Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
1 Samuel 3:21
YHWH Again Appears In Shiloh (1 Samuel 3:21 to 1 Samuel 4:1 a).
This is a flash forward to the situation which lay beyond chapter 4:1-7:1. During the ‘rule' of Hophni and Phinehas Samuel was very much in the background faithfully performing his duties in the Tabernacle.
‘ And YHWH appeared again in Shiloh; for YHWH revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh in the word of YHWH.'
As a result of Samuel's prophesying Shiloh would one day regain its status as the place where YHWH revealed Himself. For YHWH revealed Himself to Samuel by giving him ‘the word of YHWH'. Thus the authentic voice of YHWH was again being heard. It portended a new beginning for Israel in its development as a nation. Indeed had it not been for Samuel the defeat by the Philistines might have crushed Israel once for all. This fact that Shiloh would continue to be influential in the future suggests that its final destruction (if it occurred) was not directly connected with what happened to the Ark. It possibly occurred on a later foray by the Philistines whose pressure on Israel no doubt continued due to Israel's weakness. The only thing in fact that saved them from being totally overrun was that they were able to retreat back into the mountains. But a good part of lowland Israel was under Philistine control (see 1 Samuel 13:19), and would remain so until Samuel reached manhood.
‘And the word of Samuel came to all Israel.'
Having received the word of YHWH Samuel would pass it on to the people. The word of Samuel was heard wherever Israelites were found.
Chapter 4.
There can be little doubt that in this chapter we are being brought back to a period before Samuel's full influence began to be felt. Eli was now even more infirm, and his sons were no doubt in full command. Samuel as a youth was still serving faithfully in the Tabernacle. Israel was now once again experiencing powerful pressure from the Philistine overlords who were wanting to carve out an empire for themselves. The Philistines had seemingly got over their losses brought about by Samson's martyrdom. And Israel had no one to look to but two decadent priests.
(e-Sword Note: For more information on Chapter 4, see the Chapter Comments.)
The Battle of Aphek (1 Samuel 4:1).
This battle may have resulted from Israel's attempt to avenge the death of Samson, in the hope that the loss of many leaders at the catastrophe at Dagon's Temple may have weakened the Philistines. Or it may have resulted from a Philistine recovery from that catastrophe and a determination to reassert their power. Either way it was probably somewhere in the middle of the forty year period of the Philistine dominance mentioned in Judges 13:1.
Analysis.
a Now Israel went out against the Philistines to battle, and encamped beside Eben-ezer: and the Philistines encamped in Aphek. And the Philistines put themselves in array against Israel, and when they joined battle, Israel was smitten before the Philistines, and they slew of the army in the field about four thousand men (1 Samuel 4:1).
b And when the people were come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, “What is the reason that YHWH has smitten us today before the Philistines? Let us fetch the ark of the covenant of YHWH to us out of Shiloh, that it may come among us, and save us out of the hand of our enemies” (1 Samuel 4:3).
c So the people sent to Shiloh, and they brought from there the ark of the covenant of YHWH of hosts, who sits above the cherubim, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God (1 Samuel 4:4).
d And when the ark of the covenant of YHWH came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout (4:5a).
e And the earth rang again (1 Samuel 4:5 b).
d And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, “What does the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews mean?” And they understood that the ark of YHWH was come into the camp (1 Samuel 4:6).
c And the Philistines were afraid, for they said, “God is come into the camp.” And they said, “Woe to us! for there has not been such a thing prior to this” (1 Samuel 4:7).
b “Woe to us! Who will deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who smote the Egyptians with all manner of plagues in the wilderness. Be strong, and quit yourselves like men, O you Philistines, that you be not servants to the Hebrews, as they have been to you. Quit yourselves like men, and fight” (1 Samuel 4:8).
a And the Philistines fought, and Israel was smitten, and they fled every man to his tent. And there was a very great slaughter, for there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen (1 Samuel 4:10).
Note that in ‘a' the Philistines put themselves in array against Israel and smite them, and in the parallel a similar things happens. In ‘b' the Israelites decide to bring the fearsome Ark of the covenant from Shiloh into battle, and in the parallel the Philistines recognise its potential and decide how they will cope with it. In ‘c' the Ark of the covenant arrives, being brought from Shiloh accompanied by the two priests who will bear it into battle and in the parallel the Philistines panic saying that nothing like it has ever happened before. Centrally in ‘d' the Ark arrives in the camp and is acclaimed by the shouts of Israel, and in the parallel the Philistines ask what the shout is about, and are informed that the Ark has arrived in the camp of Israel. Centrally in ‘e' the earth rings again.
