Glory Departed - 1 Samuel 4:12-22

And this morning, we are in 1 Samuel chapter four, beginning with verse 12.

So before we begin, I'd like to open in prayer. Heavenly Father, we just thank you this morning for your grace each day.

We thank you for your Son and our Lord Jesus Christ, who has provided the way of salvation through his death, burial, and resurrection.

We praise you, Lord, for the ability to even exercise faith and the grace you give us for salvation.

We ask now, Father, that you would enable us to quiet our hearts before you as we once again resume the study of your word.

And Lord, we ask that you would grant us illumination for understanding as well as being able to apply these truths to our lives.

We just thank you and pray this in Jesus' precious name, amen. The prophet

Isaiah proclaimed, how beautiful upon the mountain are the feet of him who brings good news.

That was in Isaiah 52 .7. Now, there was a man in 490

BC named Philippides who ran 26 .2

miles from Marathon to Athens with news of the Greek victory over the

Persians. Philippides cried out in Greek, we have won.

And then, immediately, he fell over dead. Athletes, some athletes today, run the same length race which is called a marathon.

Perhaps Eli, Israel's high priest, would have rejoiced for similar good news as he awaited in Shiloh for the report on the battle with the

Philistines. As we resume this study, we begin in verse 12, and I'll read through the rest of the chapter.

Now, a man of Benjamin ran from the battle line and came to Shiloh the same day with his coals torn, dust on his head.

When he came, behold, Eli was sitting on his seat by the road, eagerly watching, because his heart was trembling for the ark of God.

So, the man came to tell it in the city. And all the city cried out.

When Eli heard the noise of the outcry, he said, what does the noise of this commotion mean?

Then the man came hurriedly and told Eli. Now, Eli was 98 years old, and his eyes were set that he could not see.

The man said to Eli, I am the one who came from the battle line. Indeed, I escaped from the battle line today.

And he said, how did things go, my son? Then the one who brought the news replied,

Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has also been a great slaughter among the people.

And your two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of the covenant has been taken.

When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell off the seat backward beside the gate, and his neck was broken, and he died.

For he was old and heavy, thus judged Israel 40 years.

Now, his daughter, his daughter -in -law, his wife, was about to give birth.

And when she heard the news of the ark of God was taken, and that her father -in -law and her husband had died, she kneeled down and gave birth, for her pains came upon her.

And about the time of her death, the woman who stood by her said, do not be afraid, for you have given birth to a son.

But she did not answer or pay attention. And she called the boy Ichabod, saying, the glory has departed from Israel, because the ark of God has been taken, and because of her father -in -law and her husband.

She said, the glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God was taken.

When this messenger came to deliver the sorrowful news, he rent his clothes and put dust upon his head.

And this was a sign of deep mourning for the Israelites. In this case, the

Benjaminite ran from the battlefield in Aphek to Shiloh.

This would have been a testimony to this Benjaminite's great endurance.

He must have been quite a great athlete to do this. As well, in order to bring this news, of the battle, the roads at that time were crude.

The runner would be running over a very harsh terrain to bring this message to Shiloh.

This battle in which Israel lost 30 ,000 foot soldiers, including the sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, and the ark of the covenant was taken.

This news that the runner brought to Eli, the high priest of Israel, according to Jewish tradition, this

Benjaminite who ran was no other than Saul. But chronology, according to other scholars, would not align and support this thesis.

Verse 13, when he came, behold Eli, sitting on the seat by the road, eagerly watching, because his heart was trembling for the ark of God.

So the man came to tell it to the city, and all the city cried out.

Eli was awaiting the news from the Israelites. He didn't know what was gonna be the outcome of this battle against the

Philistines. When he came, behold Eli was sitting on his seat by the road eagerly watching, because his heart was trembling for the ark of God.

Since Eli was a high priest of Israel, he would have been sitting on some form of a throne, maybe a modified version, but they had a throne outside where he could sit and observe and wait for the messenger to give word of what happened in the battle.

He would have probably had several aides around him to assist him with his various duties that they carried out on his behalf.

Eli was duly concerned, mainly because the ark of the covenant, he'd already expected his sons to be taken, but he was more concerned even so for the ark.

