1-Samuel 4 [1-Samuel 4:1] AND THE WORD OF SAMUEL CAME TO ALL ISRAEL. NOW ISRAEL WENT OUT AGAINST  THE PHILISTINES TO BATTLE, AND PITCHED BESIDE EBENEZER: AND THE PHILISTINES PITCHED IN  APHEK. It is not clear if Israel went to war as instructed by Samuel or simply  by their own initiative and that this would bring about the fulfillment of the prophecy of  Samuel that had gone out to all Israel. <<EBENEZER>>: "EBEN-EZER" Stone of Help. "Eben" can also be pronounced as "Even". Where does the Welsh name "Evans" come from?   This was to be the scene of a defeat of the Israelites. Later,  however, the Hebrews under Samuel would win a great victory at this same spot (1-Samuel 7:12-13). [1-Samuel 4:2] AND THE PHILISTINES PUT THEMSELVES IN ARRAY AGAINST ISRAEL: AND WHEN THEY  JOINED BATTLE, ISRAEL WAS SMITTEN BEFORE THE PHILISTINES: AND THEY SLEW OF THE ARMY IN THE FIELD ABOUT FOUR THOUSAND MEN. [1-Samuel 4:3] AND WHEN THE PEOPLE WERE COME INTO THE CAMP, THE ELDERS OF ISRAEL SAID, WHEREFORE HATH THE LORD SMITTEN US TO DAY BEFORE THE PHILISTINES? LET US FETCH THE ARK OF THE COVENANT OF THE LORD OUT OF SHILOH UNTO US, THAT, WHEN IT COMETH AMON  US, IT MAY SAVE US OUT OF THE HAND OF OUR ENEMIES. The Commentators say that they thought the Ark would save them even though they had not repented of their sins and corrected their ways.   This is a major principle in  Biblical thought. The main point is to do right and if we have done badly then to correct ourselves. All other things are subsidiary to this. [1-Samuel 4:4] SO THE PEOPLE SENT TO SHILOH, THAT THEY MIGHT BRING FROM THENCE THE ARK OF  THE COVENANT OF THE LORD OF HOSTS, WHICH DWELLETH BETWEEN THE CHERUBIMS: AND THE  TWO SONS OF ELI, HOPHNI AND PHINEHAS, WERE THERE WITH THE ARK OF THE COVENANT OF  GOD. [1-Samuel 4:5] AND WHEN THE ARK OF THE COVENANT OF THE LORD CAME INTO THE CAMP, ALL  ISRAEL SHOUTED WITH A GREAT SHOUT, SO THAT THE EARTH RANG AGAIN. [1-Samuel 4:6] AND WHEN THE PHILISTINES HEARD THE NOISE OF THE SHOUT, THEY SAID, WHAT  MEANETH THE NOISE OF THIS GREAT SHOUT IN THE CAMP OF THE HEBREWS? AND THEY  UNDERSTOOD THAT THE ARK OF THE LORD WAS COME INTO THE CAMP. <<THE CAMP OF THE HEBREWS>>: The israelites were called Hebrews and as far as we know this term was only applied to them. "Hebrew" in the Hebrew language is "Ivri" or "Ibri". So too the Lost Ten Tribes when they were exiled were referred to as "Iberi" or as Aberi" or as "Hiberi" (also "Hiberni") and these terms were applied to the Celts when they were in Spain and ;ater when they moved to the British Isles and this is the name they aplied to themselves and it is found as an element in Celtic place-names throughout Western Europe. [1-Samuel 4:7] AND THE PHILISTINES WERE AFRAID, FOR THEY SAID, GOD IS COME INTO THE CAMP.  AND THEY SAID, WOE UNTO US! FOR THERE HATH NOT BEEN SUCH A THING HERETOFORE. <<GOD>>: Hebrew "Elohim" [1-Samuel 4:8] WOE UNTO US! WHO SHALL DELIVER US OUT OF THE HAND OF THESE MIGHTY GODS?  