What does 1 Samuel 4:19 mean?
The story of this tragic day continues to grow worse. Sometimes shocking news can hit like a physical blow. That seems to have happened for Eli. When the runner from the battle with the Philistines told the old priest that the war was lost, the army was gone, his sons had been killed, and the ark had been captured, Eli fell over in his chair backwards like he'd been struck. He broke his neck and died (1 Samuel 4:12–18).Now we learn that Eli's son Phinehas had a wife who was pregnant and nearly due to give birth. She has just learned that the ark of the covenant has been captured by the enemy and her husband and father-in-law are dead. She, too, receives the news in a way that causes her body to physically react. She immediately goes into what is apparently premature labor. The word for "bowed" literally means "crouched," which would have been the normal position for giving birth in this era. Her baby, a son, is quickly delivered, but she will not survive (1 Samuel 4:20) much beyond giving the boy a name mourning the loss of the ark (1 Samuel 4:21–22).