Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Samuel 4:16
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?
16. I am he ] He has to announce himself to the blind old man who cannot see the tale of disaster which his dust-soiled, blood-stained garments tell all too plainly to the people.
the army ] Better, as in 1Sa 4:12, the battle-array.
What is there done ] Lit., What was the affair? Vulg. quid actum est? David uses the same phrase to the Amalekite in 2Sa 1:4.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
I am he that came out of the army; I speak not what I have by uncertain rumours, but what mine eyes were witnesses of.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And the man said unto Eli, I am he that came out of the army,…. It is very probable that the people Eli inquired of told him there was a messenger come from the army, though they did not choose to relate to him the news he brought:
and I fled today out of the army; so that as he was an eyewitness of what was done in the army, the account he brought was the earliest that could be had, in bringing which he had made great dispatch, having ran perhaps all the way:
and he said, what is there done, my son? has a battle been fought? on which side is the victory? is Israel beaten, or have they conquered? how do things go? he uses the kind and tender appellation, my son, to engage him to tell him all freely and openly.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
When the messenger informed him of the defeat of the Israelites, the death of his sons, and the capture of the ark, at the last news Eli fell back from his seat by the side of the gate, and broke his neck, and died. The loss of the ark was to him the most dreadful of all – more dreadful than the death of his two sons. Eli had judged Israel forty years. The reading twenty in the Septuagint does not deserve the slightest notice, if only because it is perfectly incredible that Eli should have been appointed judge of the nation in his seventy-eight year.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(16) I fled to day out of the army.The fatal battle had taken place very early that same morning. The utter rout, the awful slaughter, the death of Hophni and Phinehas, and the loss of the Ark of the Covenant, all this the messenger knew, and with this terrible news had hasted to the seat of the governmentthe now empty sanctuary.
The very words of the runner were remembered. The whole vivid scene was evidently related by a bystandersome have even suggested that it was Samuel who stood by Elis side.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
1Sa 4:16 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?
Ver. 16. And I fled today out of the army. ] I am an eyewitness, and therefore may be credited. But he should not have poured forth all the ill news at once, to the crushing of the old man’s heart.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
What is there done: Heb. What is the thing, 2Sa 1:4
my son: 1Sa 3:6, Jos 7:19
Reciprocal: 2Sa 1:2 – clothes Jer 19:3 – his ears Jer 48:19 – ask