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<TITLE>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible [First Samuel, Chapter IV].</TITLE>
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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1>
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<h3><a href="http://www.biblesnet.com" target="_blank">Back to Biblesnet.com Home Page</a>
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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<TD ALIGN="RIGHT" VALIGN="TOP">
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1708)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>F I R S T S A M U E L</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. IV.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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</CENTER>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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The predictions in the foregoing chapters concerning the ruin of Eli's
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house here begin to be fulfilled; how long after does not appear, but
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certainly not long. Such sinners God often makes quick work with. Here
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is,
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I. The disgrace and loss Israel sustained in an encounter with the
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Philistines,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+4:1,2">ver. 1, 2</A>.
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II. Their foolish project to fortify themselves by bringing the ark of
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God into their camp upon the shoulders of Hophni and Phinehas
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+4:3,4">ver. 3, 4</A>),
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which made them secure
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+4:5">ver. 5</A>)
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and struck a fear into the Philistines, but such a fear as roused them,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+4:6-9">ver. 6-9</A>.
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III. The fatal consequences of it: Israel was beaten, and the ark taken
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prisoner,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+4:10,11">ver. 10, 11</A>.
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IV. The tidings of this brought to Shiloh, and the sad reception of
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those tidings.
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1. The city was put into confusion,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+4:12,13">ver. 12, 13</A>.
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2. Eli fainted away, fell, and broke his neck,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+4:14-18">ver. 14-18</A>.
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3. Upon hearing what had occurred his daughter-in-law fell in labour,
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bore a son, but died immediately,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+4:19-22">ver. 19-22</A>.
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These were the things which would make the ears of those that heard
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them to tingle.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="1Sa4_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="1Sa4_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="1Sa4_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="1Sa4_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="1Sa4_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="1Sa4_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="1Sa4_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="1Sa4_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="1Sa4_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The War with the Philistines.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 1120.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 And the word of Samuel came to all Israel. Now Israel went
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out against the Philistines to battle, and pitched beside
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Ebenezer: and the Philistines pitched in Aphek.
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2 And the Philistines put themselves in array against Israel:
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and when they joined battle, Israel was smitten before the
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Philistines: and they slew of the army in the field about four
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thousand men.
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3 And when the people were come into the camp, the elders of
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Israel said, Wherefore hath the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> smitten us to day before the
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Philistines? Let us fetch the ark of the covenant of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> out
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of Shiloh unto us, that, when it cometh among us, it may save us
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out of the hand of our enemies.
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4 So the people sent to Shiloh, that they might bring from
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thence the ark of the covenant of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> of hosts, which
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dwelleth <I>between</I> the cherubims: and the two sons of Eli, Hophni
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and Phinehas, <I>were</I> there with the ark of the covenant of God.
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5 And when the ark of the covenant of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> came into the
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camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth
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rang again.
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6 And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they
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said, What <I>meaneth</I> the noise of this great shout in the camp of
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the Hebrews? And they understood that the ark of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> was
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come into the camp.
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7 And the Philistines were afraid, for they said, God is come
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into the camp. And they said, Woe unto us! for there hath not
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been such a thing heretofore.
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8 Woe unto us! who shall deliver us out of the hand of these
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mighty Gods? these <I>are</I> the Gods that smote the Egyptians with
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all the plagues in the wilderness.
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9 Be strong, and quit yourselves like men, O ye Philistines,
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that ye be not servants unto the Hebrews, as they have been to
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you: quit yourselves like men, and fight.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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The first words of this paragraph, which relate to Samuel, that <I>his
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word came to all Israel,</I> seem not to have any reference to the
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following story, as if it was by any direction of his that the
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Israelites went out against the Philistines. Had they consulted him,
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though but newly initiated as a prophet, his counsel might have stood
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them in more stead than the presence of the ark did; but perhaps the
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princes of Israel despised his youth, and would not have recourse to
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him as an oracle, and he did not as yet interpose in public affairs;
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nor do we find any mention of his name henceforward till some years
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after
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+7:3"><I>ch.</I> vii. 3</A>),
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only <I>his word came to all Israel,</I> that is, people from all parts
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that were piously disposed had recourse to him as a prophet and
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consulted him. Perhaps it is meant of his prophecy against the house of
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Eli. This was generally known and talked of, and all that were serious
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and observing compared the events here related, when they came to pass,
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with the prophecy, and saw it accomplished in them. Here is,</P>
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<P>
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I. A war entered into with the Philistines,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+4:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>.
