The ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle. — The calamity which is here referred to was the capture of the Ark of the Covenant. Neither the death of the warrior priests, Hophni and Phinehas, nor the crushing defeat of the Hebrew army, would have so powerfully affected the people; but that the sacred symbol of the presence and protection of the invisible King should be allowed to fall into the hands of the uncircumcised Philistines, the hereditary foes of the chosen race, was a calamity unparalleled in their annals.
It seemed to say that God had indeed forsaken them.
The expression is a very singular one, and re-occurs in 2 Kings 21:12, and Jeremiah 19:3, on the occasion of the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar.