Lectionary Calendar
Wednesday, September 3rd, 2025
the Week of Proper 17 / Ordinary 22
Attention!
Take your personal ministry to the Next Level by helping StudyLight build churches and supporting pastors in Uganda.
Click here to join the effort!

Read the Bible

Chinese NCV (Simplified)

撒母耳记上 4:1

以色列人戰敗撒母耳的話傳遍了以色列。那時,以色列人出去迎戰非利士人,他們靠近以便以謝安營,非利士人卻在亞弗安營。

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Aphek;   Israel;   Samuel;   Thompson Chain Reference - Eben-Ezer;   Philistines;   Samuel;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Philistines, the;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Aphek;   Ark of the Covenant;   Ebenezer;   Eli;   Philistines;   Shiloh;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Philistia, philistines;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Lord's Name Taken in Vain;   Prayer;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Aphik;   Samuel;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Aphek;   Ark of the Covenant;   Ebenezer;   Philistines, the;   Samuel, Books of;   Shiloh;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Aphek;   Ark;   Eben-Ezer;   Philistines;   Samuel, Books of;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Aphek ;   Ebenezer ;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Hophni;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Aphek;   Eli;   Smith Bible Dictionary - A'phek;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Ebenezer;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Samuel the Prophet;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Aphek;   Eben-Ezer;   Philistines;   Samuel;   Tabernacle;   Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia - Aphek;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Eben-Ezer;   Eli;   Iyyar;   Samuel, Books of;  

Devotionals:

- Every Day Light - Devotion for March 30;  

Parallel Translations

Chinese Union (Simplified)
以 色 列 人 出 去 与 非 利 士 人 打 仗 , 安 营 在 以 便 以 谢 ; 非 利 士 人 安 营 在 亚 弗 。

Contextual Overview

1 So, news about Samuel spread through all of Israel. At that time the Israelites went out to fight the Philistines. The Israelites camped at Ebenezer and the Philistines at Aphek. 2 The Philistines went to meet the Israelites in battle. And as the battle spread, they defeated the Israelites, killing about four thousand soldiers on the battlefield. 3 When some Israelite soldiers went back to their camp, the elders of Israel asked, "Why did the Lord let the Philistines defeat us? Let's bring the Ark of the Agreement with the Lord here from Shiloh and take it with us into battle. Then God will save us from our enemies." 4 So the people sent men to Shiloh. They brought back the Ark of the Agreement with the Lord All-Powerful, who sits between the gold creatures with wings. Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the Ark. 5 When the Ark of the Agreement with the Lord came into the camp, all the Israelites gave a great shout of joy that made the ground shake. 6 When the Philistines heard Israel's shout, they asked, "What's all this shouting in the Hebrew camp?" Then the Philistines found out that the Ark of the Lord had come into the Hebrew camp. 7 They were afraid and said, "A god has come into the Hebrew camp! We're in trouble! This has never happened before! 8 How terrible it will be for us! Who can save us from these powerful gods? They are the ones who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of disasters in the desert. 9 Be brave, Philistines! Fight like men! In the past they were our slaves. So fight like men, or we will become their slaves."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

am 2863, bc 1141, An, Ex, Is, 350

came: or, came to pass, Heb. was, 1 Samuel 3:11

Ebenezer: That is, the place afterwards so called. See the parallel texts. 1 Samuel 5:1, 1 Samuel 7:12

Aphek: This Aphek was situated in the tribe of Judah, and is probably the same as Aphekah. Joshua 15:53, It must be carefully distinguished from that near Jezreel, and another in Asher. 1 Samuel 29:1, Joshua 19:30, 1 Kings 20:30

Reciprocal: Joshua 12:18 - Aphek Joshua 13:4 - Aphek Judges 3:3 - five lords Judges 3:31 - Israel 1 Kings 20:26 - Aphek 2 Kings 13:17 - Aphek Ezekiel 25:15 - to destroy

Cross-References

Genesis 3:15
I will make you and the woman enemies to each other. Your descendants and her descendants will be enemies. One of her descendants will crush your head, and you will bite his heel."
Genesis 4:25
Adam had sexual relations with his wife Eve again, and she gave birth to a son. She named him Seth and said, "God has given me another child. He will take the place of Abel, who was killed by Cain."
Genesis 5:29
Lamech named his son Noah and said, "He will comfort us in our work, which comes from the ground the Lord has cursed."
Numbers 31:17
Kill all the Midianite boys, and kill all the Midianite women who have had sexual relations.
1 John 3:12
Do not be like Cain who belonged to the Evil One and killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because the things Cain did were evil, and the things his brother did were good.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the word of Samuel came to all Israel,.... Or was "known", as the Targum, the word of prophecy by him, which related to what befell Eli and his family; this was spread throughout the land, and everyone almost had knowledge of it, and which began to be fulfilled in the war between Israel and the Philistines, later related; or the doctrine, instructions, and exhortations of Samuel to the people of Israel, were by the means of others conveyed throughout the land; and yet they went into measures which proved fatal and ruinous to them; or the word of Samuel, which was from the Lord, came to Israel, to stir them up to go to war with the Philistines, whereby the punishment threatened to Eli's family would begin to have its accomplishment:

