Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Samuel 3:11

"And Jehovah said to Samuel, Behold, I will do a thing in Israel, at which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle." — 1 Samuel 3:11 (ASV)

The ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle. —The calamity referred to here was the capture of the Ark of the Covenant. Neither the death of the warrior priests, Hophni and Phinehas, nor the crushing defeat of the Hebrew army, would have affected the people so powerfully; but the fact that the sacred symbol of the presence and protection of the invisible King was allowed to fall into the hands of the uncircumcised Philistines, the hereditary enemies of the chosen race, was a calamity unparalleled in their history.

It seemed to say that God had indeed forsaken them.

The expression is a very remarkable one, and recurs in 2 Kings 21:12, and Jeremiah 19:3, in connection with the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar.