1 Samuel 4:17

1Sa 4:17 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.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

According as God had afore said.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 17. And the messenger answered] Never was a more afflictive message, containing such a variety of woes, each rising above the preceding, delivered in so few words.

1. Israel is fled before the Philistines.

This was a sore evil: that Israel should turn their backs upon their enemies, was bad; and that they should turn their backs on such enemies as the Philistines, was yet worse; for now they might expect the chains of their slavery to be strengthened and riveted more closely.

2. There hath also been a great slaughter among the people.

A rout might have taken place without any great previous slaughter; but in this case the field was warmly contested, thirty thousand were laid dead on the spot. This was a deeper cause of distress than the preceding; as if he had said, "The flower of our armies is destroyed; scarcely a veteran now to take the field."

3. Thy two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead.

This was still more afflictive to him as a father, to lose both his sons, the only hope of the family; and to have them taken away by a violent death when there was so little prospect of their having died in the peace of God, was more grievous than all.

4. The ark of God is taken.

This was the most dreadful of the whole; now Israel is dishonoured in the sight of the heathen, and the name of the Lord will be blasphemed by them. Besides, the capture of the ark shows that God is departed from Israel; and now there is no farther hope of restoration for the people, but every prospect of the destruction of the nation, and the final ruin of all religion! How high does each wo rise on the back of the preceding! And with what apparent art is this very laconic message constructed! And yet, probably, no art at all was used, and the messenger delivered the tidings just as the facts rose up in his own mind.

How vapid, diffused, and alliterated, is the report of the messenger in the Persae of AEschylus, who comes to the queen with the tremendous account of the destruction of the whole naval power of the Persians, at the battle of Salamis? I shall give his first speech, and leave the reader to compare the two accounts.

Ω γης ἁπασης Ασιδος πολισματα,

Ω Περσις αια, και πολυς πλουτου λιμην,

Ὡς εν μιᾳ πληγῃ κατεφθαρται πολυς

Ολβος, το Περσων δ' ανθος οιχται πεσον.

Ωμοι, κακον μεν πρωτον αγγελλειν κακα·

Περσαις, στρατος γαρ πας αλωλε βαρβαρων.

Of which I subjoin the following translation by Mr. Potter: -

Wo to the towns through Asia's peopled realms!

Wo to the land of Persia, once the port

Of boundless wealth! how is thy glorious state

Vanish'd at once, and all thy spreading honours

Fallen, lost! Ah me! unhappy is his task

That bears unhappy tidings; but constraint

Compels me to relate this tale of wo:

Persians! the whole barbaric host is fallen.

This is the sum of his account, which he afterwards details in about a dozen of speeches.

Heroes and conquerors, ancient and modern, have been celebrated for comprising a vast deal of information in a few words. I will give three examples, and have no doubt that the Benjamite in the text will be found to have greatly the advantage.

1. Julius Caesar having totally defeated Pharnaces, king of Pontus, wrote a letter to the Roman senate, which contained only these three words: -

VENI, VIDI, VICI;

I came, I saw, I conquered. This war was begun and ended in one day.

2. Admiral HAWKE having totally defeated the French fleet, in 1759, off the coast of Brittany, wrote as follows to King George II.:-

"SIRE, I have taken, burnt, and destroyed all the French fleet, as per margin. - HAWKE."

3. NAPOLEON BUONAPARTE, then general-in-chief of the French armies in Italy, wrote to Josephine, his wife, the evening before he attacked Field Marshal Alvinzi, the imperial general: -

"Demain j'attaquerai l'enemie; je le battrai; et j'en finirai." "To-morrow I shall attack the enemy; I shall defeat them, and terminate the business." He did so: the imperialists were totally defeated, Mantua surrendered, and the campaign for that year (1796) was concluded.

In the above examples, excellent as they are in their kind, we find little more than one idea, whereas the report of the Benjamite includes several; for, in the most forcible manner, he points out the general and particular disasters of the day, the rout of the army, the great slaughter, the death of the priests, who were in effect the whole generals of the army, and the capture of the ark; all that, on such an occasion, could affect and distress the heart of an Israelite. And all this he does in four simple assertions.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

17. Observe the climax. Each blow is heavier than the preceding one. The rout of the army, the slaughter of the people, Eli’s personal bereavement, the loss of the most precious treasure of Israel. The last blow is more than the aged High-priest can bear.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the messenger answered and said,.... He delivered his account gradually, beginning with generals, and then proceeding to particulars, and with what he thought Eli could better bear the news of, and so prepared him for the worst; in which he acted a wise part:

Israel is fled before the Philistines; they have given way and retreated, and which might possibly be done without great loss, and which, though it was bad news, might not be so very bad:

and there hath also been a great slaughter among the people; this is worse news still; however, the number of the slain is not given, nor any mention of particular persons that were killed: so that, for any thing yet said, his own sons might be safe: but then it follows:

and thy two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead; the news of which must be very affecting to him, and strike him closely; though he might expect and be prepared for it by what both the man of God and Samuel from the Lord had related to him:

and the ark of God is taken; the thing he feared, and his heart trembled before for it; this was the closing and cutting part of the account; the messenger foresaw that this would the most affect him, and therefore referred it to the last.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Taken. Every sentence expresses something more distressing to the aged judge and father; the flight and slaughter of his people, the ruin of his children, and the loss of the ark, which must have filled all Israel with a mortal gloom and terror, lest God should have abandoned them. So many dismal circumstances oppressing the heart of Heli, he fainted away, and falling backwards, expired. (Haydock) --- The Scripture takes notice of his great age, that we might not think that he killed himself in despair. (Salien)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

17. The messenger answered and said — The simple, direct, and yet climacteric way in which the messenger tells his tale of sorrow has attracted the notice of all critics. How few the words used to relate all the items of this thrilling message! How each successive statement rises in the announcement of a still severer loss! First he says:

Israel is fled before the Philistines — This was the beginning of sorrows.

A great slaughter among the people — This was worse than flight, and the cause of lamentation in thousands of Israelitish homes.

Thy two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead — Most terrible tidings for a devoted father! And perhaps those sons had gone forth to the field of battle despite the father’s prayer and entreaties. Thus was fulfilled the prophecy of the man of God who had before announced the downfall of his house, (1Sa_2:34,) and this was to be for Eli the sign of yet heavier woes.

The ark of God is taken — This was the calamity of the tabernacle in that which was Israel’s highest hope and glory. 1Sa_2:32. The ark was the symbol of the Divine Presence, and its loss foreshadowed, in Eli’s mind, the utter destruction of his nation and the abolishment of Jehovah’s covenant with them. In Jdg_18:30, this capture of the ark is called “the captivity of the land,” so deeply was it, from the theocratic standpoint, identified and associated with the highest interests and holiest hopes of all Israel. And the wickedness of his sons had been largely the cause of all this woe! All these thoughts, and many more, rushed in upon his mind as the last terrible announcement fell upon his ear, and his enfeebled constitution and trembling heart could not endure the shock.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.