad news flies fast. This soon spread through all Israel; every man that fled to his tent brought it, with too plain a proof of it, to his neighbours. But no place was so nearly concerned as Shiloh. Thither therefore an express posted away immediately; it was a man of Benjamin; the Jews fancy it was Saul. He rent his clothes, and put earth upon his head, by these signs to proclaim the sorrowful news to all that saw him as he ran, and to show how much he himself was affected with it, v. 12. He went straight to Shiloh with it; and here we are told,
I. How the city received it. Eli sat in the gate (1Sa 4:13; 1Sa 4:18), but the messenger was loth to tell him first, and therefore passed him by, and told it in the city, with all the aggravating circumstances; and now both the ears of every one that heard it tingled, as was foretold, ch. iii. 11. Their hearts trembled, and every face gathered blackness. All the city cried out (v. 13), and well they might, for, besides that this was a calamity to all Israel, it was a particular loss to Shiloh, and the ruin of that place; for, though the ark was soon rescued out of the hands of the Philistines, yet it never returned to Shiloh again; their candlestick was removed out of its place, because they had left their first love, and their city dwindled, and sunk, and came to nothing. Now God forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, they having driven him from them; and the tribe of Ephraim, which had for 340 years been blessed with the presence of the ark in it, lost the honour (Psa 78:60; Psa 78:67), and, some time after, it was transferred to the tribe of Judah, the Mount Sion which he loved, as it follows there (v. 68), because the men of Shiloh knew not the day of their visitation. This abandoning of Shiloh Jerusalem is long afterwards reminded of, and told to take warning by. Jer. vii. 12, “Go see what I did to Shiloh. From this day, this fatal day, let the desolations of Shiloh be dated.” They had therefore reason enough to cry out when they heard that the ark was taken.
II. What a fatal blow it was to old Eli. Let us see, 1. With what fear he expected the tidings. Though old, and blind, and heavy, yet he could not keep his chamber when he was sensible the glory of Israel lay at stake, but placed himself by the way-side, to receive the first intelligence; for his heart trembled for the ark of God, v. 13. His careful thoughts represented to him what a dishonour it would be to God, and what an irreparable loss to Israel, if the ark should fall into the Philistines’ hands, with what profane triumphs the tidings would be told in Gath and published in the streets of Ashkelon. He also apprehended what imminent danger there was of it. Israel had forfeited the ark (his own sons especially) and the Philistines would aim at it; and now the threatening comes to his mind, that he should see an enemy in God’s habitation (ch. ii. 32); and perhaps his own heart reproached him for not using his authority to prevent the carrying of the ark into the camp. All these things made him tremble. Note, All good men lay the interests of God’s church nearer their hearts than any secular interest or concern of their own, and cannot but be in pain and fear for them if at any time they are in peril. How can we be easy if the ark be not safe? 2. With what grief he received the tidings. Though he could not see, he could hear the tumult and crying of the city, and perceived it to be the voice of lamentation, and mourning, and woe; like a careful magistrate, he asks, What means the noise of this tumult? v. 14. He is told there is an express come from the army, who relates the story to him very distinctly, and with great confidence, having himself been an eye-witness of it, 1Sa 4:16; 1Sa 4:17. The account of the defeat of the army, and the slaughter of a great number of the soldiers, was very grievous to him as a judge; the tidings of the death of his two sons, of whom he had been so indulgent, and who, he had reason to fear, died impenitent, touched him in a tender part as a father; yet it was not for these that his heart trembled: there is a greater concern upon his spirit, which swallows up the less; he does not interrupt the narrative with any passionate lamentations for his sons, like David for Absalom, but waits for the end of the story, not doubting but that the messenger, being an Israelite, would, without being asked, say something of the ark; and if he could but have said, “Yet the ark of God is safe, and we are bringing that home,” his joy for that would have overcome his grief for all the other disasters, and have made him easy; but, when the messenger concludes his story with, The ark of God is taken, he is struck to the heart, his spirits fail, and, it should seem, he swooned away, fell off his seat, and partly with the fainting, and partly with the fall, he died immediately, and never spoke a word more. His heart was broken first, and then his neck. So fell the high priest and judge of Israel, so fell his heavy head when he had lived within two of 100 years, so fell the crown from his head when he had judged Israel about forty years: thus did his sun set under a cloud, thus were the folly and wickedness of those sons of his, whom he had indulged, his ruin at last. Thus does God sometimes set marks of his displeasure in this life upon good men who have misconducted themselves, that others may hear, and fear, and take warning. A man may die miserably and yet not die eternally, may come to an untimely end and yet the end be peace. Dr. Lightfoot observes that Eli died the death of an unredeemed ass, whose neck was to be broken, Exod. xiii. 13. Yet we must observe, to Eli’s praise, that it was the loss of the ark that was his death, not the slaughter of his sons. He does, in effect, say, “Let me fall with the ark, for what pious Israelite can live with any comfort when God’s ordinances are removed?” Farewell all in this world, even life itself, if the ark be gone.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Beginning of Prophetic Fulfillment, vs. 12-22
Shiloh lay across the mountains from the battle ground, possibly thirty straight-line miles. One of the fleeing soldiers, headed for his home by way of Shiloh, brought the news of the disaster to Eli and the townspeople. Eli had taken his seat by the gate of the tabernacle on the roadside awaiting news of the battle. The Scriptures say, “his heart trembled for the ark of God.” Well it might, for he doubtless knew that the ark should not have been carried into battle under the circumstances. After the information revealed to young Samuel he surely had a premonition of impending doom. Surely his heart smote him for his own part in bringing such a condition about in Israel. He was very much repentant, it seems, but it was too late. Judgment must fall.
Eli heard the noise of grief and weeping in the city and inquired for the cause. The messenger was brought to him, and Eli personally inquired of him what had occurred in the battle. The answer was given in four steps, each of which must have sunk the old priest’s heart further, until the last, and he could not withstand that. First, Israel had fled, meaning they had lost the battle; second, there had been a great slaughter, indicating that the Philistines had won a decisive victory; third, Hophni and Phinehas had been killed, which Eli must have expected; finally, the Philistines had captured the ark of the covenant of the Lord.
