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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - 1 Samuel 4:19 - 4:19
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The judgment which fell upon Eli through this stroke extended still further. His daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was with child (near) to be delivered. לָלַת, contracted from לָלֶדֶת (from יָלַד: see Ges. §69, 3, note 1; Ewald, §238, c.). When she heard the tidings of the capture (אֶל־הִלָּקַח, “with regard to the being taken away”) of the ark of God, and the death of her father-in-law and husband, she fell upon her knees and was delivered, for her pains had fallen upon her (lit. had turned against her), and died in consequence. Her death, however, was but a subordinate matter to the historian. He simply refers to it casually in the words, “and about the time of her death,” for the purpose of giving her last words, in which she gave utterance to her grief at the loss of the ark, as a matter of greater importance in relation to his object. As she lay dying, the women who stood round sought to comfort her, by telling her that she had brought forth a son; but “she did not answer, and took no notice (לֵב שׁוּת = לֵב שׂוּם, animum advertere; cf. Psa 62:11), but called to the boy (i.e., named him), Ichabod (כָבֹוד אִי, no glory), saying, The glory of Israel is departed,” referring to the capture of the ark of God, and also to her father-in-law and husband. She then said again, “Gone (גָּלָה, wandered away, carried off) is the glory of Israel, for the ark of God is taken.” The repetition of these words shows how deeply the wife of the godless Phinehas had taken to heart the carrying off of the ark, and how in her estimation the glory of Israel had departed with it. Israel could not be brought lower. With the surrender of the earthly throne of His glory, the Lord appeared to have abolished His covenant of grace with Israel; for the ark, with the tables of the law and the capporeth, was the visible pledge of the covenant of grace which Jehovah had made with Israel.