1 Samuel 4

Israel Gets Smacked

1 Samuel’s word spread all across Israel. Now at this time, Israel went out to fight the Philistines. They camped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines set up at Aphek.

2 The Philistines rolled up and gave Israel a beatdown. They dropped about 4,000 Israelite soldiers right there on the battlefield.

Israel Tries to Bring the Ark Like a Good Luck Charm

3 When the troops came back to camp, the Israelite leaders said, “How did the Lord let us get smoked today, Man, go get the Ark of the Covenant from Shiloh. Maybe if we bring God’s box, He will save us from the Philistines.”

4 So they sent men to Shiloh and brought back the Ark of the Covenant, the Ark of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies who sits above the cherubim. Hophni and Phinehas (Eli’s shady sons) came too, carrying the Ark.

5 When the Ark showed up at the camp, the whole Israelite army started shouting so loud the ground shook.

6 The Philistines heard the noise and said, “What is all that yelling in the Hebrew camp?” When they found out the Ark of the Lord had arrived, they got shook.

Philistines Still Is Not Scared

7 The Philistines said, “Man, their God has shown up at camp! We are dead! We have never dealt with this before.”

8 “Who can save us from these powerful gods, These the same gods who smashed Egypt with plagues.”

9 They hyped themselves up, saying, “Man up, Philistines! Fight like men! Do not be slaves to the Hebrews like they used to be to us. Stand tall and scrap!”

Israel Takes a Major L

10 So the Philistines went hard and whooped Israel again. Israel lost bad, 30,000 foot soldiers dropped that day.

11 The Ark of God got snatched, and Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, got killed too.

Eli Hears the Bad News

12 A man from the tribe of Benjamin ran from the battlefield, clothes ripped and dirt on his head, showing he was mourning, and came straight to Shiloh.

13 When he got there, Eli was sitting by the gate, posted up, nervous about the Ark. When the man came running into town with the news, everybody started crying out loud.

14 Eli heard the noise and said, “What is all that commotion?” The man hurried over to tell Eli.

15 Eli was 98 years old by now, and he was blind. Could not see a thing.

16 The man said, “I am the one who ran from the battlefield today.” Eli said, “Speak, son, what happened?”

17 The man said, “Israel lost. We ran. Thousands are dead. Your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, they are dead too. And the Ark of God got captured.”

18 When he mentioned the Ark being captured, Eli fell backward off his seat, broke his neck, and died, because he was old and heavy. He had judged Israel for 40 years.

Ichabod Is Born

19 Eli’s daughter-in-law, Phinehas’s wife, was pregnant and about to pop. When she heard the news about the Ark being taken and her husband and father-in-law dying, she went into labor immediately.

20 As she was dying, the women around her said, “Do not trip, you had a son.” But she did not respond or care.

21 She named the boy Ichabod, saying, “The glory is gone from Israel,” because the Ark got captured and her husband and father-in-law were dead.

22 She said again, “The glory is gone from Israel, the Ark of God has been taken.”