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way beyond, Mizpeh, "the look out," about two hours to the north-west of
Jerusalem.^44 The Philistines had pitched a short way off at Aphek, "firmness,"
probably a fortified position. The battle ended in the entire defeat of Israel, with a
loss of four thousand men, not fugitives, but in the "battle-array"^45 itself.
They must have been at least equal in numbers to the Philistines, and under
favorable circumstances, since at the council of war after their defeat, "the elders of
Israel" unhesitatingly ascribed the disaster not to secondary causes, but to the direct
agency of Jehovah. It was quite in accordance with the prevailing religious state that,
instead of inquiring into the causes of God's controversy with them, they sought
safety in having among them "the ark of the covenant of the Lord," irrespective of
the Lord Himself and of the terms of His covenant. As if to mark, in its own
peculiarly significant manner, the incongruity of the whole proceeding, Scripture
simply puts together these two things in their sharp contrast: that it was "the ark of
the covenant of Jehovah of Hosts, which dwelleth, between the cherubim," and that
"Hophni and Phinehas were there with the ark of the covenant of God" (1 Samuel
4:4).
Such an event as the removal of the ark from the sanctuary, and its presence in the
camp, had never happened since the settlement of Israel in Canaan. Its arrival,
betokening to their minds the certain renewal of miraculous deliverances such as
their fathers had experienced, excited unbounded enthusiasm in Israel, and caused
equal depression among the Philistines. But soon another mood prevailed.^46
Whether we regard ver. 9 as the language of the leaders of the Philistines, addressed
to their desponding followers, or as the desperate resolve of men who felt that all
was at stake, this time they waited not to be attacked by the Israelites. In the battle
which ensued, and the flight of Israel which followed, no less than thirty thousand
dead strewed the ground. In the number of the slain were Hophni and Phinehas, and
among the booty the very ark of God was taken! Thus fearfully did judgment
commence in the house of Eli; thus terribly did God teach the lesson that even the
most sacred symbol connected with His immediate Presence was in itself but wood
and gold, and so far from being capable of doing wonders, might even be taken and
carried away. Tidings of this crashing defeat were not long in reaching Shiloh. Just
outside the gate of the sanctuary, by the way which a messenger from the battlefield
must come, sat the aged high-priest. His eyes were "stiffened" by age, but his
hearing was keen as he waited with anxious heart for the expected news. The
judgment foretold, the presence of his two sons with the army in the field, the
removal of the ark, without any Divine authority, at the bidding of a superstitious
people, must have filled him with sad misgivings. Had he been right in being a
consenting party to all this? Had he been a faithful father, a faithful priest, a faithful
guardian of the sanctuary? And now a confused noise as of a tumult reached him. Up
(^)