The Lord declared this through a man of God in chapter two of 1 Samuel verses 31 through 34.

He said this, behold the days are coming when I will break your strength and the strength of your father's house so that there will not be an old man in your house.

You will see the distress of my dwelling in spite of all the good I do for Israel and an old man will not be in your house forever.

Yet I will not cut off every man of yours from my altar so that your eyes will fail from weeping and your soul grieve and all the increase of your house will die in the prime of life.

This will be the sign to which will come concerning your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas.

On the day, the same day, they will both die. Now this was a sign that Eli knew would be the beginning of all that God was gonna carry out in his judgment against Israel as well as Eli's lineage.

The prophecy was later confirmed in God's first message through Samuel.

In chapter three, verse 13, he says this. For I told him that I was about to judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knew because his sons brought a curse on themselves and he did not rebuke them.

With these prophecies still fresh in Eli's mind, we can truly understand why he was trembling on that day.

He was fearful for the news and dreaded awaiting the news that he already anticipated he would hear.

With the prophecies still fresh, the hearts of sinful men are always uneasy in times of danger because their consciences testify of their guilt.

John Calvin made this comment. He who is the boldest despiser of God is of all men the most startled at the rustle of a falling leaf.

Now Proverbs in chapter 28, verse one says, the wicked flee when no one is pursuing but the righteous are as bold as lions.

Because God's threatened judgment upon all sin, only those whose sins have been cleansed by the blood of Christ can face the storms of this life with peace and understanding of God's sovereignty.

There's a second reason that Eli trembled with anxiety. He was surely aware that the ark had gone forth only at God's command and this was not done.

We have the understanding from Deuteronomy chapter 12, verse five of the instructions about the ark.

This was the instructions. But you shall seek the Lord at the place which the

Lord your God will choose for all your tribes to establish his name there for his dwelling and there you shall come.

That's Deuteronomy 12, five. In verses 14, 15 as we continue on in chapter four, when

Eli heard the noise of the outcry, he said, what does this noise of this commotion mean?

The man came hurriedly and told Eli. Now Eli was 98 years old and his eyes were set so that he could not see.

When Eli heard these sounds, he wanted to know what the commotion was.

They were crying and yelling and there was tumult amongst the whole city. There was confusion when the messenger had proclaimed

Israel's losses and the ark of the covenant was taken by the Philistines. This caused the people to be shouting and crying.

Some dropping to their knees and crying out for God. Eli had judged

Israel for 40 years. Now the Septuagint reads 20 years, but the differences in numbers occur constantly.

In either case, we would have advanced in age before he reached the judgeship.

His character is not that of a hero. One reformed commentator says this, but yet a wise, patient and prudent ruler, but one whose good qualities were destroyed at the last as his weak partiality towards his wicked sons caused him to sin.

Eli was old. He was 98 years old and his eyes were set.

So he could not see until the invention of the

Arabic numbering system of the present numerals that we have today. All the ancient nations had a most awkward system of expressing numbers.

The Hebrew method was attached a value to each letter of the alphabet.

And then they would add them together and thus the eighth and 19th letters would be between to make up 98.

This is the age they gave to Eli. Now this Syriac, which was a

Aramaic translation, dialect said that he was 78 years old.

So there's that discrepancy, 78 to 98. Eli's eyes were set at this point.

He was almost completely blind. He had what they call a motionless state of the eyes, which were obscured by a cataract.

Another word used for set was dim. As the disease in one of these comes on gradually, your eyes begin to grow dim and your vision diminishes.

Verses 16 and 17, the man said to Eli, I am the one who came from the battle line.

Indeed, I escaped from the battle line today. And he said, how did the things go, my son?

Then the one who brought the news replied, Israel has fled before the Philistines.

And there has also been a great slaughter among the people. And your two sons also,

Hophni and Phineas, are dead. And the ark of God has been taken.

Now this messenger that came from the battlefield reported the news of four major catastrophes.

One, Israel had fled before the Philistines. The second, there had been a great slaughter.

30 ,000 Israelites were killed that day. And among the slain were

Eli's sons, Hophni and Phineas, which were already prophesied by God that they would die together the same day.