At news of the ark’s capture El,’ fainted He was ninety-eight years of age and had grown very fat, so that when. he fell backward from his seat his neck was broken. A summary statement here dives the time of Eli’s judgeship over Israel at forty years. It was equal to that of other judges of Israel. as Gideon and Othniel. but he does not appear to have been accorded such honors as they were. for he had miserably failed the Lord and Israel.
The scene shifts to the home of Phinehas. His wife was about to reach the term of childbirth, and when she heard the news of the battle she was so distressed she went into premature delivery. From what is here told it would seem that she was more concerned for the ark and the things of the Lord than were the priests. Though she was grieved for their deaths she was most concerned for the loss of the ark, which loss she paralleled with the departure of Israel’s glory.
Phinehas’ wife died in childbirth, lamenting the departed glory of Israel because the ark was taken. The women attending her tried to cheer her by telling her that her baby was a boy, but she paid no heed but to give the child the name, Ichabod. Ichabod means “inglorious.” Surely the child, born an orphan, came into the world at a sad time, for Israel was out of the will of God, had no priest in the tabernacle, the ark symbol of the Lord’s presence was in Philistine hands, and the land was under the domination of pagan people. But Samuel was in Shiloh, still preaching the message of the Lord, and after a long time the people will repent and seek his leadership and be delivered.
Learn from chapter four: 1) God cannot be contained in a house, or otherwise; He is to be worshipped in the spirit; 2) the Lord will not give victory to those who insist on their own way rather than His; 3) those who know they have failed the Lord must face the consequences of chastisement; 4) when the Lord’s people are dominated by the world there remains no more glory in their churches.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
CRITICAL AND EXPOSITORY NOTES
1Sa. 4:13. Eli sat upon a seat by the wayside. This sitting on the side of the way by which the first message must come answers precisely to the intense expectation in which Eli, though blind, had taken this position, so as, if not with the eyes, yet with the sense of hearing, to learn straightway the arrival of the first messenger. He sits, as in 1Sa. 1:9, at the inner, so here at the outer, gate of the sanctuary, on his seat, and, as appears from 1Sa. 4:18, on the side of the gate, which was also, therefore, the side of the adjacent way. (Erdmann.)
1Sa. 4:14. When Eli heard the noise of the crying. His blindness explains the fact that he failed to observe the messenger who ran hurriedly by without noticing him. (Erdmann.)
1Sa. 4:15. His eyes were dim, literally, his eyes stood. This is a description of the so-called black cataract (amaurosis), which generally occurs at a very great age from paralysis of the optic nerve. (Keil.)
1Sa. 4:21. Ichabod, i.e., Not-glory. The narrator has in mind her words upon which she based that ejaculation, but does not state them as hers till afterward; here he states beforehand the fact contained in them as a historical explanation. We must note, however, the difference between his explanation and her reason for that exclamation in 1Sa. 4:22. While he mentions the reference to the two dead, she bases the name on the one thing only, the capture of the ark. (Erdmann.)
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.1Sa. 4:12-22
THE DEATH OF ELI
I. All Gods promises become histories. In the natural world there is promise of what shall be, and in due time there is the history of its having been. The green blade of spring is a promise of the harvest that is by and by a fact in the history of the world. The cloud no bigger than a mans hand upon the horizon is the promise of the storm that may be presently set down in the catalogue of destructive visitations that have devastated the earth. In the days of Noah a promise of judgment hung over the people of his day for one hundred and twenty years. So long was it before the cloud burst that the terror which was perhaps aroused at the first announcement of its appearance passed away long before the storm burst. But it came, and the flood is now a fact in the history of the world. God had foretold the judgment which is described in this chapter some years before. If the message which had been sent to the house of Eli had ever caused the hearts of Hophni and Phinehas to quake, the delay in the execution of the sentence had probably only hardened them in their sin, and perhaps even Eli himself might have begun to hope that it would not be so terrible as it had seemed to him at first. But on this memorable day God gave a demonstration to all coming ages that all His promises, whether of judgment or mercy, will one day become facts in the history of the universe. A promise was made to Isaiah concerning the deliverance of his nation from Babylon long before it went into captivity, but both captivity and deliverance, with all the circumstances foretold concerning the latter in Isaiah 45, have long ago become well-known historic facts. The great fact in which all history centresthe incarnation of the Son of Godwas for ages only a promise. The dim outline given to our first parents in Eden was like the tiny germ bursting from the seed which grew into the blade and ear as the ages rolled, until the promise became the great historic event of the world. And there are promises now waiting to become histories, and they will as surely have their fulfilment as those that have gone before. What has been is a pledge of what will be. Men say, concerning Christs second advent, Where is the promise of His coming? But that promise of the Lord will one day as surely be a fact of past history as those that have gone before.
II. The effects produced by the fulfilment of this promise of judgment. There was not a family in the land who was not smitten with a sense of national calamity. A stab at the heart sends a pain through all the frame, the extremities of the body feel a blow aimed at the seat of life. In countries where the army is drawn from the fields and workshops of the people, the strength of the nation is often found gathered upon the battle-field, and a defeat there is a blow at its very heart and sends a thrill of anguish into every home. Such was thenature of the blow which Israel had now sustained, and the entire body of the nation felt the shock. Wherever there was a child of Abraham the news of the defeat pierced him through like a stab of cold steel. But the calamity was more intensely felt by some households than by others. In any time of national calamity the leaders of the nation have to bear a larger portion of the sorrow than the masses. They lose more in every way. They have more to losemore in substancemore in honour; as their position has been higher, their fall is greater, and as more responsibility has rested upon them, so their disgrace is heavier. Although all the families of Israel suffered on this day none suffered so much as the house of Eli. Even if it had not been the execution of a special judgment upon them, their position would have made them the greatest sufferers, but the consciousness that the calamity was mainly due to the sins of their house intensified a thousand-fold the severity of the blow. The effect that the news had upon the aged high-priest shows how severely he felt it. In felling an aged oak many a stroke of the hatchet may be dealt before there is any sign of its fall, but at length the woodman gathers all his strength for a final stroke, which, following upon all that have gone before, lays it even with the ground. So it is with men and the strokes of adverse providencethey stand upright after having received many a heavy blow, but one may come at last which, finding their courage and patience weakened by the trials of the past, crushes them altogether. Job bore up manfully against repeated and heavy blows, but at last a stroke fell which laid even this brave and patient man prostrate like a fallen tree. Eli had seen many a sad day in the course of a life which covered nearly a century, but he had never seen a day like this. Even now he bore calmly the news of Israels defeat, and even that of the death of his sons, but the tidings that the ark of God was taken was too much to bear and livethis stroke killed him.
