R.C. Sproul

They captured the Ark of the Covenant and took it back in triumphal procession to their own city-states.

And remember the story how the messenger came from the battle scene, ran back to Shiloh.

There is Eli, and we are told that he's very old in his late 80s.

He's very overweight, and he's blind, and he's seated by the gate where he would issue his judgments.

And the messenger came back and tells him, 30,000 of the children of Israel have been killed in this battle, and included among them are your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas.

Still there's no response from Eli.

Eli's worried about one thing.

What about the Ark of the Covenant?

And then the messenger says, and the Ark has been captured by the Philistines.

Now when Eli heard that, he fell over in his chair, hit the ground, broke his neck, and died.

Now the messenger goes to the house of Hophni and to his wife, who's pregnant, and he says, here's what happened.

We lost the battle, 30,000 guys were killed, your brother-in-law was killed, your husband was killed, and your father-in-law just dropped dead.

And when she heard that, she fell on the ground and went into labor, delivers this baby, she dies, and this little baby that's left was named Ichabod.

Remember the story of Ichabod.

The name Ichabod means the glory has departed.

because the baby was born on the day when Israel's greatest glory, the throne of God, was taken into captivity by pagans.

So this was a day of gloom and doom and darkness among the Jews, but at the same time a day of jubilation among the Philistines.

Now the Philistines were operated according to city-states.

They had five kings.

And each king was the king over the city.