Worst of all, the ark of the covenant was taken. Because the

Israelites were in sin and unrepentant, Jehovah God did not go before them in battle.

And they were defeated. There had been a great slaughter, 30 ,000 foot soldiers.

And since the Israelites had not repented and sought God for direction and guidance as to whether or not they should even pursue the

Philistines, normally they would go before God, repent, pray, and lift up their voices to God and pray for guidance.

Since the Israelites had not repented or sought his direction, they could not pursue the

Philistines without severe loss. Eli's sons, Hophni and Phineas, killed in battle.

But the worst news to Eli was that the ark of God was taken.

Now this news reported from the messenger who had escaped from the battlefield and ran to Shiloh to report this grave news to the high priest.

This was given to him all at once. And it overwhelmed

Eli. Verse 18, when he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell off his seat backward beside the gate.

And his neck was broken and he died. For he was old and heavy.

Thus he judged Israel 40 years. Now Eli had to have recalled the message from God.

And in chapter two, verses 31 through 34, the message was this.

Behold, the days are coming when I will break your strength and the strength of your father's house so that there shall not be an old man in your house.

You will see the distress of my dwelling in spite of all the good that I do for Israel.

And an old man will not be in your house forever. Yet I will not cut off every man of yours from my altar so that your eyes will not fail from weeping and your soul grieve.

And all the increases of your house will die in the prime of life.

This will be the sign to which will come concerning your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas.

On the same day, both will die. All this came back to Eli.

He realized that he had been part of this sin, a great part of this sin.

He was supposed to be a judge and a high priest over Israel.

This was the sign that God had proclaimed to him and now had unfolded.

Eli showing favoritism for his sons and disregard of their wickedness and their total degradation of the temple caused

God to carry out this judgment upon Israel, upon Eli's sons.

And because of this, Eli fell over and broke his neck and died.

One of the early reformers named Andrew Willett makes this statement regarding Eli's death.

The principal cause of Eli's death was the justice of God in punishing.

By this temporal judgment, Eli's negligence in not correcting his sons, for as he did not bow his neck of his sons to the yoke, so his neck was now bowed and broken.

This served as a just recompense, end quote. As we think of mankind in general and the progress and the rapid descent of the road to perdition, those who reject

God live as though they never face any consequences. We can look around at the world and see that they're cavalier about their sinfulness and their lives.

They could care less because they don't have any conviction about these things.

And yet, if their conscience is seared, we can be sure of one thing,

God is not mocked. Every person who ever lived on the face of this earth will stand before God.

And those who have not turned to God for forgiveness and repentance and sought

Jesus Christ for their salvation will have an eternal death in hell.

This will be God's judgment. As we go on, we think he judged 40 years.

One commentator, a reformed commentator's statement about this regarding Eli's overall character, he said this, his character is not of a hero, but he was wise and prudent.

And one of those qualities were spoiled, at least by his dismal partiality to his unworthy sons.

Eli had served as a judge and a high priest over Israel for almost four decades, 40 years.

And yet, toward the end of that time, he turned away.

How often do we see those professing to know Christ all of a sudden turn and go back into the world?

It breaks our heart to see that. But the repercussions of such a poor testimony brings a black mark on the body of Christ and reflects horribly on our

Lord and Savior. One historian commentator expresses his overall assessment by saying that Eli answered and said, go in peace, and may the

God of Israel grant your petition. Back in 117, when he saw Hannah praying and weeping and first thought she had been drunk, and she addressed him and said, no, my

Lord. I am seeking, I'm mourning and seeking the Lord because she wanted a child.

Eli answered, and then he did exercise his priestly benediction by saying, go in peace, and may the

God of Israel grant your petition that you have asked him. He recognizes the divine message and bows in humble submission to the prophecy of his downfall.

In 1 Samuel 3, 8, so the Lord calls Samuel again for the third time, and he arose and went to Eli and said, here

I am, for you called me. Then Eli discerned that the

Lord was calling the boy. So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him.

And he said, it is the Lord. Let him do what seems good to him.

So he did humble himself before Samuel and recognized that, no,

Samuel wasn't just hearing voices. It was a voice of God, and let it be as he has said.

