(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
1 Samuel 4:12–18, “And there ran a man of Benjamin out of the army, and came to Shiloh the same day with his clothes rent, and with earth upon his head. And when he came, lo, Eli sat upon a seat by the wayside watching: for his heart trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came into the city, and told it, all the city cried out. And when Eli heard the noise of the crying, he said, What meaneth the noise of this tumult? And the man came in hastily, and told Eli. Now Eli was ninety and eight years old; and his eyes were dim, that he could not see. And the man said unto Eli, I am he that came out of the army, and I fled to day out of the army. And he said, What is there done, my son? And the messenger answered and said, Israel is fled before the Philistines, and there hath been also a great slaughter among the people, and thy two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God is taken. And it came to pass, when he made mention of the ark of God, that he fell from off the seat backward by the side of the gate, and his neck brake, and he died: for he was an old man, and heavy. And he had judged Israel forty years.”
After the battle was over, one very courageous man left the battle to bring the news to Eli, Israel’s leader at that time. He adopted the signs of mourning by tearing his clothes and putting dirt on his head. He could well have been killed as the Philistines may have wanted to follow up their victory with further attacks. Eli was a very old man but that time, ninety eight years. He was blind and heard the noise so he called out to ask for the news. He was concerned about the ark more so that his own sons. He hadn’t been strong enough in his leadership when his sons suggested they take the ark to the battle. As the leading priest he should have refused to let them take the ark at all. He was told that his two sons were dead and that the ark had been captured by the Philistines. When he heard about the ark he fell over backwards from his chair and suffered a broken neck because he was a very heavy man.
No comments:
Post a Comment