III. Calamity often reveals excellencies which are hidden in prosperity. There are many men in the Church of God living in ease and comfort who do not seem to possess any extraordinary heroism. But very often such men, under circumstances of special trial, reveal a nobility of character that men never knew before that they possessed. Like spices, they must be crushed before they yield their fragrance. What is recorded of the life of Eli does not leave the impression that he was a very exalted character; but the fact that it was the loss of the ark of God that killed him, and not the news of his own personal bereavement, shows that there was much latent patriotism in him, notwithstanding his grave shortcomings. We should never have known how much he really prized the hallowed tokens of Gods covenant-relation to Israel if this calamity had not befallen him. The thought that God had departed from his people broke his heart before he fell and broke his neck. It is the same with his daughter-in-law. We should never have known of this womans piety if this blow had not fallen upon her. It was not the death of her father, or of her husband, that made her refuse to be comforted and to go down to the grave with Ichabod upon her lips, but she said, The glory is departed from Israel; for the ark of God is taken.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
1Sa. 4:13. There be four reasons why the people of God are so much troubled when the ark of God is in danger.
I. Because of the great love they bear to it. As God loved the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob (Psa. 87:2), so the people of God love the ordinances of God, and the faithful ministers of Christ. Lord, I have loved the habitation of Thy house, and the place where Thine honour dwelleth (Psa. 26:8). Now love stirreth up the affections, as young Cresus, though he were dumb, yet seeing his father like to be killed, cried out Do not kill my father! Such is the love of the saints of God to the ark; they cannot but tremble when they see the ark in danger, and for Sions sake they cannot hold their peace, and they cannot be silent until the Lord make the righteousness thereof go out like brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth.
II. Because of the interest they have in the ark of God. Interest stirreth up affection as when another mans house is on fire; as you had a lamentable and sad providence this last week, and it is not to be forgotten how suddenly in all our feastings may God dash all our mirth. Now consider, how were they affected that had an interest in those that were burned; so the people of God have an interest in the ark. God is the haven of a child of God, his portion and inheritance, and when God begins to forsake them they cannot but be troubled. The ordinances of God are the jewels of a Christian and the treasure of a Christian, and the loss of them cannot but trouble them.
III. Because of the mischiefs that come upon a nation when the ark is lost. Woe be to that nation when the ark is gone. For when the ark of God is taken then the ways of Zion mourn, and none come to her solemn assemblies. That is matter of sadness. Then the ministers of Christ are driven into corners. This is matter of heart-trembling. Then the souls of men are in danger. There is cause of sadness. Then do the enemies of God blaspheme, and then is Jesus Christ trampled under foot.
IV. Because of their accessariness to the losing of the ark. And this was that which made Eli so much troubled, because he knew that for his sin God suffered the ark to be taken. And there is none of us so holy but our consciences must accuse us. We have done something that might cause God to take the ark from us.E. Calamy, 1662.
1Sa. 4:22. With the surrender of the earthly throne of His glory the Lord appeared to have abolished His covenant of grace with Israel; for the ark, with the tables of the law and the capporeth, was the visible pledge of the covenant of grace which Jehovah had made with Israel.Keil.
The glory is departed from Israelso it seemed in the eyes of men. But with God there is no variableness or shadow of turning (Jas. 1:17); and in that dark night of sorrow to the Hebrew Church and nation His glory shone forth most brightly. There is no Ichabod to God. His sovereign power and Divine independence were seen to work more gloriously and graciously even when the visible Church appeared to be overthrown. He inaugurated a new era in Samuel, and prepared the way for the Gospel. He showed that the Aaronical priesthood was only parenthetical and provisional; that the Levitical ordinances were not necessary to Gods gracious dealings with His people; that they were shadows which would one day pass away; that they were like a scaffold for building up a housethe Church of Christ. God thus gave a prophetic foreshadowing of what was more fully displayed to the world when the material temple of Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans, and the universal Church of Christ was raised up in its stead.Wordsworth.
The union of the heart with God in the deepest foundation of its being reveals itself in times of great misfortune and suffering in this, that the sorrow and mourning is not restricted to the loss of earthly human possessions, but directs itself chiefly to the loss and lack of Gods gracious presence, and thus shows that for the inner life the glory of God and blessedness in communion with Him is become the highest good. So here, in this refraining from grief over the loss of what to the flesh was the nearest and dearest, and in the outspoken sorrow only over the violence done to Gods honour and the contempt cast on His name, is verified the Lords word, He who forsaketh not father or mother, or brother, etc., is not worthy of me. Langes Commentary.
What cares she for a posterity which should want the ark? What cares she for a son come into the world of Israel, when God was gone from it? And how willingly doth she depart from them, from whom God was departed! Bishop Hall.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Death of Eli. 1Sa. 4:12-18
12 And there ran a man of Benjamin out of the army, and came to Shiloh the same day with his clothes rent, and with earth upon his head.
13 And when he came, lo, Eli sat upon a seat by the wayside watching: for his heart trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came into the city, and told it, all the city cried out.
14 And when Eli heard the noise of the crying, he said, What meaneth the noise of this tumult? And the man came in hastily, and told Eli.
15 Now Eli was ninety and eight years old; and his eyes were dim, that he could not see.
16 And the man said unto Eli, I am he that came out of the army, and I fled today out of the army. And he said, What is there done, my son?
17 And the messenger answered and said, Israel is fled before the Philistines, and there hath been also a great slaughter among the people, and thy two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God is taken.
18 And it came to pass, when he made mention of the ark of God, that he fell from off the seat backward by the side of the gate, and his neck brake, and he died: for he was an old man, and heavy. And he had judged Israel forty years.
11.
Who was the messenger from the battle? 1Sa. 4:12
Rabbinical tradition makes him to have been Saul. All the Scriptures tell us is that he was a Benjamite. The rabbinical tradition tells quite a story of the manner in which Saul had rescued the tables of the Law from the hands of Goliath and then had run to tell Eli. This Benjamite, who is unnamed is, however, described. He was in deep distress, having his clothes rent and earth on his head. These were the usual signs of grief (see 2Sa. 1:2; 2Sa. 15:32); but he still had a task to perform, that of bringing the tidings of the battle to the people at Shiloh and to Eli, the old priest.