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It was an attempt to throw off the yoke of their oppression, and would
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have succeeded better if they had first repented and reformed, and so
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begun their work at the right end. It is computed that this was about
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the middle of the forty years' dominion that the Philistines had over
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Israel
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+13:1">Judg. xiii. 1</A>)
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and soon after the death of Samson; so bishop Patrick, who thinks the
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slaughter he made at his death might encourage this attempt; but Dr.
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Lightfoot reckons it forty years after Samson's death, for so long Eli
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judged,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+4:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>.</P>
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<P>
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II. The defeat of Israel in that war,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+4:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>.
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Israel, who were the aggressors, were smitten, and had 4000 men killed
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upon the spot. God had promised that one of them should chase a
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thousand; but now, on the contrary, <I>Israel is smitten before the
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Philistines.</I> Sin, the accursed thing, was in the camp, and gave
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their enemies all the advantage against them they could wish for.</P>
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<P>
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III. The measures they concerted for another engagement. A council of
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war was called, and, instead of resolving to fast and pray and amend
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their lives, so ill taught were they (and no wonder when they had such
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teachers) that,
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1. They quarrelled with God for appearing against them
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+4:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>):
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<I>Wherefore has the Lord smitten us?</I> If they meant this as an
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enquiry into the cause of God's displeasure, they needed not go far to
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find that out. It was plain enough; Israel had sinned, though they were
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not willing to see it and own it. But it rather seems that they
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expostulate boldly with God about it, are displeased at what God has
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done, and dispute the matter with him. They own the hand of God in
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their trouble (so far was right): "It is the Lord that has smitten us;"
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but, instead of submitting to it, they quarrel with it, and speak as
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those that are angry at him and his providence, and not aware of any
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just provocation they have given him: "Wherefore shall we, that are
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Israelites, be smitten before the Philistines? How absurd and unjust is
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it!" Note, The foolishness of man perverts his way, and then his heart
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<I>frets against the Lord</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+19:3">Prov. xix. 3</A>)
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and finds fault with him.
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2. They imagined that they could oblige him to appear for them the
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next time by bringing the ark into their camp. The elders of Israel
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were so ignorant and foolish as to make the proposal
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+4:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>),
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and the people soon put it in execution,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+4:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>.
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They sent to Shiloh for the ark, and Eli had not courage enough to
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detain it, but sent his ungodly sons, Hophni and Phinehas, along with
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it, at least permitted them to go, though he knew that wherever they
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went the curse of God went along with them. Now see here,
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(1.) The profound veneration the people had for the ark. "O send for
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that, and it will do wonders for us." The ark was, by institution, a
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visible token of God's presence. God had said that he would dwell
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<I>between the cherubim,</I> which were over the ark and were carried
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along with it; now they thought that, by paying a great respect to this
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sacred chest, they should prove themselves to be Israelites indeed, and
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effectually engage God Almighty to appear in their favour. Note, It is
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common for those that have estranged themselves from the vitals of
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religion to discover a great fondness for the rituals and external
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observances of it, for those that even deny the power of godliness not
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only to have, but to have in admiration, the form of it. The temple of
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the Lord is cried up, and the ark of the Lord stickled for with a great
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deal of seeming zeal by multitudes that have no regard at all for the
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Lord of the temple and the God of the ark, as if a fiery concern for
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the name of Christianity would atone for a profane contempt of the
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thing. And yet indeed they did but make an idol of the ark, and looked
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upon it to be as much an image of the God of Israel as those idols
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which the heathen worshipped were of their gods. To worship the true
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God, and not to worship him as God, is in effect not to worship him at
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all.
