The people sent - The expression is very indicative of the political state so frequently noted by the writer of the Book of Judges, “In those days there was no king in Israel.”
Related Commentaries of 1 Samuel 4:4
1 Samuel 4:4
4 So the people sent to Shiloh, that they might bring from thence the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth between the cherubims: and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.