12.
Where was Eli and why there? 1Sa. 4:13
He was at the roadside watching because he was anxious for the safety of the Ark of God. The road would naturally be the one leading to the scene of the battle, Yet the fugitive apparently comes first to the town and afterwards to Eli. If we understand that the gate mentioned is the gate to the Tabernacle, at which he was accustomed to sit (1Sa. 1:9) then we can better understand his position. Though he was blind, his mind was intent upon the road along which news must come. When the bearer of tidings came first to the town, the people shrieked at the news: and Eli heard the outcry before the messenger reached him, although the messenger had not delayed.
13.
Why did Eli have to ask the meaning of the tumult? 1Sa. 4:14
As we have already read and as we read again in verse fifteen, Elis eyes were dim. He could not see. As a man who was blind, he had to ask what the meaning of all the tumult might be. No doubt he was giving expression of his constant anxiety for the safety of the Ark and the fulfillment of Gods judgment against his house.
14.
What effect did the news have on Eli and why? 1Sa. 4:18
He was old and was blind. Eli must have known the Ark was going out, and he must have known that they had done wrong. He realized his own mistakes. Sitting there in the darkness of the so-called black cataract (for this is the description as given and generally is an affliction paralyzing the optic nerves of those who reach a great age) he was trembling for the safety of the Ark. He did not react so much to the news about the death of his two sons; but when he heard of the capture of the Ark, he fell back from his seat and broke his neck and died. The items of the news reach him in a scale of ascendency: Israel had fled from before the Philistines, there was a great slaughter of the people, Elis two sons were dead, and the Ark of God had been captured.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(12) And there ran a man of Benjamin.The Rabbinical tradition relates that this messenger was Saul, who snatched from Goliath the tables of the Law taken out of the Ark, in order to save them. The whole of this account is so vivid, and is so full of detail that it must have come from some eye-witnessprobably from Samuel himself. These swift runners are still employed to carry news in war time in the East. In the sacred story we possess several important instances of such messages: for instance, in the account of Absaloms death, Cushi and Ahimaaz bring the tidings from Joab to King David (2Sa. 18:21-27). Asahel, the son of Zeruiah, the sister of David, is mentioned as being famous for his running (2Sa. 2:18). Elijah, again, we hear, once outran the chariot of Ahab between Carmel and Jezreel. Phidippides, when sent to urge the people of Sparta to come to the help of the Athenians against the Persians, arrived at Sparta on the second day after his departure from Athens (Herodotus, 6:105, 6). Running seems to have been an exercise specially cultivated among the athletes of old times.
The rent clothes and the earth upon the head were the usual indications that the news brought by the messenger were tidings of evil.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
THE BITTER TIDINGS, 1Sa 4:12-22.
We might search the fields of literature in vain to find a more touching picture of human calamity and distress than these ten verses give us. The aged Eli, feeble and decrepit under the weight of eight and ninety years, goes forth from his place in the tabernacle and sits down by the wayside, where he may catch the first message from the battle. All the city is waiting the result in breathless expectation, and his heart is trembling for the safety of the ark. Perhaps it was taken away from Shiloh without his counsel or against his will. But though his anxiety to hear the first message leads him out by the wayside, the messenger seems to have rushed by him, intentionally, perhaps, knowing that the awful tidings would break the old man’s heart. But he soon hears the bitter wail of lamentation that rises from the city, and the messenger, coming into his presence, rapidly but impressively tells his woful tale. Eli’s trembling bosom throbs with wild intensity, but he still bears up until he hears it said, “The ark of God is taken!” Then burst the heart that had so long been sorrow-stricken, and, falling backwards from his seat, the venerable priest and Judge expired.
Then followed in another part of Shiloh another scene of woe. It was the mournful death of the wife of Phinehas. The bitter tidings brought on her travail pains, and these ended in death. No comforting words of surrounding friends could inspirit her, and with her dying breath she gave her child a name that would forever suggest to the memory of the living the bitter losses of that dreadful day.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
12. His clothes rent, and earth upon his head Usual signs of calamity and grief. Compare Jos 7:6 ; 2Sa 13:19; 2Sa 15:32.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Death of Eli and of his Daughter-In-Law
v. 12. And there ran a man of Benjamin out of the army, v. 13. And when he came, lo, Eli sat upon a seat by the wayside watching, v. 14. And when Eli heard the noise of the crying, he said, What meaneth the noise of this tumult? v. 15. Now, Eli was ninety and eight years old; and his eyes were dim that he could not see; v. 16. And the man said unto Eli, I am he that came out of the army, and I fled today out of the army. v. 17. And the messenger answered and said, Israel is fled before the Philistines, and there hath been also a great slaughter among the people, and thy two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God is taken. v. 18. And it came to pass, when he made mention of the ark of God, v. 19. And his daughter-in-law, Phinehas’ wife, was with child, near to be delivered; and when she heard the tidings that the ark of God was taken and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and travailed; for her pains came upon her, v. 20. And about the time of her death, v. 21. And she named the child Ichabod v. 22. And she said,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
II. The Judgment on the House of Eli. 1Sa 4:12-22
