I have had the misfortune of building Ikea furniture that seemed relatively simple. If the bookshelf is straightforward, why bother with the instructions? I got this. Fast-forward a few hours later to a very disgruntled Marc who has had to dismantle most of the bookshelf because the unfinished part of the shelf was facing out or a couple pieces got mixed up. I assumed I knew better than the instructions and it cost me. You see where I am going with this, but let’s be honest, this is a terrible analogy. Ikea instructions are of little help in the first place.
If you read the part 1 & part 2 (you should do that now if you haven’t already), you’ll notice that we are skipping chapter 3. The story of Eli & sons breaks off there to talk about the call and growth of Samuel as a prophet of God. That is great for Samuel, but his card was banned, and we are more concerned in this study with what happens with Eli & sons. Sorry, Samuel. With that, go ahead and read 1 Samuel chapter 4. For the sake of brevity, I will only list the verses here that we will more closely scrutinize.
You’ll see that Israel is at it with their classic enemies, the Philistines. They hit the battlefield, and this is what happens:
“Then the Philistines drew up in battle formation to meet Israel. When the battle spread, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand men on the battlefield. 3 When the people came into the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines? Let’s take the ark of the covenant of the Lord from Shiloh, so that He may come among us and save us from the power of our enemies.” 4 So the people sent men to Shiloh, and from there they carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord of armies who is enthroned above the cherubim; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.”
1 Samuel 4:2-4
We have touched on the sovereignty of God in Part 1, and it comes up again here. After the Israelites lose the battle along with 4,000 men, the elders of Israel don’t ask about the battle strategy, bad scouting reports, or the comparative strength of either army. They know that their defeat ultimately came down the most important question—why has the Lord defeated us today? The word “Lord” in verse 3 is translated from the Hebrew Adonai, which is a title of God that focuses on His complete sovereign rule over the world and everything in it. They essentially asked, “why has the sovereign ruler who is in control of all things brought defeat on us today?” They were on the right track, but immediately got derailed. Instead of inquiring of the priests or seeking the Lord, they assume they can coerce God into giving them victory if they whip out the Ark of the Covenant. This was the most sacred item in Israel’s possession and was even called the “Mercy Seat” of God, as in the place where God’s presence sat and where the sacrificial blood was sprinkled to atone for the sins of the nation. You didn’t treat this thing except exactly as God instructed (shoutout to Uzzah whom you all had in your deck at one point). Instead of treating the Ark—and by extension, God’s holy presence—with reverence, they basically said, “let’s get the magic box and we’ve got a CBN battle winner!” Israel and the Philistines meet again on the battlefield and the Philistines are terrified when the see the Ark of the Covenant. They know about it and the God of Israel than leveled Egypt. So, the Philistines fight with the literal fear of God coursing through them…and Israel is…crushed.
“So the Philistines fought and Israel was defeated, and every man fled to his tent; and the defeat was very great, for thirty thousand foot soldiers of Israel fell. 11 Moreover, the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.”
1 Samuel 4:10-11
Not 4,000 men die in battle this time, 30,000 do. To add to that, the Ark was captured by the Philistines and God does just what He promised in the last study as Phinehas and Hophni die on the same day in battle. I can’t imagine how difficult it would be to hear that both my kids died on the same day. Interestingly, that isn’t even the worse part of Eli’s day.
“The man said to Eli, “I am the one who came from the battle line. Indeed, I escaped from the battle line today.” And he said, “How are things, my son?”17Then the one who brought the news replied, “Israel has fled before the Philistines and there has also been a great defeat among the people, and your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas are also dead; and the ark of God has been taken.” 18 When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell off the seat backward beside the gate, and his neck was broken and he died, for he was old and heavy. And so he judged Israel for forty years. 19 Now his daughter-in-law, Phinehas’ wife, was pregnant and about to give birth; and when she heard the news that the ark of God had been taken and that her father-in-law and her husband had died, she kneeled down and gave birth, because her pains came upon her. 20 And about the time of her death the women who were standing by her said to her, “Do not be afraid, for you have given birth to a son.” But she did not answer or pay attention. 21 And she named the boy Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel,” because the ark of God had been taken and because of her father-in-law and her husband. 22 So she said, “The glory has departed from Israel, because the ark of God has been taken.”
1 Samuel 4:16-22
It was upon hearing that the Ark had been captured that Eli promptly died due to falling backward at the news. To really stress the horror of this event, Phinehas’ pregnant wife immediately goes into labor at the news of her husband’s death and the captured ark. This was a dark day for many in Israel. The special ability of the card captures the moment of crisis and despair as best a card “So the Philistines fought and Israel was defeated, and every man fled to his tent; and the defeat was very great, for thirty thousand foot soldiers of Israel fell. 11 Moreover, the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.” 1 Samuel 4:10-11 game based on these events can—everyone else’s artifacts are shuffled away. You know the frustration if you played multiplayer with a few of these on the table. The despair of Israel was much worse, however. This is illustrated by the fact that Phinehas’ son was named Ichabod, meaning, “the glory has departed from Israel.” This seems to contradict what we looked at in Part 1 of the study where we saw that God is sovereign and does what He does for the display of His glory according to His good will. Here, we see Israel is defeated and the Ark captured which was understood as the glory of God departing. What is God’s plan in all this? Check out Part 4 to see how the endgame of God’s plan in this story plays out.
Conclusion & Application
It pays to pay attention. Selective hearing or selective understanding of clear instruction is costly. What is worse is that Israel should have known better. Instead of submitting to His rule in humility and obedience, they go with the first idea that pops into their head that doesn’t rely on God. Their attitude was “we got this, we just need to do this spiritual thing and God will have to give us victory.” Silly Israelites…but then again, I have subtly fallen into the same attitude. “God, I read your Word and prayed this morning—why am I having such a bad day?!” As if God were bound to give me an easy day because I can coerce Him through devotions. It is far wiser to seek God and trust that He still sits on the throne over the universe instead of panicking and trying to fix things on our own or to expect God will make everything go away if we follow a magic spiritual formula.
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