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come into the camp. And they said, Woe unto us! for there hath not been such a thing
heretofore" (I Sam. 4: 6, 7).
So the ark was brought into the camp, and the men of Israel gave a triumphant shout
as if the battle was already won. So close were the Philistines that they heard the
commotion, and when they learned that the ark of the Lord had come into the camp of the
Hebrews they were much afraid:
"Woe unto us! who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty Gods? these are
the Gods that smote the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness" (4: 8).
They evidently remembered the days gone by, but there was some confusion in the
minds of the Philistines concerning the history of Israel, for the plagues were inflicted
before the ark was constructed. It certainly represented the presence of the Lord God
among His people Israel, but to look upon it as a personification of God Himself as they
did with their own idols was of course a misunderstanding on their part.
The Philistines were doubty warriors, however, for we read they nevertheless prepared
themselves for battle:
"Be strong and quit yourselves like men, O ye Philistines, that ye be not servants unto
the Hebrews, as they have been to you: quit yourselves like men, and fight" (4: 9).
The apostle Paul uses similar stirring words when writing to the church at Corinth,
"quit you like men, be strong" (I Cor. 16: 13). The context there, however, is not one of
fighting, but of standing fast and remaining faithful under adversity and persecution.
"And the Philistines fought, and Israel was smitten, and they fled every man into his
tent: and there was a very great slaughter; for there fell of Israel thirty thousand
footmen. And the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas,
were slain" (4: 10, 11).
So Israel was smitten. This defeat at the hands of their idolatrous foe was strictly in
accordance with those immutable laws which applied between Jehovah and His covenant
people during that dispensation. As long as they remained faithful to their invisible
Preserver, and served Him with their whole heart, and kept themselves pure from the
pollution of the heathen nations around them, so long was He in their midst. So long
were the people of Israel invincible. When they forsook Him, then God forsook them.
To use the words of Asaph in Psa. 78::
"When God heard this, He was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel: so that He forsook
the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which He placed among men; and delivered His
strength into captivity, and His glory into the enemy's hand . . . . . their priests fell by the
sword" (Psa. 78: 59-64).
So the Ark of God was taken. This was perhaps the greatest calamity that had yet
happened to Israel. It was now apparent to the whole nation that their King had
withdrawn His Presence from them. They stood alone. The Ark which Moses had made
by God's command at Sinai, and in which the Divine Presence was enshrined within the
Holy of Holies in the Sanctuary, which had accompanied Israel through the wilderness