As judge over Israel, the fact that he judged Israel seems to show that his administration was on the whole careful and just.

That was the assessment of these reformed commentators, theologians. As a father, his lack of spiritual obedience to God and his partiality toward his two sons appears when his own sons are the offenders.

He by doing so reveals at this point that he honored his sons more than his concern after the despicable irreverence to God.

By doing so, Eli brought judgment upon not only his sons, but also himself and generations to follow, end quote.

Eli started out well, but the end of his life, he failed miserably as a high priest and judge and father.

This pattern is seen in many of God's people throughout the Old Testament, as well as the

New Testament. We've seen the same sorrowful story by so many professing

Christians. This is especially damaging to the honor of our

Lord Jesus Christ. As we go on to verses 19 and 20, says this, now his daughter -in -law,

Phineas' wife, was pregnant and about to give birth. And when she heard the news of the ark of God, that it was taken, and that her father -in -law and her husband had died, she kneeled down and gave birth, for her pains came upon her.

And about the time of her death, the woman who stood by said to her, do not be afraid, for you have given birth to a son.

But she did not answer or pay attention. The death of Eli's daughter -in -law was yet another sorrowful event that took place amongst all the extended members of Eli's family.

This daughter -in -law, the wife of Phineas, was pregnant. But when she heard this news, this devastating news, she just brought on the labor pains, perhaps prematurely, and she became weak, and she had faint of life.

The midwife, or the assistant, who was helping with the delivery, was in hopes that a child being born would perhaps be heartwarming to her as a mother.

But she had lost all hope, and her heart failed. The mother gave birth to a son, which under most circumstances would have been a joy, especially for an

Israelite woman, because that would be a person who later on would be able to take care of her in her old age.

And they looked forward to having the birth of a man -child. So the mother gave birth to a son under any other circumstances would have been a great news to her.

Verse 20, in about that time of her death, the woman who stood by her said, do not be afraid, for you have given birth to a son.

But she did not answer or pay attention. Now, Eli's daughter -in -law nearly died upon receiving the news of God's heavy judgment upon Israel.

As she did so, her whole heart was just wrought with grief, however, the loss of the ark seemed to signify to her the overthrow of her national religion.

Phineas's widow was right, for the ark had gone, and God's chastisement was falling heavy upon the people of Israel.

In a greater sense, the glory of God was now truly departing.

God had given great promises to Israel, which are immutable, they won't change.

God would not break his covenant promise that he had made to his people, Israel. In Exodus chapter six, verse seven,

Moses, he promised Moses, he said, then I will take you from my people, and I will be your

God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the burdens of the

Egyptians. Likewise, in the word of Christ, in Hebrews chapter 13,

I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you, speaking of believers.

In Romans chapter eight, verse 39, who will be able to separate us from the love of Christ?

Our Lord, Jesus. The wife of Phinehas was silent as she was near death.

The woman who stood there thought perhaps the news of this birth of the boy would bring her encouragement at this time, but it did not.

In verses 21 and 22, and she called the boy

Ichabod, saying, the glory has departed from Israel, because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father -in -law and her husband, she said, the glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God was taken.

She repeated that twice, her last dying sentences. This was probably a reference, there was probably a reference to this in Psalm 78, 64.

The psalmist says this, his priests fell by the sword, and his widows could not weep.

Phinehas' widow was dying while she was giving birth. She also had a broken heart.

She did not even weep over the news of her husband's death, but gave up for the loss of the ark, overwhelmed her with grief.

As a consequence, in her dying breath, she names her son Ichabod.

Ichabod means the glory has departed, or the glory has departed from Israel.

Now Ichabod, there's some different views from theologians and various translators as to the actual meaning of Ichabod.

But the most common is the glory of God has departed.

As we think of God's presence, and not only in Old Testament phenomena, but then we should also remember the seven letters to Jesus, of Jesus, to the churches of Asia in Revelation, in which

Christ, in which the exalted Christ threatened to remove the lampstands of the wayward churches.

There was a building in Spokane Valley that I used to pass when I was working over in Spokane, and these

Christians owned the building, or supposedly the story goes, and they used the building for their worship services and as a church facility.

