1 Samuel 4:12-18 NIV

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Samuel 4:17

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. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Samuel 4:18

When he made mention of the ark of God - Eli bore all the relation till the messenger came to this solemn word; he had trembled before for the ark, and now, hearing that it was captured, he was transfixed with grief, fell down from his seat, and dislocated his neck! Behold the judgments of God! But shall we say that this man, however remiss in the education of his children, and criminal in his indulgence towards his profligate sons, which arose more from the easiness of his... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Samuel 4:12

There ran a man of Benjamin. The whole story is told with so much vividness, and is so full of exact particulars, that it must have come from an eyewitness, probably from Samuel himself. According to Jewish tradition, this Benjamite was no other than Saul, but the chronology is at variance with this supposition. The importance in old time, when even roads did not exist, of men capable of running long distances to carry news in war is evident, and many instances are recorded showing the high... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Samuel 4:12-18

Victory in defeat. The facts given are— 1 . Eli, aware of the absence of the ark on the battle field, awaits with anxiety the earliest tidings of the issue of the conflict. 2 . A fugitive relates to him and to the people of Shiloh the nature of the disaster that had befallen Israel. 3 . The effect of the news on the city is a wailing cry of despair, and on Eli sudden death. By record and tradition the people were familiar with the disasters and sufferings occasionally... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Samuel 4:13

Upon a seat— literally, "the throne"— by the wayside, whither his official chair had been removed to some spot near the gate of the city (see 1 Samuel 4:18 ), and probably commanding a view of the pathway by which a messenger would arrive. There probably for hours he had sat, anxiously awaiting tidings of the ark, which, we may feel sure, he had very unwillingly allowed to be carried away into the camp. When the man came into the city. Literally the words are, "And the man came to tell... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Samuel 4:14

And when Eli heard the noise of the crying, he asked the meaning of this tumult. The word signifies any confused noise, as the splashing of rain ( 1 Kings 18:41 ), but especially the din made by a multitude of people ( Job 39:7 ). It exactly expresses here the Babel of voices, all asking news at once, which at the coming of the messenger surged around the high priest's throne. He demands the reason, and the uproar is quelled, while "the man hasted, and came and told Eli." Not came in,... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Samuel 4:15

Eli was ninety and eight years old. Until the invention by the Arabs of the present system of numerals, all ancient nations had a most cumbrous system of expressing numbers. The Hebrew method was to attach a value to each of the letters of the alphabet, and then add them together, and thus the eighth and nineteenth letters would between them make up ninety-eight. Such a system led to constant mistakes in copying, and thus the numerals in the earlier parts of the Old Testament are beset with... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Samuel 4:16-17

What is there done, my son? Literally, What is the thing? Or, as the phrase is translated in 2 Samuel 1:4 , "How went the matter?" Eli must have gathered from the words of the messenger that Israel had been defeated; for he expressly says, I fled, and his haste, as testified by the added words today , showed that the defeat was a severe one. Eli, therefore, anxiously asks what has happened, and the answer piles misery upon misery, rapidly heaping together four crushing catastrophes.... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Samuel 4:18

At this last sad news the old man's spirit failed; and though it was his own want of a firm sense of duty that had prepared the way for this sad ruin of his country, yet we cannot but respect his deep attachment and reverent love for the symbol of his faith. The rest he could have borne; but that the ark of God, especially intrusted to his care, was now captive in heathen hands was a calamity that broke his heart. He had judged Israel forty years. The Septuagint reads twenty, but these... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - 1 Samuel 4:12

Runners who were swift of foot, and could go long distances were important and well-known persons (compare 2 Samuel 18:19-31). There seem to have been always professional runners to act as messengers with armies in the field (2 Kings 11:4, 2 Kings 11:6,2 Kings 11:19, the King James Version “guards”).Earth upon his head - In token of bitter grief. Compare the marginal references. read more

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Samuel 4:17

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Samuel 4:18

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Samuel 4:12

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Samuel 4:12-18

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Samuel 4:13

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Samuel 4:14

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Samuel 4:15

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Samuel 4:16-17

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Samuel 4:18

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - 1 Samuel 4:12

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