And when the people were come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, Wherefore hath the LORD smitten us to day before the Philistines? Let us fetch the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of Shiloh unto us, that, when it cometh among us, it may save us out of the hand of our enemies.
Let us fetch the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of Shiloh unto us. Strange that they were so blind to the real cause of the disaster, and that they did not discern, in the great and general corruption of religion and morals (1 Samuel 2:1-36; 1 Samuel 7:3; Psalms 78:58), the reason why the presence and aid of God were not extended to them. Their first measure for restoring the national spirit and energy ought to have been a complete reformation-a universal return to purity of worship and manners. But instead of cherishing a spirit of deep humiliation and sincere repentance-instead of resolving on the abolition of existing abuses and the re-establishing of the pure faith, they adopted what appeared an easier and a speedier course-they put their trust in ceremonial observances, and doubted not but that the introduction of the ark into the battlefield would ensure their victory. In recommending this extraordinary step, the elders might recollect the confidence it imparted to their ancestors (Numbers 10:35; Numbers 14:44), as well as what had been done at Jericho. But it is more probable that they were influenced by the paganish ideas of their idolatrous neighbours, who, in order to animate their soldiers and ensure victory, carried the statuettes of their gods in shrines, or their sacred symbols, to their wars, believing that the power of those divinities was inseparably associated with, or residing in, their images.
In short, the shout raised in the Hebrew camp, on the arrival of the ark, indicated very plainly the prevalence among the Israelites at this time of a belief in national deities, whose influence was local, and whose interest was especially exerted in behalf of the people who adored them. The joy of the Israelites was an emotion springing out of the same superstitious sentiments as the corresponding dismay of their enemies, because they evidently trusted in the material ark instead of in God; and to afford them a convincing though painful proof of their error was the ulterior object of the discipline to which they were now subjected-a discipline by which God, while punishing them for their apostasy by allowing the capture of the ark, had another end in view, that of signally vindicating His supremacy over all the gods of the nations.