The ark captured – the glory gone (1 Sam 4:12-22)

A young woman I met was excited and looking forward to serving the Lord with a mission organisation when her father suddenly died. She broke off all communication with the mission, did not reply to anyone’s emails or letters and seemed to have lost her faith in God. Making sense and responding to tragic events in our lives can be fraught with difficulty. For Israel, defeat and heavy loss of life, the death of the acting priests, and the seizure of the ark by the Philistines spelt complete disaster. The striking aspect of the story is the focus of the characters on the loss of the ark. Eli trembles for the ark and, though he is completely blind by this stage, he is eagerly awaiting news by the road (1 Sam 4:13, 15). It is on hearing the capture of the ark rather than his sons’ death that he falls off his chair and dies (1 Sam 4:18). Likewise, Phinehas’ wife names her son Ichabod (no glory) lamenting the departure of God’s presence from Israel (the glory refers to His presence in 1 Sam 4:22).

We need to probe, however, what these reactions mean. Eli’s fear for the ark suggests that he does not share Israel’s confidence in it guaranteeing victory. Although compromised in his commitment, Eli knew the Lord and probably understood that God cannot be co-opted to do people’s bidding. Aware of the Lord’s coming judgment, he may also have anticipated the outcome. Once again, though, he is helpless and inactive. Perhaps because of old age he was not aware of the ark’s removal by his sons until after it was done. Alternatively, he may not have been strong enough to stop them. The reference to his weight alludes to his complicity in his sons’ sins (becoming fat on sacrifices seized by force; 1 Sam 2:29). He is the picture of a man who knows what is right but whose character is too weak to act on his convictions. May we not be satisfied by understanding alone but live out what we believe in full integrity.

The second vignette of Phinehas’ wife and the naming of her son highlights the pathos of Israel’s tragedy. The very thing that distinguished them as special, as God’s people, was gone. What did this mean for them though? Did they think that God was not powerful enough to overcome their enemy and their gods? Did God abandon them for reasons unknown? We recognise this kind of thinking in our modern context when we encounter tragedies and cry out in pain: Lord, why were you not there for me when I needed you? Why did you abandon me? There are many tragic circumstances, of course, where we simply have no answer and we can only continue trusting that God is both powerful and loving and that He can bring good out of adversity. In Israel’s case, however, there are good reasons for the events that teach lessons about God’s character and bring judgment on an ungodly leadership. Yet, all this is lost on Israel immersed in grief and self-pity.

The tragedy is that Israel possesses a powerful tool that never fails to move God: genuine repentance. If they had sought the Lord for answers and acknowledged their own guilt, the loss of God’s presence need not have lasted as long as it did. We may be disobedient to God out of ignorance or weakness, but there is an answer to both of these. If our life goes pear-shaped and we suspect that it has something to do with our choices, we need to seek the Lord, who generously grants us wisdom (James 1:5), so that we might see where we have gone wrong. If we know our sin but feel too deeply entangled in it, we have a God who can save us from it, if we turn to him in repentance. We have a compassionate high priest in Jesus Christ, who knew temptation Himself. He can sympathise with our weaknesses and come to our aid in time of need (Heb 2:17-18).

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