1 Samuel 4

Samuel told all the people of Israel the messages that God gave him. At that time the Israelite army went to fight against the army of the Philistine people. The Israelite army set up their tents at the place that people would later call Ebenezer. The Philistine army set up their tents near the city of Aphek.

The Philistine army formed a battle line, and the Israelites came and fought with them. In a great battle, the Philistines defeated the Israelites. In combat, they killed about 4,000 of the soldiers in their battle line. \*

When the remaining Israelite soldiers returned to their camp, the Israelite elders asked, “Why did God allow the Philistine army to defeat us today? {It must have been because we did not bring the sacred chest into battle with us.} We should bring the sacred chest here from Shiloh. That way we can bring it with us when we go into battle again, and it will keep our enemies from defeating us!”

So the soldiers sent some men to Shiloh, and those men brought back the sacred chest of God, the commander of the heavenly armies. There were statues of winged creatures on top of the chest, and those statues were like a throne for God. Eli’s two sons Hophni and Phinehas traveled with the sacred chest to the Israelite military camp. \*

When they saw the men bringing the sacred chest into their camp, the Israelite soldiers {were so happy that they} shouted loudly. The sound of their shout echoed throughout the land.

The Philistines heard this sound and asked, “What are the soldiers in the Hebrew camp shouting about?” Someone told them that {they were shouting because} men had brought the sacred chest of God into their camp. \*

They said, “A god has come into their camp {to help them fight against us}!” This made them very afraid. They said, “We are in big trouble now! Nothing like this has ever happened before!

We certainly are in big trouble! The gods of the Israelites are very strong, and it will be difficult to overcome their power. It was the gods of the Israelites who made the Egyptians suffer from many plagues in the barren land outside their country.

You Philistine soldiers must be very brave! If you do not fight bravely, {the Hebrews will defeat you and} you will become their slaves, just as they have been your slaves! So fight bravely!” \*

So the Philistine soldiers fought {very hard}, and they defeated the Israelite soldiers so badly that they all fled from the battle and ran back to their military camp. The Philistines won a big victory and killed 30,000 of the Israelite soldiers.

The Philistines captured the sacred chest, and they killed Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas. \*

On that same day, a man from the tribe of Benjamin arrived at Shiloh. He had run {with news} from the place where the armies were fighting. He had torn his clothes and thrown dirt on his head {to show that he was very sad}.

Eli was very anxious to know whether anything bad had happened to God’s sacred chest. So he was sitting on a seat next to the road waiting for any messengers who might come with news of the battle. When the man arrived and told what had happened, the people of the city started to cry loudly. \*

Eli heard the noise and asked, “Why are people making all this noise?” So the messenger ran over to Eli and told him what had happened.

At that time, Eli was 98 years old, and he had become completely blind. \*

The messenger said to Eli, “I am the messenger who has come from where the armies were fighting. I ran from the battle lines earlier today.” Eli asked, “What happened, young man?”

The messenger responded, “The Philistines defeated our army. They killed a great many of our soldiers, and the others ran away. The Philistines killed your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas. They also captured God’s sacred chest.” \*

As soon as Eli heard what had happened to the sacred chest, he fell backward off his seat beside the city gate. Because he was very old and very fat, he broke his neck when he fell, and that killed him. He had led the Israelite people for 40 years. \*

The wife of Eli’s son Phinehas was pregnant, and it was almost time for her to give birth to her baby. When she heard the news that the Philistines had captured God’s sacred chest and that her husband and her father-in-law had died, her labor pains suddenly began. She crouched down and gave birth.

{But the birth was so difficult that it caused her to die.} As she was dying, the women who were helping her tried to encourage her. They said to her, “Be brave! You have given birth to a son!” But this did not matter to her, so she said nothing in reply. \*

She named the boy Ichabod. She said, “There is no glory anymore in Israel.” She was talking about how the Philistines had captured God’s sacred chest and how her husband and her father-in-law had died.

She said that there was no glory anymore in Israel because the Philistines had captured God’s sacred chest. {And then she died.} \*