1 Samuel 4:12-22--The Death of Eli

1 Samuel 4:12-22
English Standard Version
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The Death of Eli
12 A man of Benjamin ran from the battle line and came to Shiloh the same day, with his clothes torn and with dirt on his head. 13 When he arrived, Eli was sitting on his seat by the road watching, for his heart trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came into the city and told the news, all the city cried out. 14 When Eli heard the sound of the outcry, he said, “What is this uproar?” Then the man hurried and came and told Eli. 15 Now Eli was ninety-eight years old and his eyes were set so that he could not see. 16 And the man said to Eli, “I am he who has come from the battle; I fled from the battle today.” And he said, “How did it go, my son?” 17 He who brought the news answered and said, “Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has also been a great defeat among the people. Your two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been captured.” 18 As soon as he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell over backward from his seat by the side of the gate, and his neck was broken and he died, for the man was old and heavy. He had judged Israel forty years.

19 Now his daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant, about to give birth. And when she heard the news that the ark of God was captured, and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed and gave birth, for her pains came upon her. 20 And about the time of her death the women attending her said to her, “Do not be afraid, for you have borne a son.” But she did not answer or pay attention. 21 And she named the child Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel!” because the ark of God had been captured and because of her father-in-law and her husband. 22 And she said, “The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured.”

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We have one more part of the LORD's prophecy to see come true (it truly has been more terrible than we expected, as the Ark of the LORD has been stolen away from the battlefield).  Eli knew by how the men approached him that it was bad news.  He was once again sitting in his chair (there was not supposed to be a chair for the priests to sit down, for there was too much work to always be doing, but Eli was old and tired).  When Eli heard the news that his sons had died and that the Philistines had taken the Ark of the LORD, he fell out of his chair and broke his neck.  So it was that the LORD's prophecy had been fulfilled that the house of Eli would be no more and that judgment would come upon Eli, his sons, and the priesthood in such a way that all Israel would start to pay attention to the LORD and what He had to say.

Phinehas's daughter-in-law was pregnant and almost full-term though when she heard the news that her father-in-law and husband had died, she gave birth prematurely, and she died during childbirth, yet her son was allowed to live.  They named him Ichabod because at this time they saw the glory of the LORD (that is His divine presence in the pillar of cloud and pillar of fire) leave the people. They imagined that the LORD's presence was contained within the Ark (like the pagans thought of their gods) and so when they lost the Ark, they thought that God was no longer present with them (though they were correct that the LORD's blessing had been removed from them).  This name was also in part due to the damage to the priesthood with the loss of Eli and his sons and the other members of his family.