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(2.) Their egregious folly in thinking that the ark, if they had it in
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their camp, would certainly <I>save them out of the hand of their
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enemies,</I> and bring victory back to their side. For,
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[1.] When the ark set forward Moses prayed, <I>Rise up, Lord, and let
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thy enemies be scattered,</I> well knowing that it was not the ark
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moving with them, but God appearing for them, that must give them
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success; and here were no proper means used to engage God to favour
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them with his presence; what good then would the ark do them, the shell
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without the kernel?
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[2.] They were so far from having God's leave to remove his ark that he
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had plainly enough intimated to them in his law that when they were
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settled in Canaan his ark should be settled in the place that he should
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choose
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+12:5,11">Deut. xii. 5, 11</A>),
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and that they must come to it, not it to them. How then could they
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expect any advantage by it when they had not a just and legal
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possession of it, nor any warrant to remove it from its place? Instead
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of honouring God by what they did, they really affronted him. Nay,
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[3.] If there had been nothing else to invalidate their expectations
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from the ark, how could they expect it should bring a blessing when
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Hophni and Phinehas were the men that carried it? It would have given
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too much countenance to their villany if the ark had done any kindness
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to Israel while it was in the hands of those graceless priests.</P>
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<P>
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IV. The great joy there was in the camp of Israel when the ark was
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brought into it
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+4:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>):
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<I>They shouted, so that the earth rang again.</I> Now they thought
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themselves sure of victory, and therefore gave a triumphant shout
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before the battle, as if the day was without fail their own, intending,
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by this mighty shout, to animate themselves and their own forces, and
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to intimidate their adversaries. Note, Carnal people triumph much in
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the external privileges and performances of religion, and build much
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upon them, as if these would infallibly save them, and as if the ark,
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God's throne, in the camp, would bring them to heaven, though the world
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and the flesh should be upon the throne in the heart.</P>
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<P>
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V. The consternation into which the bringing of the ark into the camp
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of Israel put the Philistines. The two armies lay so near encamped that
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the Philistines heard the shout the Israelites gave on this great
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occasion. They soon understood what it was they triumphed in
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+4:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>),
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and were afraid of the consequences. For,
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1. It had never been done before in their days: <I>God has come into
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their camp,</I> and therefore <I>woe unto us</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+4:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>),
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and again, <I>woe unto us,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+4:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>.
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The name of the God of Israel was formidable even to those that
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worshipped other gods, and some apprehensions even the infidels had of
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the danger of contending with them. Natural conscience suggests this,
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that those are in a woeful condition who have God against them. Yet see
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what gross notions they had of the divine presence, as if the God of
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Israel were not as much in the camp before the ark came thither, which
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may very well be excused in them, since the notions the Israelites
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themselves had of that presence were no better. "O," say they, "this
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is a new design upon us, more frightful than all their stratagems, for
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<I>there has not been such a thing heretofore;</I> this was the most
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effectual course they could take to dispirit our men and weaken their
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hands."
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2. When it had been done in the days of old, it had wrought wonders:
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<I>These are the gods that smote the Egyptians with all the plagues in
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the wilderness,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+4:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>.
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Here they were as much out in their history as in their divinity: the
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plagues of Egypt were inflicted before the ark was made and before
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Israel came into the wilderness; but some confused traditions they had
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of wonders wrought by or for Israel when this ark was carried before
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them, which they attributed, not to Jehovah, but to the ark. Now, say
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they, <I>Who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods?</I>
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taking the ark for God, as well they might when the Israelites
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themselves idolized it. Yet, it should seem, they scarcely believed
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themselves when they spoke thus formidably of <I>these mighty gods,</I>
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but only bantered; for instead of retreating, or proposing conditions
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of peace, which they would have done had they been really convinced of
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the power of Israel's God, they stirred up one another to fight so much
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the more stoutly; this surprising difficulty did but sharpen their
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resolution
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+4:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>):
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<I>Be strong, and quit yourselves like men.</I> The commanders inspired
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bold and generous thoughts into the minds of their soldiers when they
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bade them remember how they had lorded it over Israel, and what an
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intolerable grief and shame it would be if they flinched now, and
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suffered Israel to lord it over them.</P>
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<A NAME="1Sa4_10"> </A>
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<A NAME="1Sa4_11"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Defeat of the Israelites.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 1120.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
|
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>10 And the Philistines fought, and Israel was smitten, and they
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fled every man into his tent: and there was a very great
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slaughter; for there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen.
