1 Samuel4chapter 4

1 Samuel 4:1

“Some attach the opening words to the close of 1 Sam. 3, as the complement of what is there said, “The Lord revealed himself to Samuel ... in Shiloh, and the word of Samuel went forth to all Israel.” If placed at the commencement of 1 Sam. 4, and in connection with what follows, they are to be understood in the sense that Samuel called all Israel to battle against the Philistines. (Compare 1Sa 7:5.) But this is not the natural interpretation of the words, which seem clearly to belong to what went before.”

1 Samuel 4:1

“Israel went out against the Philistines to battle--that is, to resist this new incursion. Aphek--Aphek, which means "strength," is a name applied to any fort or fastness.”

1 Samuel 4:2

“Israel, who were the aggressors, were smitten, and had 4000 men killed upon the spot. God had promised that one of them should chase a thousand; but now, on the contrary, Israel is smitten before the Philistines. Sin, the accursed thing, was in the camp, and gave their enemies all the advantage against them they could wish for.”

1 Samuel 4:3

“In the evening of the defeat of the Israelites the elders held a council, and resolved to send for the ark, which is described in full, as implying that in virtue of the covenant God could not but give them the victory (compare Num 10:35; Jos 3:10).”

1 Samuel 4:3

“THESE MEN made a great mistake: what they wanted was the Lord in their midst; whereas they imagined that the symbol of God’s presence, the ark of the covenant, would be amply sufficient to bestow upon them the assistance which they required in the day of battle. As is man, such must his religion be. Now, man is a compound being. To speak correctly, man is a spiritual being: he hath within him a soul, a substance far beyond the bounds of matter. But man is also made up of a body as well as a soul.”

1 Samuel 4:3-9

“In short, the shout raised in the Hebrew camp, on the arrival of the ark, indicated very plainly the prevalence among the Israelites at this time of a belief in national deities--whose influence was local, and whose interest was especially exerted in behalf of the people who adored them.”

1 Samuel 4:4

“The Lord of hosts - See on 1Sa 1:3 (note). Dwelleth between the cherubims - Of what shape the cherubim were, we know not; but there was one of these representative figures placed at each end of the ark of the covenant; and between them, on the lid or cover of that ark, which was called the propitiatory or mercy-seat, the shechinah, or symbol of the Divine presence, was said to dwell. They thought, therefore, if they had the ark, they must necessarily have the presence and influence of Jehovah.”

1 Samuel 4:4

“And yet indeed they did but make an idol of the ark, and looked upon it to be as much an image of the God of Israel as those idols which the heathen worshipped were of their gods. To worship the true God, and not to worship him as God, is in effect not to worship him at all.”

1 Samuel 4:5

“All Israel shouted - Had they humbled themselves, and prayed devoutly and fervently for success, they would have been heard and saved. Their shouting proved both their vanity and irreligion.”

1 Samuel 4:7

“God is come into the camp - They took for granted, as did the Israelites, that his presence was inseparable from his ark or shrine.”

1 Samuel 4:8

“These mighty Gods - מיד האלהים האדרים miyad haelohim haaddirim, from the hand of these illustrious Gods. Probably this should be translated in the singular, and not in the plural: Who shall deliver us from the hand of this illustrious God?”

1 Samuel 4:8

“Wilderness - They mention the wilderness, not as if all the plagues of the Egyptians came upon them in the wilderness, but because the last and sorest of all, which is therefore put for all, the destruction of Pharaoh and all his host, happened in the wilderness, namely, in the Red- sea, which having the wilderness on both sides of it, may well be said to be in the wilderness.”

1 Samuel 4:8

“Here they were as much out in their history as in their divinity: the plagues of Egypt were inflicted before the ark was made and before Israel came into the wilderness; but some confused traditions they had of wonders wrought by or for Israel when this ark was carried before them, which they attributed, not to Jehovah, but to the ark.”

1 Samuel 4:10

“Tent - To his habitation, called by the ancient name of his tent. There fell - Before, they lost but four thousand, now in the presence of the ark, thirty thousand, to teach them that the ark and ordinances of God, were never designed as a refuge to impenitent sinners, but only for the comfort of those that repent.”

1 Samuel 4:10

“The ark in the camp will add nothing to its strength when there is an Achan in it. 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 both slain,”

1 Samuel 4:11

“How will it be true to say about that [earthly] tabernacle that only "the innocent in hands and pure in heart, who did not receive his soul in vain," will inhabit it, when the history of the kings transmits that the worst priests, "sons of pestilence," have dwelt in the tabernacle of God and the ark of the covenant itself also was captured by foreigners and detained with the impious and profane?”

1 Samuel 4:11

“Thus as God was no loser by this event, so the Philistines were no gainers by it; and Israel, all things considered, received more good than hurt by it.”