1 Samuel 4:19-22

Ichabod.

The facts given are—

1 . The wife of Phinehas, hearing the sad tidings of Israel's disaster and of the death of her husband and of Eli, suffers premature labour.

2 . The loss of the ark of God contributes more to her anguish of spirit than does the sudden death of her nearest relatives.

3 . She deliberately refuses the most natural of all consolations.

4 . When dying she gives a name to her child that shall express her sense of the calamity fallen on Israel.

The record furnishes us with three typical references to persons greatly affected by the tidings brought from the field of battle.

1 . The superstitious populace of the city, who utter a cry of consternation and despair.

2 . The public functionary, good but blameworthy, who sees in the event a just judgment, and, being sensible of his personal offence, pays dying homage to the sacred cause with which his life had been identified.

3 . A very spiritually minded individual in private life, whose dying words manifest her extraordinary piety. In the brief reference to the wife of Phinehas we see—

I. The NATURE OF SUPREME CALAMITY . Opinions of men differ with respect to what it is that constitutes the greatest calamity that can fall to the lot of nations, Churches, and individuals. The dying experience of the pious Hebrew mother throws useful light on this question. The ark of God was gone; and also, as its moral cause, the righteousness of the people. Hence, as a people's "glory" lies in the enjoyment of the highest distinction God confers, and the happiness resulting therefrom, it follows that the greatest calamity falls on a people when that distinction and consequent happiness are taken away. The nature of the supreme distinction enjoyed depends on the capacities and vocations of those concerned.

1 . Israel. The supreme distinction of Israel was the enjoyment of all that was suggested by the presence of the ark of God. By virtue of its structure, its contents, and uses, the ark was the outward sign of an inestimable good. It meant that Israel was chosen above all people for a holy and far reaching purpose, in which all nations should be blessed, and that great covenanted blessings were theirs. To them the ark was favour, noble destiny, protection and enrichment, knowledge, holy influence, fellowship with the Eternal. And, in so far as its continued presence was connected with their possession of a character conformable in some degree to its purpose and their own destiny, its abode among them would suggest that they had not become utterly corrupt and unfit for the end for which they were chosen. When, then, the ark of God was allowed to be taken away, there happened, so far as the outward sign was still a correct index to its original and ordinary intent, the direst calamity conceivable. The evidence of being the people of Jehovah was gone! The tables of covenant were lost! The mercy seat was inaccessible by the appointed means! And, also, the righteousness of life appropriate to the continuance of such blessings and honours was lacking! Marvel not that a wail of woe arose from at least one true heart—"Ichabod!" Loss of men, of commerce, of political influence, of home, of health, of all, was not to be compared with this. For what is Israel worth, what Israel's function in the world, without Divine favour and blessing?

2 . Nations. Taking nations generally in their relation to God and one another, their crowning distinction lies in righteousness of spirit and conduct. Population, trade, armies, fleets, science, art, have no permanence, no real value, apart from a healthy national conscience and right doing. If by any means this righteousness disappears, then the greatest calamity has come; and it is only a question of time with respect to the passing away of greatness. God never allows an unrighteous people to attain to the best a nation is capable of.

3 . Churches. The Christian Church is the body of Christ. It exists as a body to exhibit the spirit and do the work of Christ, the Head. Its highest honour is in doing what Christ would have done in the world. But if a Church, professing to be part of the One Body, so far loses love for Christ and true holiness of life as to fail to answer the practical ends for which it exists, then it suffers a calamity far more serious than depletion of numbers, loss of social status, the pains of poverty, and the fiercest persecution. "Ichabod" was once appropriate to Laodicea ( Revelation 3:15-18 ).

4 . Individuals. The highest distinction and bliss of a human being is to be conformed in nature to the holy nature of Christ. This is the permanent crown of life. It could be shown that a soul so blessed wilt find the most perfect development. This is that for which Christ came, lived, died, and rose again. And it is obvious that not thus to be saved is to suffer the greatest loss ever possible to a human being. "What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" Then, indeed, "Ichabod" is fearfully true.

5 . The ministry of the gospel. A true ministry must embrace all the teaching requisite for the "perfecting of the saints." A full and perfect gospel means all that Christ and his apostles have left us. An examination of the apostolic ministry will show that the great theme on which the inspired preachers chiefly dwelt was the cross of Christ. This is the peculiar distinction of the New Testament teaching, and it is a truth which enters directly or indirectly into everything pertaining to Christian life. A ministry is good in proportion as it gives due place to this dominating truth. An aversion to the cross as the apostles preached it is an unhappy sign, as, also, is a mere parade of the term or the symbol. History proves that a Christless ministry is always a failure. "Ichabod" may be affirmed of it. Generally, then, "Ichabod" is true whenever the crowning characteristic has departed; in that lies a supreme calamity.