12And there ran a man of Benjamin20 out of the army, and came to Shiloh the 13same day with his clothes rent, and with earth upon his head. And when [om. when] he came [ins. and] lo, Eli sat upon a [his21] seat by the wayside22 watching; for his heart trembled for the ark of God. And when [om. when] the man came into the city and told it [came, in order to tell it in the city] [ins. and] all the city 14cried out. And when [om. when] Eli heard the noise of the crying, he [om. he, ins. and] said, What meaneth the noise of this tumult? And the man came in 15hastily [hasted and came] and told Eli. Now Eli was ninety and eight23 years old, 16and his eyes were dim [set] that he could not see. And the man said unto Eli, I am he that came out of the army, and I fled to-day out of the army. And he said, 17What is there done, my son? And the messenger answered and said, Israel is fled before the Philistines, and there hath been also a great slaughter among the people, and thy two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God 18is taken. And it came to pass, when he made mention of the ark of God, that he fell from off the seat backward by the side24 of the gate, and his neck brake, and he died; for he was an old man [the man was old], and heavy. And he had judged 19Israel forty25 years. And his daughter-in-law, Phinehas wife, was with child, near to be delivered;26 and when she heard the tidings that the ark of God was taken, and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and travailed, 20for her pains came upon her. And about the time of her death the women that stood by her said, Fear not; for thou hast borne a son. But she answered 21not, neither did she regard it. And she named the child Ichabod, saying The glory is departed from Israel, because the ark of God was taken, and because of 22her father-in-law and her husband. And she said, The glory is departed from Israel, for the ark of God is taken.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1Sa 4:12 sq. The persons and events of the following narrative are described with peculiar vividness, so that we may here without doubt suppose the narration to rest on the direct account of an eye-witness. A man of Benjamin.Thenius: This exact statement vouches for a faithful tradition. That he comes with mournful tidings is shown by his rent garment and the earth strown on his head, as signs of sudden deep grief, in which the heart is rent with sorrow. Comp. Gen 37:29; Gen 37:34; Num 16:6; Jos 7:6; 2Sa 15:32; Eze 27:30.27To Shiloh the man came straight from the army (, Vulg. ex acie). According to the Jewish tradition28 this man was Saul, who snatched from Goliath the Tables of the Law, taken out of the ark, in order to save them. Instead of the (he slew) of the text, which is unintelligible, we must read (side)1 Samuel 29 : He sat by the side of the way, watching. Thenius remarks: What a strange expression ! But the sitting in the way, or on the side of the way by which the first message must come, answers precisely to the intense expectation in which Eli, though blind, had taken this position, so as, if not with the eyes (which, however, had perhaps still a glimmer of light), yet with the sense of hearing to learn straightway the arrival of the first messenger. Eli sits, as in 1Sa 1:9 at the inner, so here at the outer gate of the Sanctuary, on his seat,30 and, as appears from 1Sa 4:18, on the side of the gate, which was also, therefore, the side of the adjacent way.His heart was heavy, not merely from anxiety and care for the ark, which without divine command he had let go from its dwelling-place into the camp (Berl. Bib.), but also in respect to the issue of the battle itself for the people of Israel.Elis blindness explains the fact that he failed to observe the messenger, who ran hurriedly by31 without noticing him. It is the cry of lamentation, raised by the people of Shiloh at his news, that directs Elis attention to the announcement. His question concerning the loud outcry around him, on which the messenger came to inform him, is explained in 1Sa 4:15 by reference to his blindness, the result of old age.Eli was 98 years old, and his eyes were set. (The Fem. Sing. with is explained, according to Ewald, 317 a, by the abstract conception which connects itself with the Plu. of the Subst. by the combination into an abstract idea of the individuals embraced in it, especially in lifeless objects, beasts, or in co-operating members of one body, in which the action of the individuals is not so prominentand so in the Dual, as here). For were set comp. 1Ki 16:4, where occurs the same expression for blindness caused by old age. It is the vivid description of the lifeless, motionless appearance of the eye quenched by senile weakness, a description of the so-called black cataract, amaurosis, which usually ensues in great old age from the feebleness of the optic nerves (Keil, in loco). In 1Sa 3:2 the process of this blinding is indicated by the word as waxing dim.
1Sa 4:16 sq. The sorrowful tidings. The remark in 1Sa 4:15 concerning Elis senile weakness and blindness explains both the preceding 1Sa 4:14 and the statement in 1Sa 4:16 as to the way in which the messenger personally announces and introduces himself with the words: I am he that came out of the army.But he says, I am he that came not merely on account of Elis blindness, but also on account of the importance of the announcement with which he approaches the head of the whole people. It is not allowable, therefore, to translate: I come (De Wette). At the same time the messenger declares himself a fugitive, and so intimates that the army is completely broken up. Elis question refers not to the How (how stood the affair? De Wette, Bunsen), but to the What: What was the affair? (Thenius), Vulg.: quid actum est?The answer of the messenger to Elis question (1Sa 4:17) contains nothing but facts in a fourfold grade, each statement more dreadful than the preceding. There is a power in these words which comes out in four sharp sentences, with blow after blow, till its force is crushing: Israel fleeing before the Philistines, a great slaughter among the people, Elis sons dead, the ark taken. The double and also () is to be observed here as characteristic of the lapidary style of the words, and the excitement with which they were spoken.The narrator remarks expressly that the fourth blow, the news of the capture of the ark by the heathen, led to Elis death. This is again a sign of the fear of God, which was deeply rooted in his heart; the ark represented the honor and glory of the God who dwelt in His people; the peoples honor and power might perish; the destruction of his house might be irretardable, unavoidable; prepared beforehand for it, he had said: It is the Lord, let him do as seemeth him good ! But the loss of the ark to the heathen was his death-blow the more surely, the firmer had been his hope that, as of old in the time of Moses and Joshua, the host of Israel would win the victory over the Philistines under the lead of the ark which he, a weak guardian of the Sacred Vessel, had sent off to the battle without Divine command, weakly yielding to the elders of the people whose trust was not in the living God. His judicial and high-priestly office, lacking as it was in honor and renown, he closed with honor; though the manner of his death was terrible, and bore the mark of a divine judgment, he nevertheless died in the fear of God. Berl. Bib.: It is besides an honorable and glorious death to die from care for Gods honor. His judgeship had lasted 40 years. The Sept. reading, 20 years for 40, results, according to Thenius, from the confusion of the numeral letters and , as the reading 78 (Syr., Arab.) for 98 in 1Sa 4:15, according to the same critic, may be due to the confusion of and . Further, our text is sustained by the fact that Eli hardly became Judge in his 78th year” (Thenius).
1Sa 4:19 sq. Here follows the pathetic narrative of Elis daughter-in-law, in which is shown how the judgment on Elis house is still farther fulfilled in his family.32 The wife of Phinehas was so violently affected by the horror and sorrow that her pains came prematurely on her. Literally it reads: her pains turned upon her, or began to turn themselves within her. This expression is suggested by the ground-meaning of the word (), something turning, winding, circling.
1Sa 4:20. The comforting word of the women who stood by: thou hast borne a son does not rouse the mothers joy in her heart, and cannot overcome or soften its sorrow at the loss of the ark, which is more to her than the loss of husband and father-in-lawand this is set forth by two expressions in the narration: she gave no answer, and laid it not to heart, did not set her mind on it. Comp. Psa 62:11 . What is commonly for a mothers heart at such a time the greatest joy (Joh 16:21), was for her as if it were not; so is her soul occupied and taken up with sorrow for the lost ark. This shows the earnest, sincere piety, in which she is like her father-in-law. Elis house, made ripe by his weakness for so frightful a judgment, was not in all its members personally a partaker of the godlessness and immorality of those who certainly, before the Lord and the whole nation, stamped it as ripe for Gods righteous punishment. The wife of this deeply corrupt man shows how penetrated the whole people then was with the sense of the value of its covenant with God (O. v. Gerlach).33
1Sa 4:21. She gives expression to what fills her heart by naming the child Ichabod. This name is not where is glory? ( ) that is, nowhere, but it = not glory.34 She explains the name Not-glory, Un-glory by saying (): the glory of Israel is carried into captivity. (The , as in verse 19, is in reference to, having regard to, and belongs to as the continuation of the words of the narrator, not of the dying woman). The narrator has in mind her words, on which she based that ejaculation, but does not state them as hers till afterwards; here he states beforehand the fact contained in them as a historical explanation. We must note, however, the difference between his explanation and her reason for that exclamation in 1Sa 4:22. While he mentions the reference () to the two dead, she bases the name () on the one thing only, the capture of the ark. The honor or glory is the divine majesty, the glory of God, which is enthroned above the ark. Grotius: The ark above which God was accustomed to appear in glory. With the capture of the ark Israels glory is carried into captivity; with the abandonment of the earthly throne of His glory, the Lord seemed to have annulled His covenant of grace with Israel; for the ark, with the tables of the law and the kapporeth [mercy-seat], was the visible pledge of the covenant of grace which Jehovah had made with Israel (Keil). Elis sons wife dies, as Eli himself, in consuming sorrow over what was the core of this national and domestic misfortune, over the judgment of the turning away of the almighty living God from the covenant-people, the outward sign of which was the removal of the ark, on which, in accordance with His promise given in the law, He would sit as Israels God and dwell in the midst of His people. Comp. Exo 25:22; Exo 30:6; Exo 30:36; Exo 40:35 (the glory of the Lord filled the dwelling), 1Ki 8:10-11. [Bib. Comm. refers to Psa 78:61; Psa 78:64 as containing allusions to this incident. Wordsworth: With God there is no Ichabod.Tr.] The necessary result of this national view of the ark is that there was only one sanctuary, so that all those passages which affirm it may be cited as direct testimony to the fact that there was only one sanctuary. (Hengst. Beit. [Contrib.] 3:55.)
HISTORICAL AND THEOLOGICAL
1. In the history of His kingdom on earth God the Lord often permits times to come, when it seems as if the victory had been forever borne away from His people by the hostile world, and the holy ordinances of His kingdom, and its gracious benefits forever abandoned to the power of unbelief. Such times are times of judgment on the house of the Lord, the purpose of which is to make manifest all who truly belong to the Lords people, to put an end to the hypocrisy of dead belief and of the unbelief which is concealed under outward forms and the appearance of godliness, to lead to earnest, honest repentance, and bring men to seek again Gods mercy in true living faith.
2. Outcry over inbreaking outward and inward corruption, in which Gods judgments are inflicted, is nothing but an expression of the sorrow which flesh and blood feels, a sign of the distance and alienation of the fleshly heart from God, unless therein the cry is heard: It is the Lord, this the Lord hath done, and the confession is made: We have deserved it by our sins, and unless recourse is had in penitence and faith to Gods grace and mercy. And all this was lacking in the outcry of that whole city and its loud tumult.
3. Being in Godthat is, the union of the heart with Him in the deepest foundation of its being, reveals itself in times of great misfortune and suffering in this, that the sorrow and mourning is not restricted to the loss of earthly-human possessions, but directs itself chiefly to the loss and lack of Gods gracious presence, and thus shows that for the inner life the glory of God and blessedness in communion with Him is become the highest good. So here in this refraining from grief over the loss of what to the flesh was the nearest and dearest, and in the outspoken sorrow only over the violence done to Gods honor and the contempt cast on His name, is verified the Lords word: He who forsaketh not father or mother, or brother, etc., is not worthy of me.
4. Eli and his sons wife are shining examples of true heartfelt piety in the gloom of the corruption that reigned in the high-priestly family and the judgments that came on it, in that they are not taken up with their own interests, but bewail the violation of the sanctuary, the contempt put on Gods honor as the highest misfortune; and so in times of universal confusion and degradation which God the Lord lets befall His kingdom in this world, He has always His people in secret, who look not on their own need and tribulation as most to be lamented, but sorrow most deeply and heavily that the ends of His grace are thwarted, the honor of His name violated, and the affairs of His kingdom in confusion.
5. Even a sudden terrible death under the stroke of a merited judgment of God may be a blessed death in the living God, if the heart breaks with the cry: To God alone the glory!
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
1Sa 4:12. The outward signs of mourning, such as were usual among the people of Israelrending the garments and putting ashes or dust on the headought to be a symbolical representation of godly sorrow for sin, in which the heart is broken to pieces by the word of the holy and righteous God, and the whole man casts himself humbly and penitently into the dust before his God. [Very fanciful.Tr.] But, as then under the oppression of Philistine rule in Israel, there is nowhere a trace to be found of such repentance, when the misfortune over which men mourn and lament is not regarded and felt as a punishment of God for sin, and the smiling hand of the righteous and holy God is not therein recognized.
1Sa 4:13. S. Schmid: We must take care not to do any thing with a doubtful conscience, that we may not have always to stand in fear, Rom 16:23.Those who will not cry out over their sins in true repentance must at last cry out over the punishment and their misfortune.
1Sa 4:17-18. Starke: When men sin without distinction, God also punishes without distinction, and regards no person, dignity, age, nor condition, Wis 6:7.S. Schmid: The honor of God and the true service of God must lie more on our hearts than our own children and parents.Berl. Bible: It is a wonderful thing that whereas the people were so powerful and had gained so many victories, as long as God protected them, they now fly and let themselves be overcome almost without a struggle, as soon as ever God ceases to be on their side. If God protects us in a special way, we are a match for our enemies; but if He leaves us only for a little to ourselves, into what weaknesses do we not then fall! So that we unite with our enemies in contributing much to our downfall.We must, however, regard it as an effect of Gods compassion when He permits us to be smitten. For if this did not happen, we should not sufficiently recognize our weakness, and our great need of His assistance.It is an honorable and glorious death to die from concern for the honor of God.
