What happens after Israel brings the ark into camp hoping it will save them?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

The Philistines fight and defeat Israel again. Thirty thousand Israelite footmen fall, Ophni and Phinees are slain and the ark is taken. News of its capture reaches Heli and Phinees’s wife in Silo, with fatal consequences for Heli and sudden labor for his daughter-in-law.

Chapter breakdown

The Philistines gather to fight. Israel goes to war against them and camps by the Stone of help, while the Philistines come to Aphec. Challoner separately gives the Hebrew name Eben-ezer and explains that the place is named for the help the Lord later gives Israel there through Samuel’s prayers, referring to chapter 7:12. The Philistines arrange their army against Israel. In battle Israel turns its back, and about four thousand men are killed here and there in the fields. Returning to camp, Israel’s ancients ask why the Lord defeated them that day. They propose bringing the ark of the Lord’s covenant from Silo into their midst so it may save them from their enemies. The people send to Silo and bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts, sitting upon the cherubims. Heli’s two sons, Ophni and Phinees, are with the ark of God’s covenant.

When the ark arrives, all Israel gives a great shout and the earth rings again. The Philistines hear it, ask about the noise in the Hebrews’ camp and understand that the Lord’s ark has come. Afraid, they say God has come into the camp and sigh in distress: there was no such great joy yesterday or the day before. They ask who can deliver them from these high Gods, whom they say struck Egypt with all the plagues in the desert. They urge the Philistines to take courage, behave like men and fight, lest they become servants to the Hebrews as the Hebrews have served them. They fight, Israel is overthrown and every man flees to his own dwelling. Thirty thousand Israelite footmen fall in the great slaughter. The ark of God is taken, and Ophni and Phinees, Heli’s two sons, are slain.

A man of Benjamin runs from the army to Silo that same day with torn clothes and dust on his head. Heli sits on a stool facing the way, watching because his heart fears for God’s ark. The man reports the news in the city, and all the city cries out. Heli hears the uproar and asks what it means. The man hurries to tell him. Heli is ninety-eight, with dim eyes that cannot see. The man says he came from the battle and fled the field that day; Heli asks what happened, calling him his son. The messenger says Israel fled before the Philistines, a great slaughter occurred, Ophni and Phinees are dead and the ark is taken. When he names the ark, Heli falls backward from his stool by the door, breaks his neck and dies. He is old and far advanced in years and has judged Israel forty years. Challoner separately says these circumstances give great reason to hope Heli died in a state of grace and escaped eternal punishment through his temporal punishments. The note expresses hope, rather than a certain verdict.

Heli’s daughter-in-law, Phinees’s wife, is pregnant and near her time. Hearing that the ark is taken and her father-in-law and husband are dead, she bows and goes into labor, her pains coming suddenly. As she is at the point of death, those around her tell her not to fear because she has borne a son. She neither answers nor heeds them. She names the child Ichabod, saying glory is gone from Israel because the ark was taken, and for her father-in-law and husband. Challoner separately explains Ichabod as where is the glory, or there is no glory. His note says the Israelites’ grief over the ark, a symbol of God’s presence, should lead Christians to grieve still more over losing God himself when sin drives him from their souls. The account closes with her saying that glory has departed from Israel because the ark was taken.

The story inside

An initial defeat with about four thousand dead leads the ancients to fetch the ark in hope of rescue. Israel’s great shout alerts the Philistines. Their fear gives way to an appeal to fight to avoid a reversal of servitude, and they win the next battle. The report of thirty thousand dead, both sons slain and the ark taken is carried to Silo. Heli’s stated fear for the ark precedes his fatal fall when its capture is named. Phinees’s wife goes into sudden labor after hearing the losses and names her son Ichabod. Her repeated explanation centers on the captured ark. The notes explain the place-name, express hope about Heli’s death and draw Challoner’s own Christian lesson from Ichabod.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The ark’s arrival and victory are separate events. Israel brings it hoping for rescue and shouts when it comes, yet the next battle ends in defeat and capture. The chapter records that contrast without supplying a new motive for the ancients.
2
The enemy’s speech states the feared consequence. The Philistines urge courage so they will not serve the Hebrews as the Hebrews have served them. This appeal precedes the battle; it is kept as their speech, including their wording about Egypt’s plagues.
3
The news has distinct effects on the family. Heli falls when the ark is named; Phinees’s wife hears the ark’s loss and both deaths, goes into labor and names the child. Challoner’s hope about Heli remains a hope, and his Christian lesson remains commentary.

