About 1 Samuel 4
1 Samuel 4
In this chapter, we take a brief break from Samuel’s story and will be going through some background information. Finding out more about the Philistines and where they came from.
We will also witness the fulfillment of God’s promise against the house of Eli.
“At that time Israel were at war with the Philistines. ”
The Philistines
The Philistines “were likely among the sea people* who appear to have migrated from various parts of the Mediterranean to the coastlands of Palestine," [Faithlife Study Bible] as mentioned in Numbers 24:24, Jeremiah 47:4 and Amos 9:7.
Ships will come from the coasts of Cyprus; they will oppress Assyria and afflict Eber, but they, too, will be utterly destroyed.
- Numbers 24:24, NLT
This message was delivered by Balaam whom King Balak of Moab had called on to curse the Israelites, but he ended up blessing them instead.
The time has come for the Philistines to be destroyed, along with their allies from Tyre and Sidon.
Yes, the Lord is destroying the remnant of the Philistines, those colonists from the island of Crete.”
- Jeremiah 47:4, NLT
God gave this message to Jeremiah in regards to the Philistines of Gaza, before they were captured by the Egyptian army.
<Crete in Hebrew is Caphtor, (read more about it here).>
“Are you Israelites more important to me than the Ethiopians?” asks the LORD. “I brought Israel out of Egypt, but I also brought the Philistines from Crete and led the Arameans out of Kir.”
- Amos 9:7, NLT
The Philistines seem to have arrived around the same time as the Israelites, circa 1200 B.C.
<Ethiopians in Hebrew is Cushites, descendants of Cush, one of the three sons of Noah, (read more here).>
The Sea People
The Sea People were migrant Aegean and Anatolian seafarers who conquered and settled large areas of the easter Mediterranean basin during the 13th and 12th century B.C. Their arrival destabilized the major Near Eastern empires - especially Egypt - to the degree that small kingdoms (including Israel) had a chance to establish themselves [Amihai, Archeology, 235, 287-88]. Moreover, these two nations occupied terriroties that were within the Promised Land (specifically Judah, see Joshua 15:1-12).
Along with their types of armor (1 Sam 17:5-7) and names (1 Sam 21:10), the sea people exhibited a Grecian style in civic and military organization through the city-state coalition of Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron and Gath.
Just as quickly, they became seemingly irrelevant - surviving only as an object of prophetic admonition to “the nations” (Joel 3:4; Amos 6:2).
Neither the Sea People nor the Philistines are mentioned in the New Testament - an indication of the degree to which they had been assimilated by the surrounding culture and political influences.
- Fathlife Study Bible, The Lexham Bible Dictionary.
We encounter the Philistines in this chapter as they attempt to conquer Israelite territory, having already claimed a few coastal cities, such as the Pentapolis and the Plain of Philistia.
Pentapolis translates to “five cities” and is a term used in Wisdom of Solomom 10:6 to refer to the five cities of the plain listed in Genesis 14:2.
<Wisdom of Solomon is a Jewish work written in Greek and it’s a book about wisdom (in case you couldn’t figure that part out).>
The Israelites are at first defeated by the Philistines; but then, they have the brilliant idea to bring the Ark of the Covenant from Shiloh to the battleground so that it can save them.
Hophni and Phinehas, the sons of Eli, were also there with the Ark of the Covenant.”
- 1 Samuel 4:4b, NLT
What ends up happening is that the Isrealites still get defeated, with 30,000 Israelite soldiers dying that day (verse 10). Moreover, “The Ark of the Covenant is captured, and Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, were killed” (verse 11), fulfilling the prophesy in 1 Samuel 2:33-34. Later that same day, upon hearing the news that the Ark had been captures, “Eli fell backward from his seat beside the gate. He broke his neck and died, for he was old and overweight.” Eli’s daughter-in-law - Phineas’ wife - also passes away after going into labor early after hearing the news and giving birth to a son, whom she names Ichabod, which means “where is my glory?” (4:19-22).
This is how we culminate 1 Samuel 4, with the fulfillment of God’s judgement upon Eli and his family and with the Ark of the Covenant in the hands of the Philistines.
Come back next week for a look at what takes place in Philistine as they posses the Ark of the Covenant.
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