1Sa 4:21-22. Berleb. Bible: As soon as we lose this presence (Gods), we fall into the utmost weakness and into powerlessness, so that we can no more do what we have done before. We also cease to be a terror to our enemies; for these, on the contrary, now rejoice over our defeat.Wunderlich (in Daechsel): So prevalent in Israel was a regard for the glory of God, which streamed down upon the people, so deeply implanted was the theocratic national consciousness that a woman in travail forgot her pains, and a dying woman the terrors of death, a mother did not comfort herself in her new-born son, and sorrow for the lost jewel of the nation outweighed even sorrow for the death of a father and of a husband, and this in a family and in a period which must be regarded as degenerate.
1Sa 4:12-22. A terrible and yet an honorable endif 1) With the humble confession It is the Lord the hand of God as it smites down is held back; 2) In complete unselfishness ones own misfortune and ruin is quite forgotten over the shame brought upon the honor and the name of God; and 3) The hidden man of the heart, with all his striving, turns himself alone towards the honor and glory of God as his supreme good.The defeats of Gods people in the conflict with the world which is hostile to His kingdom. 1) Their causes: a) on their side: unfaithfulness towards the Lord, arbitrary, self-willed entrance into the strife without God, cowardice and flight; b) on Gods side: punitive justice, abandonment to the hands of their enemies. 2 Their necessary consequences: deep hurt to the yet remaining life of faith, injury to the honor of God, and shame brought upon His glorious name. 3) The results contemplated by God in permitting them, or their design: sincere repentance, all the more zealous care for the Lords honor, glorifying His name so much the more.Without honor to God no honor to the people: 1) In the inner life of the peopleerror and heterodoxy, where the light of His revealed truth does not shine, sin and unrighteousness, where there is a lack of faithful obedience to His holy will, spiritual-moral wretchedness and ruin, where God must withdraw His gracious presence; 2) In the outer life of the people in relation to other peoples, oppression and subjection, introduction from without of godlessness and immorality, loss of their good name.The cry, Ichabod, the glory is departed from Israel, is a cry which 1) as a lamenting cry, is grounded in the proper recognition of the cause, greatness and significance of the ruin and wretchedness which come from being abandoned by God, and 2) as an awakening cry is designed to admonish to earnest repentance and returning to the Lord, that the light of His glory may again break forth out of the gloom.
[1Sa 4:19-22. The pious wife of Phinehas. 1) Pious, though living in an age of general corruption. 2) Deeply pious, though the wife of a grossly wicked husband. 3) So pious, that in her devout grief all other strongest feelings were swallowed up: a) maternal feeling, b) conjugal and filial feeling, c) patriotic feeling.Tr.]
Footnotes:
[20][1Sa 4:12. Instead of the Gen. construction, as here, the Heb..has more commonly the tribal name as Adj. (gentilie), as in Jdg 3:15; 2Sa 20:1; but for ex. of this form see Jdg 10:1.Tr.]
[21][1Sa 4:13. The Art. here points to some well-known or accustomed seat.Tr.]
[22][1Sa 4:13. It is generally agreed that we must here read, with the Qeri and Syr., instead of , but the absence of the Art. in makes a difficulty, and the Sept. and Chald. seem to hare rendered from a slightly different text. Sept. has: Eli was near the gate, watching the way, and Chald.: Eli sat in the path of the way of the gate watching. So in 1Sa 4:18 the Heb. text side of the gate. It would seem probable, therefore, that the gate has fallen out here.Tr.]
[23][1Sa 4:15. Sept. here gives 90 years, and Syr. (followed by Arab.) 78.Tr.]
[24][1Sa 4:18. Wellhausen objects to , rejects the as repetition by error, and reads . But this is unnecessary; comp. the in 2Sa 18:4, and the force of in Job 2:4.Tr.]
[25][1Sa 4:18. Sept. gives 20 years, other verss. 40.Tr.]
[26][1Sa 4:19. for , the only place where this contraction occurs (so Rashi).Tr.]
[27][On the importance of runners see note in Bib. Comm. on this verse, which remarks also, that as the messenger came from Ebenezer within the day (1Sa 4:16) it must have been near.Tr.]
[28][See Talmudical Tract Sota, and the Midrash of Samuel, and comms. of Rashi and Abarbanel.Tr.]
[29][See Textual and Grammatical note on this word.Tr.]
[30][This word () everywhere else clearly means throne (unless perhaps in 1Ki 2:19; Psa 9:14), and comp. Zec 6:13. Yet, in the infrequent occurrence of any word for an ordinary seat (and see Eze 28:2, seat of God), though the word seems to imply something of official dignity, the rendering throne (Josephus: ) would here be not so good as seat.Tr.]
[31][The messenger probably entered the city by the gate where Eli was sitting.Tr.]
[32]The before = is that of time, our towards, on, about; comp. Jos 2:3, the gate was for closing, that is, was to be closed immediately; Ew. Gr. 217, 2 b. So here: towards bearing, near to bearing. On the contraction of into comp. Ew. Gr. 236,1 b, and 80. is often used, as here, to point out the object to which the narration relateswith the verbs say, relate. Comp. Gen 20:2; Psa 2:7; Psa 69:27; Isa 38:19; Jer 27:19; Job 42:7. It is explained by the fact that, in narrating or speaking, the mind is directed to the object, stands in relation to it. Comp. Isa 5:1. That it here depends on a subst., and not, as usually, on a verb, does not affect the principle, since a verbal conception lies in this subst.
[33][We can hardly draw a conclusion concerning the whole nation from the example of one person, and Gerlachs inference is, for other reasons, doubtful.Tr.]
[34] is not contracted, as in , Num 26:30; Ew. 84 c, but = not, without, Ew. 273 b, A. 1, p. 667, comp. 209 c, to which the context points.