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11 And the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli,
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Hophni and Phinehas, were slain.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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Here is a short account of the issue of this battle.</P>
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<P>
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I. Israel was smitten, the army dispersed and totally routed, not
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retiring into the camp, as before
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+4:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>)
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when they hoped to rally again, but returning to their tents, every man
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shifting for his own safety and making the best of his way home,
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despairing to make head any more; and 30,000 were slain in the field of
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battle,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+4:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>.
|
|
|
|
Israel was put to the worse,
|
|
|
|
1. Though they had the better cause, were the people of God and the
|
|
Philistines were uncircumcised; they stood up in necessary defence of
|
|
their just rights and liberties against invaders, and yet they failed
|
|
of success, for <I>their rock had sold them.</I> A good cause often
|
|
suffers for the sake of the bad men that undertake it.
|
|
|
|
2. Though they had the greater confidence, and were the more
|
|
courageous. They shouted, while the Philistines trembled, and yet, when
|
|
God pleased so to order it, the Philistines' terrors were turned into
|
|
triumphs, and Israel's shouts into lamentations.
|
|
|
|
3. Though they had the ark of God with them. External privileges will
|
|
secure none that abuse them and do not live up to them. The ark in the
|
|
camp will add nothing to its strength when there is an Achan in it.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. The ark itself was taken by the Philistines; and Hophni and
|
|
Phinehas, who it is likely kept close to it, and when it was in danger
|
|
ventured far in the defense of it, because by it they got their living,
|
|
were <I>both slain,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+4:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>.
|
|
|
|
To this sad even the Psalmist refers,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+78:61,64">Ps. lxxviii. 61, 64</A>,
|
|
|
|
<I>He delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the
|
|
enemy's hands. Their priests fell by the sword.</I>
|
|
|
|
1. The slaughter of the priests, considering their bad character, was
|
|
no great loss to Israel, but it was a dreadful judgment upon the house
|
|
of Eli. The word which God had spoken was fulfilled in it
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+2:34"><I>ch.</I> ii. 34</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>This shall be a sign unto thee,</I> an earnest of the judgments
|
|
threatened, <I>thy two sons shall die both in one day,</I> and so shall
|
|
all <I>the increase of thy house die in the flower of their age,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+2:33"><I>v.</I> 33</A>.
|
|
|
|
If Eli had done his duty, and <I>put them, as polluted, from the
|
|
priesthood</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ne+7:64">Neh. vii. 64</A>),
|
|
|
|
they might have lived, though in disgrace; but now God takes the work
|
|
into his own hands, and chases them out of the world by the sword of
|
|
the uncircumcised. <I>The Lord is known by those judgments which he
|
|
executeth.</I> It is true the sword devours one as well as another, but
|
|
these were waited for of the sword, marked for vengeance. They were out
|
|
of the place; what had they to do in the camp? When men leave the way
|
|
of their duty they shut themselves out of God's protection. But this
|
|
was not all; they had betrayed the ark, by bringing it into danger,
|
|
without a warrant from God, and this filled the measure of their
|
|
iniquities. But,
|
|
|
|
2. The taking of the ark was a very great judgment upon Israel, and a
|
|
certain token of God's hot displeasure against them. Now they are made
|
|
to see their folly in trusting to their external privileges which they
|
|
had by their wickedness forfeited them, and fancying that the ark would
|
|
save them when God had departed from them. Now they are made to
|
|
reflect, with the utmost regret, upon their own rashness and
|
|
presumption in bringing the ark into the camp and so exposing it, and
|
|
wish a thousand times they had left it where God had fixed it. Now they
|
|
are convinced that God will not be prescribed to by vain and foolish
|
|
men, and that though he has bound us to his ark he has not bound
|
|
himself to it, but will rather deliver it into the hands of his sworn
|
|
enemies than suffer it to be profaned by his false friends, and
|
|
countenance their superstition. Let none think to shelter themselves
|
|
from the wrath of God under the cloak of a visible profession, for
|
|
there will be those cast into outer darkness that have <I>eaten and
|
|
drunk in Christ's presence.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="1Sa4_12"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="1Sa4_13"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="1Sa4_14"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="1Sa4_15"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="1Sa4_16"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="1Sa4_17"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="1Sa4_18"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec3"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Death of Eli.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 1120.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>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 <I>it,</I> all the city cried out.
