1 Samuel 4 is the fourth chapter of the First Book of Samuel in the Old Testament of the Christian

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...

or the first part of the

Books of Samuel The Book of Samuel (, ''Sefer Shmuel'') is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Samuel) in the Old Testament. The book is part of the narrative history of Ancient Israel called the Deuteronomistic history, a series of books (Josh ...

in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Samuel, with additions by the prophets Gad and Nathan, but modern scholars view it as a composition of a number of independent texts of various ages from c. 630–540 BCE. This chapter describes how the Ark of Covenant was taken by the Philistines, a part of the "Ark Narrative" (1 Samuel 4:1–7:1) within a section concerning the life of Samuel (1 Samuel 1:1–7:17).

Text

This chapter was originally written in the

Hebrew language Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

. It is divided into 22 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

are of the

Masoretic Text The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; he, נֻסָּח הַמָּסוֹרָה, Nūssāḥ Hammāsōrā, lit. 'Text of the Tradition') is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) in Rabbinic Judaism. ...

tradition, which includes the Codex Cairensis (895), Aleppo Codex (10th century), and

Codex Leningradensis The Leningrad Codex ( la, Codex Leningradensis [Leningrad Book]; he, כתב יד לנינגרד) is the oldest complete manuscript of the Hebrew Bible in Hebrew, using the Masoretic Text and Tiberian vocalization. According to its colopho ...

(1008). Fragments containing parts of this chapter in Hebrew were found among the

Dead Sea Scrolls The Dead Sea Scrolls (also the Qumran Caves Scrolls) are ancient Jewish and Hebrew religious manuscripts discovered between 1946 and 1956 at the Qumran Caves in what was then Mandatory Palestine, near Ein Feshkha in the West Bank, on the ...

including 4Q51 (4QSam; 100–50 BCE) with extant verses 3–4, 9–10, 12.Dead sea scrolls - 1 Samuel
/ref> Extant ancient manuscripts of a translation into

Koine Greek Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...

known as the

Septuagint The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond ...

(originally was made in the last few centuries BCE) include

Codex Vaticanus The Codex Vaticanus ( The Vatican, Bibl. Vat., Vat. gr. 1209), designated by siglum B or 03 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), δ 1 ( von Soden), is a fourth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old ...

(B;

\mathfrak

^B; 4th century) and

Codex Alexandrinus The Codex Alexandrinus (London, British Library, Royal MS 1. D. V-VIII), designated by the siglum A or 02 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 4 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts), is a manu ...

(A;

\mathfrak

^A; 5th century).

Places

* Aphek *

Ebenezer Ebenezer may refer to: Bible * Eben-Ezer, a place mentioned in the Books of Samuel People * Ebenezer (given name), a male given name Places Australia * Ebenezer, New South Wales * Ebenezer, Queensland, a locality in the City of Ipswich * Ebene ...

* Shiloh

Period

* The event in this chapter happened at the end of judges period in Israel, about

1100 BC Eleven or 11 may refer to: *11 (number), the natural number following 10 and preceding 12 * one of the years 11 BC, AD 11, 1911, 2011, or any year ending in 11 Literature * ''Eleven'' (novel), a 2006 novel by British author David Llewellyn *''El ...

Analysis

In the beginning of this chapter, Samuel was no longer a boy, as he had grown into a powerful prophet whose words were fulfilled and with Shiloh stripped of its pre-eminence, Samuel was no longer associated with that town. Verses 4:1b to 7:1 forms the so-called "the Ark Narrative", because of their distinctive vocabulary, focusing mainly on the Ark of the Covenant, while Samuel disappeared from the scene, and Shiloh's influence diminished. The historical setting suggests the tenth century BCE as the composition date of this narrative, with the main argument that 'an account of the previous misfortunes of the ark would be unnecessary and irrelevant once David was on his way to be king in Jerusalem'.

The Philistines capture the Ark (4:1–10)

The position of the two camps at Ebenezer and Aphek in the southern end of the plain of Sharon indicates the intention of the Philistines to gain land further north from their current territories, whereas the Israelites had the intention to move westwards. Israel was defeated twice: the first occasion was attributed to God's decision 'to put us to rout today' (verse 3), and on the second occasion happened despite the presence of the Ark of the Covenant in battle (verse 7). The importance of the ark in Israel's battles is known from several passages such as Numbers 10:35–36 and 2 Samuel 11:11, being a visible sign of God's presence. The loss of Israel and the capture of the ark by the Philistines was attributed in verse 11 (recalling 1 Samuel 2:34) to 'the degenerate priesthood of Shiloh'. The Philistines regarded the Israelites as worshippers of several gods (verses 7–8) and they were aware of the Exodus tradition.

