Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Samuel 4:21-22

"And she named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel; because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father-in-law and her husband. And she said, The glory is departed from Israel; for the ark of God is taken." — 1 Samuel 4:21-22 (ASV)

The glory is departed from Israel. —This unique and detailed account of the death of the widow of Phinehas, the evil warrior-priest, the son of Eli, which follows directly after the story of the great national disaster, is introduced from the records of that sad time, not out of any special interest in the unfortunate woman and her sad fate, but solely to show how deeply Israel's heart was permeated by a love for their God, His Tabernacle, and its sacred contents.

It was not the news of her husband’s bloody end on the field of battle, or of her father-in-law’s death on his throne, or the downfall of her house, which stirred her so painfully; she could have borne all this better than the news that the Ark of the Covenant was in the hands of the idolatrous enemies of God. Von Gerlach remarks that “the wife of this deeply corrupt man shows how deeply the whole people then was imbued with a sense of the value of its covenant with God.”

The meaning of the term I-chabod is much disputed, owing to the doubt that hangs over the first syllable—“I” followed by “chabod.” It is usually taken to mean a simple negative, “not”; with 'chabod' signifying “glory,” I-chabod thus represents “not glory”—i.e., there is no glory. Others render the “I” syllable as a query, “Where?” or “Where is the glory?”—the answer, of course, being, “It is nowhere.” But the best rendering seems to be to understand the syllable “I” as an exclamation of bitter sorrow, “Alas!” The name then could be translated, “Alas! the glory.”