|
|
14 And when Eli heard the noise of the crying, he said, What
|
|
<I>meaneth</I> 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 <I>am</I> 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.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
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. <I>He rent his clothes,
|
|
and put earth upon his head,</I> 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,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+4:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>.
|
|
|
|
He went straight to Shiloh with it; and here we are told,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. How the city received it. <I>Eli sat in the gate</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+4:13,18"><I>v.</I> 13, 18</A>),
|
|
|
|
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 <I>both the ears of every one that heard it tingled,</I> as was
|
|
foretold,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+3:11"><I>ch.</I> iii. 11</A>.
|
|
|
|
Their hearts trembled, and every face gathered blackness. <I>All the
|
|
city cried out</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+4:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>),
|
|
|
|
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 <I>left their first
|
|
love,</I> and their city dwindled, and sunk, and came to nothing. Now
|
|
God <I>forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh,</I> 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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+78:60,67">Ps. lxxviii. 60, 67</A>),
|
|
|
|
and, some time after, it was transferred to the tribe of Judah, the
|
|
<I>Mount Sion which he loved,</I> as it follows there
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+78:68"><I>v.</I> 68</A>),
|
|
|
|
because the men of Shiloh knew not <I>the day of their visitation.</I>
|
|
This abandoning of Shiloh Jerusalem is long afterwards reminded of, and
|
|
told to take warning by.
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+7:12">Jer. vii. 12</A>,
|
|
|
|
"<I>Go see what I did to Shiloh.</I> 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.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
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 <I>his heart trembled for the ark of
|
|
God,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+4:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
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 <I>see an
|
|
enemy in God's habitation</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+2:32"><I>ch.</I> ii. 32</A>);
|
|
|
|
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 <I>tumult</I> and <I>crying of the city,</I> and
|
|
perceived it to be the voice of lamentation, and mourning, and woe;
|
|
like a careful magistrate, he asks, <I>What means the noise of this
|
|
tumult?</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+4:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>.
|
|
|
|
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,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+4:16,17"><I>v.</I> 16, 17</A>.
|
|
|
|
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, <I>The ark of God is taken,</I> 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,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ex+13:13">Exod. xiii. 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
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.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="1Sa4_19"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="1Sa4_20"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="1Sa4_21"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="1Sa4_22"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec4"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Death of Phinehas' Wife.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 1120.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>19 And his daughter in law, Phinehas' wife, was with child,
|
|
<I>near</I> 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.
|
|
20 And about the time of her death the women that stood by her
|
|
said unto her, Fear not; for thou hast born a son. But she
|
|
answered not, neither did she regard <I>it.</I>
|
|
21 And she named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory is
|
|
departed from Israel: because the ark of God was taken, and
|
|
because of her father in law and her husband.
|
|
22 And she said, The glory is departed from Israel: for the ark
|
|
of God is taken.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
We have here another melancholy story, that carries on the desolations
|
|
of Eli's house, and the sorrowful feeling which the tidings of the
|
|
ark's captivity excited. It is concerning the wife of Phinehas, one of
|
|
those ungracious sons of Eli that had brought all this mischief on
|
|
Israel. It cost her her life, though young, as well as that of her
|
|
father-in-law, that was old; for many a green head, as well as many a
|
|
hoary head, has been brought by sorrow to the grave: it worketh death.
|
|
By what is here related of her it appears,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. That she was a woman of a very tender spirit. Providence so ordered
|
|
it that, just at this time, she was near her time; and our Saviour hath
|
|
said, <I>Woe to those that are with child,</I> or <I>give suck,</I> in
|
|
such days as these,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+24:19">Matt. xxiv. 19</A>.
|
|
|
|
So little joy will there then be in the birth, even of a man-child,
|
|
that it will be said, <I>Blessed are the wombs that bear not,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+23:29">Luke xxiii. 29</A>.
