What does 1 Samuel 4:4 mean?
The people of Israel don't ask why the Philistines won their first skirmish, killing many Israelite soldiers. They ask why God defeated them (1 Samuel 4:3). It's the right question, but they produce the wrong answer: that God wasn't close enough to help. So, they resolve to bring the ark of the covenant from the tabernacle in Shiloh to the battlefield. Surely, they think, God will give victory over an enemies if He is right there.The ark of the covenant or "ark of God" (1 Samuel 3:3) was built by the Israelites during the time of Moses by God's command. It was basically a large box overlaid with gold. Rings were attached to the sides so that it could be carried with long wooden poles, also overlaid with gold. The lid for the box included a "mercy seat." This was flanked on either side by sculpted angels called cherubim with their wings spread out over the mercy seat. The tablets upon which God's covenant with Israel were written were kept in the ark (Exodus 25:10–22).
The ark of the covenant was never said to contain the entire presence of the Lord. God is everywhere, but also said to rule from His throne in heaven (Isaiah 6). The ark is sometimes called God's footstool or podium (1 Chronicles 28:2; Psalm 99:5; Lamentations 2:1). The Lord did say, though, that He would graciously occupy that seat to meet with His people on earth: "There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel" (Exodus 25:22).
The ark had been an important presence in some of Israel's past military victories (Numbers 10:35–36), but this was always at the Lord's direction, not as a pattern. Modern popular culture—infamously including the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark—caricatures the ark as a weapon or a conduit for God's physical power. It's never depicted that way in the Bible, but passages such as this indicate Israel echoed the same kind of superstition.
The elders of Israel send word to Shiloh, and Eli's two sons Hophni and Phinehas accompany the ark of the covenant to the battlefield. Given his position as priest and judge, and the fact that Eli's "heart trembled for the ark of God" (1 Samuel 4:13), it would seem this was all done with Eli's permission.
The presence of Eli's sons should be an ominous sign of what is to come. Those who have read the previous three chapters know the dire prophecy connected to Eli's wicked sons. The Lord said Eli's household would be punished forever because he failed to restrain Hophni and Phinehas in their blasphemy against God. Eli's family abused their power as priests (1 Samuel 2:12–17, 22; 3:13).