II. HOW A JUST APPRECIATION OF A SUPREME CALAMITY REVEALS ITSELF . The wife of Phinehas was a study to her attendants. They, in common with the mass of Israel, felt that a sad disaster had befallen them, but her extreme anguish and singular conduct were perplexing. The fact was, she formed a just appreciation of what had occurred, and her feelings, words, and conduct were the natural expression of it. The appreciation appears in—

1 . All absorbing concern. A more striking instance of this is perhaps not to be found in the entire range of sacred history. This unnamed person was passing through the most momentous personal crisis possible to woman; the anguish of nature was enough to absorb every thought and power. Birth of a son was a new demand on attention and care, and the death of a husband was, at such a season, a special occasion of sorrow. Yet all these most important and pressing matters were entirely test sight of in her soul's utter absorption in the interests of that Divine kingdom which lay so near to her heart. We have read of widows dying under the shock caused by a husband's death, and with his name on the tongue as the last sign of affection and interest; but here the one word is "Ichabod." The cause of God was the one thought. In like manner will a just appreciation of calamity show itself when nations have lost the righteousness which exalts, when Churches have failed in their holy design and have become a reproach, when souls cared and watched for are lost, when a ministry professedly of the gospel leaves out the cross. The whole soul will be filled with anguish and care.

2 . Refusal to accept any substitute. The highest and most welcome comfort nature can afford to a sorrowing widowed mother is to give her a son. In the love of offspring the heart finds some healing and solace. But, marvel of devotion to the Spiritual and Eternal, this mother refuses to derive compensation from the new-born child! "She answered not, neither did she regard it." The mother's conduct was right and natural; for the cause of God is first and highest. Nature sanctified will not accept a lower transitory good in the place of the higher eternal good. Jerusalem is to be preferred above our" chief joy." No wealth and fame will comfort the statesman who mourns the departure of national righteousness. Eloquence, logic, and elevation of taste are as nothing to one who glories in preaching Christ crucified, if he be not preached.

3 . Tremendous effort to awaken regard for the spiritual. The dying woman made a great effort to think and speak. She loved the dear child, but loved the holy kingdom more; and therefore, to do the utmost in her power to arouse regard for what was too little regarded, she even imposed on her child a name associated with sorrow, shame, and trouble. Thus by this dying exertion did she

General lessons .—

1 . In darkest times God has in reserve a "holy remnant" (cf. 1 Kings 19:10 , 1 Kings 19:18 ; John 10:14 ).

2 . The deepest piety may exist where least expected. The wife of the vilest of men (cf. Matthew 8:10 ).

3 . Adverse circumstances, when met with a determined spirit, may even conduce to exalted piety. The vile husband became the occasion of a more entire and constant trust in God (cf. Psalms 9:9 , Psalms 9:10 ; Psalms 27:10 ).

4 . How truly the requirements of Christ to love him and his cause above all finds response in the most devoted souls (cf. Matthew 10:37 ; Philippians 3:8 ).

5 . The piety must be very profound, and wide in its spiritual vision, that can bring all the claims of nature into subordination to the kingdom of God, and feel assured of the essentially rational character of the subordination.

6 . The Saviour is a unique instance of absorption in the spiritual, and exertion to realise it; and the experience of his people is a fellowship with his sufferings (cf. Matthew 4:9 ; Matthew 16:21 , Matthew 16:22 ; Matthew 20:28 ; Matthew 23:37 ; Matthew 26:38 , Matthew 26:39 ; Luke 24:21-26 ; John 4:32 ; John 6:15 ; John 10:11 ; Philippians 3:10 ). "The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up."

HOMILIES BY B. DALE

1 Samuel 4:1-11 . (EBEN-EZER and APHEK.)

Judgment inflicted on Israel.

"Israel was smitten,… and the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain" ( 1 Samuel 4:10 , 1 Samuel 4:11 ). The law of retribution which prevails in the world is, more especially in the outward life, often slow in its operation, inexplicable, and sometimes apparently partial and imperfect. But in many instances it is manifested in a sudden, clear, and most equitable manner. One of these instances is here described. Hophni and Phinehas were warned in vain, and pursued their evil way. The influence which they exerted on others was pernicious, and their sin was largely shared in by the people. At length the hour of judgment struck. "Israel went out against the Philistines to battle"—not, probably, according to the counsel of Samuel, but according to their own will, and to repel a fresh attack of their most powerful foes and oppressors ( 1 Samuel 4:9 ). They were defeated with a loss of about 4000 men; but instead of humbling themselves before God, the elders expressed their surprise and disappointment at the result. They were blinded by sin, and assumed (as others have often done) that because they were the acknowledged people of Jehovah they would necessarily receive his help according to his covenant, whether they fulfilled their part of the covenant and obeyed his commandments or not. To insure his help more effectually, they sent to Shiloh for "the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts, which dwelleth between (is enthroned upon) the cherubim." They looked for deliverance from the ark of the Lord rather than from the Lord of the ark. Hophni and Phinehas, its appointed guardians, readily consented to go with it, not knowing that they were going to their doom; and the aged high priest was too weak to oppose the presumptuous enterprise. The exultation of Israel was speedily turned into humiliation, and the fear of their enemies into triumph; and one of the greatest calamities Israel ever experienced occurred. These events suggest the following reflections:—