Well, I was told that there was some kind of a split and somehow the church split apart and dissolved, so they sold the building.

The new owners of the building put in a bar. The name of the bar is

Ichabod's. I know it may seem humorous, but think about the implications of that.

One place of building a structure that used to be used for God's glory is now used by the world to mock those.

The glory certainly did depart. The author of Hebrews tells us how much our father loves us.

He says this in chapter 12, verses four through eight. You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin, and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as my sons.

My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the

Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by him. For those whom the

Lord loves, he disciplines, and scourges every son whom he receives.

It is for discipline that you endure. God deals with you as with sons.

For what son is there whom the father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.

This text shows us how much God loves his children, enough so that if a wayward

Christian does not repent and turn to God in repentance and confession,

God will allow him to be chastened. And if he does not repent at that point, scourging.

Now, we know the terminology there of scourging was a horrible whipping that they did with leather thongs, and we know that's what our

Lord Jesus Christ went through prior to his crucifixion. But scourging can come in any form.

God loves his children enough to correct us, to draw us back to himself.

The Israelites displayed their lack of repentance by not turning to God to seek him before going into battle.

They compounded their sin by attempting to obtain victory by using the

Ark of the Covenant. They did so without repentance.

They did so without seeking God's direction. This reflects the hardness of their hearts.

The example of Eli and his son shows us that God is angered by sacrilegious behavior committed by his people in worship, as the wicked priest

Phineas and Hophni were doing. The prophet Isaiah would later bring a similar charge against the worship in Jerusalem.

He says this in chapter 29, verse 13. "'Because this people draw near with their words "'and honor me with their lip service, "'but they remove their hearts far from me, "'and their reverence for me consists of tradition "'learned by rote.'"

When people get to that point where they're going to a worship service and just going through the words of a praise song or hymn, and they're there to hear

God's word, and yet there's no change inwardly. They may be in sin, and yet their hardness of hearts, they give lip service, and yet their hearts are far from God.

Rather than allow his own people to despise his holy presence in corrupt worship,

God sent the ark into the hands of the Philistines to be despised by pagans instead.

He would rather have the pagan Philistines take the ark in irreverence rather than having his own people treat it as some kind of a good luck charm.

In his letter to the churches in Revelation, Jesus focuses on the issues of false teaching and immorality.

The church of Pergamum was accosted for tolerating heresies of Balaam and Nicolaitans.

Thyatira was charged for tolerating sexual immorality, and those who had not entered into false teaching and sensual sins were praised.

But that church, if the word was to write letters to the church today, I wonder what that would be.

And we know we have the word of God, and that's not something he will do. But what state is the body of Christ in this day?

We have to ponder that as we look in an account such as this. We are meant to be warned by the naming of Ichabod at Shiloh, just as Jeremiah warned his generation.

Said this, but go now to my place, which is in Shiloh, where I made my name dwell at first and see what

I did to it because of the wickedness of my people, Israel. Jeremiah 7, 12.

In the two verses later, in verse 14, the same chapter,

Jeremiah gives this strong admonition. Therefore, I will do to the house, which is called by my name, in which you trust, and to the place which

I give you and your fathers as I did to Shiloh. In closing,

I just want to encourage you to think about the reminder that we have from 1

Samuel and the graphic illustrations of how God sovereignly works to bring his people to himself.

Now, we don't know how many of these Israelites were actually followers of God or those who loved him and just followed along.

We don't know that. But next time, as we begin chapter five, we'll be able to, once again, see the mighty hand of God on the

Philippians as they have brought the Ark of the Covenant into their camp and what

God does to cause his name to be known amongst all nations.

Let's close in prayer. Father, we thank you, Lord, for this dynamic and graphic illustration of your power and your omniscience in all things.

And Lord, we thank you that you are our God and that we can serve you. We pray,

Lord, that we would be able to have conviction when we sin, that we'd keep short accounts, that we would turn to you and follow you in obedience and honor you in all that we do and say.

We ask now, Father, that you would continue to glorify yourself as we proclaim and sing songs and hymns before you and lift up your name as Jim brings the message forth.

Lord, may we not only receive the message, but that we might be transformed with the renewing of our minds to actually apply these truths to our lives.