And the messenger answered and said, Israel is fled before the Philistines, and there hath been also a great slaughter among the people, and thy two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God is taken.
Ver. 17. Israel is fled, &c.] Themselves had by their sins abandoned the victory, and sent it to the enemy. They should have said as Jerome a did after the overthrow of the Roman army by the barbarians, Infelices nos qui tantum displicemus Deo, ut per rabiem barbarorum illius in nos ira desaeviat.
a Epist. iii. Ad Heliodor.