1 At that time Samuel was a prophet of Israel. The Israelites went out to battle against the Philistines. They encamped at Ebenezer, while the Philistines encamped at Aphek.
2 The Philistines then drew up in battle formation. They attacked Israel and after a fierce struggle, Israel was defeated, leaving about four thousand men dead on the battlefield.
3 When the troops retreated to their camp, the elders of Israel asked, "Why has Yahweh allowed us to be defeated by the Philistines? Let us take the ark of God from Shiloh and bring it here so that Yahweh may be with us and save us from our enemies."
4 So the people sent messengers to Shiloh to take the ark of Yahweh who is seated on the cherubim. Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, accompanied the ark.
5 As soon as the ark of Yahweh entered the camp, the Israelites began to cheer so loudly that the earth resounded.
6 The Philistines heard the shouting and asked, "What does this loud shout in the camp of the Hebrews mean?" And they were told that the ark of Yahweh had been brought to the camp.
7 The Philistines were overcome with fear. They exclaimed, "A god has come into the camp.
8 Woe to us! For nothing like this has happened before. Woe to us! Who can save us from the power of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all sorts of plagues - and in the desert.
9 Take courage and conduct yourselves like men, O Philistines, lest you become slaves to the Hebrews the way they have been slaves to you. Be manly and fight."
10 So the Philistines fought and Israel was defeated. Everyone fled to his home. It was a disastrous defeat; thirty thousand foot soldiers of Israel were killed.
11 The ark of God was captured and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain.
12 A man from the tribe of Benjamin fled from the battle line and arrived that same day in Shiloh. His clothes were torn and his head was covered with dust.
13 When this man arrived, Eli was on his seat by the road, watching, for his heart trembled for what might happen to the ark of God. When the people heard the news the man brought, all the city cried out.
14 Eli heard their outcry and asked, "What is all this noise?" The man came to Eli at once and told him what happened.
15 Eli was by then ninety-eight years old and was already blind.
16 The man said to him, "I came from the battle, for I was able to flee from it." Then Eli asked him, "How did the battle go, my son?"
17 The newsbearer answered, "Israel fled before the Philistines. There has been a disaster for our men; your sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are among the dead and the ark of God has been taken."
18 As soon as the man mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell over backward from his seat by the side of the gate. He broke his neck and died for he was an old and heavy man. Eli judged Israel for forty years.
19 Eli's daughter-in-law, wife of Phinehas, was pregnant and was about to give birth. When she heard that the ark of God was taken and that both her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she gave birth prematurely.
20 As she lay dying, the women attending her said to her, "Do not be afraid for you have given birth to a son." But she neither answered nor listened.
21 She then named the child Ichabod, saying: "The glory has departed from Israel!"
22 And she said "the glory," meaning the ark of God that had been captured.
Versículos relacionados com 1 Samuel, 4:
Chapter 4 of 1 Samuel reports the battle between the children of Israel and the Philistines, where the Philistines defeated the Israelites and captured the ark of the covenant. The Israelites had the mistaken belief that the ark would give them an advantage in battle, but did not take into account the need to obey God's commandments and repent of their sins. The ark, which should be a symbol of God's presence, was eventually captured by the enemies of Israel, who were punished for acting recklessly.
Psalm 44:9-10: "But now you have rejected us and confused us; I no longer come out with our armies. You make us back off before the enemy, and those who hate us to plunder us to will." The psalmist expresses the anguish and feeling of abandonment that the Israelites must have felt during the battle against the Philistines, since they believed that God was by his side but were defeated.
Proverbs 16:18: "Superb precedes ruin, and the haughtiness of the Spirit precedes the fall." The Israelites acted recklessly, believing that the ark of the covenant would give them an advantage in battle. This demonstrates a proud and proud attitude, which eventually led to his defeat and the capture of the ark through the Philistines.
Isaiah 1:16-17: "Wash and purify you; take away the wickedness of your acts from before my eyes; cease to do evil. You have learned to do good; seek what is just; help the oppressed; justice to the orphan; deal with the cause of the widows. " The Israelites did not take into account the need to repent of their sins and obey God's commandments. Isaiah reinforces the importance of repenting and seeking justice and goodness.
Jeremiah 3:3: "That's why the rains were retained, and there was no served rain; however, you have a prostitute's forehead, you don't want to be ashamed." The capture of the ark of the covenant by the Philistines was a sign of God's punishment for the disobedience and sin of the Israelites. Jeremiah uses the metaphor of prostitution to describe Israel's infidelity in relation to God.
Hosea 6:6: "For I want loyal love and not the sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than the burnt offering." The Israelites believed that the possession of the Ark of the Covenant would give them an advantage in battle, but forgot the importance of obeying God's commandments and repenting their sins. Hosea emphasizes that God values loyal love more and his knowledge than simply rituals and sacrifices.
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