now Israel went out against the Philistines to battle; according to the word of Samuel, or of the Lord by him; though Ben Gersom thinks they did this of themselves, which was their sin, and did not ask counsel of the Lord, nor of Samuel his prophet; but it seems as if the Philistines were the aggressors, and first came forth to war against them, and they went out to meet them a, as the word is, and defend themselves as it became them: this was forty years after the death of Samson, and at the end of Eli's government, who judged Israel so many years, when they had recruited themselves, and recovered their losses they sustained by Samson; and when they perceived a new judge was raised up among the Israelites, who was likely to be of great service to them, and to prevent their authority over them, and therefore thought to begin with them as soon as possible:

and pitched beside Ebenezer; a place so called by anticipation, and had its name from an later victory obtained, when Samuel set up a stone between Mizpeh and Shen, and called it by this name, 1 Samuel 7:12, it signifies a stone of help:

and the Philistines pitched in Aphek; a city in the tribe of Judah, bordering on the Philistines, 1 Samuel 7:12- :.

a לקראת "in occursum", Pagninus, Montanus.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Some attach the opening words to the close of 1 Samuel 3:0, as the complement of what is there said, “The Lord revealed himself to Samuel ... in Shiloh, and the word of Samuel went forth to all Israel.” If placed at the commencement of 1 Samuel 4:0, and in connection with what follows, they are to be understood in the sense that Samuel called all Israel to battle against the Philistines. (Compare 1 Samuel 7:5.) But this is not the natural interpretation of the words, which seem clearly to belong to what went before.

The mention of the Philistines connects the narrative with Judg. 13–16. Since the Philistine servitude lasted forty years Judges 13:1, and seems to have terminated in the days of Samuel 1 Samuel 7:13-14 in about the 20th year of his judgeship 1 Samuel 7:2; and since it had already begun before the birth of Samson Judges 13:5, and Samson judged Israel for 20 years “in the days of the Philistines” Judges 15:20, it seems to follow that the latter part of the judgeship of Eli and the early part of that of Samuel must have been coincident with the lifetime of Samson.

Eben-ezer - (or, the stone of help) The place was afterward so named by Samuel. See the marginal references. “Aphek,” or the “fortress,” was probably the same as the “Aphek” of Joshua 12:18. It would be toward the western frontier of Judah, not very far from Mizpeh of Benjamin, and near Shiloh 1 Samuel 4:4.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

CHAPTER IV

A battle between Israel and the Philistines, in which the former

are defeated, with the loss of four thousand men, 1, 2.

They resolve to give the Philistines battle once more, and bring

the ark of the Lord, with Hophni and Phinehas the priests, into

the camp, 3, 4.

They do so, and become vainly confident, 5.

At this the Philistines are dismayed, 6-9.

The battle commences; the Israelites are again defeated, with

the loss of thirty thousand men; Hophni and Phinehas are among

the slain; and the ark of the Lord is taken, 10, 11.

A Benjamite runs with the news to Eli; who, hearing of the

capture of the ark, falls from his seat, and breaks his neck,

12-18.

The wife of Phinehas, hearing of the death of her husband, and

father-in-law, and of the capture of the ark, is taken in

untimely travail, beings forth a son, calls him I-chabod, and

expires, 19-22.

NOTES ON CHAP. IV

Verse 1 Samuel 4:1. The word of Samuel came to all Israel — This clause certainly belongs to the preceding chapter, and is so placed by the Vulgate, Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic.

Pitched beside Eben-ezer — This name was not given to this place till more than twenty years after this battle, see 1 Samuel 7:12; for the monument called האבן העזר haeben haezer, the "Stone of Help," was erected by Samuel in the place which was afterwards from this circumstance, called Eben-ezer, when the Lord had given the Israelites a signal victory over the Philistines. It was situated in the tribe of Judah, between Mizpeh and Shen, and not far from the Aphek here mentioned. This is another proof that this book was compiled after the times and transactions which it records, and probably from memoranda which had been made by a contemporary writer.


 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile