On the return of the people to the camp, the elders held a council of war as to the cause of the defeat they had suffered. "Why hath Jehovah smitten us to-day before the Philistines?" As they had entered upon the war by the word and advice of Samuel, they were convinced that Jehovah had smitten them. The question presupposes at the same time that the Israelites felt strong enough to enter upon the war with their enemies, and that the reason for their defeat could only be that the Lord, their covenant God, had withdrawn His help. This was no doubt a correct conclusion; but the means which they adopted to secure the help of their God in continuing the war were altogether wrong. Instead of feeling remorse and seeking the help of the Lord their God by a sincere repentance and confession of their apostasy from Him, they resolved to fetch the ark of the covenant out of the tabernacle at Shiloh into the camp, with the delusive idea that God had so inseparably bound up His gracious presence in the midst of His people with this holy ark, which He had selected as the throne of His gracious appearance, that He would of necessity come with it into the camp and smite the foe. In 1 Samuel 4:4, the ark is called "the ark of the covenant of Jehovah of hosts, who is enthroned above the cherubim," partly to show the reason why the people had the ark fetched, and partly to indicate the hope which they founded upon the presence of this sacred object. (See the commentary on Exodus 25:20-22). The remark introduced here, "and the two sons of Eli were there with the ark of the covenant of God," is not merely intended to show who the guardians of the ark were, viz., priests who had hitherto disgraced the sanctuary, but also to point forward at the very outset to the result of the measures adopted.

1 Samuel 4:9 Parallel Commentaries

Be strong

2 Samuel 10:12 Be of good courage, and let us play the men for our people, and for the cities of our God: and the LORD do that which seems him good.

1 Corinthians 16:13 Watch you, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.

Ephesians 6:10,11 Finally, my brothers, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might...

as they have

Deuteronomy 28:47,48 Because you served not the LORD your God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things...

Judges 10:7 And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hands of the Philistines...

Judges 13:1 And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD...

Isaiah 14:2 And the people shall take them, and bring them to their place...

Isaiah 33:1 Woe to you that spoil, and you were not spoiled; and deal treacherously...

quit yourselves like men. [heb] be men