|
|
|
|
The amazing news coming at this unhappy juncture, it put her into
|
|
labour, as great frights or other strong passions sometimes do. When
|
|
she heard of the death of her father-in-law whom she reverenced, and
|
|
her husband whom, bad as he was, she loved, but especially of the loss
|
|
of the ark, <I>she travailed, for her pains came</I> thickly <I>upon
|
|
her</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+4:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>),
|
|
|
|
and the tidings so seized her spirits, at a time when they needed all
|
|
possible supports, that, though she had strength to bear the child,
|
|
she, soon after, fainted and died away, being very willing to let life
|
|
go when she had lost the greatest comforts of her life. Those who are
|
|
drawing near to that trying hour have need to treasure up for
|
|
themselves comforts from the covenant of grace, to balance, not only
|
|
the usual sorrows, but any thing extraordinary that may add to the
|
|
grief which they do not foresee. Faith, at such a time, will keep from
|
|
fainting,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+27:13">Ps. xxvii. 13</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. That she was a woman of a very gracious spirit though matched to a
|
|
wicked husband. Her concern for the death of her husband and
|
|
father-in-law was an evidence of her natural affection; but her much
|
|
greater concern for the loss of the ark was an evidence of her pious
|
|
and devout affection to God and sacred things. The former helped to
|
|
hasten her travail, but it appears by her dying words that the latter
|
|
lay nearer her heart
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+4:22"><I>v.</I> 22</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>She said, The glory has departed from Israel,</I> not lamenting so
|
|
much the sinking of that particular family to which she was related as
|
|
the general calamity of Israel in the captivity of the ark. This, this
|
|
was it that was her grief, that was her death.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. This made her regardless of her child. The women that attended her,
|
|
who it is likely were some of the first rank in the city, encouraged
|
|
her, and, thinking that he concern was mostly about the issue of her
|
|
pains, when the child was born, <I>said unto her, Fear not,</I> now the
|
|
worst is past, <I>for thou has borne a son</I> (and perhaps it was her
|
|
first-born), <I>but she answered not, neither did she regard it.</I>
|
|
The sorrows of her travail, if she had no other, would have been
|
|
<I>forgotten, for joy that a man-child was born into the world.</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Joh+16:21">John xvi. 21</A>.
|
|
|
|
But what is that joy,
|
|
|
|
(1.) To one that feels herself dying? No joy but that which is
|
|
spiritual and divine will stand us in any stead then. Death is too
|
|
serious a thing to admit the relish of any earthly joy; it is all flat
|
|
and sapless then.
|
|
|
|
(2.) What is it to one that is lamenting the loss of the ark? Small
|
|
comfort could she have of a child born in Israel, in Shiloh, when the
|
|
ark is lost, and is a prisoner in the land of the Philistines. What
|
|
pleasure can we take in our creature-comforts and enjoyments if we want
|
|
God's word and ordinances, especially if we want the comfort of his
|
|
gracious presence and the light of his countenance? <I>As vinegar upon
|
|
nitre, so is he that sings songs</I> so such <I>heavy hearts.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
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2. This made her give her child a name which should perpetuate the
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remembrance of the calamity and her sense of it. She has nothing to say
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to the child, only it being her province, now that her husband was
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dead, to name the child, she orders them to call it <I>I-chabod,</I>
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that is, <I>Where is the glory?</I> Or, <I>Alas for the glory!</I> or,
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<I>There is no glory</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+4:21"><I>v.</I> 21</A>),
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which she thus explains with her dying lips
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Sa+4:22"><I>v.</I> 22</A>):
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"<I>The glory has departed from Israel; for the ark of God is
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taken.</I> Call the child inglorious, for so he is; the beauty of
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Israel is lost, and there appears no hope of ever retrieving it; never
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let the name of an Israelite, must less a priest, carry glory in it any
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more, now that the ark is taken." Note,
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(1.) The purity and plenty of God's ordinances, and the tokens of his
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presence in them, are the glory of any people, much more so than their
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wealth, and trade, and interest, among the nations.
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2. Nothing is more cutting, more killing, to a faithful Israelite, than
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the want and loss of these. If God go, the glory goes, and all good
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goes. Woe unto us if he depart!</P>
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