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
(12) And there ran a man of Benjamin out of the army, and came to Shiloh the same day with his clothes rent, and with earth upon his head. (13) And when he came, lo, Eli sat upon a seat by the wayside watching: for his heart trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came into the city, and told it, all the city cried out. (14) And when Eli heard the noise of the crying, he said, What meaneth the noise of this tumult? And the man came in hastily, and told Eli. (15) Now Eli was ninety and eight years old; and his eyes were dim, that he could not see. (16) And the man said unto Eli, I am he that came out of the army, and I fled today out of the army. And he said, What is there done, my son? (17) And the messenger answered and said, Israel is fled before the Philistines, and there hath been also a great slaughter among the people, and thy two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God is taken. (18) And it came to pass, when he made mention of the ark of God, that he fell from off the seat backward by the side of the gate, and his neck brake, and he died: for he was an old man, and heavy. And he had judged Israel forty years.
I bring all these verses into one and the same point of view, not only for shortness sake, but also from their connection, This messenger of evil tidings is marked by the Holy Ghost as a Benjamite; for though all Israel were deeply involved in this ruin, yet the Benjamites which possessed Shiloh were, if possible, more so than any. For now they had lost the ark forever, after a possession of nearly 350 years. For though the ark itself was indeed soon after brought back to Israel from the land of the Philistines, yet it never after rested in Shiloh. Zion now became the hallowed spot, in the tribe of Judah. No doubt in allusion to him, and as typical of him who was the sum and substance of the ark, and who was to spring out of Judah. So is this event celebrated in Psa 78:67-69 . The character of Eli in this account next claims our attention. What a sad close to a long life, after a period of nearly an hundred years, and forty in his government. Whether he died in the faith I do not venture to judge, as the Holy Ghost hath been pleased to be silent on this head concerning him. If he did not how doubly awful is the thought, that after ministering in holy things so long, he himself should be a cast away. One of the most solemn passages in God’s word, as it respects the ministers of the sanctuary, and enough to make the ears of everyone of the sacred order that heareth it to tingle is, that sentence of the Lord Jesus: Many (not a few) shall say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy mine done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me ye workers of iniquity. Mat 7:22-23 . And if Eli did die in the faith, (which from the several circumstances of his greater anxiety for the safety of the ark, than the life of his children, one might charitably be led to hope he did), yet in what a trembling manner did he go out of life, and as a child put to bed in the dark. Oh precious Jesus! keep thy redeemed ones from darkening their prospects of thee, by leaning to creatures of any kind. Make us always to remember the rod is in the covenant. Let an eye be plucked out or a right arm cut off, if either would tend to rob thee of thy glory, and our souls of their comfort. Psa 89:30-35 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
1Sa 4:12 And there ran a man of Benjamin out of the army, and came to Shiloh the same day with his clothes rent, and with earth upon his head.
Ver. 12. And there ran a man of Benjamin. ] Not Saul, as some of the Jewish doctors have dreamed, but another Benjamite.
With his clothes rent.
And with earth upon his head.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
man. Hebrew. ‘ish. App-14.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
the Glory Departed from Israel
1Sa 4:12-22
Notwithstanding their high hopes, disaster again overtook the hosts of Israel. No symbols of God will help us, until we have put away our idols and laid our hearts bare before Him.
The bad news traveled quickly over the land and everywhere brought dismay. The death of Eli and that of his daughter-in-law were tragedies, but in each ease there was a beautiful touch of true devotion to Gods holy cause. The old man succumbed only when the messenger told of the capture of the Ark; while the mother could not be rallied from her death-swoon, even by the cry of her child, because, with the Ark, the glory of her people had passed away. May we not all pray to be equally devoted to the cause of Jesus Christ, so that its victories or its delays may touch us to the quick? The glory of our lives, as of the Church, should ever consist in the possession, not of the symbol, but of the real presence of our Lord, recognized, revered, loved and enshrined in our tenderest emotions.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
with his clothes rent: These, as we have already remarked, were the general signs of sorrow and distress. 2Sa 1:2
with earth: Jos 7:6, 2Sa 13:19, 2Sa 15:32, Neh 9:1, Job 2:12
Reciprocal: Gen 14:13 – one 1Sa 22:20 – escaped 2Ki 19:1 – he rent Pro 3:6 – In Jer 51:31 – post Eze 24:26 – General Eze 27:30 – cast Rev 18:19 – they cast
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Sa 4:12. With his clothes rent, and with earth upon his head
According to the manner of those who bewailed any great calamity, Jos 7:6; Job 2:12; Eze 27:30. From which last place it appears it was a custom among other nations.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1Sa 4:12-22. Death of Eli, Birth of Ichabod.
1Sa 4:12. clothes rent, etc.: signs of mourning.
1Sa 4:18. forty; LXX twenty.And he . . . years: formula used by Deuteronomic editor of Jg. (Jdg 10:2 f; Jdg 12:7; Jdg 12:9; Jdg 12:11; Jdg 12:14; Jdg 15:20) to conclude account of a Judge. This story may once have stood in Jg.
1Sa 4:21. Ichabod: no-glory (mg.).
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
4:12 And there ran a man of Benjamin out of the army, and came to Shiloh the same day with his clothes {f} rent, and with earth upon his head.
(f) In token of sorrow and mourning.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
2. The response of Eli 4:12-18
The deaths of Hophni and Phinehas, who accompanied the soldiers into battle, were the sign God promised Eli that He would remove the priestly privilege from Eli’s descendants eventually (1Sa 2:34). The writer carefully recorded that it was the news that the Philistines had captured the ark, not that his two sons had died, that shocked Eli and caused him to die (1Sa 4:18). Eli’s primary concern, to his credit, was the welfare of Israel.
There is a word play in the Hebrew text that helps us understand the significance of the departure of God’s glory. The Hebrew word for "heavy" (1Sa 4:18) is kabed, and the word for "glory" (1Sa 4:21) is kabod. Rather than Israel enjoying glory from God’s presence through Eli’s priesthood, Eli himself had received the glory, as his heavy weight implies. Eli’s apparent self-indulgence was responsible for the departure of God’s glory from Israel and from his line of priests. [Note: See John H. Sailhamer, The Pentateuch as Narrative, p. 400-401.]
The battle of Aphek recorded in this chapter took place in 1104 B.C. Since Eli was 98 years old when he died on hearing the news that the Philistines had taken the ark in this battle, he must have been born in 1202 B.C. [Note: See the "Chronology of 1 and 2 Samuel" earlier in these notes.]