What does 1 Samuel 4:21 mean?
Within hours of his death, Eli has a new grandchild. When the wife of his son Phinehas learns the ark of the covenant has been captured, her husband has been killed, and Eli has died suddenly, she goes into sudden labor. She gives birth to a son, but the shock of the birth is too much for her. The fact that her son is apparently healthy gives no comfort to this dying woman (1 Samuel 4:20).Phinehas's wife names their son Ichabod, which literally means "no glory." While dying, she mourns the death of her husband and father-in-law, but she names her son for the loss of the ark of God. Though she is no priest, she understands along with all in Israel that the Lord is the glory of His people. She believes, wrongly, that the loss of the ark to the Philistines is, in a sense, the loss of God Himself.