‘Now Israel went out against the Philistines to battle, and encamped beside Eben-ezer: and the Philistines encamped in Aphek.'
The impression given is that the initiative was taken by the Israelites, and if this is so it would suggest that it was because they felt that Samson's final effort had weakened the Philistines and because they wanted to avenge him. If that be the case the Philistines had therefore gathered in Aphek in order to defend ‘their' territory. The name Aphek means ‘stronghold'. It was a favourite Philistine name for their strongholds.
The place where the Israelites gathered was possibly not actually called Eben-ezer (‘the stone of help') at this time (although there may have been a number of places called Eben-ezer). It was given the name later when the Philistines were defeated there (1 Samuel 7:12). But it was used here in order to identify the site to the readers. There is some irony in it in that there was no help for them there at this stage.
‘ And the Philistines put themselves in array against Israel, and when they joined battle, Israel was smitten before the Philistines, and they slew of the army in the field about four thousand men.'
Unlike the Israelites, the Philistines were trained warriors, and when battle was joined Israel were smitten before the Philistines, losing in the field about four military units of men (four eleph - the word for ‘thousand' also means a military unit). However, they were not put totally to flight, and therefore re-gathered in their camp, deflated but not defeated, with a view to further battle.
‘ And when the people were come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, “What is the reason that YHWH has smitten us today before the Philistines? Let us fetch the ark of the covenant of YHWH to us out of Shiloh, that it may come among us, and save us out of the hand of our enemies.” '
Unable to understand why they should have been beaten when it was clear that YHWH had weakened the Philistines through what Samson had achieved, the elders of Israel, once the defeated Israelites had arrived back in the camp, asked themselves why it should be so. (Notice the description as ‘people', They were not trained soldiers). Their spiritual condition comes out in that what they decided was not that they needed to examine their hearts before God, but was that it must be because they had not taken the Ark with them into battle. It was the Ark which had gone before Israel when they had travelled through the wilderness, and when it had been borne before them they had declared, ‘Rise up YHWH and let your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate them flee before them' (Numbers 10:35). That was precisely what they wanted now. Perhaps therefore, they thought, that was why YHWH was offended, because He had simply been ignored. In a similar situation in the time of Joshua, Joshua had sought YHWH (something which the elders seemingly failed to do) and had discovered that the reason for failure had been sin in Israel, and after dealing with that sin and proper repentance he had gone forward to victory. But Israel was in such a parlous state at this time that all they could think of was some religious method of twisting YHWH's arm. They did not consider the possibility of their own sin. This was the kind of thinking that had resulted from the ministry of Eli's sons.
Taking the Ark into battle may seem somewhat strange to us, but we do know that at a later time some Arab tribes did have an ancient sacred chest which they regularly took with them into battle. Thus it may be that at this time something like this was seen as common practise among tribal peoples, with the result that it made Israel think in terms of the Ark which had been so effective in bygone days. They did not stop to consider that in those days their bearing of the Ark had been under the command of God, their King, and in a condition of great faith as a result of the activity of their leaders, Moses and Aaron. So it was a sign of their spiritual condition that they looked to what was in effect a religious gimmick, rather than to the need for repentance before God. They thought that God could be manipulated into helping them.
This is not to doubt their great sense of feeling about the Ark. It was to them a most sacred object. They probably really believed that with the Ark among them they could not lose. Surely God would never allow the Ark to be taken? But in that hope lay their folly, for the truth is that God is not moved by sacred objects or rites, unless they are accompanied by true repentance and rightness of heart. And what was more, by bringing the Ark into the camp they would also be bringing among them their own ‘Achans' (Joshua 7), for it would be borne by the two sons of Eli. And we know what YHWH thought of the two sons of Eli.
‘ So the people sent to Shiloh, and they brought from there the ark of the covenant of YHWH of hosts, who sits above the cherubim, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.'
