by Pastor Jim Jester
October 22, 2023
SCRIPTURE READING: I Samuel 4:15-21
The verses just before the Scripture reading reveal a little more of the context of this narrative:
And there ran a man of Benjamin out of the army, and came to Shiloh the same day with his clothes rent, and with earth upon his head. 13 And when he came, lo, Eli sat upon a seat by the wayside watching: for his heart trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came into the city, and told it, all the city cried out. 14 And when Eli heard the noise of the crying, he said, "What meaneth the noise of this tumult? And the man came in hastily, and told Eli." (I Sa. 4:12-14)
Eli was a judge of Israel at this time. He was now blind because of his age; but he could hear. When the messenger came, Eli asks, “What is there done, my son?” (I Sa. 4:16) Literally, “What happened, my son?” Eli must have gathered from the words of the messenger that Israel had been defeated; for he had said, he “fled from the army that day,” and “came in hastily and told Eli what had taken place. He revealed that the defeat was a severe one. The answer piles misery upon misery — four crushing catastrophes:1. Israel had fled before the Philistines; 2. there had been a great slaughter; 3. among the slain were Eli ’s two sons; and (worst of all), 4. the ark of God was taken.
