Episode 102: The Philistines steal the ark of the covenant

1 Samuel 4

The Philistines kill 34,000 Israelites

4 ¹ The word of Samuel came to all Israel. And Israel went to war with the Philistines.

² The Philistines killed 4000 Israelites.

³ The elders asked,

Why did God let us be killed by the Philistines?

Let's fetch the ark to save us from our enemies.

⁵ So they brought the ark to the camp and everyone in Israel shouted so loud that the earth shook.

⁶ The Philistines heard the Israelites shout and knew that the ark must be with them.

They were afraid, and said,

God is in the Israelites' camp. Woe is us!

⁸ Who will protect us from their mighty gods?

⁹ We must be strong and fight like men.

¹⁰ And the Philistines fought, killing 30,000 Israelites.

The Philistines steal the ark and kill Eli's sons

¹¹ The Philistines took the ark of God and killed Eli's sons, Hophni and Phinehas.

¹² A man ran from the battle (with torn clothes and dirt on his head) with the bad news.

¹³ When the people heard it, the whole city cried out.

The death of Eli

^14-15 Eli, who was 98 years old and blind, heard the city cry and asked the man, “What happened?”

¹⁶ The man said to Eli,

¹⁷ There was a great slaughter, your sons Hophni and Phinehas were killed, and the Philistines took the ark of God.

¹⁸ When Eli heard about the ark, he fell backward, broke his neck and died. He had judged Israel forty years.

Ichabod is born

¹⁹ Eli's daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, went into hard labor when she heard about the death of her husband.

^20-21 The women who stood by her said to her,

Don't be afraid. It's a boy.

As she was dying, she named the baby Ichabod.