The result was that they sent to Shiloh and brought from there the Ark of the covenant borne by the two sons of Eli. This bearing by the priests was not unusual as at times of crisis the Ark was always borne by the priests. We can compare the situation when the Ark led the way into Canaan and was also borne by the priests (Joshua 3:3; Joshua 3:8). Note the emphasis on the details of the Ark. It was seen as the throne of ‘YHWH of hosts' and the chest holding His covenant as He sat above the cherubim. It was therefore a most serious covenant object. Surely it would mean that now ‘YHWH of the armies of Israel' (compare Exodus 7:4; Psalms 44:4), their covenant God, would lead them into battle.
“The two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the Ark of the covenant of GOD.” The use of the alternative ‘Ark of the covenant of GOD' (instead of ‘of YHWH of hosts') may have arisen in order not to overload the use of ‘the Ark of the covenant of YHWH of hosts' in the one sentence. But it may equally have arisen because of the connection in the circumstances with the two blasphemous priests who had despised the covenant. In relation to them therefore YHWH was merely ‘God'. They were cut off from the covenant. It is noteworthy that in every case in the passage where GOD (elohim) is used in relation to the Ark there is a connection with someone of the house of Eli.
‘ And when the ark of the covenant of YHWH came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, and the earth rang again.'
At the arrival in the camp of the sacred Ark, the throne of the mighty YHWH, a great shout went up as if they were hailing a King. And indeed they were hailing a King. Now they would surely be victorious, for was this not the throne of YHWH of hosts, the great deliverer from Egypt? Had Samuel been consulted, of course, he might well have reminded them that without obedience to YHWH this would make no difference (compare 1 Samuel 15:22, and see the salutary words in 1 Samuel 3:14), but he was still too young for anyone to consider consulting him.
“And the earth rang again.” Even the earth rejoiced at the coming of the throne of YHWH into the camp (compare 1 Kings 1:45 where the city ‘rings again' at the coming of the king).
‘ And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, “What does the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews mean?” And they understood that the ark of YHWH was come into the camp.'
Meanwhile the Philistines had heard the shouts in the Israelite camp and were asking what it meant. Their spies quickly informed them that it was because the Ark of the great YHWH had arrived in the Israelite camp.
“The camp of the Hebrews.” This description of the Israelites as ‘Hebrews' was typical of foreigners. When Israelites are called ‘Hebrews' it is almost always on the lips of, or in connection with, foreigners. This may well have been because foreigners linked them with ‘the Habiru', a name originally connected with landless peoples and often used loosely of those who were seen as roving tribesmen.
‘ And the Philistines were afraid, for they said, “God is come into the camp.” And they said, “Woe to us! for there has not been such a thing prior to this.'
The news of the arrival of the Ark shook the Philistines to the core. They were not used to having to fight directly against gods. They had never before experienced being actually faced by a god in battle, especially one like YHWH of hosts. They saw it as a catastrophe.
‘ Woe to us! Who will deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who smote the Egyptians with every kind of slaughtering in the wilderness. Be strong, and quit yourselves like men, O you Philistines, that you be not servants to the Hebrews, as they have been to you. Quit yourselves like men, and fight.'
Here we are given full details of their fears. They were aware of the history of Israel (see Exodus 15:14), and had a garbled view of what their deities (they would assume that Israel had a number of gods like they had) had done in the past against the Egyptians (having heard about their destruction at the Red Sea) and they wondered who could deliver them from such gods. But rather than making them desire to withdraw it made them grit their teeth all the harder and determine to face up to what was coming. Anything was better than becoming subject to the Israelites who had been subjected to them for so long. Note their threefold determination, ‘be strong, quit yourselves like men, and fight', and their dual repetition of ‘quit yourselves like men'. The threefold completeness, along with the double encouragement, gave them the courage to face up to what was coming.
‘ And the Philistines fought, and Israel was smitten, and they fled every man to his tent. And there was a very great slaughter, for there fell of Israel thirty units of footmen.'
So the Philistines went determinedly into battle and fought all the harder because of the strength of the opposition, and the result was that Israel were smitten before them and fled to their homes, deserting the Ark, and at the same time losing thirty units of footmen in ‘a great slaughter'. The whole thing was a total disaster.
“They fled every man to his tent.” This could mean that they fled to their camp, but the saying is probably reminiscent of life in the wilderness so that they are calling their homes their ‘tents'. They were so utterly defeated that there was no question of regrouping, and so they fled for the comparative safety of their homes. They hoped that the Philistines would not pursue them there. They would probably be satisfied with requiring tribute from the elders.