I. How OFTEN ARE THE UNGODLY EMPLOYED BY GOD FOR THE CHASTISEMENT OF HIS PEOPLE ( 1 Samuel 4:1 , 1 Samuel 4:2 ).

1 . When those who have been chosen to be separate from and superior to the ungodly have learnt their ways, it is just and appropriate that they should be given up to chastisement at their hands.

2 . The chastisement which is thus inflicted upon them is the most severe they can experience. "Let us not fall into the hand of man" ( 2 Samuel 24:14 ). "The tender mercies of the wicked are cruel" ( Proverbs 12:10 ).

3 . In fulfilling their own purposes the wicked are subject to the control of God; they can go no further than he pleases, their designs are overruled for good, and when they have done their work they are broken and cast aside like useless saws and axes ( Isaiah 27:7 , Isaiah 27:8 ; Acts 5:28 ). This is the case with Satan himself. "Satan is a very important element in the Divine economy. God needs him, and he therefore keeps him until he shall have no more use for him. Then will he be banished to his own place. The Scriptures call the wicked heathen tyrant Nebuchadnezzar a servant of God. They might give Satan the same name" (Hengstenberg).

II. How VAIN IS THE POSSESSION OF THE FORM OF RELIGION WITHOUT ITS SPIRIT ( 1 Samuel 4:3 , 1 Samuel 4:4 ). Israel had a great though superstitious reverence for the ark, and expected that it would "save them out of the hand of their enemies."

1 . Excessive devotion to the outward forms and ceremonies, and dependence upon them, is commonly associated with the absence of spiritual life ( Matthew 5:20 ; 2 Timothy 3:5 ).

2 . Reliance upon such forms arises from the delusion that they insure the presence and working of God apart from the spirit in which they are employed. They are, however, neither the necessary, nor the exclusive channels of Divine grace ( John 6:63 ), and no benefit formerly received through them ( Numbers 10:35 ) is to be expected, unless there be a right relation to him who has appointed them.

3 . The vanity of it is clearly shown in the day of trial. "If progress to perfection is placed only in external observances, our religion, having no Divine life, will quickly perish, with the things on which it subsists; but the axe must be laid at the root of the tree, that, being separated and freed from the restless desires of nature and self, we may possess our souls in the peace of God" (A Kempis).

III. How NEAR ARE THOSE WHO ARE ELATED IN FALSE CONFIDENCE TO THEIR SIGNAL DOWNFALL ( 1 Samuel 4:5 ). There was a shout in the camp at the arrival of the ark. It struck consternation into the Philistines, who had heard of the wonders wrought by Jehovah in former times ( 1 Samuel 6:6 ), and who, like Israel, supposed that his presence was inseparably connected with the symbol thereof ( 1 Samuel 4:6-8 ). But they speedily regained courage, and obtained a second and greater victory ( 1 Samuel 4:9 ).

1 . False confidence is blind to its own weakness and danger.

2 . It is generally associated with neglect of the proper means of safety.

3 . Nothing is more displeasing to God than pride and presumption; nothing more frequently condemned or more severely punished ( 1 Samuel 2:3 ; Proverbs 16:18 ; Isaiah 2:11 ). "By that sin fell the angels." "We must therefore bear this in mind throughout our whole life, every day, every hour, and every moment, that we never indulge so much as a thought of confidence in self" (Scupoli).

IV. How SURE IS THE FULFILMENT OF THE DIVINE THREATENINGS AGAINST THE IMPENITENT ( 1 Samuel 4:10 , 1 Samuel 4:11 ; 1 Samuel 2:30 , 1 Samuel 2:34 ). In mercy it may be long delayed; but mercy has its limits, and judgment comes at last ( Proverbs 29:1 ; Romans 2:5 ).

1 . The priests, who had so grossly abused their power in many ways, and now exposed the ark of the Lord in battle, were struck down by the sword of his enemies.

"Wisdom supreme! how wonderful the art

Which thou dost manifest in heaven, in earth,

And in the evil world, how just a meed

Allotting by thy virtue unto all"

(Dante, 'Inferno ').

2. The elders and people, who "asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord," were abandoned to their own devices, and 30,000 of them were slain.

3 . The whole nation, which had forsaken the Lord, was deprived of the sign of his presence ( 1 Samuel 4:11 ); the place of the sanctuary, which had been defiled, was made a perpetual desolation ( Psalms 78:59-64 ; Jeremiah 7:11 , Jeremiah 7:12 , Jeremiah 7:14 ; Jeremiah 26:6 ); and they who would not serve the Lord with gladness were compelled to wear the heavy yoke of their oppressors ( Deuteronomy 28:47 , Deuteronomy 28:48 ; 1 Samuel 7:2 , 1 Samuel 7:14 ).

"The mills of God grind slowly, but they grind exceeding small;

Though he stands and waits with patience, with exactness grinds he all."

"God's judgments are the expressions of his opinion about our guilt .... But there is this difference between man and God in this matter:—A human judge gives his opinion in words; God gives his in events. And God always pays sinners back in kind, that he may not merely punish them, but correct them; so that by the kind of their punishment they may know the kind of their sin" (C. Kingsley).—D.

The inquiry of the afflicted.

"Wherefore hath the Lord smitten us?" ( 1 Samuel 4:3 ). Men are accustomed to meet affliction in various ways.

1 . Some meet it lightly, and endeavour to laugh at it. But this is possible only when it is not very severe.

2 . Others exaggerate it, lose their self-possession, and sink under it into despondency and despair.

3 . Others quarrel with it as with an enemy, become embittered and cynical.

4 . Others, still, endure it with philosophical (stoical) fortitude, accounting it not an evil, and resolving not to feel it. But this method breaks down in actual experience, and leaves the character unimproved. The truly wise, whilst fully sensitive to its natural influence, and confessing it to be an evil, seek to understand its meaning and purpose, and act in accordance therewith. They adopt this inquiry of the elders of Israel, though in a somewhat different spirit. The inquiry pertains to—

I. THE HAND FROM WHICH IT COMES . "Wherefore hath the Lord smitten us?"

1 . His dominion is supreme and universal.

2 . His operations are often indirect, and to our view intricate and perplexing. Adversity is not the less under his direction and control because it comes by the hand of man.

3 . All he does is done in perfect wisdom, justice, and benevolence. It must be so, even when it appears otherwise ( Psalms 77:19 , Psalms 77:20 ). The mystery which beclouds his ways is itself adapted to beget in us proper feelings toward him. The first necessity in affliction is to settle it in our hearts that "it is the Lord."

II. THE CAUSE TO WHICH IT IS DUE . Whence? Suffering is the result and penalty of violating the natural or moral order which God has established in the world.

1 . It may be often traced to the transgression of the sufferer, but not always. Those who are greater sufferers than others are not necessarily greater sinners ( Luke 13:1-5 ).

2 . It is often due to the transgressions of others with whom we are intimately associated, and in the effects of whose conduct we necessarily have part.

3 . It is connected with the sinfulness of the heart, and implies participation in the fallen and corrupt nature of humanity. "This is the key both to the sufferings of the righteous and to many other secrets." Human suffering points, as with the finger of God, to human sin, and should ever lead to self-examination and profound humiliation.

III. THE PURPOSES FOR WHICH IT IS SENT . Herein the fatherly love of God appears; and to those who love him punishment is transformed into chastisement and a means of blessing ( Hebrews 12:11 ). It is designed—

1 . To manifest the presence and evil of sin, which would not be otherwise properly felt. The consequences of transgression often quicken the conscience to its "exceeding sinfulness," and lead to godly sorrow ( Isaiah 27:9 ).

2 . To restrain, and prevent future disobedience ( Psalms 119:67 ).

3 . To educate and improve the character—by instructing the soul in spiritual truth, working in it submission and patience, disposing it to sympathy, etc. ( Psalms 94:12 ; Romans 5:3 ; 2 Corinthians 1:4 ). "All things work together for good," i.e. for the perfecting of the character in conformity to "the image of his Son" ( Romans 8:29 ).

4 . To prepare for the experience of higher joy, here and hereafter ( 2 Corinthians 4:17 ).

5 . To promote the holiness and happiness of others in many ways.

6 . To bring glory to God ( John 9:3 ; John 11:4 ). What is naturally a curse has thus hidden within it a priceless blessing; which, however, is not attained without human cooperation and Divine grace. Affliction has not in itself the power to purify, strengthen, and save.

IV. THE MEANS BY WHICH THESE PURPOSES ARE ACCOMPLISHED .

1 . Humility and penitence ( Job 40:4 ; Job 42:6 ).

2 . Filial trust ; entering into fellowship with Christ in his sufferings, and receiving his Spirit according to his promise.

3 . The hope of heaven, where there shall be "no more pain" ( Romans 8:18 ).

"Whatever thou Host hate,

Whatever thou wouldst cast away and scorn

As profitless—Affliction never lose;

Affliction never cease to venerate.

For sorrow sanctified bears fruit to God,

Which, in his heavenly garner treasured up,

Shall feed his own to all eternity."

D.