Verse 1

:''And the word of Samuel came to all Israel.'' :''And Israel went out to battle against the Philistines and they made camp beside Ebenezer, and the Philistines encamped in Aphek.'' Before the words "and Israel", LXX (Septuagint) and

Vulgate The Vulgate (; also called (Bible in common tongue), ) is a late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. The Vulgate is largely the work of Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels u ...

have the statements: "''And it came to pass in those days that the Philistines gathered themselves together to fight''" (LXX adds further "''against Israel''"); this addition is not found in the Masoretic Text and

Targum A targum ( arc, תרגום 'interpretation, translation, version') was an originally spoken translation of the Hebrew Bible (also called the ''Tanakh'') that a professional translator ( ''mǝturgǝmān'') would give in the common language of the ...

. *"

": literally, "the stone, the help", where 'the second noun is in apposition to the first one'; apparently forming the name by which the stone was known; cf. the expression used in 1 Samuel 5:1 and 7:12, where, unlike 4:1, the first word lacks the definite article. *"

Philistines The Philistines ( he, פְּלִשְׁתִּים, Pəlīštīm; Koine Greek (LXX): Φυλιστιείμ, romanized: ''Phulistieím'') were an ancient people who lived on the south coast of Canaan from the 12th century BC until 604 BC, whe ...

": a group of people coming from the northeastern Mediterranean area (whih includes the island of

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, ...

; cf. Amos 9:7) and entering "Palestine" (which is derived from "Philistine") around 1200 BCE.

Death of Eli (4:11–22)

First Book of Samuel Chapter 4-1 (Bible Illustrations by Sweet Media)

News of Israel's defeat was brought to Eli (verses 12–17), who was 'more concerned about the ark than anything else' (verse 13). The loss of the ark caused a triad of calamities for Eli and his family as Eli fell to his death (verses 17–18), Phinehas's wife give premature birth and this led to her untimely death (verse 19). The naming of her son,

Ichabod Ichabod ( he, אִיכָבוֹד ''ʼīyḵāḇōḏ'', – ''without glory'', or "''where is the glory?''") is mentioned in the first Book of Samuel as the son of Phinehas, a malicious priest at the biblical shrine of Shiloh, who was born on ...

('where is glory?' or 'alas (for) glory'), and her death-cry 'both allude to the loss of the ark'.

Verse 18

:''Then it happened, when he made mention of the ark of God, that Eli fell off the seat backward by the side of the gate; and his neck was broken and he died, for the man was old and heavy. And he had judged Israel forty years.'' NKJV *"The side of the gate": A comparison with 2 Samuel 18:4 explains exactly the position of Eli's seat (or "throne"), which was without a back, but with the side against the jamb of the gate, leaving the passage clear but ensuring that every one passing through the gate must pass in front of him. Barnes, Albert
''Notes on the Bible'' - 1 Samuel 4
James Murphy (ed). London: Blackie & Son, 1884. Reprint, Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1998.

Notes

References

Sources

Commentaries on Samuel

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General

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External links

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

translations: *
Shmuel I - I Samuel - Chapter 4 (Judaica Press)
Hebrew text and English translation ith_Rashi's_commentary.html"_;"title="Rashi.html"_;"title="ith_Rashi">ith_Rashi's_commentary">Rashi.html"_;"title="ith_Rashi">ith_Rashi's_commentaryat_Chabad.org *__Christian_translations: *
''Online_Bible''_at_GospelHall.org
(ESV,_KJV,_Darby,_American_Standard_Version,_Bible_in_Basic_English) *
1_Samuel_chapter_4._Bible_Gateway
{{DEFAULTSORT:Samuel_1_04 First_Book_of_Samuel_chapters.html" ;"title="1_Samuel_4.html" ;"title="Rashi">ith_Rashi's_commentary.html" ;"title="Rashi.html" ;"title="ith Rashi">ith Rashi's commentary">Rashi.html" ;"title="ith Rashi">ith Rashi's commentaryat Chabad.org * Christian translations: *
''Online Bible'' at GospelHall.org
(ESV, KJV, Darby, American Standard Version, Bible in Basic English) *
1 Samuel chapter 4. Bible Gateway
{{DEFAULTSORT:Samuel 1 04 First Book of Samuel chapters">04