1 Samuel 4 - 7¶

The Philistines and the Ark¶

In this reading, we will read just another five chapters (which may sound less daunting when you recall that each one is only a page or so long). In these early stages, I'm going especially slowly through the text with you, because there are so many new things to explain.

In this passage we will meet the Philistines, one of the most prominent traditional enemies of the Israelites. The Philistines inhabited the coastal plain, and are especially associated with their five major cities, as we will see below. Meanwhile, the Israelite territory was centered more inland in the hilly central spine of the country.

On this occasion, the Philistines are getting the better of the battle, and the Israelites decide to fetch their sacred Ark to give them some divine assistance. The Ark, remember, is a box containing relics (tablets of the law) and is usually housed in the sanctuary of the temple. It also represents the seat of Yahweh, in fact, his throne.

The very first verse (4:1) properly belongs to the previous section as its concluding sentence. But it also serves to link the two episodes, despite Samuel himself not appearing in the Philistine/Ark story until after its conclusion.

The capture of the Ark¶

Disaster for the Israelites¶

Israelites defeated in a battle by the Philistines, at a place called Ebenezer. So they get the Ark of the Covenant from Shiloh to assist their armies.

The Philistines are alarmed by this development, the arrival of God (or a god, or the gods - translations differ because the sources are ambiguous) in the camp.

The Philistines are aware of the reputation that the gods of the Israelites had for striking the Egyptians. The full story of the plagues on Egypt is told in the book of Exodus, but like other major events in the Bible story, is recalled from time to time as an important foundational myth. The Hebrews (another name for Israelites, broadly speaking) remembered their ancestors having escaped from a situation of slavery in Egypt. Interestingly, the Philistines in their response echo this idea of bondage or subjection by implying that currently they have the upper hand, yet the tables might be turned if they do not resist the power of the newly arrived divine artifact.

Philistines know about these mighty gods (4:8) of the Israelites, that they are responsible for having struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues, again referring back to the Exodus story.

Despite the presence of the Ark, the Philistines are victorious, killing thousands of Israelites including Hophni and Phinehas, the worthless sons of Eli. More seriously, they capture the Ark itself. Before we find out what happened to it, a chain of events leads to personal tragedies in the priestly family. Thus Yahweh's predicted punishment on the house of Eli is enacted.

A messenger, from the tribe of Benjamin, brings the news to the aged Eli, who in his shock falls backwards and breaks his neck (4:18). Hearing of the calamity also induces his daughter-in-law, now a widow, to give birth to a son she names Ichabod, because the glory has departed from Israel (4:21).

The Ark in Philistia¶

The Philistines take their captured prize to Ashdod and place it in the temple of their own god Dagon. But in the morning they find their god's idol has fallen over in front of Yahweh's Ark, as if subject to the greater power. The next day their idol is found with his head and hands cut off, the sort of mutilation sometimes meted out to defeated enemies.

Also, a plague of tumors breaks out. Not especially logically, the citizens of Ashdod send the dangerous object to their fellow-Philistines in Gath. They in turn pass it to Ekron, and in each location the disease continues to afflict them.

In Gath:

Yahweh’s hand was against the city with a very great
confusion; and he struck the men of the city, both
small and great, so that tumors broke out on them. (5:9)

And in Ekron:

The men who didn’t die were struck with the tumors;
and the cry of the city went up to heaven. (5:12)

The return of the Ark¶

The Philistines decide to send the Ark back to the Israelites. They make golden statues of tumors and of mice (possibly because mice were associated with the spread of disease), five of each to represent the five cities of the Philistines - Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath and Ekron.

The Ark is put onto a driver-less cart pulled by two cows, along with the offerings. The cows take it directly along the road to Beth Shemesh, an Israelite settlement.

Unfortunately, the troubles are not at an end, because Yahweh gets upset about the people looking inside the Ark. So he kills some of them. Maybe 70, but a textual corruption has left the improbable number of 50,070 in many manuscripts.

He struck of the men of Beth Shemesh, because they had looked into Yahweh’s ark, he struck fifty thousand seventy of the men. Then the people mourned, because Yahweh had struck the people with a great slaughter. (6:19)

In the spirit of passing the danger on to their neighbors, they ask the people of Kiriath-Jearim to come and fetch the Ark. They do so, finding it a home and someone to act as its keeper. No deaths are recorded from it in Kiriath-Jearim.

Call to worship one god¶

Abruptly (7:2), we are told that twenty years have passed. Now Samuel leads the people in repenting of sin and returning to faith in Yahweh. He is seen to be taking over from Eli, who presided at the sanctuary while his sons carried out their unjust practices, and bringing the people back to their god.

He tells them:

“If you are returning to Yahweh with all your heart, then
put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you,
and direct your hearts to Yahweh, and serve him only; and
he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.”
Then the children of Israel removed the Baals and the
Ashtaroth, and served Yahweh only. (7:3-4)

Here, Samuel names some of the other gods which were popular among the Israelites, Baal being a title applied to several deities in the region, and the Ashtaroth referring to statues of the female deity who was Yahweh's celestial wife.

Instead, Samuel calls on them to be faithful to one god only, Yahweh. This theme of fidelity to one god, and of the need to get rid of idols devoted to other gods, runs right through the books of Samuel and Kings, indeed throughout the OT.

This time, when the Philistines attack, Yahweh shows his power:

Yahweh thundered with a great thunder on that day on the
Philistines and confused them; and they were struck down 
before Israel. The men of Israel went out of Mizpah and 
pursued the Philistines, and struck them until they came
under Beth Kar. (7:10-11)

Samuel sets up a stone called Ebenezer (stone of help) (7:12)

Yahweh’s hand was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel