"That same day a Benjamite ran from the battle line and went to Shiloh with his clothes torn and dust on his head. When he arrived, there was Eli sitting on his chair by the side of the road, watching, because his heart feared for the ark of God. When the man entered the town and told what had happened, the whole town sent up a cry." (1 Samuel 4:12-13) This man has torn his clothes and thrown dust on his head in an expression of great anguish. As he approaches Shiloh, Eli is sitting in a chair by the road, waiting for news. Eli is seated because he is old and because he is morbidly obese, as we'll learn later in today's text. He's in a state of great anxiety over the safety of the ark. Though his physical infirmities and near-blindness have caused him to fail to harshly correct the sinful behavior of his sons, Eli loves the Lord. His primary focus as he awaits news of the battle is on the ark, not on the safety of his two sons. Certainly he realizes that if the ark is captured it means that Hophni and Phinehas, who accompanied the ark, are likely dead. But he loves the Lord above everyone and everything else. We don't want to miss the fact that although the elderly priest has made some mistakes in life (and who doesn't?) his heart genuinely belongs to the Lord.
"Eli heard the outcry and asked, 'What is the meaning of this uproar?'" (1 Samuel 4:14a) I think Eli's hearing is not so great by this time either since he has difficulty distinguishing a cry of grief from a shout of victory. "The man hurried over to Eli, who was ninety-eight years old and whose eyes had failed so that he could not see. He told Eli, 'I have just come from the battle line; I fled from it this very day.' Eli asked, 'What happened, my son?' The man who brought the news replied, 'Israel fled before the Philistines, and the army has suffered heavy losses. Also your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been captured.'" (1 Samuel 4:14b-17) Eli could scarcely have heard worse news. There's nothing positive at all in the man's report.
Eli knew it was wrong to take the ark to the battle but I believe the decision was made by the elders of Israel without Eli's consent or approval. He had a bad feeling about it, which is why his heart has been in turmoil the whole time the ark has been gone. Now he finds his fears are confirmed. The shock is so great that he either faints or loses the strength to continue holding himself upright. "When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell backward off his chair by the side of the gate. His neck was broken and he died, for he was an old man, and he was heavy. He had led Israel forty years." (1 Samuel 4:18) The fall backwards evidently breaks his neck and kills him instantly, for he is old and his bones are brittle and the very heavy weight of his body causes him to hit the ground with a fatal thud.
You'll recall that we were told earlier in the book of 1 Samuel that the wicked Hophni and Phinehas were in the habit of sleeping with some of the women they met who served at the entrance to the tabernacle. In today's text we learn that these priests not only seduced women into sexual immorality but that they were married men (Phinehas was for sure and Hophni almost certainly was too) and therefore they were committing adultery against their wives. For a Levite to be a priest he had to be at least thirty years old so we know these two men were over thirty. Since Hophni is always mentioned before Phinehas, he is believed to be the older of the two brothers. This means that, even though the Bible only mentions Phinehas' wife, we can safely conclude that Hophni was a married man as well.
Eli's daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, goes into labor when she hears the bad news. "His daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant and near the time of delivery. When she heard the news that the ark of God had been captured and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she went into labor and gave birth, but was overcome by her labor pains. As she was dying, the women attending her said, 'Don't despair; you have given birth to a son.' But she did not respond or pay any attention. She named the boy Ichabod, saying, 'The Glory has departed from Israel'---because of the capture of the ark of God and the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband. She said, 'The Glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured.'" (1 Samuel 4:19-22) With her dying breath this woman gives her son a name that expresses her sorrow; his name means "no glory". It's a terrible name with which to saddle a child. It's a name bestowed in an attitude of despair. Phinehas' wife departs this world erroneously believing that the "Glory" (meaning the Lord Himself and, along with Him, the favor and power and protection of Israel) has left the nation for good. She believes all is lost.
Her despair may be so great because she realizes Israel's defeat in battle is a result of the wickedness of her husband and his brother and a result of the spiritual decline in the leadership and general population that took place during the era of the judges. She doesn't seem to be blaming the Lord for allowing the defeat to happen or questioning why He allowed it to happen. She has been married to Phinehas for some time, long enough to already have another son by him---Ahitub who will succeed him as priest. She is probably very well aware of the sinful character of her husband and his brother Hophni. She is aware of incidents of lawlessness taking place in the nation, such as some of those we studied in the book of Judges, and she knows that it is a time in which everyone is doing as he sees fit (doing whatever suits him), as the author of Judges kept telling us. She takes the capture of the ark as a sign that the Lord is finished with Israel because of the sins of the leadership and many of the citizens.
But thanks be to the faithful God of Israel, she is wrong. The Lord has allowed defeat for the purpose of discipline, not for the purpose of allowing the nation and its people to be wiped out. He has not turned His back on Israel and walked away. The book of 1 Samuel begins in a difficult time when most things are going wrong. But that doesn't mean they won't start going right! Even the son she saddled with a terrible name like Ichabod won't allow his difficult start in life to keep him from having hope for the future. We don't know much about Ichabod's life but he is respected and admired enough that his name will be mentioned ahead of his older brother Ahitub, the high priest, in 1 Samuel 14. Ichabod's nephew Ahijah will be known for being the nephew of Ichabod in 1 Samuel 14 and this indicates it was an honor to be known as Ichabod's nephew. If this notoriety was due to any wickedness on Ichabod's part, I believe the Bible would say so, but nothing in the text of 1 Samuel 14 has a negative connotation where Ichabod is concerned. Scholars have taken that to mean Ichabod must have lived a life that honored the Lord, thereby breaking the sinful cycle of his father and uncle and thereby overcoming the sadness associated with the name his mother gave him.
The Glory has not departed from Israel, contrary to what Phinehas' wife believed. The Lord intends to do good things for Israel. He has allowed the current hardship in order to accomplish something of greater good for the nation. The tone of Chapter 4 is dark and gloomy but things are not as they seem. The night may be darkest just before the dawn but that just means light is soon to break through.
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