Mar 5, 2018
Judges 21:25; 1 Samuel 2:12, 22, 27a, 29; 3:1b, 3a;
4:1b-3, 5-13, 17-21a
21:25 In those days there was no king in Israel.
Everyone did what was right in his own eyes... 2:12 Now,
the sons of Eli [the priest] were worthless men. They did not
know the Lord… 22 Now Eli was very old, and he kept
hearing all that his sons were doing to all Israel, and how
they lay with the women who were serving at the entrance
to the tent of meeting… 27 And there came a man of
God to Eli and said to him, “Thus the Lord has said, ‘Did
I indeed reveal myself to the house of your father? …
29 Why then do you scorn my sacrifices and my
offerings that I commanded, and honor your sons above me by
fattening yourselves on the choicest parts of every
offering of my people Israel?’” … 3:1 And the Word
of the Lord was rare in those days and there was no frequent
vision.
3:3 But the Lamp of God had not yet gone out…
4:1 Now Israel went out to battle against the
Philistines. They encamped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines
encamped at Aphek. 2 The Philistines drew up in line
against Israel, and when the battle spread, Israel was
defeated before the Philistines, who killed about four thousand men
on the field of battle. 3 And when the people came
to the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has the Lord defeated
us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the
covenant of the Lord here from Shiloh, that it may come among us
and save
us from the power of our enemies…” 5 As soon as the ark
of the covenant of the Lord came into the camp, all Israel
gave a mighty shout, so that the earth resounded. 6 And
when the Philistines heard the noise of the shouting, they
said, “What does this great shouting in the camp of the Hebrews
mean?” And when they learned that the ark of the Lord had come
to the camp, 7 the Philistines were afraid, for they
said, “A god has come into the camp.” And they said, “Woe to
us! For nothing like this has happened before. 8 Woe to
us! Who can deliver us from the power of these mighty gods?
These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with every sort of
plague in the wilderness. 9 Take courage, and be
men, O Philistines, lest you become slaves to the Hebrews as they
have been to you; be men and fight.” 10 So the
Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and they fled, every
man to his home. And there was a very great slaughter, for
thirty thousand foot soldiers of Israel fell. 11 And the
ark of God was captured, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and
Phinehas, died. 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… 17
“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!”