1 Samuel 4:17-22: a reflection

17He who brought the news answered, “Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has been also a great slaughter among the people. Your two sons also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and God’s ark has been captured.” 18When he made mention of God’s ark, Eli fell from off his seat backward by the side of the gate; and his neck broke, and he died, for he was an old man and heavy. He had judged Israel forty years. 19His daughter-in-law, Phinehas’ wife, was with child, near to giving birth. When she heard the news that God’s ark was taken and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and gave birth; for her pains came on her. 20About the time of her death the women who stood by her said to her, “Don’t be afraid, for you have given birth to a son.” But she didn’t answer, neither did she regard it. 21She named the child Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel!” because God’s ark was taken, and because of her father-in-law and her husband. 22She said, “The glory has departed from Israel; for God’s ark has been taken.”

The news from the battle is all disaster: Israel has fled, there has been great slaughter, Eli's two sons are dead, and the ark of God has been captured. When Eli hears that the ark is taken, he falls back and dies. And his daughter-in-law, going into labor at the news, names her newborn son Ichabod, saying, The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured. Amid all the losses, sons and father-in-law and army, it is the loss of the ark, the sign of God's presence, that she names as the deepest tragedy.

Notice what she grieves as the heart of the disaster: The glory has departed. She has lost her husband and father-in-law on the same day; yet the loss she names, the one she puts into her son's very name, is the departure of God's glory, the taking of the ark, the sign that God was no longer with his people as before. To her, the loss of God's presence was the deepest loss of all, deeper even than the loss of those she loved.

That is a sobering measure of what matters most. The loss of God's presence, his glory departing, is a greater tragedy than any other loss, though we do not always feel it so. But here is the good news that Israel's story would one day reach: the glory that departed would return. In Christ, God came to dwell with his people again, and by his Spirit he now dwells within them, never to depart. The tragedy of Ichabod is answered by Immanuel, God with us. Treasure the presence of God above every other good, grieve its loss more than any other, and rejoice that in Christ the glory has returned, and God dwells with his people, never again to depart.

Lord, amid all the losses of that day, the dying woman named her son Ichabod, the glory has departed, grieving above all the taking of the ark, the sign of your presence; to her, the loss of your presence was the deepest tragedy of all. Teach me to measure things as she did. Help me treasure your presence above every other good, and to grieve its loss more than any other. And thank you that Israel's story did not end at Ichabod: the glory that departed has returned. In Christ, you came to dwell with your people again, and by your Spirit you now dwell within them, never to depart. The tragedy of Ichabod is answered by Immanuel, God with us. Let me treasure your presence above all, and rejoice that in Christ the glory has returned, and you dwell with your people, never again to leave. Thank you that you are with me.