CRITICAL AND EXPOSITORY NOTES—
1 Samuel 4:13. “Eli sat upon a seat by the wayside.” “This sitting on the side of the way by which the first message must come answers precisely to the intense expectation in which Eli, though blind, had taken this position, so as, if not with the eyes, yet with the sense of hearing, to learn straightway the arrival of the first messenger. He sits, as in 1 Samuel 1:9, at the inner, so here at the outer, gate of the sanctuary, on his seat, and, as appears from 1 Samuel 4:18, on the side of the gate, which was also, therefore, the side of the adjacent way.” (Erdmann.)
1 Samuel 4:14. “When Eli heard the noise of the crying.” “His blindness explains the fact that he failed to observe the messenger who ran hurriedly by without noticing him.” (Erdmann.)
1 Samuel 4:15. “His eyes were dim,” literally, “his eyes stood.” “This is a description of the so-called black cataract (amaurosis), which generally occurs at a very great age from paralysis of the optic nerve.” (Keil.)
1 Samuel 4:21. “Ichabod,” i.e., Not-glory. The narrator has in mind her words upon which she based that ejaculation, but does not state them as hers till afterward; here he states beforehand the fact contained in them as a historical explanation. We must note, however, the difference between his explanation and her reason for that exclamation in 1 Samuel 4:22. While he mentions the reference to the two dead, she bases the name on the one thing only, the capture of the ark.” (Erdmann.)
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— 1 Samuel 4:12-22
THE DEATH OF ELI
I. All God’s promises become histories. In the natural world there is promise of what shall be, and in due time there is the history of its having been. The green blade of spring is a promise of the harvest that is by and by a fact in the history of the world. The cloud no bigger than a man’s hand upon the horizon is the promise of the storm that may be presently set down in the catalogue of destructive visitations that have devastated the earth. In the days of Noah a promise of judgment hung over the people of his day for one hundred and twenty years. So long was it before the cloud burst that the terror which was perhaps aroused at the first announcement of its appearance passed away long before the storm burst. But it came, and the flood is now a fact in the history of the world. God had foretold the judgment which is described in this chapter some years before. If the message which had been sent to the house of Eli had ever caused the hearts of Hophni and Phinehas to quake, the delay in the execution of the sentence had probably only hardened them in their sin, and perhaps even Eli himself might have begun to hope that it would not be so terrible as it had seemed to him at first. But on this memorable day God gave a demonstration to all coming ages that all His promises, whether of judgment or mercy, will one day become facts in the history of the universe. A promise was made to Isaiah concerning the deliverance of his nation from Babylon long before it went into captivity, but both captivity and deliverance, with all the circumstances foretold concerning the latter in Isaiah 45, have long ago become well-known historic facts. The great fact in which all history centres—the incarnation of the Son of God—was for ages only a promise. The dim outline given to our first parents in Eden was like the tiny germ bursting from the seed which grew into the blade and ear as the ages rolled, until the promise became the great historic event of the world. And there are promises now waiting to become histories, and they will as surely have their fulfilment as those that have gone before. What has been is a pledge of what will be. Men say, concerning Christ’s second advent, “Where is the promise of His coming?” But that promise of the Lord will one day as surely be a fact of past history as those that have gone before.
II. The effects produced by the fulfilment of this promise of judgment. There was not a family in the land who was not smitten with a sense of national calamity. A stab at the heart sends a pain through all the frame, the extremities of the body feel a blow aimed at the seat of life. In countries where the army is drawn from the fields and workshops of the people, the strength of the nation is often found gathered upon the battle-field, and a defeat there is a blow at its very heart and sends a thrill of anguish into every home. Such was the—nature of the blow which Israel had now sustained, and the entire body of the nation felt the shock. Wherever there was a child of Abraham the news of the defeat pierced him through like a stab of cold steel. But the calamity was more intensely felt by some households than by others. In any time of national calamity the leaders of the nation have to bear a larger portion of the sorrow than the masses. They lose more in every way. They have more to lose—more in substance—more in honour; as their position has been higher, their fall is greater, and as more responsibility has rested upon them, so their disgrace is heavier. Although all the families of Israel suffered on this day none suffered so much as the house of Eli. Even if it had not been the execution of a special judgment upon them, their position would have made them the greatest sufferers, but the consciousness that the calamity was mainly due to the sins of their house intensified a thousand-fold the severity of the blow. The effect that the news had upon the aged high-priest shows how severely he felt it. In felling an aged oak many a stroke of the hatchet may be dealt before there is any sign of its fall, but at length the woodman gathers all his strength for a final stroke, which, following upon all that have gone before, lays it even with the ground. So it is with men and the strokes of adverse providence—they stand upright after having received many a heavy blow, but one may come at last which, finding their courage and patience weakened by the trials of the past, crushes them altogether. Job bore up manfully against repeated and heavy blows, but at last a stroke fell which laid even this brave and patient man prostrate like a fallen tree. Eli had seen many a sad day in the course of a life which covered nearly a century, but he had never seen a day like this. Even now he bore calmly the news of Israel’s defeat, and even that of the death of his sons, but the tidings that the ark of God was taken was too much to bear and live—this stroke killed him.
III. Calamity often reveals excellencies which are hidden in prosperity. There are many men in the Church of God living in ease and comfort who do not seem to possess any extraordinary heroism. But very often such men, under circumstances of special trial, reveal a nobility of character that men never knew before that they possessed. Like spices, they must be crushed before they yield their fragrance. What is recorded of the life of Eli does not leave the impression that he was a very exalted character; but the fact that it was the loss of the ark of God that killed him, and not the news of his own personal bereavement, shows that there was much latent patriotism in him, notwithstanding his grave shortcomings. We should never have known how much he really prized the hallowed tokens of God’s covenant-relation to Israel if this calamity had not befallen him. The thought that God had departed from his people broke his heart before he fell and broke his neck. It is the same with his daughter-in-law. We should never have known of this woman’s piety if this blow had not fallen upon her. It was not the death of her father, or of her husband, that made her refuse to be comforted and to go down to the grave with Ichabod upon her lips, but “she said, The glory is departed from Israel; for the ark of God is taken.”
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
1 Samuel 4:13. There be four reasons why the people of God are so much troubled when the ark of God is in danger.
I. Because of the great love they bear to it. As “God loved the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob” (Psalms 87:2), so the people of God love the ordinances of God, and the faithful ministers of Christ. “Lord, I have loved the habitation of Thy house, and the place where Thine honour dwelleth” (Psalms 26:8). Now love stirreth up the affections, as young Cresus, though he were dumb, yet seeing his father like to be killed, cried out “Do not kill my father!” Such is the love of the saints of God to the ark; they cannot but tremble when they see the ark in danger, and for Sion’s sake they cannot hold their peace, and they cannot be silent until the Lord make the righteousness thereof go out like brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth.
II. Because of the interest they have in the ark of God. Interest stirreth up affection as when another man’s house is on fire; as you had a lamentable and sad providence this last week, and it is not to be forgotten how suddenly in all our feastings may God dash all our mirth. Now consider, how were they affected that had an interest in those that were burned; so the people of God have an interest in the ark. God is the haven of a child of God, his portion and inheritance, and when God begins to forsake them they cannot but be troubled. The ordinances of God are the jewels of a Christian and the treasure of a Christian, and the loss of them cannot but trouble them.
III. Because of the mischiefs that come upon a nation when the ark is lost. Woe be to that nation when the ark is gone. For when the ark of God is taken then the ways of Zion mourn, and none come to her solemn assemblies. That is matter of sadness. Then the ministers of Christ are driven into corners. This is matter of heart-trembling. Then the souls of men are in danger. There is cause of sadness. Then do the enemies of God blaspheme, and then is Jesus Christ trampled under foot.
IV. Because of their accessariness to the losing of the ark. And this was that which made Eli so much troubled, because he knew that for his sin God suffered the ark to be taken. And there is none of us so holy but our consciences must accuse us. We have done something that might cause God to take the ark from us.—E. Calamy, 1662.
1 Samuel 4:22. With the surrender of the earthly throne of His glory the Lord appeared to have abolished His covenant of grace with Israel; for the ark, with the tables of the law and the capporeth, was the visible pledge of the covenant of grace which Jehovah had made with Israel.—Keil.
The glory is departed from Israel—so it seemed in the eyes of men. But with God there is “no variableness or shadow of turning” (James 1:17); and in that dark night of sorrow to the Hebrew Church and nation His glory shone forth most brightly. There is no Ichabod to God. His sovereign power and Divine independence were seen to work more gloriously and graciously even when the visible Church appeared to be overthrown.… He inaugurated a new era in Samuel, and prepared the way for the Gospel. He showed that the Aaronical priesthood was only parenthetical and provisional; that the Levitical ordinances were not necessary to God’s gracious dealings with His people; that they were shadows which would one day pass away; that they were like a scaffold for building up a house—the Church of Christ.… God thus gave a prophetic foreshadowing of what was more fully displayed to the world when the material temple of Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans, and the universal Church of Christ was raised up in its stead.—Wordsworth.
The union of the heart with God in the deepest foundation of its being reveals itself in times of great misfortune and suffering in this, that the sorrow and mourning is not restricted to the loss of earthly human possessions, but directs itself chiefly to the loss and lack of God’s gracious presence, and thus shows that for the inner life the glory of God and blessedness in communion with Him is become the highest good. So here, in this refraining from grief over the loss of what to the flesh was the nearest and dearest, and in the outspoken sorrow only over the violence done to God’s honour and the contempt cast on His name, is verified the Lord’s word, “He who forsaketh not father or mother, or brother, etc., is not worthy of me.” Lange’s Commentary.
What cares she for a posterity which should want the ark? What cares she for a son come into the world of Israel, when God was gone from it? And how willingly doth she depart from them, from whom God was departed! Bishop Hall.