1 Samuel 4:11 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And the ark of God was captured, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.

NIV: The ark of God was captured, and Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, died.

NASB: Moreover, the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.

CSB: The ark of God was captured, and Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, died.

NLT: The Ark of God was captured, and Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were killed.

KJV: And the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain.

NKJV: Also the ark of God was captured; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.

The arrival of the ark of the covenant at the battlefield failed to secure Israel's victory over the Philistines. Worse, God did not even keep the ark itself from being captured by the enemy. Less surprising is that God did not protect the two priests sent to shepherd the ark to the battlefield. Hophni and Phinehas, Eli's two sons, were killed as predicted (1 Samuel 2:34). The ark was taken by Israel's hated, pagan enemies.

According to worldview assumptions of the ancient Near East, Israel's god was defeated and proven to be weak, while the god of the Philistines would have been celebrated for his strength. However, the opposite was true. This outcome was the fulfillment of the Lord's prophecy that He would begin to remove the priesthood from Eli's household because of the old priest's tolerance for the sins of his sons in their role as priests (1 Samuel 2:27–36; 3:11–15). Further, it was consistent with God's working through certain objects, not being bound to them. The Lord was not surprised by Israel's defeat, the capture of the ark, or the death of its priests. This had been God's plan all along; possessing the ark will not end will for the Philistines (1 Samuel 5).

Through an unnamed prophet, the Lord had told Eli that all his descendants would die young and, perhaps, violently. To confirm this since Eli would not live to see it, the Lord told the old priest He would give Him a sign: "And this that shall come upon your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, shall be the sign to you: both of them shall die on the same day" (1 Samuel 2:34).

The Lord affirmed the prophecy of the unnamed prophet in his first revelation to Samuel as a boy: "On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. And I declare to him that I am about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God, and he did not restrain them" (1 Samuel 3:12–13).

First Samuel 4:1–11 mentions Samuel's new role delivering God's Word to Israel. It then describes a battle between Israel and the Philistines. After losing an initial skirmish, the elders of Israel bring the ark of the covenant to the battlefield. This briefly terrifies the Philistines but doesn't stop them. The Israelites are defeated, losing many men. In a humiliating blow, the ark of the covenant is captured. Eli's sons are killed, and every survivor of the battle runs for home.

Israel amasses an to fight against the Philistines. After losing badly in the first battle, the elders send for the ark of God to be brought from Shiloh. They seem to assume the mere presence of the ark will act like a lucky charm or talisman. The Philistines are terrified at the idea of fighting Israel's deity, but they still defeat the Israelites, slaughtering many soldiers and capturing the ark. A runner delivers the news to Eli that his sons are dead and the ark is captured. He dies, and his daughter-in-law goes into premature labor. Before she dies, she names the baby Ichabod, saying that the glory has departed from Israel.

First Samuel 4 begins a new section of 1 Samuel. The young prophet Samuel (1 Samuel 1—3) disappears from the story for several chapters. Israel brings the ark of the covenant to a battle with the Philistines, but they are wiped out anyway. The Philistines rout the army and capture the ark. A runner delivers the news to Eli that his sons are dead and the ark is taken. Eli dies, as does his daughter-in-law after giving birth to a son she names Ichabod. She declares that the glory has departed from Israel because the ark has been captured. Despite this, the Philistines will soon learn the ark is not a mere trophy (1 Samuel 5).

First Samuel introduces the key figures who led Israel after the era of the judges. The books of 1 and 2 Samuel were originally part of a single text, split in certain translations shortly before the birth of Christ. Some of the Bible’s most famous characters are depicted in this book. These including the prophet Samuel, Israel’s first king, Saul, her greatest king, David, and other famous names such as Goliath and Jonathan. By the end of this book, Saul has fallen; the book of 2 Samuel begins with David’s ascension to the throne.