We finished the last study with God’s prophecy, given to Samuel, for Eli and his sons. He said 1 Samuel 3:11.
‘I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle.’
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Before we move on we need to look at some geography and history. Travelling through Israel was restricted by the many high hills (mountains) that ran as a backbone from north to south through the ‘Hill Country’.
There was a ‘ridge route’ from north to south which followed the highest points of that backbone. That was good for travellers who could see possible sources of danger from a long way away – but there was little opportunity to graze your animals or replenish your water supplies.
Between that and the coast there was a series of deep steep-sided east-west valleys which meant that the next route generally had to be along the base of the hills, where international travellers could find a ready supply of water and grass for their camels and donkeys, but ambush would also be more of a threat.
The Sharon coastal plain had several low ridges running north-south along the shoreline. In Old Testament times they effectively stopped the runoff of water from the hill country and meant that most of the plain was swampy, filled with scrub and oak forest. This was undeveloped until Roman times, and difficult and dangerous to traverse. (Not fully drained until the 20th century.)
The Philistine Plain was much more pleasant and was suitable for growing wheat. Near the coast there was a wide area of sand dunes, but further inland it was relatively flat, with low rolling hills. A coast road connected their main cities.
At the beginning of the 12th century BC various groups of ‘Sea Peoples’ had been moving east across the Mediterranean from the Aegean. They had overrun the Minoan civilization in Crete and then colonised the western sea coast of Israel. In the north they came to be called the Phoenicians, in the south the Philistines. Ramses III had been able to drive them north out of Egypt in 1190bc into what we now know as the Gaza Strip.
They brought with them distinctive language, dress, pottery and weapons; but most importantly their technology for smelting and forging Iron. The Israelites were still a Bronze Age people, the Philistines Iron Age. Their weapons were generally much better and in war they also used chariots and horsemen which were unknown to the Israelite soldiers. The tools and weapons made by the Israelites were either bronze or stone. They were familiar with Iron tools and weapons, but these had to be imported or looted from beaten armies.
Unlike the Israelites, the Philistines did not drive out the indigenous people but were happy to live among them – as long as they could be in charge! So we have the passage in Joshua 13:1-5.
1 When Joshua had grown old, the Lord said to him, ‘You are now very old, and there are still very large areas of land to be taken over.
2 ‘This is the land that remains: all the regions of the Philistines and Geshurites, 3 from the River Shihor on the east of Egypt to the territory of Ekron on the north, all of it counted as Canaanite though held by the five Philistine rulers in Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath and Ekron; the territory of the Avvites 4 on the south; all the land of the Canaanites, from Arah of the Sidonians as far as Aphek and the border of the Amorites; 5 the area of Byblos; and all Lebanon to the east, from Baal Gad below Mount Hermon to Lebo Hamath.
(The Geshurites were a people who dwelt in the southern desert between Arabia and Philistia. The Avvites were part of the southern Philistines. The term Amorite and Canaanite are used interchangeably for the original inhabitants).
During the time of the Judges the Philistines weren’t content to just settle with the towns along the coast, and the peoples they settled among were happy to join them in making raids, across the coastal plain, into the dryer foothills, and then up into the hill country. (This was standard practice for most people-groups: the stronger groups raiding and stealing from the weaker.)
We also need to remember what had happened when the land was distributed to the Israelites. The allocation for Manasseh, Ephraim, Dan and Judah extended west to the Mediterranean Sea. But they never managed to drive the inhabitants from the coastal plain, so they limited their settlement to the hills. Most of Dan abandoned their allotment altogether and took land to the north of Galilee.
During Joshua’s battles for the land, the King of Aphek had been killed but who did this strategic town belong to? It was in the extreme western corner of both Ephraim and Manasseh’s land and far from their main area of influence, and so the Philistines were quick to take that over too.
Now we continue with the story in 1 Samuel 4:1b-11.
1b Now the Israelites went out to fight against the Philistines. The Israelites camped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines at Aphek.
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The Philistines camped at Aphek and the Israelites at Ebenezer. Who started this fight? Obviously the Israelites had decided it was worth retaking this town and they felt that they were in a position to do so. They probably drew their army from Manasseh, Ephraim and Benjamin.
2 The Philistines deployed their forces to meet Israel, and as the battle spread, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand of them on the battlefield. 3 When the soldiers returned to camp, the elders of Israel asked, ‘Why did the Lord bring defeat on us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the Lord’s covenant from Shiloh, so that he may go with us and save us from the hand of our enemies.’
What does this tell us about the people’s understanding of God?
They had lost the ‘Big Picture’.
First they blamed God for their defeat. But had he told them to go into battle?
Unlikely they would have heard him if he did!
Yet they still remembered that God was somehow associated with the Ark so they thought that if they took the Ark into battle, they would take God with them.
4 So the people sent men to Shiloh, and they brought back the ark of the covenant of the Lord Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim. And Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.
Did Hophni and Phineas go because they felt responsible for the safety of the Ark, or were they there as proud owners of this powerful artefact?
The interlude of a couple of days may well have helped the Philistines to bring up reinforcements from their other towns.
5 When the ark of the Lord’s covenant came into the camp, all Israel raised such a great shout that the ground shook. 6 Hearing the uproar, the Philistines asked, ‘What’s all this shouting in the Hebrew camp?’
When they learned that the ark of the Lord had come into the camp, 7 the Philistines were afraid. ‘A god has come into the camp,’ they said. ‘Oh no! Nothing like this has happened before. 8 We’re doomed! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? They are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness.
It seems that the Philistines had a better understanding of God than the Israelites.
To the surrounding nations Idols were recognised as Gods. They were worshipped in their temples, and occasionally paraded during special religious ceremonies. It seems that many of the Israelites now treated the Ark as their symbol of God, their idol; now perhaps even their God.
For the Philistines this was either the time to run for their lives, or the time to call the Israelite’s bluff.
9 Be strong, Philistines! Be men, or you will be subject to the Hebrews, as they have been to you. Be men, and fight!’
10 So the Philistines fought, and the Israelites were defeated and every man fled to his tent. The slaughter was very great; Israel lost thirty thousand foot soldiers. 11 The ark of God was captured, and Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, died.
We need to pause for a moment to understand all the horror that verse 11 conveys.
Read again verses 10 & 11. (An average tribe had 60,000 men.)
But was that the greatest loss?
What happened next militarily? It appears that God has deserted the Israelites, and in the next verse you might expect to read ‘and the Philistines pursued them all the way to . . . .’
If they could only get their army with chariots up to the main highway along the hill tops they would have a major advantage. But they didn’t: the Philistines decided to return home triumphantly carrying what they thought was the God of Israel. Had they pressed their advantage; they could probably have made large inroads into this now demoralised country.
See how even now God is in control. He may allow times of distress to his people, but he does not want them annihilated, so he brings good out of seeming disaster, and provides a breathing space before the next attack.
Now read 1 Samuel 4:12-18.
12 That same day a Benjaminite ran from the battle line and went to Shiloh with his clothes torn and dust on his head. 13 When he arrived, there was Eli sitting on his chair by the side of the road, watching, because his heart feared for the ark of God. When the man entered the town and told what had happened, the whole town sent up a cry.
14 Eli heard the outcry and asked, ‘What is the meaning of this uproar?’
The man hurried over to Eli, 15 who was ninety-eight years old and whose eyes had failed so that he could not see. 16 He told Eli, ‘I have just come from the battle line; I fled from it this very day.’
Eli asked, ‘What happened, my son?’
17 The man who brought the news replied, ‘Israel fled before the Philistines, and the army has suffered heavy losses. Also your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been captured.’
18 When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell backwards off his chair by the side of the gate. His neck was broken and he died, for he was an old man, and he was heavy. He had led Israel for forty years.
‘He was an old man, and he was heavy’
What a sad epitaph for Israel’s Chief Priest.
Now read 1 Samuel 4:19-22
19 His daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant and near the time of delivery. When she heard the news that the ark of God had been captured and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she went into labour and gave birth, but was overcome by her labour pains. 20 As she was dying, the women attending her said, ‘Don’t despair; you have given birth to a son.’ But she did not respond or pay any attention.
21 She named the boy Ichabod, (meaning: ‘no glory’) saying, ‘The Glory has departed from Israel’– because of the capture of the ark of God and the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband. 22 She said, ‘The Glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured.’
In the eyes of the people, the Ark had become their God. They thought that if they took it into battle the presence of God would guarantee their safety.
God had not abandoned his people. Yet the removal of the ark from Israel was symbolic of the breakdown in the relationship between God and his people and perhaps it is interesting to note here that the Ark never returned to the Tabernacle. It was only in the time of Solomon that the Ark and the Tabernacle were installed in the Temple (2 Chronicles 5:5).
Now consider for a moment the two youngsters left at the Tabernacle. Samuel and Ahitub, both probably no more than teenagers. At a stroke, young Ahitub was left without grandfather Eli, uncle Hophni (Remember he was eldest son but has no male children), and without father and mother. He has a newborn brother to care for (but we hear no more of Ichabod) and he is left to take over as priest in charge of a Tabernacle with no Ark. He does have his friend Samuel, who seems to be much more at home with the things of God, and seems to have more authority.
So it is we read in 1 Samuel 2:26
And the boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favour with the LORD and with men.