Test your recall

How do the first defeat and the ancients’ proposal lead to the ark’s arrival, why do the Philistines urge one another to fight, and which news triggers Heli’s fall and Ichabod’s naming?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 28488–28518
1 Kings Chapter 4 The Israelites being overcome by the Philistines, send for the ark of God: but they are beaten again, the sons of Heli are killed, and the ark taken: upon the hearing of the news Heli falleth backward and dieth. 4:1. And it came to pass in those days, that the Philistines gathered themselves together to fight: and Israel went out to war against the Philistines, and camped by the Stone of help. And the Philistines came to Aphec, The Stone of help.... In Hebrew Eben-ezer; so called from the help which the Lord was pleased afterwards to give to his people Israel in that place, by the prayers of Samuel, chap. 7.12. 4:2. And put their army in array against Israel. And when they had joined battle, Israel turned their backs to the Philistines: and there were slain in that fight, here and there in the fields, about four thousand men. 4:3. And the people returned to the camp: and the ancients of Israel said: Why hath the Lord defeated us to day before the Philistines? Let us fetch unto us the ark of the covenant of the Lord from Silo, and let it come in the midst of us, that it may save us from the hand of our enemies. 4:4. So the people sent to Silo, and they brought from thence the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts, sitting upon the cherubims: and the two sons of Heli, Ophni and Phinees, were with the ark of the covenant of God.
Lines 28520–28544
4:5. And when the ark of the covenant of the Lord was come into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, and the earth rang again. 4:6. And the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, and they said: What is this noise of a great shout in the camp of the Hebrews? And they understood that the ark of the Lord was come into the camp. 4:7. And the Philistines were afraid, saying: God is come into the camp. And sighing, they said: 4:8. Woe to us: for there was no such great joy yesterday, and the day before: Woe to us. Who shall deliver us from the hand of these high Gods? these are the Gods that struck Egypt with all the plagues in the desert. 4:9. Take courage, and behave like men, ye Philistines: lest you come to be servants to the Hebrews, as they have served you: take courage and fight. 4:10. So the Philistines fought, and Israel was overthrown, and every man fled to his own dwelling: and there was an exceeding great slaughter; for there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen. 4:11. And the ark of God was taken: and the two sons of Heli, Ophni and Phinees, were slain.
Lines 28546–28574
4:12. And there ran a man of Benjamin out of the army, and came to Silo the same day, with his clothes rent, and his head strewed with dust. 4:13. And when he was come, Heli sat upon a stool over against the way, watching. For his heart was fearful for the ark of God. And when the man was come into the city, he told it: and all the city cried out. 4:14. And Heli heard the noise of the cry, and he said: What meaneth the noise of this uproar? But he made haste, and came, and told Heli. 4:15. Now Heli was ninety and eight years old, and his eyes were dim, and he could not see. 4:16. And he said to Heli: I am he that came from the battle, and have fled out of the field this day. And he said to him: What is there done, my son? 4:17. And he that brought the news answered, and said: Israel is fled before the Philistines, and there has been a great slaughter of the people: moreover thy two sons, Ophni and Phinees, are dead: and the ark of God is taken. 4:18. And when he had named the ark of God, he fell from his stool backwards by the door, and broke his neck and died. For he was an old man, and far advanced in years: And he judged Israel forty years. Named the ark, etc.... There is great reason, by all these circumstances, to hope that Heli died in a state of grace; and by his temporal punishments escaped the eternal.
Lines 28576–28598
4:19. And his daughter in law, the wife of Phinees, was big with child, and near her time: and hearing the news that the ark of God was taken, and her father in law, and her husband, were dead, she bowed herself and fell in labour: for her pains came upon her on a sudden. 4:20. And when she was upon the point of death, they that stood about her said to her: Fear not, for thou hast borne a son. She answered them not, nor gave heed to them. 4:21. And she called the child Ichabod, saying: The glory is gone from Israel, because the ark of God was taken, and for her father in law, and for her husband: Ichabod.... That is, Where is the glory? or, there is no glory. We see how much the Israelites lamented the loss of the ark, which was but the symbol of God’s presence among them. How much more ought Christians to lament the loss of God himself, when by sin they have driven him out of their souls. 4:22. And she said: The glory is departed from Israel, because the ark of God was taken.