THESE ARE THE GODS THAT SMOTE THE EGYPTIANS WITH ALL THE PLAGUES IN THE WILDERNESS. << MIGHTY GODS >: Hebrew "Elohim Adirim" <<GODS>>: Hebrew "Elohim". The word for "God" or "gods" is Elohim and can be singular or plural depending on the context and the verbal forms connected to it. The wonders that had been wrought for the Israelites in the Wilderness were well known: << THOU IN THY MERCY HAST LED FORTH THE PEOPLE WHICH THOU HAST REDEEMED: THOU HAST GUIDED THEM IN THY STRENGTH UNTO THY HOLY HABITATION. << THE PEOPLE SHALL HEAR, AND BE AFRAID: SORROW SHALL TAKE HOLD ON THE INHABITANTS OF PALESTINA. <<THEN THE DUKES OF EDOM SHALL BE AMAZED; THE MIGHTY MEN OF MOAB, TREMBLING SHALL TAKE HOLD UPON THEM; ALL THE INHABITANTS OF CANAAN SHALL MELT AWAY>> [Exodus 15:13-15]. [1-Samuel 4:9] BE STRONG AND QUIT YOURSELVES LIKE MEN, O YE PHILISTINES, THAT YE BE NOT  SERVANTS UNTO THE HEBREWS, AS THEY HAVE BEEN TO YOU: QUIT YOURSELVES LIKE MEN, AND  FIGHT. When the Germans in WW2 began loosing they fought with great desperation especially in the East. They knew the atrocities they or their comrades had committed and were afraid that if they lost what they had done to others would be done to them. To som degree this fear was justified. [1-Samuel 4:10] AND THE PHILISTINES FOUGHT, AND ISRAEL WAS SMITTEN, AND THEY FLED EVERY  MAN INTO HIS TENT: AND THERE WAS A VERY GREAT SLAUGHTER; FOR THERE FELL OF ISRAEL THIRTY  THOUSAND FOOTMEN. [1-Samuel 4:11] AND THE ARK OF GOD WAS TAKEN; AND THE TWO SONS OF ELI, HOPHNI AND  PHINEHAS, WERE SLAIN. [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. <<A MAN OF BENJAMIN>>: The distance was anywhere from ca.40 to 70 miles away soince we are not sure of the exact locatrions. The sages had a tradition that the man for Benjamin was Saul, the future king of Israel. [1-Samuel 4:13] 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. [1-Samuel 4:14] 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. [1-Samuel 4:15] NOW ELI WAS NINETY AND EIGHT YEARS OLD; AND HIS EYES WERE DIM, THAT HE  COULD NOT SEE. [1-Samuel 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? [1-Samuel 4:17] 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. [1-Samuel 4:18] 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. Eli was shocked more by the capture of the Ark than the other news. Because of the sins of his sons and the curse that fell on his house we tend to underrate Eli but he was a great man. He was the one that was the agent by which Hannah was blessed by the Almighty and bore Samuel and he was the one that realized that the Almighty was speaking to the  youth, Samuel. [1-Samuel 4:19] 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. [1-Samuel 4:20] 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  IT. [1-Samuel 4:21] 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. <<ICHABOD>> i.e. "A(I)- CaBoD": Where is honor?" or "There is no honor?" "a" (sometimes pronounced as "I" or "i" but spelt with the "a" (aleph) letter can mean "none" or "where" or "any". It is the probably source of the indefinite article "a" in English.   The word "one" also comes from the same root. Of the english numbers "six" could come from the Hebrew "shesh";  seven from the Hebrew "sheva" (pronounceable in the north as "seven(n)"); eight from the Hebrew letter chet pronounceable as "het" cf. the French "huit" (8);  Of  the other numbers "four" and "nine" are also possibilities but through complicated pathways.  In fields like those of Brit-Am even if we are certain something is true it is often best not to say it unless the evidence is simple, obvious, and convincing.  We cannot afford the luxuries that conventional researchers allow themselves though in some ways we are also less confined than they are obliged to be. [1-Samuel 4:22] AND SHE SAID, THE GLORY IS DEPARTED FROM ISRAEL: FOR THE ARK OF GOD IS   TAKEN. SAMUEL HOME