1 Samuel 4:10The MessageAnd did they ever fight! It turned into a rout. They thrashed Israel so mercilessly that the Israelite soldiers ran for their lives, leaving behind an incredible thirty thousand dead. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the Chest of God was taken and the two sons of Eli—Hophni and Phinehas—were killed. See the chapter |
When all Israel realized that the king hadn’t listened to a word they’d said, they stood up to him and said, Get lost, David! We’ve had it with you, son of Jesse! Let’s get out of here, Israel, and fast! From now on, David, mind your own business. And with that, they left. But Rehoboam continued to rule those who lived in the towns of Judah. * * *
The Ephraimites, armed to the teeth, ran off when the battle began. They were cowards to God’s Covenant, refused to walk by his Word. They forgot what he had done— marvels he’d done right before their eyes. He performed miracles in plain sight of their parents in Egypt, out on the fields of Zoan. He split the Sea and they walked right through it; he piled the waters to the right and the left. He led them by day with a cloud, led them all the night long with a fiery torch. He split rocks in the wilderness, gave them all they could drink from underground springs; He made creeks flow out from sheer rock, and water pour out like a river.
Here’s what will happen if you don’t obediently listen to the Voice of God, your God, and diligently keep all the commandments and guidelines that I’m commanding you today. All these curses will come down hard on you: God’s curse in the city, God’s curse in the country; God’s curse on your basket and bread bowl; God’s curse on your children, the crops of your land, the young of your livestock, the calves of your herds, the lambs of your flocks. God’s curse in your coming in, God’s curse in your going out.
God said to Samuel, “Listen carefully. I’m getting ready to do something in Israel that is going to shake everyone up and get their attention. The time has come for me to bring down on Eli’s family everything I warned him of, every last word of it. I’m letting him know that the time’s up. I’m bringing judgment on his family for good. He knew what was going on, that his sons were desecrating God’s name and God’s place, and he did nothing to stop them. This is my sentence on the family of Eli: The evil of Eli’s family can never be wiped out by sacrifice or offering.”