LOSS OF THE ARK OF GOD Having gone out to battle against the Philistines, without sanctifying their life, nor asking God’s counsel, The Israelites were defeated. Instead of repenting, and returning to God, they carried the ark of God to the battle with the two corrupt priests ‘Hophni’ and ‘Phinehas,’ sons of Eli the high priest. The ark was captured from them, Hophni and Phinehas were killed, thirty thousand foot soldiers fell, and the neck of Eli was broken and died on that day. 1- Capture of the ark of the covenant 1 – 11. 2- Death of Eli the high priest 12 – 18. 3- Birth of Ichabod, son of Phinehas 19 – 22. 1- CAPTURE OF THE ARK OF THE COVENANT In the book of Judges 13: 1, it was said that God delivered the children of Israel into the hand of the Philistines for 40 years; The events mentioned here probably happened during that period. The Philistines encamped in Aphek, and the Israelites beside Ebenezer opposite them. ‘Aphek’1 is a Hebrew word that probably means (strength) or (castle); there were 5 cities that carried that same name; the city mentioned here is Canaanite, captured by Joshua (Joshua 12: 18). The Philistines encamped in it twice to fight against Israel: once in the time of Eli the high priest (1 Samuel 4: 1), and another time in the days of king Saul (1 Samuel 29: 4). In its location nowadays exists a city by the name of ‘Ras-El-Ein’. That city was rebuilt in the first century B C by Herode, and, after him, was called by his son Antipatris. There,, the apostle Paul spent a night on his way from Jerusalem to Caesarea (Acts 23: 31). ‘Ebenezer’ is a Hebrew word meaning (the Stone of help). It was so called, 20 years after the events mentioned, as Samuel set there a memorial stone, between ‘Mizpah’ and ‘Shen,’ south-east of Aphek, saying, “Thus far the Lord has helped us” (1 Samuel 7: 12). As they joined battle, Israel was partly defeated by the Philistines, who killed about 4000 men of the Israelites (1 Samuel 4: 2). When the people returned to the camp -and here, we hear about the people and not about the men of valor, as they entered the battle unprepared, beside their horrible corruption - the elders of Israel said: “Why has the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines?” (1 Samuel 4: 3). If they realized that it was because of their corruption, and their deviation from God, and returned to Him in repentance, He would have dwelt in their midst as the secret of their victory; But what happened was a cover-up of the corruption, by carrying the ark of the covenant, hoping it would save them from their enemies. They brought it from Shiloh together with the corrupt priests Hophni and Phinehas. This was expressed by the Psalmist in his saying: “Yet they tested and provoked the Most High God, and did not keep His testimonies; They were turned aside like a deceitful bow. For they provoked Him to anger with their high places, and moved Him to jealousy with their carved images. When God heard this, He was furious, and greatly abhorred Israel; So that He forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which He had placed among men. He 1 McKenzie: Dict. Of the Bible, p. 38. 2 delivered His strength into captivity, and His glory into the enemy’s hand. He also gave His people over to the sword, and was furious with His inheritance. The fire consumed their young men, and their maidens had no wedding songs. Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows could not weep” (Psalm 78: 56 - 64) Why did God allow that to happen? a- Bringing the ark of the covenant did not imply a return to God in repentance, but a leaning on the outer formalities of worship. This happened several times along the generations: In the days of the prophet Jeremiah, the leaders and the people assumed, despite God’s numerous and repeated warnings through his prophets, that God would never deliver Jerusalem - being the city of the Lord - nor His temple. Instead of repenting, they came to sing: “The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, are these” (Jeremiah 7: 4); They trusted “in lying words that cannot profit” (Jeremiah 7: 8). Yet Jerusalem was captivated and the temple was destroyed. That was also mentioned by the prophet Ezekiel, who said: “The glory of the Lord departed from the threshold of the temple, and stood over the cherubim” (Ezekiel 10: 18; 11: 22). St. Augustine says: [“He (God) forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh; the tent which He had placed among men” (Psalm 78: 60). He made it clear, why He forsook His tent, by saying “which He had placed among men”. As they became unworthy to have God dwelling among them, He forsook the tent which He set, not for His own sake but for theirs. “He delivered His strength (their virtue and beauty) into captivity; The ark itself, that they assumed to be unconquerable..., that He called (their virtue and beauty), He delivered into captivity. Later on, as they lived in wickedness, and took pride in the temple of the Lord, He shook them through a prophet who said to them: “Go now to My place which was in Shiloh, where I sat My name at the first, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel” (Jeremiah 7: 12). “He also gave His people over to the sword, and was furious with His inheritance” (Psalm 78: 62) “The fire (of divine wrath) consumed their young men, and their maidens had no wedding songs (because of the enemy)” (Psalm 78: 63). “Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows could not weep” (psalm 78: 64). The wife of one of Eli’s sons became a widow, and could not mourn for her husband, as she died while giving birth to a child (1 Samuel 4: 10), and could not even attend the funeral1]. b- Hophni and Phinehas came to the battle with the ark of the covenant. They were corrupt and corrupters of the people, and assumed that God is committed to fight for the people, at least for the sake of the ark, that represents His divine presence. Indeed, God declared that He is capable of protecting the ark, and of defending His glory; yet, this would not happen except after chastising the people together with their priests for their corruption. Speaking of how God delivered the ark and the tabernacle into the hands of the enemies and how He chastised His people and priests, the Psalmist added: “Then the Lord awoke as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man who shouts because of wine. And He beat back His enemies; He put them into a perpetual reproach” (Psalm 78:65, 66). St. Augustine comments on this, saying: [“He struck His enemies in concealed places”; namely, those who rejoiced because they were capable of capturing the ark, 1 On Ps. 78 (32). 3 were struck in backward places (tumors)...They loved backward things, so they were justly struck in those places1]. c- As the ark of God came into the camp, all the people of Israel shouted so loudly that the earth shook. When the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said: “God has come into the camp” (1 Samuel 4: 7). They shouted with their tongues and throats, until the earth shook; Yet their hearts, were still without repentance, and their corrupt bodies unshaken. That is why the Philistines, though frightened,, instead of retreating, got more zealous and fought stronger; and temporarily defeated the Israelites. The people shouted with their tongues not realizing that the true conquest, is not through the shouts of the tongue, but through the purity of the heart, and the obedience to God; according to the words in the book of Deuteronomy: “Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth.... The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; They shall come out against you one way, and flee before you seven ways” (Deuteronomy 28: 1, 7). “But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God,...The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies; You shall go out one way against them, and flee seven ways before them; and you shall become troublesome to all the kingdoms of the earth” (Deuteronomy 28: 15, 25). That is why the Psalmist also says: “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear” (Psalm 66: 18).St. Augustine comments on the words of the Psalmist, saying: [Be a condemner to yourself within yourself; Look into your secret place, in the depths of your heart; where you are alone with God; There, let iniquity be abhorrent to you, to please God2]. 2- DEATH OF ELI, THE HIGH PRIEST As the great struck took place: [the defeat of the people; the death of 30000 men; the death of the two priests; and the capture of the ark of God], a man of Benjamin ran from the battle line, and came to Shiloh, about 20 miles far from Ebenezer, to tell the news. He came before the high priest with his clothes torn and dirt on his head, to find Eli sitting on a seat by the wayside watching, “for his heart trembled for the ark of God” (1 Samuel 4: 13). It is obvious that Eli did not approve of taking the ark of God to the battle line; yet he submitted to the will of the people. As the man came into the city and told the news, all the city cried out. When Eli - the 90 years old man - heard from the messenger, of how Israel was defeated, of the great slaughter among the people, and of the death of his two sons, he was shocked; Yet when he heard of the capture of the ark of God, he fell off the seat backward by the side of the gate being unable to bear this news in particular and his neck was broken and died, for the man was old and heavy. He had judged Israel for 40 years (1 Samuel 4: 18); Yet his slothfulness towards his two sons to the sanctities of God, caused him to loose every fruit, and put a tragic end to his life. 3- BIRTH OF ICHABOD, SON OF PHINEHAS The wife of Phinehas called her child “Ichabod,” meaning (the son of glory) 3, saying: “The glory has departed from Israel for the ark of God has been captured” (1 1 Ibid 78 (33). 2 On Ps. 66. 3 Nelson: A New Catholic Comm., p. 310. 4 Samuel 4: 22). That was a misunderstanding on her part; as actually the ark of God had been captured, because the glory had departed from Israel. Israel lost its glory, through his deviation from God; That is why God delivered His ark to the enemies, to chastise both parties together. Capturing the ark was more painful to her soul, than the death of her father-inlaw and of her man. She realized that the death of her father-in-law, her man, and her child’s loss of his father before his birth are all incomparable to the people’s loss of capturing the ark, a sign that God forsook His people.
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